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Muhammad Usama | 2022 Summer Fellow

May 28, 2022

Hi everyone! This week, after meeting with Professor Prasenjit Duara, my research mentor, I commenced my summer project that seeks to survey the nature and scope of Asian Grand Strategies. By the end of the summer, I hope to understand and be able to explain; how have Asian leaders historically understood strategy and statecraft? I will be investigating a dozen historic and histo-fictional figures selected from China, India, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in an attempt to uncover strategic thinking in Asia. The strategic thinking embodied in these figures would be distilled into a short treatise on Asian Grand Strategies.

The figure with whom I have started is the second Ming Emperor: Yongle (Perpetual Happiness) of China. Over the week, I spent time reading and writing about the life and times of Zhu Di, who succeeded the Dragon Throne as an unlikely figure after winning the civil war against his nephew, Emperor Jianwen. Zhu Di exhibited not only excellent strategy in winning the throne in the civil war, triumphed over circumstances stacked against him, but did exceptionally well in governing the kingdom afterwards. His reign is celebrated as one of the most prosperous times in Chinese history. He ordered the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing, commissioned the compilation of the largest encyclopedia in much of Chinese history, i.e., Yongle Dadian. These contributions to Chinese culture and history earned him the moniker Wen Hongdi (Emperor of Culture).

Next week, I would be complementing the investigation of Yongle’s strategic thinking with the study of the great classic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), a 14th Century historical novel, often described as one of the four great masterpieces of Chinese literature alongside Water Margin (水浒传), Journey to the West (西游记), and Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦).

June 21, 2022

Dear Readers,

For the past few weeks, I dedicated myself to the study of the Chinese classic: 三国演义 or The Three Kingdoms. In many ways, the novel is comparable to Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It certainly is long enough. More still, it opens with the grand pronouncement on the nature and cyclical progress of history: 話說天下大勢,分久必合,合久必分。(The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus, it has ever been.) According to the famous sinologist and translator, Moss Roberts, the novel is 70% history and 30% fiction.

The object of my reading of it was to understand Chinese strategic thought. The Three Kingdoms enjoys a singularly unique position in Chinese historical literature in so far it is distinguished from official Chinese histories available mostly as the chronicles of different courtiers serving the imperial narrative. The Three Kingdoms in its expanse as a novel does the opposite i.e., stripes away the façade of pieties and rituals and gives a peek into the intensely private lives of the those in power. For anyone interested in court intrigues or high political strategy, it is a classic masterpiece.

The focus of my study were three figures in the novel: Liu Bei, the protagonist;  Cao Cao, the Machiavellian antihero, or even at times the villain; and Zhuge Liang, the consummate consigliere. Each of the characters represents a facet of leadership and strategy while at the same time lacking some essentials. Liu Bei, thus, is the exemplar of moral and humane leadership, who would not sully his hands with deceit and treachery, even if it meant losing. Cao Cao, the quite opposite, who would do anything to achieve his ends and makes no secret of it,“寧我負人,毋人負我 (I'd rather betray the whole world than let the world betray me.)”

Zhuge Liang or Kongming, however, is the true strategist, who is said to have been so learned and able in strategizing that he could plot and enable the intersection of heavens and the earth, if he so wished. What went into such an acquisition of depth in strategy is not completely clear in the novel. There are some reasons that the novel hints at, which I have pondered in my treatise at length.

Lastly, reading The Three Kingdoms was truly a special experience in learning about Chinese political thought. What made it even more special was the fact that I was able to invite Professor Moss Roberts from New York University to give a lecture on the important themes in my capacity as a student leader of the History Reading Seminar at Duke Kunshan. The lecture video is available on the YouTube channel. (See below.)

From next week, I will be moving to other historical strategists in Middle East and North Africa.

Until next time!

June 28, 2022

Dear Readers,

This week I turned my attention to the statesmen and strategists from the present-day Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA). The subject of my ponderings was Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan, the founder of Umayyad Dynasty. Born into a tribe of Mecca, Muawiya rose to be the governor of Syria in the period immediately following the advent of Islam on the Arabian Peninsula. He was appointed Governor of Syria in 634, after a plague claimed his predecessor. For over the course of the next 20 years, he remained in that position flanked by the hostile Byzantine empire, in the north and the south. Muawiya amassed both power and men of talent that would secure his future ascendency to power in his own right as a Caliph, once the Rashidun Caliphate broke down after two civil wars (one of which Muawiya was a party to). He would go on to launch a dynasty that would last a century in the Middle East and become the basis of La Convivencia in Andalusia.

Throughout his time in power, Muawiya’s greatest strength remained his unrivalled intellect, and a sheer appetite for men of talent, a virtue common to all great strategists. In his own tenure, as the Umayyad monarch not only did Muawiya reorganize the system of governance of his realm, but also established new structures of governance.

But reading and understanding the life and times of this strategist is no easy task. One recurring problem in reading on Muawiya is the bias of early Arab sources, of Muslim (mostly Shi’ite) origin. The primary allegation that these sources level against Muawiya is that he departed from the ideals of piety and virtue that his predecessors possessed. Regardless, Muawiya’s virtue lay in transforming a country torn by civil wars into a lasting empire.

Until next time!

July 12, 2022

For the past two weeks, besides my travels, I focused on the strategists of the present-day Middle East. I read up on the foundation of the Abbasid Caliphate immediately succeeding the Umayyad empire in present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and much of the Middle East. In particular, I researched Abu Jaffer Mansur, the semi-legendary de facto founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, as well as the Round City of Bagdad (the present-day capital of Iraq). Not only did Mansur ensure that his legacy would last as the founder of one of the greatest cities of the time, but also a dynasty that would last more than seven centuries.

But Mansur, like many great founding figures, I have read about until now, this summer, started as a rebel. He had helped launch a revolution against the preceding Umayyad dynasty. What is so interesting, and perhaps the best lesson to be learned from Mansur’s life is how well he transitioned from a revolutionary leader to a successful monarch. The reorientation from being a rabble-rouser to an apt administrative is often the most difficult part of the tales of revolution. But Mansur seemed to have attuned himself to the cosmic rhythm that allowed him to stabilize and institutionalize his newfound dynasty.
I am also reading, simultaneously, on Ismail Safavi, the founder of Shi’ite Iran. More on that next time!

July 19, 2022

“1 Today I have come to the world as a Master. Know truly that I am

Haydar’s son.

2 I am Faridun, Khusraw, Jamshid, and Zohak. I am Zal’s son (Rustam)

and Alexander.

3 The mystery of Anal-Haqq [lit. ‘I am The Truth’] is hidden in this my

heart. I am the Absolute Truth [or ‘Allah’] and what I say is Truth.

4 I belong to the religion of the ‘Adherent of the Vali [Ali]’ and on the

Shah’s path I am a guide to every one who says: ‘I am a Muslim.’

5 My sign is the ‘Crown of Happiness’. I am the signet-ring on

Sulayman’s finger.

6 Muhammad is made of light, Ali of Mystery. I am a pearl in the sea

of Absolute Reality.

7 I am Khatai (sinner), the Shah’s slave full of shortcomings. At thy gate I am

the smallest and the last [servant].”[1]

[1] Newman, Andrew J. 2006. Safavid Iran: rebirth of a Persian empire. London: I.B. Tauris.

The above poem was penned by Ismail Safavi, the man who transformed Iran into a Shi’ite majority country. Not only does it speaks to Ismail Safavi’s aspirations as a ruler of Iran but also the mold of mind that drove him to accomplish the feat of consolidating an empire under him. Ismail Safavi successfully built on the religious clout acquired by his forefathers Shaykh Junayd and Shaykh Hyder through Islamic mysticism. What started off as a small Sunni mystic order of Safaviyya transformed into a military order after taking on the teachings of Millenarianism characteristic of fundamental Shi’ite Islam. Ismail used their newfound zealotry not only to draw devoted followers but to launch a dynasty.

More still, the poem also speaks to the eclecticism that Ismail exhibited, whereby he is both Persian, and Arab, a mystic, and a military man. This colorful blend certainly helped his cause a great deal!