Other lordship · The Khwarazmshah's realm · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Qazvin notables

Qazvin is a Sunni frontier town of scholars and fighters for the faith that has held out against the Nizaris of Alamut since the 1090s.

Its outstanding scholar in 1200 is the Shafi'i jurist al-Rafi'i, then about forty, who teaches in the town and writes its history (al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin). The headman and judge that winter are not named in the sources read. The townsmen's own war with Alamut, older than any of the Turkish dynasties that have held the town, goes on whoever the governor is.

Who he is

Name
Abu'l-Qasim Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad al-Rafi'i (born about 1160, died 623/1226)
Title
Leading scholar of the Shafi'is of Qazvin
Since
not pinned
Born
about 1160
Family
A Shafi'i scholarly family of Qazvin
Confidence
medium

Al-Rafi'i taught in Qazvin and wrote its history, al-Tadwin fi akhbar Qazwin; the town's headman (ra'is) and judge in 1200 are not named in the sources read.

Overlord

The Khwarazmian governor

What it holds

  • Teaching, the pulpit and the town's civic leadership

How it was acquired

Learning and inheritance.

Allies and rivals

Enemy: the Nizaris of Alamut.

How things stand that morning

Subjects of the Khwarazmian governor; leaders of the town's resistance to the Nizaris.

Wealth

Endowments and urban property.

Military

Volunteer townsmen against the Nizaris.

Threats

  • Nizari assassins and raids

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Al-Rafi'i's dates are well known; the town's office-holders in 1200 are not.

On the map: Inside the town: no ground drawn.

Primary sources for Khwarazm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
  • The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
  • Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
  • The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
  • The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online

3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.

Sources and studies

  1. Ibn al-Athir, The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir for the Crusading Period, part 3, tr. D. S. Richards (archive.org text, years 589-594)
  2. Standard reference knowledge on monuments and crafts (Seljuk mosques, Kashan lustre ware, al-Rafi'i's dates), not fetched in this session

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.