Introduction to the Political Thought of the Mamluk Period: The Revival of the Tradition of “al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya” and the Struggle to Solve the Problem of Legitimacy
Özgür KavakThe new situation that emerged following the collapse of the Baghdadbased Abbasid Caliphate in 1258 brought about a number of developments in terms of political thought. The institution of the caliphate had been renewed in 1261 by Egypt-centered Mamluks, a medieval realm which had been founded immediately prior to the fall of the caliphate, and this new structure of the caliphate had encouraged many scholars to enquire into various aspects of politics. In addition, the ongoing conflicts with the Mongols and the Crusaders had influenced the attitudes and the language of texts in the field. Moreover, with the influence of competition with the neighboring Islamic states, sometimes in times of war and sometimes in times of peace, a rich literature of political thought had been collected in the Mamluk era. This study tries to draw together some general thoughts on the diversity of texts on political thought in the Mamluk period and also tries to shed light on the main issues of that period. Additionally, the study draws attention to two main arguments on “political-jurisprudential ahkâm”: The debates on the caliphate-sultanate axis which revive the tradition of al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya and the problems of political legitimacy stemming from the question of being a Qureshi or not. The main claim of the article is that the different fiqh tendencies of the time triggered discussions on politics, as a result of which a rich literature emerged.
Memlükler Dönemi Siyaset Düşüncesine Giriş: Ahkâm-ı Sultâniye Geleneğinin İhyasi ve Meşruiyet Problemini Aşma Çabaları
Özgür KavakBağdat merkezli Abbasî hilâfetinin 1258 yılındaki yıkılışı sonrası ortaya çıkan yeni durum siyaset düşüncesi açısından birçok farklı açılımı beraberinde getirdi. Özellikle hilafetin yıkılışından hemen önce Mısır merkezli olarak kurulan Memlükler eliyle 1261 yılında yeniden ihya edilen hilafet kurumunun geçmişteki konumundan farklı yapısı, birçok âlimi başta hilafet meselesi olmak üzere siyasetin değişik veçhelerini ele almaya yöneltti. Yine Moğollar ve Haçlılarla süregiden savaş durumu da bu sahadaki metinlerin yönelimlerini ve dilini etkiledi. Komşu İslam devletleriyle kimi zaman sulh kimi zaman savaş şeklini alan rekabetin de tesiriyle Memlükler döneminde zengin bir siyaset düşüncesi külliyatı teşekkül etti. Bu çalışma Memlükler dönemi siyaset düşüncesi metinlerinin çeşitliliğine ve bu dönemde tartışma konusu edilen temel meselelerin neler olduğuna dair bir çerçeve çizmeye çalışmakta ve siyasî-fıkhî ahkâmla ilgili iki temel tartışmaya dikkat çekmektedir: Ahkâm-ı sultaniye geleneğini canlandıran hilafetsaltanat merkezli tartışmalar ve Kureyşilik meselesinden kaynaklanan siyasi meşruiyet problemleri. Makalenin temel iddiası dönemin farklı fıkhî eğilimlerinin siyasetle ilgili tartışmaları tetiklediği ve mevcut durumu yönlendirme kaygısının da etkisiyle birbiriyle diyalog halinde olan zengin bir literatürün ortaya çıktığıdır.
The new situation that emerged following the collapse of the Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphate in 1258 brought about a number of developments in terms of political thought. . The institution of the caliphate had been renovated in 1261 by Egypt-centered Mamluks, a realm which had been founded immediately prior to the fall of the caliphate, and this new structure of the caliphate had encouraged many scholars to enquire into various aspects of politics, especially the caliphate issue. In addition, the ongoing conflicts with the Mongols and the Crusaders had influenced the attitudes and the language of texts in the field. Moreover, with the influence of competition with the neighboring Islamic states, sometimes in times of war and sometimes in times of peace, a rich literature of political thought had been collected in the Mamluk era.
This study tries to draw together some thoughts on the diversity of political thought texts in the Mamluk period and tries to shed light on the main issues of that period. Additionally, the study draws attention to two main arguments on “political-jurisprudential ahkâm”: The debates on the caliphate-sultanate axis which revive the tradition of al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya and the problems of political legitimacy stemming from the question of being a Qureshi or not. The main claim of the article is that the different fiqh tendencies of the time triggered discussions on politics, as a result of which a rich literature emerged. This article focuses only on the written literature of the field, bearing in mind the fact that there is a variety of sources regarding this literature. It is possible to categorize the main issues of the political texts of the Mamluk era as follows:
1. Political- Jurisprudential Issues
a. The question of the caliphate and the sultanate that came to the fore following the emergence of the Egyptian Abbasid caliphate as a consequence of the fall of the Abbasid caliphate; the issues particularly related to the problem of being a Qureshi or not; and the issue of legitimacy.
b. The discussions on siyasa shariyya that arose with the influence of The Great yāsā of Chingiz Khān, the practices of mazalim and hisbe as an extension of this, and the discussions about the most appropriate mazhab for the state which aimed to change the mazhab preference of the state if it was deemed necessary.
c. The jihad/siyer, bağy and âdâb-ı harb/the art of war literature, that was formed with the influence of the wars with the Crusaders, Mongolians and other Islamic states, and also ahkam of zımmîs as an extension of this subject.
• Since a dynastic model could not be properly executed, the power would change hands frequently. Hence issues like dethroning (hal‘), resignation and coup are among the main issues. • The pressing need to establish institutions dealing with social control, and the responsibilities that politicians had in the face of the emergence of vital social problems/ bid’ahs.
2. Adab Literature: Political Nasihatnâmes
c. Moral, political and historical texts written for sultans whose religious and cultural backgrounds were relatively limited and who did not have sufficient experience; the texts written for the purpose of the education of the sultan.
d. The literature on official correspondence.
e. Texts including the speeches of meetings attended by the sultan, and the divan which contains the sultan’s poems.
f. Texts written for other state officials. The literature addressing all the above-mentioned issues constitutes the main sources of political thought in the Mamluk period. The following issues should also be added to the pool of resources:
3. Issues Related to Social-Cultural Life-Political Thought
g. Classification of sciences and unmûzac books.
h. Texts about the social-cultural life in Mamluk period.
i. Encyclopedic works.
Following this general introduction, the article firstly focuses on the debates taking place around the caliphate and the sultanate axis which revive the tradition of al-Ahkâm al-sultaniye. In this context, Ibn Jamâa (d. 733/1333), the first author whose opinions are examined in this study, tried to draw a legal framework around the caliphate-sultanate separation in his book entitled Tahrîr al-ahkâm fî tadbîr ahl al-Islâm”. While another shafi faqih, Muhibbuddin al-Maqdisi (d. 888/1483), strengthened the position of the Mamluk sultan and pushed the caliphate institution to the background in his work Bazl an-nesâih as-shar'iyya, Ibn al-Mibred (d. 909/1503) from the Banî Qudâme family heavily criticized the regime at the time and proposed an alternative ruling model centered around a Qureshi caliphate in his work Izâh turuk al-istikâme.
The competition between the Mamluks and the Ilhanites who adopted Shiite practices in the Olcaytu period also caused intellectual fragmentation. For instance, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) wrote titled Minhâc as-sunnah an-nabaviyyah as a refutation for al-Hillî’s (d. 726/1325) work entitled Minhâc al-karâmah. Zahabî (d. 748/1348) who wrote a summarized version of Ibn Taymiyya’s voluminous book and who also wrote imamah texts as a rejection of Shiite understanding of imamah, took his place among studies which discussed the issue of the imamah-caliphate debate.
The second issue examined by this study is the problem of political legitimacy stemming from the question of Qureyishness. This issue is analyzed through three types of texts. Ideas of Hayrbaytî (d. 844/after 1440-1441), who had established the formulation of “the sultan being appointed by Qureshi” in his work titled al-Durra al-garrâ will be studied at first. Secondly, the approach of Arab faqih al-Maqdisî from Quds (d. 896/after 1490-1491) will be examined. The latter wrote a thesis titled Duval al-Islâm as-sharîfa that claims Arabs lost the quality for political leadership and that the existing gap was filled by the Turks. Finally, two other books, Nafâis macâlis al-sultâniyya and al-Ukûd al-Cavhariyya, are discussed in this study. Those books draw attraction since they include the records of Kansu Gavrî’s (d. 922/1516) discussions with the ruling elite about the Circassians’ attempts to establish a link between Circassians and the Arabs or prophets Ishaq and Yaqub.
The works included in this study, which are about the problem of the caliphate-sultanate separation and about the problems of legitimacy, also show that the political attitudes of ulama from different sects sometimes correspond with each other in Mamluk political thought. The efforts of both Hanafi and Shafii scholars to recognize the legitimacy of Mamluk sultans are meaningful from this perspective. There are texts showing what a rich environment of discussion had taken place. For instance, there were scholars who defended the idea that some applications of the Mamluk period were a departure from the legitimate political applications of earlier periods. And also this departure constitutes a problem that should be solved. By taking the detailed information about the identities, legal sects and political positions of the scholars into consideration, the extensive analyzes will give an opportunity to better realize the Mamluk political thought on the one hand, and also facilitate the process of understanding the thoughts of Ottoman scholars who contacted this knowledge on the other. Moreover, by so doing, a fruitful ground is expected to emerge for Ottoman political thought studies.
