ガザン・ハンのダールッスィヤーダ(dar al-siyada)

Abstract

We have hardly any information about the institution called 'dar al-siyada, ' whose prototype is said to consist in those founded by Gazan Xan. This paper examines the function of the dar al-siyadas of Gazan, his purpose in founding them, and the influence of their foundation on the Iranian society. The author's conclusions are as follows : 1. In ragab 702 (February or March 1303), Gazan founded the dar al-siyadas in ten cities. They had two functions; one was as lodgings for sayyids, and the other as service centers performing charity for sayyids, based on the waqf-endowment. 2. The foundation of the dar al-siyadas took place in the last stage of Gazan's administrative reforms. He founded them not owing to his respect for shi'ism, but as a social policy towards the Iranian city-societies. He considered sayyids as representatives of the authority of the Islam because of their being descendants of the Prophet, and he installed them as a balance between the various cliques in conflict in society. By protecting sayyids through the dar al-siyadas, the Mongolian state which was newly converted to the Islam, attempted to control the Iranian Islamic city societies. 3. This social policy was taken over in the reigns of Ulgaitu and Abu sa'id, and even further on under the Garairids, while the office of naqib, which controlled sayyids, was increasingly centralized. In consequence, the status of sayyids was raised both in the state and in the societies.