IFAO

Accorder une protection dans l’Arabie préislamique était souvent lié à l’expression du statut et du pouvoir. Cet article évalue les aspects genrés de la protection afin d’explorer la manière dont la littérature arabe considère l’octroi de protection par des femmes. Cette question a été attestée sous diverses formes : les juristes en ont débattu sur un plan théorique, les chroniqueurs ont inclus des histoires édifiantes dans la biographie du Prophète, et la littérature conserve d’autres épisodes de l’Arabie préislamique et du début de l’ère islamique. Si les juristes ont généralement permis aux femmes d’accorder une protection, les œuvres littéraires ont pris une voie opposée et ont utilisé le trope des actes de protection des femmes pour dénigrer des personnages masculins. Une analyse des femmes protectrices au prisme du genre fournit des éléments intéressants sur le statut de la femme, le rapport aux faits et à la fiction dans la littérature arabe sur le passé arabe.

Grants of protection in pre‑Islamic Arabia were often connected to expressions of status and power. This paper evaluates the gendered aspects of protection to explore how Arabic literature viewed grants of protection by women. The issue was recorded in various ­guises: jurists debated the issue on a theoretical level, historians included relevant stories in the Prophet’s biography, and literature preserves other episodes from pre‑ and early‑Islamic‑era Arabia. While jurists generally permitted women to grant protection, literary works took an opposite track, and employed the trope of women’s acts of protecting to denigrate male characters. A cross‑genre analysis of women protectors reveals intriguing aspects about the status of women and the nature of fact and fiction in Arabic literature about the Arabian past.

كان منح الحماية في شبه الجزيرة العربية قبل الإسلام مرتبطًا بالتعبير عن المكانة والقوة. يُقَيِم هذا البحث الجوانب المتعلقة بجنس مانح الحماية بغاية استكشاف رؤية الأدب العربي للحماية الممنوحة من قبل نساء. وقد سُجلت المسألة بأشكال مختلفة: فالفقهاء ناقشوها على مستوى نظري، والمؤرخون أدرجوا عنها قصصًا بناءة في السيرة النبوية، والأدب حفظ منها حالات أخرى جرت في شبه جزيرة العرب قبل الإسلام وفي العصر الإسلامي المبكر. وفي حين سمح الفقهاء بشكل عام للمرأة بمنح الحماية، نهجت الأعمال الأدبية مذهبًا معاكسًا حيث استخدمت مجاز عهود الحماية الممنوحة من المرأة كوسيلة لذم شخصيات ذكورية وتحقيرها. ويكشف تحليل دور النساء الحاميات من المنظور الجنسي عن عناصر شيقة حول وضع المرأة وطبيعة الواقع والخيال في الأدب العربي حول الماضي العربي.

Dans les villages égyptiens de l’Antiquité tardive et du début de la période islamique, les autorités locales (fonctionnaires villageois ou supérieurs de monastères) pouvaient rédiger des documents qui assuraient une sorte de protection à la personne à qui ils étaient adressés. Jusqu’à présent, environ cent quarante de ces « lettres de protection » et de documents qui leur sont liés ont été publiés, mais on a prêté peu d’attention aux procédures qui menaient à l’émission de ces lettres de protection. La documentation copte conserve pourtant quelques textes qui illustrent ces procédures, en particulier des lettres qui réclament ces documents. L’article propose, à partir de cinq de ces témoins, un réexamen des différentes démarches que les gens pouvaient entreprendre pour obtenir une lettre de protection. L’étude met en évidence l’importance des relations personnelles et le rôle des intermédiaires au sein des communautés, ainsi que la fonction des communications écrites et orales dans le cadre de la procédure.

In the villages of late antique and early Islamic Egypt local authorities, such as village officials or monastic leaders, could issue documents, which promised some sort of ­protection to the ­receiver. Until now, about 140 of these documents—generally referred to as “­protection ­letters”—and documents related to them have been published. Fairly little attention has been paid to the procedure that led up to the production of a protection letter. The Coptic papyrological record preserves testimonies of this procedure, such as letters with requests for protection letters. Through the analysis of five such testimonies, I examine the different steps people could take to obtain a protection letter. These analyses will highlight the importance of relationships and intermediaries in the communities as well as the roles of written and oral communication as part of the procedure.

في قرى مصر في العصر القديم المتأخر وبداية العصر الإسلامي، كان من الممكن للسلطات المحلية، مثل مسؤولي القرى أو رؤساء الأديرة، إصدار وثائق تكفل قدرًا من الحماية لمتلقيها. وحتى الآن تم نشر نحو 140 من هذه الوثائق – المعروفة باسم «كتاب الأمان» – مع وثائق أخرى ذات صلة بها. بيد أن الإجراءات والمساعي التي كانت تؤدي إلى إصدار كتاب الأمان لم تنل إلا القليل من الاهتمام. هذا رغم أن البرديات القبطية تشتمل على شواهد عن هذه الإجراءات، وعلى نحو خاص على رسائل للمطالبة بالحصول على كتاب الأمان. وعبر تحليل خمسٍ من هذه الشواهد، يرمي المقال إلى إعادة دراسة الخطوات والمساعي المختلفة التي كان من الممكن للناس اتخاذها للحصول على كتاب الأمان. وتسلط الدراسة الضوء على أهمية العلاقات والوسطاء داخل المجتمعات، فضلًا عن دور التواصل الكتابي والشفهي في إطار تلك الإجراءات.

Ostrich eggs held great importance among the Arabs before Islam. Their importance also continued after the emergence of Islam, with various uses such as hanging them in religious establishments like mosques, mosuleums or civil buildings such as houses. The eggs were decorated in different ways: inscriptions, paintings and multi-level engravings on their surfaces. These decorations made them valuable gifts for Kings and Caliphs. In this paper, I am studying Ostrich eggs on different levels, from their functional uses to their religious aspects. I am relying on Egyptian museums’ collections which contain unpublished Ostrich eggs. I am also using historical sources which provide important information that has not yet been taken into account.

Documents from the Ḥaram Šarīf are considered to be among the most important historical sources from the Mamluk Jerusalem society because they provide much documentary evidence covering all aspects of life in this community during that era. Among the most important documents included in this collection; documents on the cases of marriage and divorce in the community of Jerusalem. The document being studied (No. 646) belongs to this group, and includes two marriage contracts and two divorce contracts for a former slave named Zumurrud, who lived in Jerusalem at the end of the 8th century of the Islamic calendar/14th century. Since the case of Zumurrud is one of the few cases of the lower classes that can trace a large part of its family history thanks to the existence of this document, which includes marriage and divorce contracts, in addition to another document registering a third marriage for her, this study attempts to discuss the case of Zumurrud through the publication and discussion of document 646, which appears to be rich in details revealing important aspects of the life of women in Jerusalem during the Mamluk era.

The main purpose of this paper is to edit and study a unique unknown decree of al-Ġūrī (1501‑1516 AD). The document is of great importance for the Diplomatics and History disciplines; especially the Mamluk Studies. This decree has special features that allow us to elaborate the minutes of drafting such documents, and how to use it in writing history. However, the diplomatical study (description of the document, its history at the host archive, and the detailed study of its form and context) showed significant aspects of its content and circumstances. On the other hand, the text sheds more light in al‑Ġūrī era, and the history of the churches, monasteries, and the Coptic community at whole.

On Western Assiut Mountain, the joint expedition of Sohag University, Egypt, Gutenberg University (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) and Berlin University (Freie Universität Berlin), Germany, discovered many kinds of Islamic earthenware and ­pottery, glazed and unglazed earthenware, painted, overlaid ceramics, uni-color glazed ­ceramics, ceramics imitating the art of the Tang Dynasty, Chinese porcelain and imitations thereof. A great deal of research has been conducted on the objects found. This study is part of a series by the author on the Islamic pottery objects discovered on Western Assiut Mountain. Twenty-five fine, Mamluk glazed earthenware objects discovered there are published in the study, indicating the existence of this kind of Mamluk glazed earthenware on Western Assiut Mountain and examining these objects as regards to where they were excavated, their material, their dimensions, their painting and decoration styles, their colors and the kind of decoration thereon, including plant and geometric designs as well as inscriptions. The study also compares these decorations to those found on other artistic pieces from the Mamluk period.

What is interesting for us in this work is to understand the true meaning of the princely city through the Raqqāda model. In this context, we have conducted research using various Orientalist and Arab studies. It is clear from these studies that these royal or princely cities are divided into two categories, or possibly even three. Raqqāda, is one of the two princely cities that were founded in Ifrīqiya during the Aghlabid dynasty. The other is the city of al-ʿAbbāsiyya. The importance of Raqqāda lies in the fact that it constitutes a transitional point and a passage from the palace-villa to the palace-city, and from the open princely city to the closed princely city. This is what we have seen by navigating between historical texts and archaeological data. Raqqāda was not destroyed by the Normans, but by the severe vandalism of the Banū Hilāl. Nevertheless, there are still some archaeological traces that reflect the princely and royal character of this city, and show that its architecture has mixed the ancient heritage with the oriental influences.

إنّ الغاية التي نروم تحقيقها من خلال هذا العمل هو معرفة معنى المدينة الأميرية من خلال نموذج رقادة، ومن هذا المنطلق قمنا بالبحث عنه في مختلف البحوث والدراسات الاستشراقية والعربية. والواضح من خلال هذه الدراسات أنّ هذه المدن الملكية أو الأميرية هي على نوعين أو ثلاثة. ورقادة هي إحدى المدينتين الأميريتين اللّتين تأسّستا في إفريقية في العصر الأغلبي، والأخرى هي مدينة العبّاسيّة. إنّ أهمية رقادة تكمن في كونها تمثل نقطة عبور وتحوّل من القصر-فيلا (الضيعة) إلى القصر-المدينة، ومن المدينة الأميرية المفتوحة إلى المدينة الأميرية المغلقة. هذا ما توصلنا اليه من خلال المراوحة بين النصوص التاريخية والمعطيات الأثرية.

Despite the importance of the financial administrators of Egypt (aṣḥāb al-ḫarāǧ) and their basic role in the administration system in the early Islamic period, historical sources don’t provide sufficient information about them. On the other hand, hundreds of papyri from ­al-Ušmūnayn province still exist. These papyri, especially tax receipts, contain many names and some information about the financial directors of Egypt during the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th centuries. Some of the financial directors are not mentioned in other historical sources, but al-Ušmūnayn Arabic papyri provide some new information about known directors and introduce new ones.

While in the Arab world, the totality of Umm Kulṯūm’s repertoire is currently considered as being “classical” both in the sense of its highly regarded status in the artistic hierarchy as well as that of its propaedeutic value; to which extent does it actually qualify as “art music” and what traces of the Nahḍa school has it retained? Starting from the term waṣla, employed throughout her career to identify a song during a concert, the article presents an appraisal of our present knowledge of the singer’s performance policy, which has greatly increased since the internet diffusion of most of her concerts, in addition to the commercially distributed versions of her songs. It suggests that Umm Kulṯūm’s metric (muwaqqaʿ) and non-metric (mursal) improvisations are the forms in which a continuity between her art and the ­aesthetic principles of the former school of court musicians is best observed. Two renditions of Salū kuʾūs al-ṭilā illustrate the successive vicissitudes of the “traditional” learned form known as qaṣīda ʿalā al-waḥda.