Mamluk Period Research Articles

Treasures from the Bodleian Library

Abstract The Bodleian Library hosts one of the most important collections of Arabic manuscripts in Europe but most of them are unpublished or remain widely understudied. This article discusses the Arabic illuminated manuscripts produced in 14th- and 15th-century Egypt and Bilād al-Shām identified in this institution and aims to highlight their production context and material characteristics. The study of these manuscripts also gives an insight into the main phases and codicological features of the arts of the book during the Mamluk period.

Playing with the Canon: Ḥanafī Legal Riddles of the Mamluk Period

Playing with the Canon: Ḥanafī Legal Riddles of the Mamluk Period

A Tale of Two Ṭarīqas: The Iraqi and Khurasani Shāfiʿī Communities in the Fourth/Tenth and Fifth/Eleventh Centuries

Abstract This article provides a new account of Shāfiʿī legal history in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries: a tale of two ṭarīqas, or interpretive communities, one in Iraq and the other in Khurasan. I show that these two Shāfiʿī communities developed as distinct social and scholarly collectives before gradually converging in Ayyubid Damascus and eventually coalescing around one authoritative school doctrine in the Mamluk period. I reconstruct the networks of Shāfiʿī jurists in the two regions and show how and why the two groups differed in their legal reasoning and their paradigm of the madhhab (legal school). Although all of these jurists shared a transregional affiliation with the Shāfiʿī madhhab that distinguished them from jurists belonging to other legal schools, I argue that these affinities were countered by geographical boundaries and diverging local developments that led to the differentiation of the Iraqi and Khurasani Shāfiʿī communities. These insights not only complicate our understanding of what constitutes the post-formative madhhab as an institution but also demonstrate how broader intellectual and institutional developments, such as the ascendancy of Ashʿarism, the emergence of new centres of scholarship, and the introduction of the madrasa, shaped the internal workings of the madhhab.

The emergence of Gaza as a provincial intellectual centre during the Mamluk period

Abstract During the Mamluk period (1260–1516), Gaza developed from a minor town into an important city in southern Bilād al-Shām, the capital of an administrative province. This prosperity was the product of substantial and continuous Mamluk investment in the town, the security and stability maintained by this regime, and Gaza's strategic location as the bridge connecting Egypt and Bilād al-Shām. This article will trace the concomitant development of Gaza as a provincial intellectual centre within this context. Combining narrative sources with epigraphic and material evidence, it will show how the growth of Gaza as an administrative centre instigated a flourishing—albeit modest—scholarly scene in the town, which, while strongly connected to and integrated with wider social and intellectual networks within the Sultanate, retained its unique character.

Preliminary study for evaluation of some fungicides against Aspergillus flavus isolated from historical illuminated paper manuscript dated back to the Mamluk period

Various valuable illuminated paper manuscripts in museums and libraries suffer from fungal deterioration. The treatment and protection of illuminated paper manuscripts from fungal damage is an important process. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate different fungicides against fungi isolated from historical illuminated paper manuscript dated back to the Mamluk period (1250–1516 AD). Fungi isolated from infected historical illuminated paper manuscripts were identified and their cellulolytic enzyme activity was performed. The identified fungi were A. fumigatus, A. niger, A. flavus, Alternaria alternate, and Trichoderma sp. Isolate (4-1), identified as Aspergillus flavus, possessed the highest cellulase activity. This isolate was tested against the following fungicides: azoxystrobin, boscalid, difenoconazole, dimethomorph, propiconazole, pyraclostrobin, and thiophanate-methyl at concentrations from 1 to 200 ppm, nanoparticles of TiO2 and SiO2 at concentrations of 0.5%, and 1% and mixtures of fungicides [difenoconazole + propiconazole (1:1)] at 100 and 200 ppm and [boscalid + pyraclostrobin (2:1)] at 150 and 300 ppm. The disc diffusion method (DDM) was used to evaluate the efficiency of the prepared individual and mixed fungicides against Aspergillus flavus (4-1) isolate. The results of this study revealed that treatments with individual difenoconazole at 200 ppm exhibited the best antifungal activity, followed by the propiconazole fungicide. Further research is needed to evaluate the in vitro practical application of these fungicides with infected illuminated paper samples with Aspergillus flavus agents in the field.

The “Halep Arki” (Aleppo Channel), a Mamluk Era Water System for Aleppo

Due to its low rainfall and limited potential for water retention, northern Syria has always had access to and control of water as one of the main features of states in the region aiming to maintain their rule. This article introduces new information about the Mamluk period water adduction system of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which brought water to the Quwayq River, the city’s most important source of water. A newly documented part of the system, known in the Gaziantep region of Türkiye as the “Halep Arki” (the Aleppo channel), is discussed along with Mamluk-era inscriptions associated with it. During archaeological survey conducted between 2016 and 2018 in the Oguzeli region of Türkiye’s Gaziantep province, an open-air channel connected to a qanat-like tunnel with vertical shafts was documented, in addition to two inscriptions carved into the bedrock where the open-air channel met the tunnel. These inscriptions, which have been damaged over the centuries, were documented using RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) technology, which allowed portions of one of them to be read. The survey showed that this Mamluk era water system was also used and expanded in the Ottoman period beginning with the conquest of the region in the 16th century. Spoil heaps show that the system was cleaned, likely during the Ottoman era. The closing of gaps in the bedrock that came about due to earthquakes or other reasons with stone walling may also have taken place in the Ottoman period. Also, in the Ottoman period, water from other springs was added to the system and various regulations on the use of water introduced. In this article, based on topographic and hydrological study of the region, we offer suggestions of the sources of the spring water that were joined to this system.

Conservation-oriented integrated approach for structural stability assessment of complex historic masonry structures

The paper presents a multidisciplinary approach for diagnosing the structural stability of the Takiyya of Ibrahim al-Gulshani in Historic Cairo using geometric and architectural documentation, field survey, laboratory tests, and numerical analyses under static and seismic conditions. The Takiyya, built during the Mamluk period, is an important medieval architectural complex in Egypt and has undergone multiple renovations. The field-testing includes geotechnical and geophysical investigations to evaluate the properties of the bearing soil beneath the monument. A 3D survey using Terrestrial Laser Scanning was employed to record Takiyya’s geometry. Terrestrial photogrammetry and high-resolution images accompanied by an in-situ damage survey were used to document cracking levels, stone weathering, and identification of decay patterns. Laboratory tests were conducted to assess the mineral composition, physical and mechanical properties of the construction materials to enable structural assessments. Data appraisal and integration into architectural drawings was used for mapping degradation patterns and the preservation state of the building. The documentation procedures combined with experiments were then employed to develop a model for structural analysis. Three-dimensional finite element numerical simulations employing macro-modelling approaches were performed for the Takiyya structures under various loading conditions, including modelling the bearing soil, resulting in good agreement with in-situ recorded structure damage patterns. The static and seismic nonlinear analyses helped identify the causes and effects of the current structural deficiencies. The adopted methodologies provided large amounts of information, permitting an improved understanding of existing damage and the assessment of the preservation state of the masonry structure. This project exists thanks to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) and is funded by World Monument Fund (WMF) through various donors.

“The Arabs who Witnessed the Conquest Were Lost in the Passage of Time”: Al‑Maqrīzī’s History of the Rural Tribesmen of Egypt

In al‑Bayān wa‑l‑iʿrāb ʿan mā fī arḍ Miṣr min al‑aʿrāb, or “The Book of Clear Arabic Expression regarding the Arab Tribes of Egypt”, a work that currently enjoys wide circulation, al‑Maqrīzī (d. 1442) listed the Arab and Berber tribes found in the late medieval Egyptian countryside according to their geographic locations. This paper sets out to explain al‑Maqrīzī’s aims in compiling the Bayān, considering the social and political context of the Egyptian countryside during the Mamluk period. I argue that al‑Maqrīzī was probably writing with a royal patron in mind, and that he sought to downplay the prestige of the Arab and Berber tribes of his own time while highlighting the failure of their past rebellions against the authority of the Mamluk sultans.

Transforming the Coptic Ecclesiastical History at the Beginning of the Mamluk Period: From the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria to the Coptic‑Arabic Synaxarion

Cet article traite de l’historiographie dans les milieux coptes au début de l’époque mamelouke et en particulier des transformations majeures qu’elle a subies à ce moment‑clé de l’histoire égyptienne. En effet, c’est à ce moment que la célèbre Histoire des Patriarches d’Alexandrie – l’histoire officielle de l'Église copte en arabe, composée à l'époque fatimide – fut entièrement réécrite. Aussi, le Synaxaire copto‑arabe, qui incarne une approche différente de l’histoire, fut composé à la même époque. Le présent article émet l’hypothèse que ces deux phénomènes sont corrélés et doivent être étudiés à la lumière des changements concomitants dans les sphères culturelles, ecclésiastiques et politiques.

Kültürel Sermaye Kavramına Bir Katkı: Memlük Entelektüel Çevrelerinde Muhtasarın Yeniden Üretimi

In recent years, Pierre Bourdieu’s views on social structure and order, consisting of reproduction, competition, and struggle in education and various cultural fields, attracted the attention of modern researchers in understanding the socio-intellectual life of the Mamluks. Bourdieu’s methodology, which usually involved criticisms of existing assumptions, was based on investigating each subject in its context. His explanations for determining the social order among complex social relations played an essential role in understanding the data in the Mamluk texts. This paper benefits from Bourdieu’s concepts of cultural capital and reproduction to understand the production of knowledge in the socio-intellectual life of the Mamluk and tries to base the textual reproduction in the intellectual circles of the Mamluk on the mukhtasar. The study proposes a quadruple categorization of the mukhtasar, which are claimed to be the primary texts of the cultural activities in the Mamluk period. Accordingly, the effect of mukhtasars produced by the Mamluk ulama concerning the transfer and transformation of knowledge are among the most significant matters emphasized. Firstly, the study discusses the significance of the commentaries written by the Mamluk cultural elite on mukhtasars in the transfer of knowledge. Secondly, the contribution of the summarizations performed on mukhtasars to reproducing knowledge is examined. Thirdly, mukhtasars introduced by the ulama belonging to four madhhabs in Mamluk intellectual circles because of their search for a shared methodology are reviewed. Finally, independent mukhtasars produced during the Mamluk period are discussed within the historical process. It should be noted that this paper, which is conducted to determine the significance of mukhtasars during the Mamluk period, recognizes the characteristics of higher education in the period within itself.

Endowments as a Tool for the Shaping of Community Identity in the Jewish Society of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria

Abstract Talmudic sources recognize the dedication of assets for the benefit of the Temple alone (heqdesh). In Islamic countries, Jews encountered another form of asset endowment – the Islamic waqf – and fully embraced it. This article explores the utilization of waqf from a fresh perspective, focusing on urban communities in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, to examine its role in constructing community members’ self-identity. The allocation of waqf beneficiaries allowed the endower to delineate the community’s boundaries in their mind, reflecting the desired social circles they sought to be part of. Analyzing documents spanning centuries reveals ongoing changes in this realm. Social and demographic shifts periodically led to reductions in the circles of waqf beneficiaries. The strained relations between Rabbanites and Karaites during the Mamluk Period, as well as waves of Jewish immigration from Europe and North Africa to the eastern Mediterranean in the late Mamluk and early Ottoman periods, influenced the norms governing the endowment of houses, land, and money among Jewish property owners. These norms evolved again during the late Ottoman period when the boundaries between different Jewish groups became more blurred.

Arabic Manuscripts in Islamic Historiography during the Mamluk Dynasty

Historiography of Islam has often reflected the efforts to construct history distorted by political elements of power and the subjective interests of historians, hindering the presentation of the true historical facts. One of the pressing issues is how the use of the Arabic language in historical texts influences the understanding of Islamic historiography. This research aims to detail and analyze the characteristics of Islamic historiography during the medieval period, especially in the context of the Mamluk Dynasty, with a focus on the role of the Arabic language. The research methodology involves a literature review, examining various previous studies on Islamic historiography. The results of data analysis reveal characteristics of encyclopedic scholarship, the pivotal role of the Arabic language as the primary means of communication in constructing historical narratives, and the presence of creativity and originality in historical writings. Thus, this research makes a significant contribution to the development of theoretical frameworks for understanding the history of medieval Islam during the Mamluk period. This study is essential for delving into Islamic historiography of the past, especially in the context of the use of the Arabic language, to gain a deeper understanding of how Islamic history was recorded and conveyed during the Mamluk Dynasty. With this understanding, we can grasp the political, cultural, and social nuances that shaped the Islamic historical narrative during this period, while highlighting the crucial role of the Arabic language in this process.

The Application of the Rules of Usūl in Furū' in the Hanafī Madhhab: Analysis of Babertī's Opinion on the Upper Limit of Ta'zīr by Beating

Ekmal al-Dīn al-Babertī (d. 786/1384) from Bayburt, one of the provinces around Artvin, is one of the muhaqqīq scholars who left his mark on his era with his works. In fiqh, through his teacher al-Qāqī (d. 749/1348), he was part of a lineage extending to Abū Yūsuf (d. 182/798), one of the founders of the Hanafī madhhab. Babertī spent a significant part of his life in Egypt during the Mamluk period and trained many students, including scholars such as Mullā Fanārī (d. 834/1431) and Sayyid Sharīf al-Jurjānī (d. 816/1413), who were considered authorities in their time. He was a versatile scholar who composed valuable works in various scientific disciplines such as fiqh, hadith, kalām, and rhetoric. One of his works in the field of fiqh is al-'Ināya, a commentary on al-Hidāya by Burhān al-Dīn al-Mergīnānī (d. 593/1197). In the aforementioned work, he draws attention with his detailed treatment of the issues. One of these topics is ta'zīr. Ta'zīr, which is the general name of the punishments other than the punishments of qisas and hadd and left to the discretion of the ruler, is applied in Islamic law in various forms such as beating, exile, and rebuke. In this presentation, which is limited in scope, al-Babertī's opinion on the upper limit of the punishment of beating and ta'zīr is analyzed based on the method of Tahrīj al-furū' 'ala al-usūl, that is, within the framework of the usul-furūl relationship. He adopted the preferred view of the Hanafī madhhab on this issue and argued that the offender could be hit with a maximum of 39 strokes of the cane in ta'zīr by beating. His evidence in this regard is the hadith "Whoever exceeds the limit in punishments other than the hadd punishment is considered one of the extremists/ مَنْ بَلَغَ حَدًّا فِي غَيْرِ حَدّ فَهُوَ مِنَ المُعْتَدِين". There has been a debate among the scholars as to which of the two punishments, free and slave, is meant by the hadith in hadd punishment. If the hadd punishment of a free person is taken as a basis, the offender can be beaten with a maximum of 79 strokes of the cane. This is because, according to the Hanafi madhhab, the maximum number of strokes that can be inflicted on a free person is 80 strokes. If 79 strokes are given to the offender, the ta'zīr punishment does not reach the full amount of hadd. In the case of a slave, the maximum number of strokes is 39 strokes. This is because, according to the Hanafi school of thought, the maximum number of strokes that can be inflicted on a slave in a full hadd punishment is 40 strokes. Baberṭī argued that the term "hadd" in the hadīth is indefinite and expresses ummūm, and therefore includes both the free person and the slave, and argued that the upper limit of beating and ta'zīr would be determined according to the hadd of a slave. Accordingly, in al-Baberṭī's fiqh thought, the head of state can strike the offender with a maximum of 39 strokes of the cane as a punishment of ta'zīr. Although there are various studies on the subject of ta'zīr in the literature, we have not been able to identify a study that deals with the issues in the relationship between usul and furu. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a research that would fill this gap to some extent and set an example for today's researchers. This approach is compatible with the view of the Hanafi school on the subject.

Rescue Excavation at the Islamic Site of Umm Zweitineh in Central Jordan, 2012

This paper draws on the preliminary results of the rescue excavation conducted by the Department of Antiquities at Umm Zweitineh in central Jordan in 2012. The goal of the excavation was to take urgent action regarding protecting the site as far as possible. Due to budget constraints, the excavation work lasted for only twenty days. The aim of the article is that of providing a clear regional picture of the Islamic settlement through the seventh/eighth and fourteenth centuries AD through retrieving information from the architectural remains and material culture. The architectural relics and material culture were unearthed under a dense layer of wreckage and accumulated debris because of previous construction work at the site. The accumulation deposits yielded a ceramic assembly of daily life vessels dating primarily to the Umayyad and Mamluk periods. Earlier pottery sherds belonging to the Roman and Byzantine periods have been also uncovered. Ceramic sherds from the Iron Age II sporadically appeared on topsoil. Besides the ceramic, other metal artifacts, including bronze vessels from different periods, have been unearthed. The Umayyad and Early Mamluk settlements were distinguishable because of the distinct corpus typical of both periods. Possible evidence of a religion building belonging to the Umayyad-period Christianity have been unearthed in Area B.

Theolinguistic analysis of the monument "Irshadul-muluk uas-salatin" (14th century) in Arabic and Kipchak languages

The article provides a theolinguistic analysis of the written monument “Irshadul-Muluk Uas-Salatin” translated from Arabic into Kipchak in the Mamluk period. The connection and continuity of religion and language covering all spheres of human life is a truth that does not require proof. The problem of the formation and development of theolinguistics can be considered independently within the framework of historical theolinguistics on the basis of the linguistic material stored in medieval written monuments from the point of view of national identity. The study and introduction into scientific circulation of medieval religious monuments which are the common property of all Turkic peoples, contributes to the development of the industry, which is an urgent problem not only for linguistics, but also for all humanities. The pragmatic features of the religious language units used in modern Kazakh society are necessary for solving many problems of historical and modern theolinguistics. The use of methods of interpretation, hermeneutic and theological analysis in the study of medieval written monuments makes it possible to obtain valuable information about the language, culture, religion, beliefs, and way of life of the peoples who lived at that time. For this purpose, a linguo-hermeneutic analysis of the linguistic materials stored in the manuscript "Irshadul-muluk uas-salatin" was carried out, within the framework of the religious concept and the peculiarities of the use of the theonym "Tengri" were revealed.

The 2011 Season of Excavation at Gadara (Umm Qais) of the Decapolis

ABSTRACT This paper is a final report of the 2011 season of excavation at the archaeological site of Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan. The season was directed by Lamia El-Khouri (PhD), during the 15th of June until the 28th of July 2011. The excavation took place in Area Z, along the southern edge of the main colonnaded street (Decumanus Maximus). The main discoveries showed that this part of the city was occupied during several historical periods, from the Late Hellenistic until the Crusader–Mamluk periods. The majority of archaeological artefacts in the excavated area showed clear evidence of intensive human activities mostly in the Late Byzantine, Umayyad and Abbasid periods. This paper includes a full description of the historical levels as well as the most impressive archaeological finds that were collected during the excavation. An isometric reconstruction drawing of the original construction was produced to give a better view of the city of Gadara during the Graeco–Roman period. As it has been delineated by the stylobate and the other architectural remains, this building seems to have been part of an inner courtyard lined by an Ionic peristyle. It was perhaps a sort of square-shaped colonnaded enclosure, a courtyard, or an open-air garden used for exercise, whether it was part of a bath construction, or a palaestra on the atrium of a private house or a gymnasium.

Archaeological Perspectives on Contacts between Cairo and Eastern Ethiopia in the 12th to 15th Centuries

Abstract A sustained relationship between Cairo, Egypt more broadly, and eastern Ethiopia appears to have existed, particularly in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. In the general absence of historical sources, it is archaeology that provides primary insight into how and why this relationship was maintained, particularly over the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. This is considered through archaeological data from the trading entrepot of Harlaa with particular reference to coins, glass wares, ceramics, bread/ textile stamps, marine shell, and jewellery moulds. The inferences that can be drawn from these regarding trade routes and markets are assessed. Finally, the Egyptian role in the decline of Harlaa and its replacement by Harar in the late fifteenth century are considered.

Medrese ve Metin Üretimi Üzerinden Memlük Toplumsal Kimliğinin İnşası

The diversity of education in the madrasas contributed to different social groups’ feelings of belonging to the Mamluk community as well as to the formation of identity awareness. This study aims to examine the ranks the civil elite of the Mamluk period held in various scholarly and bureaucratic positions and the contribution of the texts they produced to the development of a Mamluk identity. Contrary to previous processes, the Mamluk ulama displayed a more conscious understanding of the Mamluk identity in their texts about the history of the Mamluk state and power. This study discusses how the ulama, who obtained scholarly or bureaucratic ranks because of various relationship networks they formed, constructed a Mamluk identity in their historical texts.

Interior design and furniture in traditional dwellings in the old towns between modernity and preservation of cultural heritage (a special case in the old city of Hebron)

This paper discusses the repercussions, challenges, and conditions imposed by the living occupancy in traditionaldwellings with the signature spatial organization in the old cities in general and in the Old City of Hebron/Palestinein particular. moreover, this paper examines the interior design of these dwellings in terms of floors, woodenfurniture fixed or movable, facilities such as bathrooms and kitchens, the distribution of furniture and its shape anddesign, furthermore, illustrate the problem that is caused by living in traditional dwellings built in ancient time,containing patterns of spatial designs that were of use in the past but no longer suit the current needs of theinhabitants and modernity. many building foundations in this paper go back to the Mamluk period, However, therest of them goes back to the Ottoman period. This paper aims to study the possibility of adapting the characteristicsand components of traditional dwellings and formulate new models and solutions that enable the inhabitants of thesedwellings to live in them while providing comfort and well-being without having to resort to the destruction andtotal removal of the internal components or replacing them with the modern style, which may not suit the aestheticsand structural feature. in addition, maintain its heritage value, by applying several measures that ensure the bestresults, within an objective analytical methodology including identifying a few selected models of traditionaldwellings, conducting a study, and inheriting it, to reach results advancing the preservation of the cultural heritageand achieving sustainability.

The Arts of the Lance and Other Mamluk Manuscripts in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Abstract This article provides a description of an Arabic manuscript found among the few manuscripts from the Mamluk period that are kept at the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest. The manuscript contains a work on the arts of the lance by Ḥusām al-Dīn Lāǧīn al-Ṭarābulusī (d. 738/1338), one of the foremost experts in furūsiyya and, more particularly, on the topic of mayādīn. After giving information about the collection, including the other Mamluk manuscripts kept there, the article provides a detailed description of the work entitled Kitāb tuḥfat al-muǧāhidīn fī l-ʿamal bi-l-mayādīn.