Mentioning a ruler’s name in Friday sermons marked submission to his sovereignty

Evidence

The advent of Islam introduced a new and immensely important instrument of communication and persuasion—the khutfiba, the Friday sermon in the Mosque. Being named in the khutfiba is one of the major symbols of authority, going back to very early Islamic times; it is one of the two standard, most widely and generally accepted tokens of sovereignty. Mention in the khutfiba is the rec­ ognized way of accepting and submitting to the sovereignty or suzerainty of a ruler. Omitting the name from the khutfiba is the recognized way of declaring one’s independence from a suzerain. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 472

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines khutfiba and explains its sovereignty function
• XREF: Connects to the idea of ritual acknowledgment in politics — parallels the Champagne Fairs’ controlled entry as a token of membership, and pre-modern symbolic acts of authority
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 472