ENCYCLOPEDIA MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PART 17

MALI EMPIRE

  The Mali Empire gained fame from descriptions of Arab authors such as Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun as well as from the fact that the founding of the Empire by Sunjata has been transmitted since the Middle Ages in the so-called Sunjata epic. As Ghana collapsed, Mali established itself as the leading power in the western Sudan, and it was famous for its riches derived from its gold mines. In the fourteenth century, the Mali Empire covered large parts of the African savannah. The heyday of the Mali Empire was either the period of Sunjata (probably the first half of the thirteenth century) or the reign of Mansa Musa (the first half of the fourteenth century). Around 1380, the Mali Empire lost influence to the rapidly growing Songhay Empire. In the Middle Niger, references to the Mali Empire seemed to have faded away occasioned by the rise of the rulers of Se´gou in the seventeenth century. However, it is also possible that the rulers of Mali never had as strong a hold in this area as they did in the Upper Niger region. Currently, the Mali Empire is particularly remembered by the Maninka (Malinke´) who live south of the city of Bamako (the capital of the present-day republic of Mali) and in northeastern Guinea.

  The history of the Mali Empire has not been well documented in contemporary written sources. Most of the few available sources were written either after the heyday of the empire or/and from the perspective of a successor state of the Empire. Current scholarship envisions the Upper and Middle Niger area during the Middle Ages as going through centuries of a trend toward the creation of state organizations with central agencies of redistribution and possessing a majority or monopoly of power and authority, at least episodically, for the duration of one or more regimes. Rulers accomplished centralization by absorbing—first politically through conquest or clientship and then culturally—regions into the Empire.

  Whether Mali was an ‘‘empire’’ depends to a large extent of the definition of the word. Historiographically, the Mali Empire is the most illustrious empire of the medieval west Sudan. To understand the importance of the Mali Empire, a closer look at scholarly interpretations is necessary. The French colonial regime, according to the oral traditions, emphasized Sunjata’s role as the alleged founder of the dynasty of rulers of Mali. Although Sunjata’s name is mentioned in the Arab sources, data about his deeds come from oral accounts that were written down after 1850. These accounts, known as the Sunjata epic (Austen, 1999; Johnson, 2003) narrate Sunjata’s quest for the throne of Mande. He was said to have been sent in exile by his older brother Dankaran Tuman, a weak figure who was subsequently defeated by the sorcerer-king Sumaoro Kante´ of Susu (a kingdom that is not related tothe present-day Soso ethnic group, who live in Guinea). After the occupation of Mande by Sumaoro, the people of Mande sent a delegation in search of Sunjata, a delegation that convinced him to return to Mande. The actual confrontation between Sunjata and Sumaoro Kante´is a wonderful story full of witchcraft and magic. Sumaoro is said to have transformed himself into the rocks near Koulikoro, which is one hundred kilometers east of Bamako. Sunjata thus liberated the people of Mande and became ruler. He gave each family a task in society at a meeting at the plain of Kurukanfugan (five kilometers north of present-day Kangaba, along the river Niger), thus establishing Mande society. Inherent to present-day Mande society is a tripartite division of its population into status categories: noblemen, artisans, and servants: This is a social system that was probably already in existence during the Middle Ages. In the village of Kangaba, every seven years, a ceremonial restoration and reroofing of the Kamabolon sanctuary takes place. During this ceremony, which evokes the imagination of many people in Mali and beyond, the authoritative recitation of the Sunjata epic is performed by thejeliw of the village of Kela. However, this recitation is a ‘‘secret’’ family affair; it takes place inside the sanctuary, and the hundreds of attendees are only allowed to watch the event from a distance. The Kamabolon ceremony is clear proof of the importance of the memory of the Mali Empire in present day historical imagination.

  Inevitably, Arab writers, when writing about the foundation of Mali, refer to the Sunjata epic. Moreover, this narration has functioned for centuries as a political charter for the Maninka (Jansen 2001). Sunjata also has a major appeal to political elites in West African nation states such as Mali (a name chosen by the political elite of Soudan Franc¸ais in the 1950s, at the eve of independence), Guinea, and the Gambia. These countries base national histories on the Sunjata epic, and each considers the Mali Empire its historical predecessor, which sometimes leads to doubtful strategies to appropriate Sunjata into their own nation’s medieval history (Conrad 1994).

  Academic history, which considers the reign of Mansa Musa as the heyday of the Mali Empire, has traditionally emphasized information from written sources. It rejected history reconstructed by the French colonial regime on the basis of its solely oral traditions. However, this academic search for external validity seems to be in the process of falling victim to decreasing popularity, particularly among scholars of African origin, who are in search of a paradigm that may allow for an intensive use of twentieth-century oral tradition for African medieval history (Diawara, 2003). Hence, a politically inspired struggle regarding epistemologies is at the moment of this writing central in the scholarly appreciation of the Mali Empire.

  The position of Islam in the Mali Empire is an issue of academic debate. It is generally accepted that most of the rulers of Mali adhered to Islam. Moreover, longdistance traders adhered to Islam; whether the common people adhered to Islam is not well known. Arab sources suggest that the rulers of Mali had economic interests that were achieved by not striving actively for the conversion to Islam of the local populations; after conversion, these individuals would work less in the gold mines.

Further Reading

Conrad, David C. ‘‘A Town Called Dakajalan: The Sunjata Tradition and the Question of Ancient Mali’s Capital.’’ Journal of African History35 (1994): 355–77.

Diawara, Mamadou.L’Empire du Verbe et L’E´loquence du Silence. Cologne: Ru ¨diger Ko¨ppe Verlag, 2003.

Hopkins, John F.P., and Nehemiah Levtzion.Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Jansen, Jan.Epope´e-Histoire-Socie´te: Le Cas de Soundjata (Mali-Guine´e). Paris: Karthala, 2001.

Johnson, John W.Son-Jara: The Mande Epic, 3rd ed. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 2003.

Levtzion, Nehemia.Ancient Ghana and Mali, 2nd ed. New York: Africana, 1980.

  MALIK IBN ANAS

  Malik ibn Anas was a Medinan jurist whose teachings laid down the foundations of the Maliki school of law. He died in AH 179/796 CE in Medina at the age of eighty-five. He cultivated the study of hadith, fiqh, and qira’a.

  Malik spent most of his life in Medina, where his scholarly activities appear to have been highly valued. In 144/761, the ‘Abbasid caliph al-Mansur entrusted him to transmit the Hassanids of Mecca a demand to hand over the Shi‘i pretenders Muhammad and Ibrahim b. ‘Abd Allah. The mission failed, and, in 145/ 762, Muhammad seized power in Medina. This rebellion seems to have been supported by Malik, because he issued a fatwa declaring that the homage paid to al-Mansur was not binding because it had been given under compulsion. When the rebellion failed, Malik was flogged by the ‘Abbasid governor of Medina, an action that strengthened his religious prestige. Subsequently, Malik came to terms with the government.

  The most important writing attributed to him is the

Muwatta’,although the authorship and chronology

of this book have been the subject of debate. The

Muwatta’consists of a compilation of about two thousand Prophetic reports organized in sixty-one chapters

dealing with questions of ritual(‘ibadat) and legal

transactions(mu‘amalat). Its somehow hybrid character between hadith and fiqh is reflected in the fact that

theMuwatta’is considered a legal textbook as well as—

at least according to some scholars—one of the canonical collections of hadith. As the term Muwatta’suggests, Malik’s compilation was intended to ‘‘level the path’’ to the implementation of justice and law. A distinctive feature of the Muwatta’is the role given to the practice of the people of  Medina, which is put forward as an additional source of law as well as the decisive criterion in the interpretation of Qur’an and hadith.

  Malik had hundreds of disciples who spread his teachings in all directions. The historian Ibn Jaldun mentions three geographical lines in this transmission: (1) Qayrawani; (2) Andalusian; and (3) Eastern (including Iraqi and Egyptian branches).

  Qadi ‘Iyad b. Musa pointed out the existence of twenty different versions of the Muwatta’,the most famous and widespread being the riwaya of the Andalusian Yahya b. Yaya al-Laythi. Worthy of mention are also the transmissions of al-Shaybani, Ibn Bukayr, ‘Ali b. Ziyad, al-Qa‘nabi, Abu Mus‘ab al-Zuhri, Suwayd al-Hadathani, Ibn al-Qasim, and ‘Abd Allah Ibn Wahb. Other relevant names in the spread and early development of Maliki doctrine are those of Ashhab, Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam, Asad b. Furat, Ibn al-Majishun, Mutarrif, Asbagh b. al-Faraj, Ibn Habib, and al-‘Utbi.

  Malik was also venerated as a trustworthy hadith scholar. The names of al-Awza‘i, al-Layth b. Sa‘d, alShafi’i, and al-Thawri stand out from among the mass of scholars who are reported to have transmitted prophetic reports from him.

Further Reading

B. Anas, Malik.Muwatta’ Iman Malik, transl. M. Rahimuddin. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Asraj, 1985.

———.Al-Muwatta’ of Imam Malik ibn Anas: The First Formulation of Islamic Law, transl. A.A. Bewley. London: Kegan Paul, 1989.

Brunschvig, R. ‘‘Pole´miques Me´die´vales Autour du Rite de Maˆlik.’’ Al-Andalus15 (1950): 377–413.

Calder, N.Studies in Early Muslim Jurisprudence. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Cottart, N. ‘‘Maˆlikiyya.’’ In EI 2 Dutton, Y.The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qur’aˆn, the

Muwatta and Medinan Amal. Richmond, Va: Curzon, 1999.

Fierro, M. ‘‘El Derecho Maˆlikı ´en al-Andalus: Ss. II/VIII– V/XI.’’Al-Qantara12 (1991): 119–32.

Hallaq, W. ‘‘On Dating Malik’sMuwatta.’’ UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law 1 (2001–2002): 47–65.

Lagarde`re, V. ‘‘L’Unificateur du Malikisme Oriental et  Occidental a` Alexandrie: Abuˆ Bakr at-Turtuˆsi.’’ Revue de l’Occident Musulman et de la Mediterrane´e31 (1981): 47–61.

Mansour, M.H.The Maliki School of Law: Spread and Domination in North and West Africa, 8th–14th Centuries. San Francisco: Austin & Winfield, 1994.

Melchert, Ch.The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th–10th Centuries CE. Leiden, New York, and Cologne: Brill, 1997.

Motzki, H. ‘‘The Prophet and the Cat: On Dating Malik’s Muwattaand Legal Traditions.’’Jerusalem Studies in Arabic & Islam22 (1998): 18–83.

Mukhtar, Ahmad, al-‘Umar al-Jabruti az-Zayla’, Ibrahim. ‘‘Maliki Scholars and Technical Terms.’’ Available at: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/ malikis.html. Accessed May 24, 2005.

Muranyi, M.Beitra¨ge zur Geschichte der Hadit- und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit der Malikiyya in Nordafrika bis zum 5. Jh. d.H.: Biobibliographische Notizen aus der Moscheebibliothek von Qairawan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997.

Muˆsa ` ‘Iya ˆdb.Tartıˆb al-Madaˆrik wa-Taqrıˆb al-Masaˆlik li-Ma’rifat a’La ˆm Madhhab Maˆlik, 3 vols., ed. A.B. Mahmuˆd. Beirut: Daˆr Maktabat al-Haya ˆt, 1387–1388/ 1967–1968.

Saifullah, M.S.M., Hesham Azmy, and Muhammad Ghoniem. ‘‘On The ‘Versions’ of Malik’s Muwatta’.’’ Available at: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith/ muwatta.html. Accessed May 24, 2005.

Schacht, J. ‘‘Maˆlik b. Anas.’’ In EI 2 Turki, A.M. ‘‘La Ve´ne´ration pour Ma ˆlik et la Physionomie du Maˆlikisme Andalou.’’ In The´ologiens et Juristes de l’Espagne Musulmane. Aspects Pole ´miques, 43–67. Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1982.

MALIKISM

  Malikismis a juridical–religious school the origins of which can be traced back to the teachings of Malik ibn Anas (d. Medina, AH 179/795 CE) as compiled in The Muwatta’. The legal arguments of this legal school are based on the Prophetic traditions(hadith)and the juridical practice (‘amal)of Medina, backed in many cases by Malik’s personal opinion. As is true of other legal schools, Malikis base their doctrine on the Qur’an, Prophetic traditions, and ijma‘ (consensus). Malik was accused of limiting the concept of ijma‘ to the practice of the people of Medina, and he was accused as well of putting this practice on a level with the Prophetic traditions and with the precedents of the Righteous Caliphs and the opinions of the prominent Companions. He was additionally criticized for excessive resort to thera’y(personal judgment) to restrict the application of certain hadiths or even to leave them aside. Finally, another criticism made to him was his application of the analogy (qiyas) to the ijma‘. Malikis of later generations faced these criticisms by making an effort to ‘‘traditionalize’’ jurisprudence, although no significant changes were made in practice. It has to be said as well that diverse tendencies within the Maliki school existed (i.e., Iraqi, Andalusi, and Ifriqi) that were not reunited until the twelfth century. According to the historian Ibn Khaldun, this reunification was possible thanks to the efforts of the jurist Abu Bakr al-Turtushi (d. 1126).

  From Medina, Malik’s doctrines were disseminated in Egypt, Iraq, Khurasan, Syria, Yemen, the Maghrib, al-Andalus, and, much later, in Sudan and the Islamicized areas of the west of black Africa. Currently this is the prevalent legal school in Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Nigeria, and all of the Islamicized areas of sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of theIndian Ocean coastline. Malikism coexists with Ibadiz and Hanafi centers in Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Finally, there are some Maliki groups in the cities of Hijaz and the United Arab Emirates.

Further Reading

Brockopp, J.E.Early Maliki Law: Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam and His Major Compendium of Jurisprudence. Leiden, New York, and Ko¨ln: Brill, 2000.

Brunschvig, R. ‘‘Pole´miques Medievales Autour du Rite de Malik.’’Al-Andalus15 (1950): 377–413.

Cottart, N. ‘‘Malikiyya.’’ In EI 2 Fierro, M. ‘‘The Legal Policies of the Almohad Caliphs and Ibn Rushd’s Bid$ayat al-Mujtahid.’’ Journal of Islamic Studies10 (1999): 226–48.

———. ‘‘Proto-Maliki, Malikis and Reformed Malikis in al-Andalus.’’ InThe Madhhab, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Islamic Legal Studies. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard, 2000.

Jackson, S.A.Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi. Leiden, New York, and Cologne, 1996.

Lagarde`re, V. ‘‘L’Unificateur du Malikisme au XI e et XII e Sie´cles, Abu Bakr al-Turtushi.’’ Revue de l’Occident Musulman et de la Me´diterrane´e31 (1981): 47–61.

Mansour, M.H.The Maliki School of Law: Spread and Domination in North and West Africa, 8th–14th Centuries. San Francisco, Austin, and Winfield, 1994.

Melchert, Ch.The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law, 9th–10th Centuries CE. Leiden, New York, and Cologne: Brill, 1997.

Mu¨ller, Ch. Gerichtspraxis im Stadtstaat Co´rdoba: Zum Recht der Gesellschaft in Einer Malikitisch-Islamischen Rechtstradition des 5./11. Jahrhunderts. Leiden, New York, and Cologne: Brill, 1999.

Muranyi, M.Beitra¨ge zur Geschichte der Hadit- und Rechtsgelehrsamkeit der Malikiyya in Nordafrika bis zum 5. Jh. d.H.: Biobibliographische Notizen aus der Moscheebibliothek von Qairawan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1997.

Powers, D.Law, Society and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300– 1500. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Scholz, P. Malikitisches Verfahrensrecht: Ein Studie zu Inhalt und Methodik der Scharia mit Rechtshistorischen und Rechtsvergleichenden Anmerkungen am Beispiel des Malikitischen Verfahrensrechts bis zum 12. Jahrhundert and Frankfurt: Lang, 1997.

Turki, A.M.Pole´miques Entre Ibn Hazm e Bagi sur les Principes de la loi Musulmanes. Argel, 1973.

Urvoy, D.Pensers d’al-Andalus. La Vie Intellectuelle a` Cordoue et a` Se´ville au Temps des Empires Berbe`res (Fin XI e Sie`cle-De´but XIII e Sie`cle). Toulouse, 1990.

MALIKSHAH

  Malikshah was the third sultan (r. 1072–1092 CE) of the Great Seljuk Empire. Born in 1055, he was a son of Sultan Alp Arslan, who named him his successor in 1066. Malikshah was with his father when he was assassinated in Transoxiana in 1072 and was immediately proclaimed sultan. Alp Arslan’s grand vizier, Nizam al-Mulk, facilitated Malikshah’s succession and retained the vizierate. Nizam was the guiding force behind Malikshah throughout his rule and managed the empire while the sultan expanded its borders and brought it to the height of its power and glory.

  As soon as Malikshah became sultan, his uncle Qavurt, the ruler of Kirman, challenged his rule. Malikshah crushed Qavurt’s revolt in Hamadan in 1074 and executed him. While Malikshah was dealing with Qavurt, the Qarakhanid ruler Shams al-Mulk pushed south from Transoxiana into Tukharistan. The sultan rushed to drive him back in 1073 and 1074, and he then gave his brother Tekish control of Tukharistan. At the same time, Malikshah shored up his borders in the same region against Ghaznavid irredentism. Malikshah returned to suppress a rebellion of Tekish in 1080 and 1081 and again in 1084. In 1089, the sultan invaded Qarakhanid territory, taking Seljuk arms to their farthest point east and forcing the submission of the Qarakhanid ruler of Kashghar and Khotan.

  In the west, Malikshah had to deal with a hostile Georgia, independent Kurdish and Arab emirates, and various Turkmen leaders. He campaigned twice in the Caucasus, during 1078/1079 and 1085, keeping Georgia on the defensive and the Kurds under control. In 1084, he destroyed the Kurdish Marwanid dynasty in Diyarbakr. Meanwhile, various independent Turkmen bands had been forcing back the Byzantine frontier. Malikshah’s cousin Sulayman ibn Qutulmish was the leader of one such group. He captured Nicaea in 1075 and took control of much of western and central Anatolia. Malikshah was suspicious of him and around 1077 or 1078 sent an army to subdue him but without success. Sulayman’s descendants later created the Seljuk Sultanate of Anatolia or Rum, which survived until 1307. For Malikshah, more important than Anatolia were Syria and Jazira. There he strove to ensure that the influence of the Shi‘i Fatimids in Egypt was neutralized, that the major cities were in Sunni Muslim hands, and that the local Arab emirates were obedient. In 1084 and 1085, he campaigned in Syria and reached the Mediterranean.

  Malikshah also devoted some attention to Arabia. Through diplomacy, he had the Friday sermon (khutba)in Mecca changed so that it was given in the name of the ‘Abbasid caliph rather than the Fatimid. In 1076/1077, one of his commanders invaded the eastern coast of Arabia as far as Bahrain, attacking the Shi‘i Qarmathians en route. Around 1091 or 1092, he sent a force to Yemen, which briefly occupied it and Aden.

  Malikshah used Isfahan exclusively as his capital until his second trip to Baghdad in 1091, when he decided to make that city his winter capital and began large-scale building projects there. He generally excluded the ‘Abbasid caliphs from affairs of state. Nizam al-Mulk had the task of enforcing Seljuk policy toward the caliphs. In 1087, he arranged a marriage between the caliph al-Muqtadi and a daughter of Malikshah. Relations between the sultan and caliph cooled, however, and, by 1091, Malikshah was planning to depose al-Muqtadi. Nothing came of this, because, in 1092, less than two months after Nizam al-Mulk was assassinated, the sultan suddenly died of fever. He was buried in Isfahan. At his death, the empire plunged into turmoil as his sons struggled for the throne.

  Malikshah managed to unite most of the heartland of the Middle East, from Transoxiana to Syria, into one state, although this unity did not survive him. More important, he gave his full support to a revival of Sunnism, ensuring its triumph over Shi‘ism. This revival was carried out on two fronts: one military and the other ideological. The sultan continuously campaigned to forcefully crush centers of Shi‘ism; generally he was successful, but pockets of it persisted in remote areas. The Isma‘ili propagandist Hasan-i Sabbah, for example, seized the fortress of Alamut in the Alburz mountains in Iran in 1090. At the same time, Nizam al-Mulk promoted Sunnism with the full financial and political resources of the state. He was especially renowned for establishing colleges of Sunni law (the Nizamiyya madrasas) in most of the major cities of the empire; these colleges flourished and had a lasting effect on Islam.

Primary Sources

Ibn al-Athir. The Annals of the Saljuq Turks, transl. D.S. Richards. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.

Din Nishapuri, Zahir, al-.The History of the Seljuq Turks, transl. Kenneth Luther. London: Curzon, 2001.

Further Reading

Bosworth, C.E. ‘‘The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (AD 1000–1217).’’ InThe Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, ed. J.A. Boyle, 1–202. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1968.

MAMLUKS

  The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria (1250– 1517 CE) had its origins in the tempestuous middle decades of the thirteenth-century eastern Mediterranean region: the Ayyubid confederation, founded by Saladin in 1169, was troubled by intrafamily conflicts across the lands it controlled in Egypt, Syria, and upper Mesopotamia; the remnants of the Latin Crusader states were clustered around the Levantine port cities of Acre, Tripoli, and Antioch; and hostile Mongol armies were advancing from the East. In the face of challenges from fellow Ayyubids, al-Malik al-Salih Ayyub, the last major Ayyubid ruler of Egypt (r. 1240–1249), had recruited a corps of approximately eight hundred to one thousand military slaves (mamluks; literally ‘‘owned’’) to serve as a loyal bastion of his military forces (see Slavery, Military). These mamluks were referred to in the sources as either the ‘‘Bahri’’ corps (so named because their barracks were on an island in the river Nile [bahr alNil]) or the ‘‘Salihi’’ mamluks after their king’s royal title. They subsequently played a key role in defeating the Egyptian Crusade of King Louis IX of France in 1248 through 1250. Al-Malik al-Salih Ayyub died during that campaign, and shortly thereafter his Mamluks murdered Ayyub’s son and heir, who had threatened their lives and positions.

  During the ensuing turbulent decade, this Mamluk corps fought with Ayyubid forces and each other. After they had consolidated their control of Egypt, they faced a Mongol invasion of Syria mounted after the latter’s sack of Baghdad in 1258. An army led by these Salihi Mamluks and the Mamluk Sultan Qutuz (r. 1259–1260) defeated Mongol forces at ‘Ayn Jalut in northern Palestine in 1260. On the return journey to Egypt, the Salihi Mamluk Baybars I assassinated Qutuz and became sultan.

  Baybars (r. 1260–1277) was the true establisher of the Mamluk Sultanate, which soon became the major power in the eastern Mediterranean region. Under Baybars, the Mamluks established control over the Ayyubid Syrian provinces and began a concerted effort to eliminate the Crusaders from the eastern Mediterranean littoral; this goal was achieved by 1291. Until the mid-fourteenth centzury, the sultanate was engaged in a protracted struggle on its eastern borders with the Il-Khanid Mongols. The Mamluks then survived the campaigns into Syria by Timur at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and they later struggled with the Ottomans on their northern borders. The sultanate was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517, and, although their Mamluk system of rule ended, memories of  Mamluk ideals and legacies played a subsequent role in the politics and society of Ottoman Egypt.

  The Salihi Mamluks and their successors established a ruling system that was based on militarily defined ranks. Although actual practice over the more than two and half centuries of Mamluk history was often different, ideally the Mamluk sultan was at the top of a hierarchy of ranks and responsibilities zopen only to mamluks. Mamluk society valued loyalty to both the master who purchased, trained, and supported an individual mamluk and to the group of fellow mamluks belonging to that master. Because both the sultan and leading mamluk amirs (holders of military rank) would purchase mamluks of their own, the jockeying for power among the resulting factions was complex and frequently violent. A typical mamluk career might begin in the cavalry ranks and then progress through the posts of Amir of ten (number of mamluks in his retinue), Amir of forty, and Amir of one hundred. In addtion to these promotions, a mamluk might receive positions in the military-political administration, from offices in the court to appointments as governors of towns or cities to commander of the army or even viceroy. As rank and position increased, a Mamluk would count on receiving aniqta’(a right of revenue from agricultural districts of varying size and wealth). Detailed land surveys were carried out early during the Mamluk sultanate to aid in the process of revenue determination and iqta’ distribution. Although rewards would increase with higher rank, so to would risk. The Mamluk chronicles frequently relate the confiscation of wealth, imprisonment, and/or death of Amirs who had fallen from favor.

  As freeborn Muslims, the sons of  Mamluks, known collectively as awlad  al-nas(‘‘sons of the people’’; i.e., the sons of those who matter), were to be excluded from this ruling system. It frequently occurred, however, that Mamluk Sultans attempted to bequeath office to their sons. Although it appears that there were family dynasties of sultans—the largest and most famous being the descendents of al-Malik al-Mansur Qalawun (r. 1280–1290)—most of these rulers were essentially place holders, controlled by leading Mamluk amirs who were themselves maneuvering to claim the throne. A notable exception to this was al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, whose third reign (1309–1340) is often described as the zenith of Mamluk power.

  The leading cities of the sultanate, Cairo and Damascus, were centers of learning in the medieval Islamic world. Both sultans and leading amirs patronized the construction of mosques, madrasas, hospitals, convents, dormitories, tombs, and other structures, many of which still survive. Financial support for these institutions and those who worked in them was often detailed in endowment deeds(waqfs). These legal documents would typically identify the revenue sources dedicated for the expenses of the institution. One result of Mamluk patronage of the religio-educational segment of society was the composition of large number of works in many genres. Large numbers of texts survive and provide a wealth of primary source material unparalleled in other Muslim states of the time.

  The revenue needed to cover the expenses of the zMamluk military system and to provide this high level of patronage came from many sources. The first and mzost important was the income generated by the tremendous agricultural fertility of Egypt; a second was the revenue generated from trade. The Mamluk domains were astride the lucrative trade routes linking the Mediterranean region to the Indian Ocean and points east. Mamluk Cairo and the Syrian coastal cities were thus hubs of commerce attracting goods and merchants from far beyond the Mamluk borders, many of whom did their business in commercial buildings constructed by the order of Mamluk sultans.

Primary Sources

Holt, P.M.The Memoirs of a Syrian Prince: Abu’l-Fida, Sultan of Hamah (672–732/1273–1331). Wiesbaden: Franz Steinder Verlag, 1983.

Lyons, U., and M.C.Ayyubids, Mamelukes, and Crusaders:Selections from the Ta’rikh al-Duwal wa’l-Muluk of Ibn alFurat, vol. 2. Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons Ltd, 1971.

Ibn Sasra.A Chronicle of Damascus, 1389–1397, vol. 1, ed. and transl. William M. Brinner. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963.

Ibn Taghri Birdi.History of Egypt, 1382–1469 AD, Translated from the Arabic Annals of Abu l-Maha ˆsin ibn Taghrıˆ Birdıˆ, 8 vols., transl. William Popper. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1954–1963. University of California Publications in Semitic Philology, vols. 13–14, 17–19, 22–24.

Further Reading

An extensive bibliography of Mamluk History is available online at: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/su/mideast/ mamluk/. The reader may also consult the journalMamluk Studies Review, which was published annually from 1997 and biannually since 2003.

Ayalon, David.Studies on the Mamluks of Egypt (1250– 1517). London: Variorum Reprints, 1977.

———.The Mamluk Military Society. London: Variorum Reprints, 1979.

Holt, P.M.The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from Eleventh Century to 1517. London: Longman, 1986.

Irwin, Robert. The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250–1382. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986.

MA’MUN, AL

  -‘Abd Allah al-Ma’mun was the seventh ‘Abbasid caliph (r. 813–833 CE). He assumed office after a brutal civil war against his brother, Muhammad al-Amin, shortly after the death of their father, Harun alRashid (d. 809). Al-Rashid’s controversial succession arrangement had designated Muhammad as caliph and ‘Abd Allah as governor of Khurasan. The ensuing conflict, informed by a debate about relations between Baghdad and the provinces and fueled by sibling antagonism and provocative gestures on the part of both brothers, led to an early rout (811) of al-Amin’s forces by Tahir ibn al-Husayn (d. 822) and the subsequent assassination of al-Amin (813) in Baghdad. Years of fighting in and around the capital followed. This second round of upheaval undercut central authority in nearly every province. It was sparked by opposition to al-Fadl ibn Sahl (d. 817), al-Ma’mun’s chief advisor, and al-Ma’mun’s nomination of ‘Ali al-Rida (d. 817) as his successor (Al-Rida, an ‘Alid notable, became in due course the eighth imam of the Twelver Shi‘is). The latter decision, which was quickly reversed, appears to have been an effort by al-Ma’mun to mend fences with the ‘Alids and their supporters.

  Relative calm in Iraq was established with alMa’mun’s return to Baghdad (818–819). Efforts in Syria and Egypt by ‘Abd Allah ibn Tahir (d. 844), followed by further campaigns (including that in Egypt led by al-Ma’mun’ himself ), contributed to the restoration of central control over most of the empire. The Tahirids and a mix of new Iranian, Central Asian, and Turkish forces recruited by alMa’mun and his influential brother, Abu Ishaq, largely replaced the Khurasani forces that had brought the dynasty to power decades earlier. (Abu Ishaq was to succeed his brother, adopting the regnal title alMu‘tasim, in 833). These forces took part in campaigns on the Byzantine frontier, an effort to which al-Ma’mun devoted considerable energy. The period also witnessed a difficult conflict against the Zutt (a community of north Indian origin) in southern Iraq as well as turmoil in Khurasan. It was in relation to the latter troubles that the Tahirid family consolidated control over Khurasan.

  The eldest of al-Rashid’s sons, al-Ma’mun had received a classical education in Arabic, literature, the arts, and the Islamic religious sciences. His long reign, which was marked by a devotion to culture, is associated with two specific initiatives. The first was the Arabic translation of pre-Islamic works from Greek, Persian, Syriac, and Sanskrit. The effort, which was begun under the later Umayyads and then accelerated by the second ‘Abbasid ruler, Abu Ja‘far al-Mansur, became a hallmark of al-Ma’mun’s reign. The effort, which provided Arab/Islamic urban culture with an array of vital works of science, medicine, philosophy, political theory, and literature, paved the way to a remarkable interplay of Hellenistic, Iranian, and Indian ideas with Arab/Islamic thought. The second initiative, which occurred very late in al-Ma’mun’s reign, was closely associated with the Mu‘tazili chief qadi, Ahmad ibn Abi Du’ad (d. 854). The Mihnah, a campaign in which leading Muslim scholars were required to declare support for the doctrine of the ‘‘createdness’’ of the Qur’an, was probably rooted in al-Ma’mun’s desire to bring weight to the religious authority of the caliphate.

Further Reading

Kennedy, Hugh.The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates,2nd ed.  Harlow, UK: Pearson Education Ltd., 2004. Rekaya, M. ‘‘Al-Ma’mun.’’ InThe Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed.

MANSA MUSA

  By the fourteenth century, when the Mali empire reached its peak under the rule of Mansa Musa (also called Kankan Musa; r. 1312–1327 CE), Mali’s reputation had spread throughout the Muslim world, not only because of commerce in gold, slaves, and other commodities but also because of the ruler’s impressive pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324/1325. There is no direct eyewitness of this pilgrimage, but most often referred to is al-‘Umari’s report from 1337, according to which Mansa Musa was accompanied by an entourage of thousands. An oft-quoted anecdote reports Mansa Musa’s generous gifts of gold during his stay in Cairo, which resulted in the huge inflation of the local gold price. Writers of later chronicles (e.g., Ibn Khaldun, Mahmud al-Kati) drew on al-‘Umari, Ibn Battuta, and oral sources. It is of note that, although Ottoman reigning Sultans did not go on pilgrimage, they often made lavish endowments to the Holy Places, and there is a long tradition of royal pilgrimages in West Africa. Although Mansa Musa certainly struck the imagination of many generations after him, there is no direct evidence of his exploits in present-day West African oral tradition. However, it has often been suggested that the tradition of Nfa Jigin’s pilgrimage to Mecca and his subsequent return with the amulets that are currently preserved in Komo secret societies was inspired by Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage.

Further Reading

Hopkins, John F.P., and Nehemiah Levtzion.Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Masonen, Pekka.The Negroland Revisited—Discovery and Invention of the Sudanese Middle Ages. Helsinki, The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 2000.

MANUSCRIPTS

  Islamic civilization, perhaps like no other, is a civilization of the book. Indeed, books were copied by hand for more than thirteen centuries in the main Islamic lands, and there are still places in the Islamic world where this activity is very much alive. The number of surviving manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish may be estimated at several million. The manuscript age produced a wealth of literature that covered the whole spectrum of the traditional branches of knowledge. The development of the early Islamic book culture, however, is closely connected with the Judeo-Christian culture of the Near East.

  The speedy development of many Islamic disciplines was due to one major factor: the codification of the Qur’an. After the revelation given to Muhammad  s.a.w was codified in book form, the Qur’an became a model for the scribe; any innovations therefore in the way it was transcribed and embellished had repercussions on Arabic book production as a whole.

  Despite the occasional destruction of books by natural or manmade disaster, early Arab authors often boasted about the number of books in circulation during their time. There was a tendency in medieval Islam to constantly create new disciplines and subdisciplines; this fact becomes evident just by looking at the great variety of types of compositions: short or long, original or abridged, commented on or glossed, versified or paraphrased.

  As the intellectual output grew, it was necessary to compile lists of books in circulation, catalogs of collections, and records of study. Much of the output of this early period is documented in the well-known book catalog al-Fihristby Ibn al-Nadim (d. AH 380/990 CE), which lists no fewer than 5,970 titles of books that were known or circulating during the author’s time.

  Medieval Islamic manuscripts were made in two different forms: the roll and the codex. The type of roll used was the rotulus (which opens vertically and in which the writing of the text runs perpendicular to the length of the roll) as opposed to the volumen (which opens horizontally).

  Although most of the Arabic papyri containing literary texts survive as leaves or fragments from codices, rotuli were also used as a vehicle for their copying. A good example here is the work of ‘Abd Allah ibn Lahi‘ah (d. 174/790), which was made in roll form and preserved in Heidelberg, Germany. Again, although parchment was used more often for the codex, there are some early rotuli fragments of the Qur’an on parchment that have survived. The roll was also used for pilgrimage certificates, amulets (sometimes containing the complete text of the Qur’an), and calendars.

  The vast majority of medieval manuscripts, however, were made as codices, consisting of one or a number of quires and each containing one or usually several folded sheets (bifolia). A typical medieval quire was made by nesting the folded sheets, and it consisted of either ten leaves (quinion) or eight leaves (quaternion).

  Most of the non-Qur’anic codices from the medieval period were bound in a traditional binding that was characterized by a pentagonal flap that rested on the front of the text block (under the upper cover) and that had a dual function: to protect the fore edge and to serve as a bookmark.

  To ensure the correct sequence of gatherings and leaves, signatures (numbering of quires), foliation (numbering of leaves), or catchwords were used, although parchment Qur’ans copied in the ancient scripts never had signatures, and neither did many non-Qur’anic manuscripts.

  Originally the quires were marked using the alphanumeric notation (abjad; until the end of the sixth/ twelfth century) or Greco-Coptic numerals. Later (i.e., the second half of the fifth/eleventh century), the number of the quire came to be spelled out in full letters. In medieval and later manuscripts, the word juz’or kurrasah (quire) accompanied by a numeral was used. The usual position of the signature was the top left-hand corner of the first folio of each quire.

  It appears that the use of catchwords goes back to the beginning of the third/ninth century (and not, as previously thought, to the early fifth/eleventh century). In some manuscripts, there are no catch words (properly speaking) in the form of isolated words at the bottom of the recto (i.e., page a). Instead, the last word or words of the bottom line of the verso (i.e., page b) are repeated at the beginning of the top line on the recto of the next leaf. Most codices and especially early Arabic ones were not foliated. The practice of foliation seems to have been uncommon until some time after the introduction into the Arab world of the Indian numeric symbols, around the fourth/tenth century.

  Although various writing surfaces were used by the early Arabs, papyrus and parchment were the materials most extensively employed during the first centuries of Islam. Furthermore, it seems that most (if not all) Qur’ans were copied on parchment, perhaps following the Jewish tradition of copying the Torah on kosher parchment. On the other hand, the majority of non-Qur’anic medieval manuscripts were written on paper, originally made locally and later (from the eighth/fourteenth century) imported from Europe (mainly Italy).

  Most of the non-Qur’anic compositions followed a more or less standard pattern of presentation of the text. Almost invariably all texts began on the verso of the first leaf of the text block with the superscript basmalah and ended traditionally with a colophon. To guide the scribe’s hand on the line, a ruling board (mistarah) was often used. Like many Western medieval manuscripts, Islamic manuscripts feature rubrics and abbreviations; the latter are often marked with a tilde. The text on the page is mostly justified and is often provided with a frame or a rule border. To justify the left-hand margin, the scribe would use different devices such as elongation or contraction of horizontal strokes within words, as well as word superscription. Rubrics were used extensively for chapter headings, keywords, text commented on or glossed, and abbreviations. Significant sections or elements of the text were also marked by marginal notabilia (side heads).

  Deluxe copies of the Qur’an and commissioned non-Qur’anic manuscripts were often illuminated and sometimes especially in the Turkish and Iranian/Indian contexts illustrated. The painted decoration often consisted of double-page frontispieces and finispieces (especially in Qur’ans), or title, head, and tail pieces. The incipit page was a favorite area for decoration during the later medieval period.

  The colophons were usually written in the language of the main text. However, Persian and Turkish manuscripts were often provided with colophons in the Arabic language (and vice versa). Also, in wellexecuted manuscripts, colophons are often written in a different script and may have been illuminated. For example, in Iran during the eighth/fourteenth and ninth/fifteenth centuries, colophons were often written in ta’liq script; from the ninth/fifteenth century onward, they were written in riqa’ or tawqi’/riqa’, nasta’liq, and shikastah nasta’liq scripts.

  Apart from a traditional use of the Muslim date, manuscripts were also dated by feasts, regnal years (anno regni), fractions, and various non-Muslim calendar systems, although the dates were sometimes presented in the form of chronograms or chronosticons (using the alphanumeric values of the alphabet).

  Except for deluxe copies of the Qur’an, most medieval manuscripts were copied in informal hands that are broadly referred to as naskhi (naskh-related) And maghribi.Also, many that have survived can be characterized as scholarly hands that were greatly influenced by various chancery scripts and styles.

  Throughout the Middle Ages, knowledge was passed on from teacher to pupil in the way that was characteristic of Islamic teaching. The collation of texts and its importance well-known in the GrecoSyriac tradition came to be recognized as essential to the accurate transmission of the religious sciences. Many texts of the medieval period (especially those involving the religious disciplines) were transmitted through dictation in front of sometimes very large audiences. Texts were studied in circles and authenticated by means of granting audition certificates (sama’at).

  Naturally, as a result of the transmission of works through dictation, holographs, whether drafts or fair copies (i.e., texts written entirely in the author’s hand), were extremely rare during the first four Muslim centuries. Drafts, if they existed, did not have the same academic value as an authorized text; their value was more appreciated by bibliophiles than scholars. However, not all books were collated: Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, for instance, writing during the middle of the fifth/eleventh century, complained about the widespread neglect by scribes of collation and of the verification of a text’s accuracy.

  Most of the errors made in the process of copying were involuntary omissions. In well-executed manuscripts, they were marked by a signe de renvoi (reference marks), which has its origin in the Greek lambda. Some texts were heavily glossed using interlinear space and margins.

  With regard to the present knowledge of the extant corpus of Islamic manuscripts, there is no fragment or codex with a non-Qur’anic text that can be attributed to the Umayyad period (41–132/661–750) or earlier. There are no dated manuscripts from the period before the third/ninth century, and those that are datable on paleographic grounds are mainly Qur’anic fragments in Hijazi and early ‘Abbasid  scripts. There appear to be no more than forty datable manuscripts from the third/ninth century; in this figure are included eleven Christian manuscripts and a number of Qur’anic fragments. Furthermore, there are only some 530 dated or datable manuscripts from the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries.  he overwhelming majority of manuscripts that have survived span the period from the sixth/twelfth century to the end of the thirteenth/nineteenth century, with most of them belonging to the late Islamic period (tenth/sixteenth–thirteenth/nineteenth centuries).

  Most of the surviving Arabic codices are written on parchment and paper, although papyrus was also used for their production during the first centuries of Islam. The oldest surviving papyrus codex, dated 229/844, contains the work Hadith Dawud by Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 110/728). The second oldest, copied before 276/889, is theJami’ fi al-Hadithby ‘Abd Allah ibn Wahb (d. 197/812). Most of the surviving manuscripts on parchment are Qur’anic fragments. There are a few large fragments of the Qur’an in codex form written in Hijazi scripts and therefore datable to the second half of the first/seventh or early second/ eighth century. Some fourteen parchment fragments of the Qur’an are safely datable to the third/ninth century. The earliest non-Qur’anic codex written on parchment is a portion of Siyar al-Fazari dated 270/883; the oldest dated codex written on paper is Gharib al-Hadith by ‘Abu ‘Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam (d. 224/838), which was executed in 252/866 and is preserved in the library of the University of Leiden.

Further Reading

De´roche, Franc¸ois, et al.Manuel de Codicologie des Manuscrits en Ecriture Arabe. Paris: Bibliothe `que Nationale de France, 2000.

Gacek, Adam.The Arabic Manuscript Tradition: A Glossary

of Technical Terms and Bibliography. Leiden and Boston: E.J. Brill, 2001.

———. ‘‘Technical Practices and Recommendations Recorded by Classical and Post-classical Arabic Scholars Concerning the Copying and Correction of Manuscripts.’’ In Manuscrits du Moyen-Orient, 51–60, plates

20–32., ed. F. De´roche. Istanbul and Paris, 1989. Guesdon, Marie-Genevie`ve, and Vernay-Nouri, Annie. L’Art du Livre Arabe: Du Manuscrit au Livre D’Artiste.

Paris: Bibliothe`que Nationale de France, 2001.

Pedersen, J. The Arabic Book, 20–53. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984

MANZIKERT

  Manzikert was a town in eastern Anatolia and the site of the famous battle in 1071 CE between the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes and the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan. Throughout much of its known history, Manzikert had been a fortified Armenian town on a major trade and invasion route between central Anatolia and Iran. It was in Byzantine hands in 1054 when Toghril Beg, the first sultan of the Great Seljuk Empire, unsuccessfully besieged it. Alp Arslan, Toghril’s successor, captured it in 1070. Meanwhile, acting independently, bands of  Turkmen had been raiding Byzantine territory. By 1068, when General Romanus Diogenes became emperor, these raiders had reached the Bosphorus. During his third campaign to put a stop to this growing menace, he set out in March 1071 to capture Manzikert, Akhlat (some thirty five miles to the south), and close major Turkish invasion routes. Alp Arslan learned of this while in Northern Syria and turned to meet him. The emperor had divided his forces between Manzikert and Akhlat; he had just taken the former when Alp

Arslan appeared. Many of the emperor’s foreign mercenaries then deserted (some to the sultan), and the commander in charge of his read guard plotted against him. Outnumbered, Alp Arslan proposed a peace agreement, but Romanus refused to negotiate. During the ensuing battle (probably on August 26th), the sultan defeated and captured the emperor but released him after dictating peace terms. The emperor was deposed while returning to Constantinople. Byzantine defenses collapsed, leaving Anatolia open to large-scale Turkish invasion. Alp Arslan did not, however, order a systematic conquest of  Byzantium; he immediately marched east to face a crisis in Transoxania. Nevertheless, Turkmen tribes began streaming into. Byzantium on their own. Thus began the long process of the Turkification and Islamization of Anatolia.

Further Reading

Vryonis, Speros. ‘‘The Greek and Arabic Sources on the Battle of Mantzikert, 1071 AD,’’ InByzantine Studies: Essays on the Slavic World and the Eleventh Century, ed. Speros Vryonis. New Rochelle, New York: Aristide Caratzas, 1992.

———. ‘‘The Greek and Arabic Sources on the Eight Day Captivity of the Emperor Romanos IV in the Camp of the Sultan Alp Arslan after the Battle of Mantzikert.’’ In Novum Millennium: Studies on Byzantine History and Culture Dedicated to Paul Speck, eds. Claudia Sode and Sarolta Taka´cs. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2000.

———. ‘‘The Battles of Manzikert (1071) and Myriocephalum (1176): Notes on Food, Water, Archery, Ethnic Identity of Foe and Ally.’’ InMe´sogeios22–23 (2004).

MAQQARI, AL

  Al-Maqqari Ahmad b. Muhammad Abu ‘l-Abbas Shihab al-Din, Algerian scholar and polygraph, was born in Tlemcen in AH 986/1577 CE from a prominent intellectual family that traced its origin to the village of Maqqara, near Masila. After an early training in Tlemcen, the young Ahmad moved to Fez in Morocco and then to Marrakech, following the court of the Sacdid sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, to whom he dedicated hisRawdat al-As (The Garden of Myrtle)about the ulemas of Marrakech and Fez. After alMansur’s death in 1012/1603, al-Maqqari established himself in Fez, where he was the imam at the Karawiyyin mosque and led the standard life of a religious scholar. In 1027/1617, he left for the East, possibly after a quarrel with the local ruler, and took his residence in Cairo, where he composed his best-known work,Nafh al-Tib.This work was based on personal recollections and the consultation of a wide array of sources. He performed several pilgrimages to the Holy Sites, and he traveled to other intellectual centers in the East, most notably to Damascus, where he made himself a reputation as a teacher. Al-Maqqari died in Cairo in 1041/1632.

  Although he was a prolific writer about various subjects (at least twenty-four works are ascribed to him), al-Maqqari’s reputation is consigned to his two works of Andalusian matter: (1) Azhar al-Riyad (The Gardens’ Flowers), about a noted Andalusian twelfth-century judge and scholar, Iyad, which offered, in addition to his biography, a wealth of information about Andalusian and Moroccan scholars; and (2) the monumental Nafh al-Tib fi Gusn al-Andalus al-Ratib (The Wind’s Breeze on the Juicy Andalusian Branch), which consisted of two sections—the first one an antiquarian compilation of Andalusian geography, history, and literature and the other a biography of the Granada writer and court secretary Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib (fourteenth century), together with a selection of his administrative and literary writings. The first and most popular part of the Nafh was partially translated into English in the nineteenth century by P. de Gayangos from the manuscripts owned by the British Museum; it was then edited by a pool of eminent orientalists led by R. Dozy, thereby providing a basis for the scholarly research on and the knowledge of the Iberian peninsula under Islamic domination until well into the twentieth century. AlMaqqari’s importance rests, even today, with his use of a multiplicity of sources that no longer exist; he quoted these at length in his two major works.

Further Reading

Azhar al-Riyad fi Akhbar Iyad, ed.S.A. Arab and A.S. alHarras, Rabat 1980. Dozy, R., et al.Analectes sur L’Histoire et la Litte´rature des

Arabes d’Espagne. Leiden, 1855–1861. De Gayangos, P., transl.The History of the Mohammedan

Dinasties in Spain. London, 1840–1843.

Nafh al-Tib fi Gusn al-Andalus al-Ratib, ed. I. Abbas. Beyrut, 1968.

Rawdat al-as.Rabat 1964.

MAQRIZI, AL

  Taqi al-Din Ahmad b. ‘Ali al-Maqrizi (1364–1442 CE) was a noted scholar, author, historian, and occasional civil servant for the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria. Born in Cairo and possibly of descent from the Fatimid dynasty, he spent the majority of his early life in that city. In his forties and after an evidently frustrating career in the Mamluk religious administration in which he held the post of  Muhtasib (among others), he left for an extended teaching sojourn in Damascus. About this time, al-Maqrizi withdrew from public life, quite possibly because of his disillusionment with Mamluk rule (although one of his later works may have been an attempt to gain a new sultan’s attention and influence his policies). Whether this was an active choice by al-Maqrizi or one forced upon him by the vicissitudes of his career, the fact remains that many of his works are noteworthy for their pointed criticism of leading Mamluks, their actions, and their policies.

  Al-Maqrizi is best known today for his works of ta’rikh (history). He may have been inspired to write history by Ibn Khaldun, whom he knew and studied under. He wrote annalistic chronicles (most notably of the Fatimids[Itti’az..al-Hunafa’]and a longer one devoted to the Ayyubid and Mamluk sultanates [Kitab al-Suluk]), biographical works, shorter treatises, works devoted to such topics as criticizing the economic policies of the Mamluks or detailing the differences between the Umayyads and the ‘Abbasids, and a thorough topographical and historical description of  Cairo and its environs(Khitat). His relationships with his contemporary historians most notably al-‘Ayni (d. 1451), who had replaced him as Muhtasib of Cairo at one point seem to have been strained. Regardless of the opinions of his contemporaries, al-Maqrizi’s works have proven to be a major source of information for scholars of the Mamluk Sultanate

Primary Sources

Allouche, Adel, transl.Mamluk Economics: A Study and Translation of al-Maqrizi’sIgathah. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1994.

Broadhurst, R.J.C., transl.A History of the Ayyubic Sultans of Egypt. Translated from the Arabic of al-Maqrizi with Introduction and Notes. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.

Further Reading

Mamluk Studies ReviewVII (2003), ed. Li Guo.

MARINIDS

  The Marinids were the Berber dynasty that ruled Morocco from around 1250 to 1465 CE. Originally affiliated with the Almohad empire, the Marinids (or Banu Marin tribe [Zenata confederation]) began to assert control over the towns of eastern Morocco from the early thirteenth century, crushing an Almohad army in 1216 and eventually seizing Meknes, Fez, and, in 1269, the capital Marrakesh. The reign of Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub (1258–1285) saw the construction of numerous mosques, madrasas (Islamic schools), and official buildings, especially in a newly laid-out capital just to the west of old Fez. During this time, the Marinids, disposing of a Berber cavalry as well as Christian mercenaries and a naval fleet, also began to intervene in Spain in support of the Nasrid emirate of Granada, but they were decisively beaten by Castille at Rio Salado in 1340 and played no part in stemming thereconquistaafter that. They were more successful on the African front, where, after numerous tries, Abu ’l-Hasan ‘Ali (r. 1331–1351) conquered Tlemcen and adjoining regions from the Zayyanids in 1337, ostensibly in support of the Hafsid dynasty of Tunis, whom the Marinids recognized as caliphs. Securing control of the eastern trans-Saharan caravan trade was most likely also a reason, because Abu ’lHasan went on to occupy Tunis itself from 1347 to 1349 before being confronted by an Arab tribal revolt and returning to Morocco, where he was deposed by his son Abu ‘Inan Faris (r. 1348–1358). Abu ‘Inan occupied Algeria and Tunis a second time in 1357 before being turned back by another revolt; after his reign, the Marinids increasingly fell prey to internecine struggles that saw real power exercised by their viziers. This factionalism was exploited by the Nasrids and even more so the Portuguese, who, in 1415, annexed Ceuta. Continued Portuguese encroachment saw the rise of a militant Sufism over the next decades that preceded the reestablishment of  Idrisid Sharifian rule in Morocco. A subsidiary Marinid lineage, the Wattasids, effectively ruled in regency from 1420 until 1465, when a militant mob killed the last Marinid sultan and the Wattasids began to reign in their own name. If the Marinids ultimately failed to recreate the Almohad empire, they are remembered foremost as great patrons of classical Islamic architecture in Morocco and of famous literary figures such as Ibn Battuta (d. ca. 1368) and Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406).

Further Reading

Julien, Charles-Andre´. Histoire de l’Afrique du Nord : Des origines a` 1830. Paris: Payot, 1951.

Kably, Mohammed.Socie´te ´, Pouvoir et Religion au Maroc a` la fin du ‘‘Moyen-Age’’: (XIVe-XVe Sie`cle). Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1986.

MARRIAGE, ISLAMIC

  Marriage in Islam finds mystical, sociolegal, and cultural expression. The Qur’an states that, although God generally created everything in pairs (e.g., 51:49), He created the human being first from a single

soul in His divine Presence and then fashioned it into a pair (4:1, 75:39, 39:6, passim). In mystical terms, it becomes the constant quest of the masculine and feminine aspects of this single soul to reunite so that they return to the state of completeness of the first moment of creation, when the soul was in close proximity to the divine and unaware of separate existence. This quest is facilitated through the mutual attraction of male and female. According to verse 30:21: ‘‘And of His signs is that He created for you mates from amongst yourselves, that you might dwell with them [in comfort and tranquility], and He has placed between you love and mercy.’’

  In sociolegal terms, the union of male and female finds expression in the institution of marriage. A civil contract in form, marriage differs from the ordinary contract in that its core elements are religiously determined. Muhammad reformed the pre-Islamic practice of Arab ia with the overall effect of a strengthened nuclear family and an improved status of women relative to his time. Some reforms included a limitation on polygyny and emphasis of women’s status as full legal persons with accompanying property rights. For example, the bride-gift (mahr, sadaq) became one of several pecuniary rights to which the woman was entitled upon marriage. Islamic law regulates the valid conclusion and dissolution of marriage and specifies broad contours of spousal rights and duties. For a valid marriage contract, most Sunni jurists require an offer and acceptance of marriage in the presence of two witnesses with the approval or participation of the female’s guardian. Shi‘i jurists require neither witnesses nor the approval or participation of a guardian. In accordance with classical Islamic law, Muslims jurists still formally permit polygynous marriage, although some Muslim countries have outlawed the practice (e.g., Turkey, Tunisia). Likewise, Shi‘i jurists still permit temporary marriage (mut’a), although Sunni jurists abolished it during the generations after Muhammad s.a.w . Islamic law conceived of divorce as the unilateral right of the husband, and it specified limited ways for a woman to dissolve the marriage. Adherence to Islamic family law has become circumscribed or wholly voluntary, depending on the extent to which a state incorporates that law. Law in most majority-Muslim countries today combines an eclectic hybrid mix of Islamic rules, customary law, and portions of European codes.

  Weddings vary widely according to cultural and local traditions, from the Near East and South Asia to China and the Americas. A simple wedding can entail a private, informal meeting during which a man and woman sign a marriage contract before witnesses. More commonly, weddings are public ceremonies that resemble local traditions and that are modified to retain core Islamic elements. Typically, guests assemble in mosques, in halls, or outdoors to listen to a short sermon (khutba). Then the officiant asks the man and the woman (or her representative) whether they accept the other in marriage and whether the woman accepts the dower offered, which has been typically negotiated before the ceremony. The couple may sign the contract; this may be done symbolically if they have done so before the public ceremony. Finally, the guests participate in a celebratory reception (walima), usually with food, drink, and music.

Further Reading

Abu Zahra, Muhammad. ‘‘Family Law.’’ InLaw in the Middle East: Origin and Development of Islamic Law, eds. M. Khadduri and H. Liebesny, 132–78. Washington, DC: 1955.

Hodgson, Marshall. ‘‘Family Law: Pressure Toward Equality in Personal Status.’’ In The Venture of Islam, vol. 1, 340–4. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Mallat, Chibli, and J. Connors, eds.Islamic Family Law. London: Graham and Trotman, 1990.

Murata, Sachiko.The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Stern, Gertrude H.Marriage in Early Islam. London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1939.