IFAO

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.

This article deals with the prophetology of the philosopher Averroes (d. 595/1198), which appears in his Kitāb al-Kašf ʿan manāhiğ al-adilla fī ʿaqā’id al-milla (Book of the Unveiling of Methods’ Demonstration of the Dogmas of Religion). In this book, Averroes refutes the method the ancient ašʿarites used to demonstrate the existence of prophets and proposes a method he considers demonstrative. My objective in the first instance, is to bring to light the demonstration of Averroes by explaining all the steps of his reasoning, and then I analyze the premises of this demonstration in the light of elements of noetic and political philosophy emanating from other works of Averroes.

In pre-islamic times, some Muslims preferred to bury their deads at home rather than in a cemetery. This custom was widespread in Fusṭāṭ, then in Cairo where tombs spread in houses, prayer rooms and public buildings. Instead of banishing the deads to remote places, they preferred to hide them in places of transit or gathering, like reception rooms, despite the inconvenience caused to the residents. Nevertheless, these inhumations were very often temporary: after some months or years, the corpses were exhumated and transferred to the cemetery or to a new tomb.

The imitation of natural decorative marble using various techniques was used widely in Egypt during the period of Muḥammad ʿAlī family (1805–1952). Samples of imitated marble in different colors and patterns from Sabīl Umm ʿAbbās (1867) and Saʿīd Ḥalīm palace (1901) were studied in order to identify their materials and techniques of preparation. Polarizing microscope (PLM), scanning electron microscopy with the energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used in performing the study. The obtained data of the two studied monuments showed the wide variation in the materials and techniques used. Sabīl Umm ʿAbbās results indicated that the imitation of the white veined marble was executed using several thin layers consisting of many substances. Zincite (ZnO) and cerussite (PbCO3) were used in the white outer finishing layer. Barite (BaSO4), calcite (CaCO3) and gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) were used in the subsurface layers. Animal glue was used as an organic binding media. Saʿīd Ḥalīm palace results show the presence of calcite, gypsum, quartz (SiO2) and tobermorite [Calcium silicate hydrate (4CaO.5SiO2.5H2O)], the latter compound is an indicator of using a mixture of calcite, gypsum, quartz and a binder hydraulic cement in the execution of the veined red imitated marble tiles of the wall casing. Hematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) were used to obtain the red and black colors. The information obtained is needed for conservation purposes in the two studied locations.