A Jewish Vizier and his Shīʿī Manifesto: Jews, Shīʿīs, and the Politicization of Confessional Identities in Mongol-ruled Iraq and Iran (13th to 14th centuries)

Abstract

Abstract This paper seeks to situate Jewish individuals from the upper echelons of the Mongol government in Iran and Iraq (1258‒1335) in relation to the process of confessional, Sunnī-Shīʿī polarization. Focusing on the case of the Baghdadi Jewish physician and vizier Saʿd al-Dawla (d. 1291), I explore how the Jewish minister sought to take advantage of Twelver-Shīʿī rise to prominence under the Mongols. I argue that the vizier attempted to strike an alliance with the Shīʿī communities in Iraq and with influential Shīʿī families with long-established ties to the Mongol regime, in order to curtail resistance to his policies and to the Jewish dominance in the realm’s bureaucracy. I consider Saʿd al-Dawla’s endeavors within the broader historical context of Shīʿī-Jewish relations. The article concludes by examining the two decades following Saʿd al-Dawla’s downfall, when a group of eminent Jewish physicians at the Mongol court converted to Islam. I show how these converts continued to exploit the process of politicization of confessional identities under the Mongols.