IFAO

The Nogay ulus (appanage) seceded from the Golden Horde in the 1390s under the leadership of Edigü, a well known military commander and chief of the Turco-Mongol Mangit tribe. Up until this point Nogay Horde had occupied a vast territory between the Yayik (Ural) and the Lower Volga River. Consequently during the 15th – 16th centuries they became the significant Tatar successor state of the Golden Horde. After the Russian conquest of the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan (1552, 1556), it was only the Nogay Horde and the Crimean Khanate that represented any real danger to the eastward expansion of the Muscovite state. Similar to their Crimean Tatar relatives, by the 16th – 17th centuries the Nogays were able to pursue large scale diplomatic correspondence with Moscow. This correspondence has been mostly preserved within the Russian State Archives of Old Documents (RGADA) in Moscow. Fourteen volumes of the so-called “envoy books” (posol’skie knigi) and thousands of letters written in separate sheets (stolbtsy) are kept in fond 127 of the RGADA archive. Although the material contains numerous contemporary Russian translations of Tatar documents, the originals of which have been lost; a few dozen of the original Nogay letters have survived. These letters are written in Tatar using the Arabic alphabet. The Nogay-Tatar documents of the 16th – 17th centuries, virtually unstudied by scholars, form the core material from which the author wishes to present his findings. These documents provide important descriptions of how the Nogay chancellery functioned and in particular, associated diplomatic and linguistic characteristics.

Due to the scarcity of documents that were exchanged between Muslim powers prior to the 16th century, the historian, in order to study the nature of these relations, is compelled to rely upon secondary sources such as copies that might have survived. A particularly fruitful and yet underused genre is represented by the collections of letters compiled, for the most part, by secretaries employed at the chancery of state. Of particular interest to the author and known since the 19th century is ms. ar. 4440 now held at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris. This manuscript contains several copies of letters exchanged by powers pertaining to the Dār al-islām and the Mamluk Sultanate. The study of these documents provides the opportunity to understand the nature of relations between the Muslim powers and in particular the protocols that prevailed at the chancery. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of this manuscript as well as to construct an inventory of the material that the document provides.

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.