Kairouan

Kairouan (Arabic: القيروان‎) (cried Kirwan or Al Qayrawan an aa), is the caipital o the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisie. Referred tae as the Islamic Cultural Caipital, it is a UNESCO Warld Heritage site. The ceety wis foondit bi the Arabs aroond 670. In the period o Caliph Mu'awiya, it became an important centre for Islamic an Quranic learnin, an sicweys attractin a lairge nummer o Muslims frae various pairts o the warld, next anerlie tae Mecca an Medina. The holy Mosque o Uqba is situatit in the ceety. It is considered bi mony Muslims tae be Islam's fowert holiest ceety.

Etymology

The oreeginal name wis derived frae Arabic kairuwân, frae Persian Kâravân, meanin "military/civilian camp" (frae Kâr, "war/military," an van/wan, "ootpost"), "caravan", or "restin place" (see caravanserai).

History

Kairouan wis foondit in aboot the year 670 when the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi o Amir Muauia selectit a site in the middle o a dense forest, then infestit wi wild beasts an reptiles, as the location o a military post for the conquest o the Wast. It wis locatit far frae the sea whaur it wis safe frae continued attacks o the Berbers who haed fiercely resistit the Arab invasion. Berber resistance continued, led first bi Kusaila whose troops killed Uqba at Biskra aboot fifteen years efter the military post wis established, an then bi a Berber woman cried Al-Kahina who wis killed an her airmy defeatit in 702. Subsequently, thare wis a mass conversion o the Berbers tae Islam. Kharijites or Islamic 'ootsiders' which formed an egalitarian an puritanical sect appeared an are still present on the island o Jerba. In 745, Kharijite Berbers captured Kairouan, which wis awready at that time a developed ceety wi luxuriant gardens an olive groves.

Pouer struggles remained till Kairouan wis recaptured bi Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab at the end o the 8t century. In 800, Ibrahim wis confirmed Emir an hereditary ruler o Ifriqiya bi Caliph Harun ar-Rashid in Baghdad. Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab foondit the Aghlabid dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya atween 800 an 909. The new Emirs embellished Kairouan an made it thair caipital which suin became famous for its weel an prosperity reachin the levels o Basra an Kufa an givin Tunisie ane o its gowden ages lang sought efter the glorious days o Carthage.

The Aghlabites biggit the great mosque an established in it a varsity that wis a centre o eddication baith in Islamic thocht an in the secular sciences. Its role can be compared tae that o the University o Paris in the Middle Ages. In the 9t century, the ceety became a brilliant focus o Arab an Islamic culturs attractin scholars frae aw ower the Islamic Warld. In that period Imam Sahnun an Asad ibn al-Furat made o Kairouan a temple o knawledge an a magnificent centre o diffusion o Islamic sciences. The Aghlabids biggit pailaces forby, fortifications an fine waterworks o which anerlie the puils remain. Frae Kairouan envoys frae Charlemagne an the Holy Roman Empire returned wi glowin reports o the Aghlabites pailaces, libraries an gardens – an frae the cripplin taxation imposed tae pey for thair drunkenness an sundry debaucheries. The Aghlabite pacified the kintra an conquered Sicily in 827 forby.

Gowd coin o the Fatimid Calif al-Mahdi, mintit in Kairouan in 912 CE.

In 893, throu the mission o Ubaydalla Said, the Kutama Berbers frae the wast o the kintra stairtit the muivement o the Shiite Fatimids. The year 909 saw the owerthrow o the Sunni Aghlabite that ruled Ifriqiya an the creation o the Shiite Fatimid dynasty. Durin the reign o the Fatimids, Kairouan wis neglectit an lost its importance as the new rulers residit first in Raqqada but suin moved thair caipital tae the newly biggit Al Mahdiyah on the coast o modren Tunisie. Efter succeedin in extendin thair rule ower aw o central Maghreb, an aurie consistin o the modren kintras o Morocco, Algerie, Tunisie an Libie, thay eventually moved east tae Egyp tae foond Cairo makin it the caipital o thair vast Caliphate an leavin the Zirids as thair vassals in Ifriqiya. Govrenin again frae Kairouan, the Zirids led the kintra throu anither airtistic, commercial an agricultural heyday. Schools an varsities flourisht, owerseas tred in local manufactures an farm produce ran hie an the courts o the Zirids rulers wur centres o refinement that eclipsed those o thair European contemporaries.

When the Zirids declared thair unthirldom frae Cairo an thair conversion tae Sunni Islam in 1045 bi givin allegiance tae Baghdad, the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-Mustansir Billah sent as punishment hordes o troublesome Arab tribes (Banu Hilal an Banu Sulaym) tae invade Ifriqiya. Thir invaders sae utterly destroyed Kairouan in 1057 that it niver regained its umwhile importance an thair influx wis a major factor in the spread o nomadism in auries whaur agricultur haed previously been dominant. Some 1,700 years o intermittent but continual progress wis undone athin a decade as in maist pairt o the kintra the land wis laid tae waste for nearly twa centuries. In the 13t century unner the prosperous Hafsids dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya, the ceety stairtit tae emerge frae its ruins. It is anerlie unner the Husainid Dynasty that Kairouan stairtit tae fynd an honorable place in the kintra an throughoot the Islamic warld. In 1881, Kairouan wis taken bi the French, efter which non-Muslims wur alloued access tae the ceety.

Releegion

The Great Mosque o Kairouan, cried the Mosque o Uqba (Great Mosque o Sidi-Uqba) an aa.

The maist important mosque in the ceety is the Great Mosque o Sidi-Uqba, cried the Great Mosque o Kairouan an aa. It haes been said that seiven pilgrimages tae this mosque is considered the equivalent o ane pilgrimage tae Mecca. Efter its establishment, Kairouan became an Islamic an Quranic learnin centre in North Africae. An airticle bi Professor Kwesi Prah describes hou durin the medieval period, Kairouan wis considered the third holiest ceety in Islam efter Mecca an Medina. The day, mony consider the ceety as the fowert holiest in Islam.

Judaism, nae langer prevalent in the ceety, haes an illustrious history in Kairouan, parteecularly in the early Middle Ages. Rabbeinu Chushiel, his son Rabbeinu Chananel, an R. Nissim Ben Jacob (R. Nissim Gaon) wur aw frae Kairouan an Rabbi Isaac Alfasi studied thare, as did mony ither great rabbis. Kairouan wis sicweys the first major centre o Jewish learnin ootside o Babylonie an Eretz Yisrael. In memory o Sufi saints, Sufi festivals are held in the ceety.

Twin touns

• Fes, Morocco, syne 22 October 1965
• Tlemcen, Algerie, syne 28 Mey 1969
• Córdoba, Spain, syne 10 Juin 1969
• Cairo, Egyp, syne 14 Mairch 1976
• Samarkand, Uzbekistan, syne 5 October 1977
• Timbuktu, Mali, syne 2 Juin 1986
• Bursa, Turkey, syne 26 December 1987