مدينة سَّلَميَة من القرن الثالث حتى القرن الخامس الهجري دراسة في أحوالها العامة

" Selmya City from the Third to Fifth Hijri Century: A Study in its General Situations"

Selmya city is considered one of the important historical city that had the great role on occurrence of the historical event. This city is the first core for establishment of an influential significant religious caste represented by Isma’ilism caste, which were later known by Fatimid state that had brilliant place in many of the Islamic states. Therefore, its beginners were underlying a social political call and a religious one apparently where one of its important aim is to get rid of Abbasid caliphate which was considered as extorter state to their religious and political doctrine. This made them establish a state and a call for struggling Abbasid ruling and that was clear from their saying during their control over Egypt to build a capital and call it Cairo that constrain Abbasids and their followers.
The one who is following up historically to this caste can see that the beginning of its separation was after the death of Imam Sadiq ( p.b.u.h.) in 148 H. /765 A.D. and their pretence that Imamah after him has to be to Mohammed Bin Isma’il and from the dead Isma’il during his father’s life to his son Mohammed considering him the only legal heir. Due to the political and social conditions that Abbasid caliphate were passing through and highly helped to develop Isma’ili. It became a political movement with a religious impression to spread Isma’ili doctrine in the whole Islamic world exploiting the bad conditions at that time.
Based on this, significance and impact of Selmya city appeared when the first Isma’ili apostles decided to apply to spread their mission. Before their coming to the city, the city could hardly be mentioned in the historical references due to shortness of its significance in the historians’ perspective. Despite making Selmya was a center of Isma’ili mission, its mentioning was absent and this belongs to an important reason that the first Isma’ili apostles were adopting the concealment principle (prudence).
That happened in order that they hide away from the views of Abbasid caliphate that was looking for them to kill. This reason made mentioning of Selmya absent in the general reference and especially in Isma’ili references, even after when Isma’ili succeeded in their call. They could establish a great state in Egypt and Morocco but the sufficed by mentioning Selmya city as the city of their grandparents and a state for their mission without indulging in other details and this can be the cause of that ambiguity which accompanied the first period of Isma’ili establishment in other words, in the concealment, as well the Fatimid caliphates’ attempt to keep this ambiguity about this important duration of growing their mission in Selmya city, our research topic.
Hence, we chose this important city to be our study topic which is entitled” Selmya City from the Third to Fifth Hijri Century: A Study in its General Situations” to shed the light on this forgotten city historically as well its importance due to its geographical location, beside, it incubated Isma’ili mission which became one of the famous ruling states opponent to Abbasid ruling.
The study was divided into four chapters preceded by introduction and followed by a brief including the results that the researcher concluded and a list of the most important references and bibliographies.
The first chapter which is entitled ” the historical roots of Selmya city and its geographical nature was divided into two sections. The first section was about ” the city geographical nature, while the second section tackled ” the city history from Islamic conquer till the first Abbasid era”.
The second chapter which is entitled “impact of Selmya city on the political and military life from 247- 500 H./ 862 – 1107A.D. has three sections. The first section was entitled “Isma’ili choice of Selmya city a base to spread their mission”. The second section studied ” Ikhshidid – Hamdanid conflict on Selmya city. The third section discussed ” Seljuq control over Selmya city and their political activation in it”.
The third chapter which is entitled ” the high archeologic building in Selmya city” has three sections. The first section studied ” the most prominent castles and palaces in Selmya city. The second section mentioned temples, churches, holy shrines, and mosques. The third section focused on ” trade stations in Selmya city “.
The fourth chapter which is entitled ” the cultural and scientific constituents in Selmya city” has three sections. The first section was about ” the most prominent Isma’ili scholars and apostles in Selmya city”. The second section mentioned “scholars of hadith and narratives in Selmya city”, while the third section discussed ” men of letters and poets visited this city and described it in their verses”.