Crime and Punishment in Ottoman Egypt in the Last Quarter of the 18th Century: the Yusuf Bey Murder Case

Abstract

The study, executed in the form of a case-method, focuses on a story from the chronicle of the prominent Egyptian historian Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, describing the murder of Yusuf Bey, one of the ruling emirs of Egypt. By using this particular historical episode, the author illustrates the complicated relationship between the Muslim religious leaders of Egypt (ulama) and the military elite of the country represented by the neo-Mamluk “nobility”. Investigating these, at the first glance, ordinary circumstances of this gloomy case, the author comes to an unexpected conclusion. However, according to the researcher, the assassination of this key figure of the Egyptian military elite does not fit into the traditional struggle between or within the ruling factions, that filled the entire history of Egypt under the Ottomans. According to the author, the main reason for Yusuf Bey’s unenviable fate was his unceasing confrontation with the representatives of the Alim corps, the guardians and interpreters of the centuries-old Muslim heritage. By putting himself in opposition to the Muslim scholars, imprisoning and threatening them, infringing on their lives for the sake of his personal ambitions, Yusuf Bey violated the principles of respect and deference to the holders of spiritual authority and suffered the deserved punishment according to the generally accepted norms of behavior among the ruling elite of Ottoman Egypt.