In discourses concerned with the Islamic state, ghaza was a central concept from the time of the Prophet of Islam. The term ghazahas its root in ghazwa, or Muslim wars led by the Prophet himself against infidels. After the death of the Prophet of Islam, historians such as al-Waqidi used al-Maghazi (the plural of ghaza/ghazwa) for the prophet’s battles, and al-Futuh (the plural of fath) for the battles after him as well as the conquests of both the Roman and Persian Empires. However, from the Umayyad period, in particular, in the Abbasid age, the term ghaza gradually began to replace ghazwa, jahad and futuh and became the most important term and a popular notion of the religious literature in the war with non-Muslims. The geographical areas of the ghaza in the east were against the Turks and the Chinese; in the west the Romans and in the north against the Russians, Georgians, Armenians and the Khazars (Turks). Although ghaza was apparently intended to spread Islam, it was also a means of seizing the war booty, territorial expansion, enslavement and also contributed to bolstering the ligitamacy of rulers among the community. By using a descriptive-analytical method, this article deals with the holy war of Muslim rulers with non-Muslims in the Caucasian borders (the Russians, Georgians, Armenians, and Khazars/Turks) from the Umayyad period to the Battle of Malazgird. In these four centuries, Muslim rulers frequently fought the four tribal groups and the Romans who supported them, however, a significant point that distinguished their wars (ghazas) from those on the other fronts, was that they could extend the scope of their conquests of the periods of the Caliphate Rashidun to northern Caucasia. In this region, they had mainly taken up a defensive position and in most cases with the help of volunteer ghazis were repelling the attacks of these four groups.
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Shams, E. (2021). An Investigation into the Phenomenon of Ghaza inNorth Caucasian Borders from the Umayyad Caliphate to the Battle of Malazgird
(40-463/660-1071). Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 12(28), 157-187. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2021.46289.2205
MLA
Esmail Shams. "An Investigation into the Phenomenon of Ghaza inNorth Caucasian Borders from the Umayyad Caliphate to the Battle of Malazgird
(40-463/660-1071)". Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 12, 28, 2021, 157-187. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2021.46289.2205
HARVARD
Shams, E. (2021). 'An Investigation into the Phenomenon of Ghaza inNorth Caucasian Borders from the Umayyad Caliphate to the Battle of Malazgird
(40-463/660-1071)', Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 12(28), pp. 157-187. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2021.46289.2205
VANCOUVER
Shams, E. An Investigation into the Phenomenon of Ghaza inNorth Caucasian Borders from the Umayyad Caliphate to the Battle of Malazgird
(40-463/660-1071). Journal of Iranian Islamic Period History, 2021; 12(28): 157-187. doi: 10.22034/jiiph.2021.46289.2205
)