The criterion of the solidarity of merchants of Siraf city port (7th to 10th centuries)

Zarei, Seyyede Zahra; Kheiandish, Abdolrasool

doi:10.30465/shc.2025.48086.2536

The criterion of the solidarity of merchants of Siraf city port (7th to 10th centuries)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

seyyede zahra Zarei ¹

abdolrasool kheiandish ²

¹ PhD student in the history of Iran after Islam, Shiraz University, shiraz, iran

² Professor of History Department, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30465/shc.2025.48086.2536

Abstract

During the early Islamic centuries, under the influence of geographical, human, and historical factors, merchant communities emerged in the regions of Iraq and Khuzestan, Bahrain and Qabadhkhura, and later Fars, each undergoing stages of growth and decline. From the fourth century AH, the Buyid dynasty played a pivotal role in economic development by reconstructing communication networks and linking Fars to the Persian Gulf and the “Great Khorasan Road.” These transformations facilitated the expansion of maritime and overland trade and increased the population engaged in commercial activities. Within the framework of Durkheim’s theory of the division of labor, these developments provided the conditions for the emergence of professional guilds and specialized occupations.This study employs a historical and library-based methodology with a descriptive–analytical approach, drawing on Durkheim’s theory of social solidarity to examine the factors shaping the professional cohesion of Sirafi merchants up to the Buyid period. Findings indicate that solidarity among these merchants initially rested on hereditary and legal foundations of late antiquity, shifted to Islamic jurisprudential norms during the Rashidun caliphate, and was later reinforced by tribal and familial ties in the Umayyad era. From the Abbasid period onward, and particularly under the Buyids, a new model of solidarity emerged in Siraf, grounded in urban affiliation, professional ethics, partnership, division of labor, and occupational awareness, leading to professional cohesion and the consolidation of merchants’ status within the social structure of the Persian Gulf.

Keywords

Persian Gulf

traders

Social history

Buyid dynasty

social solidarity

Subjects

Social history

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