IFAO

Dans la littérature soufie du Moyen Âge, on rencontre fréquemment le terme « lignage » employé de manière métaphorique pour qualifier une relation de dépendance spirituelle. Le cheikh était représenté sous les traits d’un père spirituel, parfois même sous ceux d’une mère, pour ses disciples. Dans l’Égypte de la fin du Moyen Âge, cependant, de plus en plus de cheikhs soufis associaient lignage spirituel et lignage biologique : le soufisme était devenu une affaire de famille. À ce titre, les écrits de ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Šaʿrānī montrent à quel point la communauté tout entière d’une zāwiya était pensée comme une maisonnée. Le cheikh était devenu le chef de cette maisonnée et présidait à l’existence de ses disciples masculins, lesquels gouvernaient à leur tour leurs familles. À partir du xvie siècle, les cheikhs exercèrent ainsi une autorité patriarcale sans précédent sur leurs disciples et leurs familles.

Mots-clés : soufisme – genre – ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Šaʿrānī – lignage – autorité patriarcale – zāwiya

In medieval Sufi texts, one often encounters the term “lineage” used in a metaphorical sense to indicate a relationship of spiritual dependence. The shaykh is portrayed as the spiritual father, or even mother, of his disciples. In late medieval Egypt, however, it was increasingly the case that Sufi shaykhs combined spiritual and biological lineage. Sufism was a family affair. Moreover, the works of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Šaʿrānī demonstrate that the entire community of a zāwiya was conceptualized as a household. The shaykh became the head of this household, and presided over the male disciples, who in turn governed their families. By the 16th century, shaykhs held unprecedented patriarchal authority over their disciples and their families.

L’histoire des Yūnīnī – des hanbalites originaires de la région de Baalbek – est assez bien documentée dans les sources arabes des viiie/xive et ixe/xve siècles. Elle peut être intéressante à étudier sous l’angle de l’histoire familiale car elle est représentative, d’une part, des liens qui s’établissaient souvent entre maîtres et élèves sur le mode familial des relations pères-fils et, d’autre part, de l’importance de l’héritage familial dans la transmission du savoir dont les femmes n’étaient pas exclues. Enfin, elle nous renseigne sur les stratégies matrimoniales qui tantôt privilégiaient le modèle du mariage entre cousins germains et tantôt visaient à resserrer des alliances avec d’autres grandes familles d’oulémas, voire avec des familles d’émirs.

Mots-clés : Famille – Syrie – Damas – Baalbek – hanbalites – hadiths – maîtres – élèves – transmission du savoir – femmes – mariages

The history of the Yūnīnī—a Hanbali family from the region of Baalbek—is rather well documented in the Arabic sources of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and is well worth studying from the viewpoint of family history. It is representative of the links between ­teachers and students, which were often compared to relations between fathers and sons. It is also ­indicative of the transmission of knowledge within families of scholars including women. Finally, it tells us something of the matrimonial strategies which sometimes favored the ­marriage between first cousins and sometimes sought to strengthen alliances with other important families of scholars or even with families of emirs.

Le Ǧāmiʿ al-tawārīḫ de Paris (BnF, supplément persan 1113) est une partie de l’Histoire universelle de Rašīd al-Dīn (m. 1318) dédiée à l’Histoire des Mongols. Elle fut illustrée sous le sultan Šāh Ruḫ, fils de Tamerlan dans l’atelier de son fils Bāysonġor Mirza, gouverneur d’Hérat. Le manuscrit est en partie consacré à la représentation des familles mongoles de la lignée des Ilkhanides de Perse, mais son programme iconographique est largement marqué par la quête des origines, du rôle de Čingiz Ḫān comme modèle de chef de clan, de la filiation patrilinéaire et l’importance en politique des femmes de khans. Les miniatures évoquent en filigrane les préoccupations lignagères des Timourides en quête de légitimité dynastique, mais aussi leurs querelles familiales, et, surtout l’affirmation de la branche cadette issue du quatrième fils de Tīmūr, Šāh Ruḫ. L’insistance du peintre sur la glorieuse lignée de Tūluī dont étaient issus les Ilkhanides évoque la nécessité d’une concorde familiale, une image idéale dont les enfants de Šāh Ruḫ pouvaient encore s’inspirer dans les années 1425-1430 pour affirmer leurs prétentions politiques et leur attachement aux traditions mongoles, y compris par le biais des politiques matrimoniales.

Mots-clés : Histoire des Mongols – Čingiz Ḫān – mythes – mariage – Rašīd al-Dīn – Supplément persan 1113 – Tīmūr

The manuscript Ǧāmiʿ al-tawārīḫ of Paris (BnF, Supplément Persan 1113) is part of the Universal History of Rašīd al-Dīn (d. 1318) dedicated to the History of the Mongols. It was ­illustrated during the reign of Sultan Šāh Ruḫ, one of Tamerlane’s sons, in the workshop of his son Bāysonġor Mirza, governor of Herat. The manuscript is partly devoted to the representation of Mongol families of the line of Persian Ilkhanids, but its iconography is largely marked by the quest for origins, the role of Ǧingiz Ḫan as a model of clan chief, the patrilineal filiation, and the importance of khans’ wives in politics. Most of the miniatures evoke the Mongol lineage that show the Timurid quest of legitimacy, and the political growth of Tīmūr’s fourth son lineage. We can observe the insistence of the painter on the Ilkhanids’ lineage and the need of peaceful relations between the members of the same family. Thus, during the years 1425-1430, the miniatures build an ideal image of the ruling family to assert their political claims and their attachment to the Mongolian traditions, including through political marriages.

Le débat qui divise les chercheurs sur la question du mode de succession au sein du sultanat mamelouk d’Égypte et de Syrie (1250-1517) est ancien et très controversé. Le présent article entend y contribuer en proposant une nouvelle perspective, celle de “l’appel à la belle-famille”. En étudiant empiriquement la politique de mariage menée entre 784/1382 et 872/1467 par les sultans mamelouks (de Barqūq à Ḫušqadam) – avec qui se mariaient-ils ? –, l’enquête suggère que bien que n’ayant aucun lien de parenté entre eux, ces sultans étaient néanmoins liés par le mariage. L’article entreprend ensuite d’interpréter cette observation, en analysant les significations possibles de ces liens de mariage. L’argument qui prime est que ces liens matrimoniaux représentent une des nombreuses stratégies visant à la reproduction sociale : en épousant une personne issue de la famille de leur prédécesseur, les nouveaux sultans, entre 1382 et 1467, épousaient en fait un capital symbolique. Ils établissaient de la sorte un lien et une parenté de belle-famille avec leur prédecesseur. En reconstituant ainsi le rôle des femmes mameloukes et des liens matrimoniaux au sein du processus de succession, deux des paradigmes dominants au sein des études mameloukes sont remis en question: la division de l’espace politique selon le sexe et le fondement servile de l’État mamelouk.

Mots-clés : Femmes mameloukes et capacité d’action politique – sultans circassiens – stratégies matrimoniales – mode de succession sultanienne – Impulsion dynastique, de famille étendue et de belle-famille – division de l’espace selon le sexe – fondement servile de l’État mamelouk

The academic debate on the ideas and practices that organized succession to the sultanate of Mamluk Egypt and Syria (1250-1517) is long-standing and vexed. This article adds to this debate by bringing in a novel perspective: the “Family-In-Law Impulse.” First, an empirical identification of whom Mamluk sultans between Barqūq (784 AH/1382 CE) and Ḫušqadam (872 AH/1467 CE) married is presented, suggesting that many of these unrelated sultans were connected nonetheless through marriage. The hermeneutics of this observation are then dealt with, by reviewing the possibilities of what these marital ties might mean. It is argued that they reflect one of many strategies aiming at social reproduction: by marrying into their predecessor’s family, new sultans between 1382 and 1467 married into symbolic capital first and foremost, thus obtaining an “in-law tie” and “in-law pedigree” to a predecessor. By thus reconsidering the role of Mamluk ladies and of marital ties within the Mamluk mode of succession, two dominant paradigms of Mamluk studies are simultaneously challenged: gendered political space and the Mamluk slave state.

Cet article se propose de comprendre comment, au vie/xiie siècle, au Proche-Orient, le guerrier se représente la famille et appréhende les relations et les sentiments familiaux. Les sources montrent que le groupe familial du guerrier, turc, kurde ou arabe, servile ou non, ne se limite pas aux liens du sang. La « maison » du guerrier réunit sa famille de sang, ses proches et tous ceux qui sont à son service.

Les historiographes arabes ont tendance à décrire, à propos de l’esclave militaire (ġulām ou mamlūk) une parenté fictive. En effet, même après son affranchissement, le mamlūk est lié à son ancien maître et aux camarades aux côtés desquels il a été formé. Mais la parenté fictive ne s’inscrit pas dans le temps long. Le sang scelle des liens plus forts encore, et surtout plus durables. Dans tous les cas, la parenté constitue une matrice des rapports sociaux.

Les sources dénotent aussi la complexité des relations intrafamiliales. Dans la classe militaire dominante turque, ces relations sont régies par la violence lorsque les enjeux politiques sont décuplés. Mais ces relations sont aussi marquées par l’amour filial et/ou fraternel. Les souverains turcs et kurdes sont d’ailleurs présentés par les auteurs arabes comme des pères et des époux aimants et responsables. Leur attitude modérée, leur sobriété et leur respect des normes islamiques s’expriment dans le cadre de l’unité familiale, qui apparaît comme le soubassement de la société.

Dans la famille, la femme occupe une place particulière. Dominée, elle ne se conforme pas toujours à l’attitude qu’on en attend. En particulier, les femmes turques exercent parfois un pouvoir politique et militaire. Mais elles ne le font qu’au nom de l’homme auquel elles sont rattachées, père, époux ou fils.

Mots-clés : Famille – guerrier – parenté –relations intrafamiliales – Bilād al-Šām – Miṣr – xiie siècle – mamlūk

This article aimes to understand how, during the 12th century, the Near Eastern warrior imagined the family and apprehended family relationships and family feelings. The sources show that the family group of the warrior (Turkish, Kurdish or Arabic, enslaved or not) is not limited to blood ties. The warrior’s household gathered his blood family, relatives and all those in his service.

Arab historians tend to describe a fictive kinship for the military slave. In fact, the ġulām or mamlūk was linked to his former master even after emancipation. He also kept strong ties with his former comrades, with whom he had been raised. But fictive kinship was not as durable as forged blood ties which were even stronger. In all cases, kinship was a matrix of social relationships.

The sources indicate also the complexity of family relationships. In the Turkish dominant military class, these relationships were governed by violence when political issues were magnified. But these relationships were also marked by filial and, or fraternal love. Arab authors also described Turkish and Kurdish rulers as loving and responsible fathers and husbands. According to them, they were moderate, sober and pious. They respected the Islamic standards within the family unit, which was the bedrock of society.

Women had a special status in the family. They were dominated, but they did not always comply with the attitude that was expected from them. Sometimes, Turkish women had political and military power. But this power was exercised in the name of the man to whom they were attached, their father, husband or son.

This paper deals with the types of residential architecture’s baths (ḥammām) in Taif city by the end of the 13th/19th Century and the beginning of the 14th/20th Century. Taif city still has 13 baths in 4 palaces considered the only residential buildings that still exist from this period; all its components are almost complete and in a good condition of preservation. This study has classified the types of baths throughout their architectural plans, identified each type and determined the local architectural origin. It also highlighted the impacts of the Ottoman, especially Egyptian, models on its architectural and decorative elements. The study also zoom on the methods of supply, heating and detracting water in those baths.

The study ended with many conclusions and recommendations such as: the types included in the study are not purely local architectural heritage in Taif, but they also represent an arrival architectural style which came to Taif, and give a good example for the houses of the aristocratic class in Ḥiǧāz area at this time. We may conclude too that these baths follow two types: the first is the central plan, and the second is what we can call the consecutive plan. The study has recommended that it is necessary to maintain, conserve and restore Taif residential buildings, especially its baths, and reconstruct the missing parts. It is also recommended that recent additions must be removed because some of them have changed the original cases of the buildings.

Judaism had contributed in all the Himyarite foreign relations, during the first quarter of the sixth century, especially with the christian encampment which was led by Byzantine and its religious ally kingdom of Axom which has Abyssinian origins. Both of them supported christianity at Yemen, as a way to pursue their interests in this vital region of the Arabian Peninsula, taking advantage of the large extent of weakness of the Himaritic country at the end of its era.

The efforts of the Jewish king Yūsuf Asʿar (518-525) to resist those foreign ambitions were through christian wide persecution in his country which was manifested in the famous massacre of Naǧrān.

The essence of this article is the publication of two unpublished documents stored in a maǧmūʿ preserved in the ancient Royal Library in Rabāṭ reporting a revaluation of mudd (base unit for measuring capacity up to the prophetic period), the date of this calibration was at (839/1435), by the order of the Merinid vizier Yaḥyā al-Waṭṭāsī.

The analysis approach in this study shows the unity of the Maghreb metrology system, between its three branches (Measure capacity, weight and length measurement). It was based on the grain of barley, common unit between these different branches, like the different units of the Eastern systems, such as the Egyptian system, or the Iraqi one.

Some women have the desire to govern, despite the difficulties. Šaġab, slave for Umm al-Qāsim (Muḥammad b. Ṭāhir’s daughter), gave birth to al-Muqtadir, who took the caliphate at the age of 13 years old. His mother was dominant even in all political matters.