IFAO

The National Library of Cairo, the Royal Library of Copenhagen and the Fayzullah Library of Istanbul have volumes 2, 4, 11, 13, 17, 19 and 20 of a manuscript containing a miniature on the frontispiece of each volume. Recently, the author of this article discovered two new volumes of the same manuscript also written with the hand of Muḥammad b. Abî Ṭâlib al-Badrî between 614-1217/616-1219 at the Royal Library of Rabat which also has two new miniatures unknown by specialists in Arab painting.

This essay deals with Ḥammâdid muqarnas at al-Qal‘â city, located thirty-six kilometres north-east of al-M’sila Tower in Algeria. These muqarnas have been neglected by historians since their discovery during 1908-1967 by the greatest German historian of the muqarnas style, J. Rosintal in the first half of 20th century and his compatriot Yvonne Dold Samplonius currently one of the most well-known specialista in al-Kashi muqarnas.

This article begins with a survey of the opinions of historians of Islamic art about the Ḥammâdid muqarnas ; presentation of excavations and the deteriorating condition of the remains ; interpretation and re-composition of its original order ; and its technical influence on the sites in the Mediterranean, especially those found in Morocco, Andalus and Normand Sicily.

Ritual inscriptions on monuments found on the route of pilgrims through Egypt and the remains of ‘Araqîb al-Baghl in Sinai are significant and rare in type and nature. The evidence presented in this article dates the second comprehensive architectural project on the route constructed during the time of Sultân Qânṣûh Al-Ghûrî and carried out by Prince Khayr Bik Al- Mi‘mâr. The work began at ‘Ajrûd to the north-west of Suez, passed several springs and fountains along the route before finally reaching its destination at Mecca and Al-Medina. The dating of the inscriptions have been subjected to damage both in antiquity and in more recent times.

Therefore, they are of uncertain date. Those who have conducted studies on this topic have attempted to establish chronologies for the dating of these inscriptions include Shmuel Tamari who concluded that the architecture was constructed some time between 914 and 915 H /1508-1509 AD.

The dawâdâr is the official responsible for bearing and keeping the royal inkwell. This office was created by the Seljuqs and it became well known in Egypt in the Mamluk era. During the Bahari period the dawâdâr did not rank among the important amirs, but under the Circassians he became one of the first-ranking amirs of the kingdom. His duties and responsibilities increased to the extend that they were distributed among several amirs ; dawadar kabîr, dawâdâr thânî (second dawâdâr) and so on.

The Circassian Mamluk era witnessed the rise of power and influence of some of the second dawâdâr-s such as : Qurqumâs al-Sha‘bânî, Janibek al-dawâdâr al-thânî and Bardabek al-Ashrafî. Most of the second dawâdâr-s of that period held the rank of amîr tablakhânah but some held the rank of amir of thousand.

This study deals with the subject of police administration during the Ottoman period in Egypt by examining the administrative structure of the police. It focuses on the importance of the roles that policemen played during this period. How did the state appoint them? How were they able to fulfill their roles of maintaining security ? What professional responsibilities were they given?

This research also explores the process by which the police were appointed by the Ottoman administration. Did judges have a role in appointing the police or was their role limited to registering these appointments in court to give them legitimacy ?

Four sources are the most important for the study of diplomatic documents in Arabic from the Islamic period.

1. The official documents :

The official documents are the most important source for the study of Islamic diplomacy. However, before using these sources a distinction should be made between the original and different forms of copied documents.

2. The Inscriptions :

Arabic inscriptions on Islamic monuments are very important sources for researching Islamic documents, because it is possible to prove that some of these inscriptions are typical copies from original documents.

3. Literary documents :

Literary documents are the text of documents in the historical books.

4. The translations :

This research handles a documental study of a document copy registered in the second register of the High-Diwan Registers (al Dîwân al ‘Âlî) housed in the National Archives in Old Cairo (Fustât).

The document reveals the process of investigation and check-up carried out for the maintainance of the Sultan Water Wheels (sawâqî) of old Egypt and the Aquaduct during the Ottoman era in the 12th/18th century, specifically in 1181/1768 during the rule of Muḥamad Râqim Pasha (1181-1182 / 1767-1768).

The importance of this document is in the content of the legal actions of the check-up of each of the Water Wheels and the Aquaduct in order to re-build and clean-up the locations that required doing so, explaining the vital and crucial reasons that had led to this check-up : that is that the water supply ceased to reach the Citadel and it’s occupants as a result of the damage that occurred to sections of both the Aquaduct and the Water Wheels at various locations.

This document explains that this check-up was executed by the order and attendance of the Ottoman Pasha, as well as the attendance of the head judge and the high-ranking officers of the high-dîwân.

From the end of the 4th century BCE, shortly after the foundation of Alexandria, to the dawn of the industrial era in the reign of Mohamed Ali, a canal served the town of Alexandria. Throughout 23 centuries, it allowed for the provision of drinking water as well as the development of the town’s agriculture and industries. Thus it was that Guiseppe Botti could exclaim “faire l’histoire de ce canal, c’est faire l’histoire d’Alexandrie”. To begin this history, the following study endeavours to establish an initial inventory of available sources that can unravel the major phases of the canal’s evolution. We have called it an “ historical geography ” of the canal since, on the ground, the ancient traces have disappeared. The texts of Roman historians and geographers, epigraphic documents, Arab chronicles on which we have depended are dated to between the 1st and 15th centuries of the common era. These documents tell of the work accomplished by the State. However, it is by diving into the body of travellers’ accounts, the largest documentary source, that we can enter into the life of the canal. We can follow the vagaries of its very name and watch its changing course over the centuries while, at the same time, discover the essential elements of which it was composed ; nilometers, quays, locks, bridges and iron grills. Thus, following the flow, we will attempt to present an account of its vitality throughout the eras by looking at the canal’s two principal functions : navigation and the provision of water to Alexandria.

Writing about prisons and prisoners during the time of the Mamluks is a little problematic. The first difficulty is lexicographic : what is the exact meaning of sijn and ḥabs ? The second is legal : nothing is written about prisons as a legal penalty in the Quran. However, Mamluk authors mention many incarcerations during the late period of the dynasty’s rule with numerous details about prisoners (gender, age, social activities, legal status, religion, nationalities and general reasons for imprisonment). Such descriptions create an image of the jails as a great melting-pot. All this information leads to the possible conclusion that everybody was vulnerable and could have been thrown in jail during this period. However, what circumstances might lead to incarceration? Reasons for imprisionment are various. Common examples were for actions punished by ḥudûd (burglary, murders, religious and sexual offences, etc.). Others are more “ subjective ” and are difficult to determine because they are in relation with the authorities, such as the incurring of disfavour without reason. Prison as penalty seems to have been corporal, coercive and used as precautionary measures. If the authors are prolix about the prisoners and their crimes, they are more secretive about the buildings, the imprisonment and the routines of the jail. This makes it difficult to get a real idea of prison life.

This paper examines the universal scope of a peculiar mystical trend, referred to as pietism, vividly seen in Egypt during the 13th-15th centuries and founded by Abraham Maïmonides, the son of the well-known medieval philosopher and physician. The aim of this analysis is to look into and beyond the specificities of this current, after briefly discussing its discovery thanks to the Judeo-Arabic literature left in the Cairo Genizah, its position within the history of Jewish mysticism and its emergence among the Jewish Cairene community at the time of the settlement of Sufi ṭarîqa-s. The specificity of Egyptian pietism is at the crossroads of two religions, Judaism and Islam, and of two languages, Hebrew and Arabic as well as its borrowing from philosophy, esoteric references, cosmology, and trends of thought at the time. The basis of pietism is in Jewish theology and Muslim mysticism, i.e., Sufism : on the one hand, the main Jewish precepts to which those believers remain faithful and on the other hand, Sufi concepts (retained in Arabic) and practices to which they turn to in order to proceed nearer to God. The intermingling of components, far from introducing any kind of antinomy, appears as a way of strengthening the quest for the Divine and as an opportunity to pull mysticism out of one religion and one language, to offer a path to the One for those eager to reach Him.