POETIC MEMORIES OF THE PROPHET’S

FAMILY: IBN EAJAR AL-6ASQAL2N>’SPANEGYRICS FOR THE 6ABBASID SULTAN-

CALIPH OF CAIRO AL-MUSTA6>N

MONA HASSANDuke University

The mosque of Ibn Eajar lies nestled mid-way along the street of Baynal-Say:rij inside the old city walls of Cairo (Figure 1). Local residents,beholding this modern structure standing on the street that was onceknown for its sesame oil refineries or say:rij (sing., sirja), like to thinkthat perhaps the original mosque was sponsored by Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n; (773–852/1372–1449) long ago—centuries before it wasrebuilt in 1398/1978. After all, his student, the famous historianShams al-D;n al-Sakh:w; (830–902/1427–97), lived nearby in thisdense urban core that constituted Egypt’s seat of power during the lateMamluk era. Recalling Ibn Eajar’s own historical contributions as arenowned traditionist, residents of Bayn al-Say:rij fondly call themosque G:mi6Ab< Eagar, according to local idiom and pronunciation.1

Yet the memories of Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n; and other late Mamluk-erascholars resonate far beyond the old city streets of Cairo, drenched inhistory. Ibn Eajar is primarily known for his seminal scholarship in thefield of prophetic traditions or Aad;th studies. However, he was also anaccomplished poet. In fact, as this article reveals, one of the poems thatIbn Eajar included in his carefully crafted collection from the ninth/fifteenth century struck a deep chord of Muslim memories surrounding arestored Islamic caliphate. Far from the image of complete apathy to theCairene 6Abbasids that has long been conventional wisdomabout Mamluk Egypt and Syria, Ibn Eajar’s panegyric for al-Musta6;n(r. 808–16/1406–14) lauded the caliph’s assumption of the sultanate as arestoration of legitimate rule to the blessed family of the Prophet. Andalthough al-Musta6;n’s combined reign as sultan and caliph was short-lived, Ibn Eajar’s commemoration of it became a famous piece of

1 Fieldwork, July 2016.

� The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oxford Centre for Islamic

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cultural lore down through the last years of the Mamluk Sultanate andpast the Ottoman conquest of Egypt.

IBN EAJAR, THE POET

On 22 Sha6b:n 773 / 29 February 1372, Ibn Eajar was born in the oldestparts of Cairo that predated the Fatimids, otherwise known asMiBr al-6at;qa,

Figure 1: ‘Sh:ri6 Bayn al-Say:rij’. Cairo, Egypt. Photographs � Mona Hassan.

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as al-Sakh:w; refers to it in his biography of his teacher. IbnEajar, who wascalled by his first name AAmad during his childhood, was raised there as anorphan, after his father N<r al-D;n 6Al; passed away in his late fifties on13 Rajab 777/ 8 December 1375. Young AAmad had not yet reached hisfourth birthday, and he had already lost his mother Nij:r bint Fakhr al-D;nAb; Bakr al-Zift:w; beforehand. Later on, the little he was able personally toremember of his father was him saying: ‘The kuny: of my son AAmad is Ab<l-Fa@l.’ N<r al-D;n 6Al; had been a minor judge who had studied both lawand literature and composed excellent poetry of his own. He was the authorof multiple d;w:ns and even hosted the famous poet Ibn Nub:ta (d. 768/1366) in one of his nearby houses for a spell. Ibn Nub:ta, moreover, noteddown and appreciated his poetry. N<r al-D;n 6Al; had also given his sonAAmad the kuny: Ab< l-Fa@l in emulation of the Judge of Makka during thetime that they visited the holy city together. AAmad had been born followingthe death of another, older son who had been studying Islamic jurisprudence,and Shaykh YaAy: al-4an:f;r; (d. 772/1371) had consoled the bereaved N<ral-D;n 6Al; that God would bless him with another boy who would grow upto be a scholar. Accordingly, before his own death, N<r al-D;n 6Al; selectedguardians, one a wealthy merchant and the other a jurist, who would ensurea good literary and scholarly education for his offspring.2

Ibn Eajar began his schooling at a kutt:b around the age of five andcompleted his memorization of the Qur8:n by the age of nine; he alsomemorized introductory educational texts and listened in on the lessonsof scholars. His sister, Sitt al-Rakb (770–98/1369–96), who had beenseven when their father died, doted on him like a mother, even though

2 Shih:b al-D;n AAmad b. 6Al; b. MuAammad Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n;, Raf6 al-iBr 6an qu@:t MiBr (ed. 6Al; MuAammad 6Umar; Cairo: Maktabat al-Kh:nj;,1998), 62; id., Inb:8 al-ghumr f; abn:8 al-umr bi-l-t:r;kh (Beirut: D:r al-Kutubal-6Ilmiyya, repr. 1986 [Hyderabad, 1967–76]), i. 174–5; id., al-Durar al-k:mina f; a6y:n al-mi8a al-th:mina (Beirut: D:r al-J;l, repr. 1978 [1931]) iii. 117,iv. 431–2; Shams al-D;n MuAammad b. 6Abd al-RaAm:n al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hirwa-l-durar f; tarjamat Shaykh al-Isl:m Ibn Eajar (ed. Ibr:h;m 6Abd al-Maj;d;Beirut: D:r Ibn Eazm, 1999), i. 101–22; id., al-Daw8 al-l:mi6 li-ahl al-qarn al-t:si6 (Beirut: D:r Maktabat al-Eay:h, repr. 1966 [Cairo 1934–6]), ii. 36. IbnEajar’s maternal uncle 4al:A al-D;n AAmad al-Zift:w; was an affluent K:rim;merchant, while Ibn Eajar also studied in 793 ah with another Zift:w; by thename of 4al:A al-D;n Ab< 6Al; MuAammad b. MuAammad (d. 794 ah); see al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, i. 116, 125. In their 1986 edition, E:mid Abdal-Maj;d and F:h: al-Zayn; affirm the name of Ibn Eajar’s mother as Nij:r (andneither Tij:r nor Tujj:r) based on the manuscripts and meaning; al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar f; tarjamat Shaykh al-Isl:m Ibn Eajar (eds. E:mid 6Abd al-Maj;d and F:h: al-Zayn;; Cairo: Wiz:rat al-Awq:f, 1986), i. 59–60.

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she was only a few years older. She too received a good education at thehands of their guardians as well as multiple ij:zas procured by her father;Ibn Eajar himself later commended her intellect, character, and abilitieshighly.3 She married among the prosperous Kharr<b; mercantile elite—apparently a relative of their guardian, Zak; al-D;n Ab< Bakr b. N<r al-D;n 6Al; al-Kharr<b;, who was the head of a prominent family of K:rim;merchants in the profitable Red Sea trade. When IbnEajar was twelve, itwas Zak; al-D;n al-Kharr<b; who took the boy to Makka and (belatedlyby Mamluk standards) arranged for him to lead the tar:w;A prayers inthe holy sanctuary as a young memorizer of the Qur8:n. After al-Kharr<b;’s death in 787/1385, Ibn Eajar continued his education andadhered to his other scholarly guardian Shaykh Shams al-D;nMuAammad b. 6Al; Ibn al-Qa33:n (737–813/1337–1411), learning fromhim jurisprudence, Arabic, and mathematics, among other subjects.He became interested in history and the backgrounds of narrators of theprophetic tradition, and in 792/1390 Ibn Eajar pursued the literaryarts and began composing poetry of his own, especially in praise ofthe Prophet. Then, in Rama@:n 796/July 1394, Ibn Eajar met thepreeminent traditionist al-E:fiC Zayn al-D;n al-6Ir:q; (725–806/1325–1403), who kindled the twenty-three-year old’s abiding interest in Aad;thstudies and afforded him a decade-long tutelage.4

Toward the beginning of the ninth/fifteenth century, IbnEajar marriedwell (with the involvement of his guardian Ibn al-Qa33:n) in Sha6b:n798/May 1396 and moved at the age of twenty-five from his father’shouse along the Nile in Old Cairo to the former residence of a Mamlukdeputy-sultan along the Cairene lane of Bah:8 al-D;n.5 Ibn Eajar’s newabode used to belong to the deputy-sultan Sayf al-D;n Mengu-T;m<r al-Eus:m;, whose fortunes had risen dramatically with those of hisMamluk superior and eventual ruler al-Malik al-ManB<r Hus:m al-D;nL:j;n in the seventh/thirteenth century. Mengu-T;m<r also built next tohis home a college, known as al-Madrasa al-Mank<t;m<riyya that wascompleted in 4afar 698/November 1298. Within a month, however,Mengu-T;m<r was assassinated in a coup, shortly after the death of the

3 al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, i. 114–16.4 Ibn Hajar al-6Asqal:n;, Raf6 al-iBr, 62–4; al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar,

i. 121–8; id., al-Daw8 al-l:mi6, ii. 36–7, viii. 217, ix. 9 10; AAmad b. 6Al; al-Maqr;z;,Durar al-6uq<d al-far;da (ed. MaAm<d al-Jal;l;; Beirut: D:r al-Gharb al-Isl:m;,2002), i. 194; MuAammad Ibn Fahd al-Makk;, LahC al-alA:C bi-dhayl Fabaq:tal-Auff:C (Damascus: Ma3ba6at al-Tawf;q, 1347 [1928]), 326–9.

5 al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, i. 104, iii. 1207–8.

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sultan L:j;n.6 But his grand dwelling stayed in the family, and when IbnEajar married the great-great-granddaughter of Mengu-T;m<r, UnsKh:t<n (ca. 780–867/ca. 1378–1462), it became their marital home.7

Additionally, Ibn Eajar assumed responsibility for al-Madrasa al-Mank<t;m<riyya next door and began giving lectures there in Jum:d:al-Th:n; 812/October 1409. Among the multiple anecdotes discussingIbn Eajar’s activities inside the college, we know that one scribe by thename of 6Al; b. MuAammad al-Qayyim read back a manuscript copy ofIbn Eajar’s own compilation of poetry to him for approval there in theyear 838/1434–5.8 Similarly, Ibn Eajar dictated his important work Lis:nal-miz:n inside al-Madrasa al-Mank<t;m<riyya in the mid-to-late 840s/1440s.9 And as Ibn Eajar’s fame and eminence grew substantially, thecollege was no longer attributed to Mengu-T;m<r. It eventually becameknown as Madrasat Ibn Eajar—as N<r al-D;n 6Al; al-Sakh:w; attests in889/1484, a few decades after Ibn Eajar’s death.10 With even greaterpassage of time, the remains became known as G:mi6 Ab< Eagar. Theresidents of Bayn al-Say:rij Street were right; Ibn Eajar had beenintimately associated with their mosque during his lifetime—only in his

6 Taq; al-D;n AAmad b. 6Al; b. 6Abd al-Q:dir al-Maqr;z;, al-Maw:6iC wa-l-i6tibar f; dhikr al-khi3a3 wa-l-:th:r (ed. Ayman Fu8:d Sayyid; London: al-Furq:nIslamic Heritage Foundation, 2003), iv. 552–6; Ibn Taghr;bird;, Mawrid al-la3:faf; man waliya al-sal3ana wa-l-khil:fa (ed. Nab;l MuAammad 6Abd al-6Az;zAAmad; Cairo: Ma3ba6at D:r al-Kutub al-MiBriyya, 1997), ii. 52–4. L:j;n andMengu-T;m<r were assassinated in Rab;6 al-Awwal 698 / December 1298.

7 al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, i. 104, iii. 1207–8. Ibn Eajar’s guardianIbn Qa33:n helped arrange this advantageous marriage to the daughter of theArmy Inspector (n:Cir al-jaysh) al-Q:@; Kar;m al-D;n 6Abd al-Kar;m b. AAmadal-Lakhm; (d. 807 ah) and Mengu-T;m<r’s great-grandaughter S:rah bint N:Biral-D;n MuAammad b. Uns bint Mengu-T;m<r (d. 821 ah). For more on theirliving arrangements and marriage, see Yossef Rapoport, ‘Ibn Eaar al-6Asqal:n;,His Wife, Her Slave-Girl: Romantic Triangles and Polygamy in 15th CenturyCairo’, Annales Islamologiques, 47 (2013): 331–6, at 342–4.

8 IbnEajar al-6Asqal:n;,D;w:n (ed. Firdaws N<r 6Al; Eusayn; Cairo: al-Fa@;a,2000), 78.

9 Ibn Hajar al-6Asqal:n;, Lis:n al-miz:n (ed. 6Abd al-Fa33:A Ab< Ghudda;Beirut: D:r al-Bash:8ir al-Islamiyya, 2002), i. 128.

10 Ab< l-Easan N<r al-D;n 6Al; b. AAmad b. 6Umar al-Sakh:w;, TuAfat al-aAb:bwa-bughyat al-3ull:b f;-l-khi3a3 wa-l-maz:r:t wa-l-tar:jim wa-l-biq:6 al-mub:rak:t(eds. MaAm<d Rab;6 and Easan Q:sim; Cairo: Maktabat al-6Ul<m wa-l-2d:b,1937), 74–5; Khayr al-D;n al-Zirikl;, al-A6l:m: Q:m<s Tar:jim li-ashhar al-rij:lwa-l-nis:8 min al-6arab wa-l-musta6rib;n wa-l-mustashriq;n (Beirut: D:r al-6Ilmli-l-Mal:y;n, 7th edn., 1986), iv. 258.

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day it was part of a series of buildings encompassing a college, a mosque,and his residence11 (Figure 2).

Figure 2: ‘Masjid Shaykh al-Isl:m AAmad Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n;’. Cairo, Egypt.Photographs � Mona Hassan.

11 al-Sakh:w; also mentions the adjacent masjid in his al-Daw8 al-l:mi6,vii. 31.

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Moreover, the street itself, where Ibn Eajar lived from his mid-twenties until his death in his late seventies, reflects a microhistory ofEgypt. In the Fatimid era, it was named after the military contingentsstationed there, originally outside B:b al-Fut<A: al-RayA:niyya and al-Waz;riyya.12 With the end of the Fatimid caliphate and beginning of theAyyubid dynasty under Saladin, the caliph’s former chamberlain al-Am;rBah:8 al-D;n Qar:q<sh b. 6Abdill:h al-Asad; moved there and lent theavenue his name. This am;r is the same figure who built the citadel forSaladin and extended the city walls of Cairo in the sixth/twelfthcentury—and who has been on the receiving end of popular Egyptianjokes and uncomplimentary metaphors ever since the Ayyubid era.13

Thankfully, the lane came to be known as Bah:8 al-D;n after therespectful honorific of its high-ranking resident—and not ar:8<sh inapocryphal disparagement of his judgment. In the early MamlukSultanate, this prestigious Bah:8 al-D;n Lane boasted the residence andmadrasa of the deputy sultan Mengu-T;m<r.14 And by the late Mamlukera, it vaunted buildings associated with the eminent jurist Sir:j al-D;nal-Bulq;n; (724–805/1324–1403) and his scholastic family (includingtheir madrasa and mausoleum) as well as Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n; (namelyhis home, adjacent mosque, and madrasa), along with other importantsites.15 But by the late nineteenth century, Egypt’s political and intellectualelites had moved off the street to more economically prosperous neighbor-hoods outside the historic city walls, and the madrasa was crumbling.16 Thestreet’s grand sheen had worn off, and it had become populated with localrefineries producing oil from sesame seeds. By the 1940s, only one small-scale refinery remained, now also shuttered, although the street continues toretain its nominal affiliation with the production of sesame oil.17

Around the time Ibn Eajar moved to Bah:8 al-D;n Lane, now knownas Bayn al-Say:rij Street, he was still occupied with composing poetry.In fact, most of the poems that Ibn Eajar deemed as the best among his

12 al-Maqr;z;, al-Maw:6iC wa-l-i6tibar, iii. 3–6.13 Ibid; also see, for example, the discussion inM. Soberhnheim, ‘K

˙ar:k

˙<sh’ in EI2.

14 al-Maqr;z;, al-Maw:6iC wa-l-i6tibar, iv. 552–615 al-Sakh:w;, TuAfat al-aAb:b, 71–5.16 6Al; Mub:rak, al-Khi3a3 al-tawf;qiyya al-jad;da li-MiBr al-Q:hira wa-

mudunih: wa-bil:dih: al-qad;ma wa-l-shah;ra (Cairo: al-Ma3ba6a al-Kubr: al-2m;riyya, 1886–88), vi. 15–16.

17 Fieldwork, July 2016.

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corpus were written before the turn of the century,18 even as hecontinued to generate new compositions. In writing the biography of histeacher, al-Sakh:w; notes how Ibn Eajar used to recite his poetry fromthe pulpits and at special occasions to the immense literary appreciationof his contemporaries.19 Taq; al-D;n al-Maqr;z; (766–845 /1365–1442),for one, extols Ibn Eajar’s poetry as sweeter than pure water and moreamazing than magic yet still licit, and Ibn Fahd al-Makk; (787–871/1385–1466) describes Ibn Eajar’s poetry as more elegant than a springbreeze.20 Among the generation that followed, Jal:l al-D;n al-Suy<3;(849–911/1445–1505) referred to Ibn Eajar as one of the era’s sevenshooting stars (shuhub) who excelled in poetry—itself a literary pun ontheir shared honorific ‘Shih:b al-D;n’.21 By his early forties, IbnEajar setabout to craft a d;w:n of his most eloquent poetry divided by genre,sometimes referred to by variations on the title ‘al-Sab6 al-Sayy:ra al-Nayyir:t’.22 In each of seven categories—about the Prophet, rulers,members of the military and civil elite, love, various subjects (includingelegies), strophic poetry (muwashshaA:t), and epigrams—Ibn Eajarincluded seven choice poetic specimens, or more precisely in the case ofthe last category, seventy epigrams as the equivalent of seven full-lengthpoems.23 His seventh and final selection for the section on rulers, ormul<kiyy:t, was the panegyric he composed to mark the 6Abbasid caliphal-Musta6;n’s assumption of the sultanate in Cairo.

18 One manuscript scribe comments in the marginal notes of the bestselections: gh:lib m: nuCCima h:hun: mimm: nuCCima qabl al-qarn; see IbnEajar al-6Asqal:n;, D;w:n (ed. Firdaws N<r 6Al; Eusayn), 89. Al-Sakh:w;himself notes that most of Ibn Eajar’s poetry was written before 816 ah; al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, i. 126.

19 al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa’l-durar, i. 126; id., al-Daw8 al-l:mi6, iii. 38.20 al-Maqr;z;, Durar al-6uq<d al-far;da, i. 199; Ibn Fahd al-Makk;, LahC al-

alA:C, 327.21 Jal:l al-D;n 6Abd al-RaAm:n b. Ab; Bakr al-Suy<3;, NaCm al-6iqy:n f; a6y:n

al-a6y:n (As-Suyuti’s Who’s Who in the Fifteenth Century) (ed. Philip Hitti; NewYork: Syrian–American Press, 1927), entries 20, 34, 37, 39, 42, 43, 50, cited inThomas Bauer, ‘IbnEajar and the Arabic Ghazal of the Mamluk Age’ in ThomasBauer and Angelika Neuwirth (eds.), Ghazal as World Literature. Volume 1:Transformations of a Literary Genre (Wurzburg: Ergon, 2005), 35.

22 The scribes of at least two manuscripts place the completion of Ibn Eajar’sselective compilation around 816 ah, and a third specifies the date of Jum:d: al-:khir 815/January 1412; see IbnEajar al-6Asqal:n;, D;w:n (ed. Firdaws N<r 6Al;Eusayn), 79, 83, 89.

23 For further details in English on this recension’s structure, see Bauer, ‘IbnEajar and the Arabic Ghazal’, 36-40.

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THE CAIRENE 6ABBASID AL-MUSTA6>N

Ibn Eajar was 34 when the 6Abbasid Caliph al-Mutawakkil’s son, al-6Abb:s, assumed the caliphate in Cairo at the beginning of Sha6b:n a fewdays after the death of his father on 27 Rajab 808/ 18 January 1406.The new caliph had been personally named after his ancestor al-6Abb:sb. 6Abd al-Mu33alib, who was the Prophet’s uncle and namesake of the6Abbasid dynasty. He was the only one of the caliphs to bear al-6Abb:s’given name—and he likewise shared his kuny: Ab< l-Fa@l. Followingdynastic protocols for caliphs in Cairo, al-6Abb:s also adopted the regnalname al-Musta6;n Bill:h, indicating his reliance on God and his ancestralheritage. This regnal title harkened back to the twelfth 6Abbasid caliph ofBaghdad, al-Musta6;n who reigned from 248/862 to 252/866, and it wasfirst bestowed upon al-6Abb:s when he was designated his father’scaliphal successor around the year 800/1398. The renowned Shih:b al-D;n AAmad al-Qalqashand; (756–821/1355–1418) wrote out the lengthydocument of designation (6ahd) on al-Mutawakkil’s behalf, utilizing anearlier chancery document designating al-Mustakf;’s successor in theeighth/fourteenth century as a model. Both sets of official documentsframe the designation of a caliphal successor through the praise of God,following what had become Egyptian chancery practice under theMamluk Sultanate.24

Yet al-Qalqashand; expands beyond the earlier Cairene 6Abbasidchancery model to elaborate upon the virtuous merits of the 6Abbasids ingeneral, and of al-Mutawakkil and al-Musta6;n in particular, and ensurethe prospect of a smooth caliphal transition from father to son. Thespecific points of gratitude to God have multiplied from one to several.To recapitulate them in truncated form: firstly, praise is due to God forpreserving the Islamic system of governance, elevating the household ofthe caliphate, and arranging for the appointment of a leader (6aqd al-im:ma al-mu6aCCama). Secondly, praise is due to God for placingleadership of the Muslim community among its most highly regardedand sagacious representatives. Thirdly, praise is due to God forcomforting the Commander of the Faithful al-Mutawakkil with thebest of heirs in his son al-Musta6;n. Fourthly, praise is due to God forcreating consensus around al-Mutawakkil’s choice of a successor andfilling people’s hearts with love for al-Musta6;n. Fifthly, praise is due toGod for renewing the blessing upon the proverbial flock of believers byestablishing leadership in the descendants of the chosen Prophet’s uncle

24 Shih:b al-D;n AAmad al-Qalqashand;, Ma8:thir al-in:fa f; ma6:lim al-khil:fa (ed. 6Abd al-Satt:r AAmad Farr:j; Kuwait: Wiz:rat al-Irsh:d wa-l-Inb:8,1964), ii. 337–9.

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and engendering reverence in people’s hearts for them. Sixthly, praise isdue to God who has let creation rejoice with the existence of al-6Abb:sand elevated him through the act of caliphal designation. And lastly,praise is due to God for commanding obedience to those entrusted withauthority (<l<l-amr) among the imams and obligated people to pledgetheir allegiance to an im:m and follow him.25 The entire passage iscouched in the language of religious obligation, precedent, and reverence.

Likewise, speaking on al-Mutawakkil’s behalf throughout the rest ofthe document, al-Qalqashand; interweaves references to the undeniablyvenerable status of the 6Abbasids and asserts the wisdom of al-Musta6;n’sdesignation as future caliph. For one, the 6Abbasids have inherited thecaliphate one after another. Moreover, the Prophet MuAammadpronounced his uncle’s nobility and reportedly assured al-6Abb:s of hisprogeny’s leadership. Turning to the task at hand, al-Qalqashand;elaborates how al-Mutawakkil, in his wisdom and foresight, follows theprecedent of Ab< Bakr in selecting a successor. And who better to assumethat responsibility than his son al-6Abb:s who fulfills all the stipulationsand admirable traits of a caliph? Implicit in the document’s carefullychosen phrasing, al-Mutawakkil is comparable to the Prophet Zachariahin praying for a worthy heir, thereby also rendering al-Musta6;ncomparable to the Prophet John (cf. Q. 19: 5–7). Furthermore, incrafting an overwhelming aura of approbation, the document explainshow al-Mutawakkil’s appointment of al-Musta6;n stems from his kindlyconcern for the Muslim community—and it specifies that he undertookthis course of action after consulting judges, scholars, am;rs, viziers,relatives, sons, notables, and lay people who affirmed the soundness ofthis designation. Furthermore, al-Qalqshand; asserts, al-Mutawakkilprayed for God to help him form the best of decisions before finallyproceeding with the designation of al-Musta6;n as his caliphal successor.Al-Qalqashand; also records that al-Musta6;n accepted this designationin the presence of the leading judges and scholars of his day.26

The remaining portion of this official document, consisting of fatherlyadvice to the presumptive heir, also reveals how contemporaries like al-Qalqashand; among the scholarly and bureaucratic elite conceived of al-Musta6;n’s personal responsibilities as caliph. Here, too, the analogy ismade to prophetic precedents—al-Mutawakkil issues his advice to elicitGod’s blessings the way that the prophets Abraham and Jacob advisedtheir sons who also assumed divinely sanctioned missions from God(Q. 2: 132). The overwhelming emphasis is on personal piety thatultimately benefits al-Musta6;n as well as those under his pastoral care.

25 Ibid, ii. 340–2.26 Ibid, ii. 343–9.

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Therefore, al-Musta6;n should be mindful of God in all his actions to besaved and prompt divine assistance, while he should also seek refuge inthe truth in order to assure his success. He should hold fast to the Bookof God and follow sound, upright methodology, along the straight path,through emulating God’s prophet, MuAammad. He should attend to theaffairs of the country and his proverbial flock to the best of his abilities aswell as select his associates wisely. Additionally, al-Musta6;n shouldextend the rights of familial relations to the direct descendants of theProphet MuAammad; all acts of nobility and generosity toward them area reflection of one’s regard for their forebear. And he should closelyadhere to the way of his righteous predecessors among the caliphs,specifically the first few Rightly Guided Caliphs, in aiming to achieve thegreater good. Thus, al-Musta6;n should strive to establish justice in hisreign as caliph and seek to earn the commendation and protection ofGod on the Day of Judgment. In short, al-Musta6;n should conduct allmatters with pure sincerity toward God combined with awareness of hisaccountability. As the future im:m, al-Musta6;n will bear greaterresponsibility for his individual actions—his potential rewards will bemultiplied for the good that he achieves or, alternatively, his potentialpunishments will be multiplied for the evil precedents he may establish.Humility and obedience to God, as the document avers, should guide al-Musta6;n’s actions and attitude as caliph.27

At the time that al-Qalqashand; crafted this official document ofsuccession, he had no way of predicting that, in roughly fifteen years, al-Musta6;n, as 6Abbasid caliph, would also assume the position of sultan. As ithappened, al-Musta6;n was unwillingly swept up in a rebellion against theMamluk sul3an al-N:Bir Faraj (791–815/1389–1412) in 815/1412. Unableto achieve victory on their own or to convince the caliph to join their cause,the rebellion’s two Mamluk leaders Shaykh al-Mahm<d; (d. 824/1421) andNawr<z al-E:fiC; (d. 817/1414) resorted to a ruse. They had the caliph’shalf-brother publicly declare al-Musta6;n’s support for the revolt—therebypresenting the reluctant caliph with a fait accompli. As he joined their sideof the dispute, al-Musta6;n was elevated as a contender for the sultanate toavert competition between the two Mamluk leaders as well as to raisemorale and garner broader support. Upon their ultimate victory, al-Musta6;nassumed the office of sultan in Damascus on Monday, 27MuAarram 815/ 9May 1412 and after reaching Cairo on Tuesday, 2 Rab;6 al-2khir 815/ 12July 1412 took up his royal residence in Saladin’s Citadel. For the first timesince the bygone era of the early 6Abbasids, al-Musta6;n served as bothcaliph and sultan—combining the legitimizing authority and executive

27 Ibid, ii. 350–2.

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powers of rule in one person.28 The coinage, both dinars and dirhams, wereissued in his name alone, and the letters that the Mamluk state chanceryprepared for al-Musta6;n as sultan-caliph followed royal precedent, with theaddition of further glorified titles indicating al-Musta6;n’s unique embodi-ment of both caliphate and sultanate.29 The epigraphic inscriptioncommissioned by al-Musta6;n on ‘a marble lintel of the small eastern gateof the Great Mosque of Gaza’ declared his abolishment on 18 Rab;6 al-Awwal 815 / 28 June 1412 of the illicit taxes that the previous sultan al-N:Bir Faraj had levied on the vineyards and plantations of Gaza.30

Described in chancery documents and inscriptions alike as ‘al-nabaw;’ orfrom the family of the Prophet, al-Musta6;n was projected as the just andrighteous ruler from the prophetic household who rectified the wrongs ofthe past. For his part, Ibn Eajar, in his early forties by this point, wasoverjoyed with the end of al-N:Bir’s tyrannical reign and his replacement assultan by the 6Abbasid Caliph al-Musta6;n. In commemoration, Ibn Eajarcomposed what would become his famous poetic panegyrics to celebratethe dawn of an auspicious era with the 6Abbasid Sultan-Caliph al-Musta6;nat the helm of governance in 815/1412.

IBN EAJAR’S POETIC THEMES

In crafting his poem, Ibn Eajar draws upon a deep reservoir of devotionallove for the Prophet’s family, embodied by al-Musta6;n. Egypt had long

28 For these details and more on al-Musta6;n’s caliphate and sultanate see: ibid,ii. 202–6; Ibn Hajar al-6Asqal:n;, Inb:8 al-ghumr, vii. 1–116, 8: 213–14; al-Maqr;z;,Durar al-uq<d, ii. 206–15; Ibn Taghribird;, Mawrid al-la3:fa, i. 255–7, ii. 133–5;id.,Manhal al-B:f; wa-l-mustawf; ba6d al-w:f; (ed. MuAammad MuAammad Am;n;Cairo: Ma3ba6at D:r al-Kutub wa-l-Wath:8iq al-Qawmiyya, 2008), vii. 60–4; id., al-Nuj<m al-z:hira f;mul<k MiBr wa-l-Q:hira (ed. Fah;mMuAammad Shalt<t; Cairo:al-Hay8a al-MiBriyya al-62mma li-l-Ta8l;f wa-l-Nashr, 1970–1), xiii. 189–208,xiv. 1–3, 16–17; al-Sakh:w;, al-Daw8 al-l:mi6, iv. 19–20; al-Suy<3;, T:r;kh al-khulaf:8 (Beirut: D:r al-J;l, 1994), 575–8; id., Eusn al-muA:@ara f; akhb:r MiBrwa-l-Q:hira (ed. 6Al; MuAammad 6Umar; Cairo: Maktabat al-Kh:nj;, 2007), 74–7;MuAammad b. AAmad Ibn Iy:s, Bad:6i6 al-zuh<r f; waq:6i6 al-duh<r (=Die Chronikdes Ilm Ij:s; ed. MuAammad MuB3af:; Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1975), i. 747,823–8; Ibn al-6Im:d, Shadhar:t al-dhahab f; akhb:r man dhahab (eds. 6Abdal-Q:dir al-Arna8<3 and MaAm<d al-Arna8<3; Damascus: D:r Ibn Kath;r, 1993),ix. 295–6.

29 al-Qalqashand;, Ma8:thir al-in:fa, ii. 206, iii. 193, 264–5.30 L. A. Mayer, ‘A Decree of the Caliph al-Musta6;n Bill:h’, Quarterly of the

Department of Antiquities in Palestine, 12 (1945): 27–9, plate X.

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harboured saintly descendants of the Prophet in its midst as well as theirshrines. The mosque-shrines of Sayyidun: al-Eusayn, the Prophet’sgrandson, and Sayyida Zaynab, the Prophet’s granddaughter, weremajor centres of religious life in Cairo—as were those of Sayyidun:Zayn al-62bid;n and Sayyida 628isha among others. And after the Prophet’sdescendant Sayyida Naf;sa sought refuge in Egypt with her family in thesecond/ninth century; she became a major source of solace and inspirationamong religious scholars and the general populace. Imam al-Sh:fi6;,eponymous founder of one of the main Sunni legal schools, was known toconsult her and composed eloquent poetry of his own elaborating on theprofound love due to the Prophet’s family.31 The emergence of theSh:dhil; path in the seventh/thirteenth and its subsequent developmentsolidified this reverence for the prophetic household as essential to one’sspiritual growth. Concurrently, the resurrection and evolution of the6Abbasid caliphate in Cairo came to be closely associated with the mosqueand mausoleum complex of Sayyida Naf;sa, which the Cairene 6Abbasidsbegan to supervise as its official caretakers, and adjacent to which many ofthem were buried upon their death.32 As an Egyptian Sh:fi6; scholar, whoesteemed the Sh:dhil; master MuAammad al-Eanaf;33 (d. 847/1443) andlived in the late Mamluk era with its long restored and symbolic 6Abbasidcaliphate in Cairo, Ibn Eajar poetically harnesses and directs these deepcurrents of abiding affection for the Prophet’s family toward theircontemporary descendant and exemplar, al-Musta6;n.

Other works that Ibn Eajar composed further indicate his generalappreciation for the Cairene 6Abbasids as the rightful caliphs of his era.In one, called ‘Ladhdhat al-6aysh bi-3uruq Aad;th al-a8imma minQuraysh’, Ibn Eajar devoted copious pages (in what al-Sakh:w; noted

31 See, for example, 6Abd al-Wahh:b al-Sha6r:n;, Fabaq:t al-kubr:, al-musamm: Law:qih al-anw:r al-qudsiyya f; man:qib al-6ulam:8 wa-l-B<fiyya(eds. AAmad 6Abd al-RaA;m al-S:yiA and Tawf;q 6Al; Wahba; Cairo: Maktabatal-Thiq:fa al-D;niyya, 2005), i. 125 and MuAammad b. Idr;s al-Sh:fi6;,D;w:n al-Sh:fi6;, Aabr al-umma wa-im:m al-:8imma (ed. MuAammad 6Abd al-Mun6imKhaf:j;; Cairo: Maktabat Kulliyat al-Azhariyya, n.d.).

32 Aliaa Ezzeldin Ismail El Sandouby, ‘The Ahl al-bayt in Cairo and Damascus:The Dynamics of Making Shrines for the Family of the Prophet’ (Ph.D. diss,University of California Los Angeles, 2008), 230–8. For a modern example ofSh:dhil; training with reference to Ahl al-Bayt, see Nuh Ha Mim Keller, SeaWithout Shore: A Manual of the Sufi Path (Beltsville, MD: Amana Publications,2011), 81.

33 6Ali b. 6Umar Ibn al-Batan<n;, Kit:b al-Sirr al-Baf; f; man:qib al-sultan al-Eanaf; Qu3b al-Ghawth Shams al-Din Sayyid; MuAammad al-Tam;m; al-Bakr;al-Sh:dhil; al-4idd;q; ra@iya All:hu ta6:l: 6anhu (Cairo: Ma3ba6at MuAammadMuB3af:, 1888), i. 7; al-Zirikl;, al-A6l:m, vi. 88.

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was juz8 @akhm) to trace the many chains of narrations associated withthe tradition assigning communal leadership to the Prophet’s kinshipgroup of Quraysh34—to which the 6Abbasids eminently belonged. Inanother, titled ‘al-In:s bi-man:qib al-6Abb:s’, Ibn Eajar elaborates onthe merits of the 6Abbasids’ progenitor, al-6Abb:s, who was the ProphetMuAammad’s virtuous uncle. Even though al-Sakh:w; remarks in hislengthy biography of Ibn Eajar, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, that thiscomposition remained in draft form (mujallada f;-l-musawwada),35

both al-Sakh:w;’s and al-Suy<3;’s subsequent compositions on similartopics offer an indication of the overall tenor of veneration for theCairene 6Abbasids as beloved members of the Prophetic householdduring the late Mamluk era36—which is a far different image than thetotal indifference projected by previous historians of the period.Academic rivalries between the two men aside, both al-Sakh:w; andal-Suy<3; drew prestige from their associations with Ibn Eajar,37 and allthree authors extolled the merits of the contemporaneous 6Abbasidcaliphs of their era. Moreover, Ibn Eajar’s own choice of titles, such as‘Ladhdhat al-6aysh’ and ‘al-In:s’, affectively convey the sense of solaceand pleasure he personally derived from their exposition.

Grounding his poem in this religious and cultural wellspring, IbnEajar repeatedly draws auspicious connections between al-Musta6;n andhis ancestor, the Prophet’s uncle al-6Abb:s, as well as the 6Abbasiddynasty. In a poem full of double entendres, Ibn Eajar omits the amatoryprelude typical of the genre of panegyrics38 and instead launches thepoem with a succinct poetic argument that he proceeds to expound uponline after line. In one reading of it, he directly begins, ‘The foundations ofpolitical rule have become sound, / with the just 6Abbasid al-Musta6;n’,and, in another reading, ‘The foundations of political rule have becomesound, / with the just al-Musta6;n al-6Abb:s’ (line 1). Here, the play is on‘al-Abb:si’ as both the caliph’s first name ‘al-6Abb:s’ in its genitivegrammatical form and as the poetic abbreviation of his dynasticaffiliation ‘al-6Abb:s;’ (6Abbasid) at the end of the first stanza. As thefirst word that Ibn Eajar symbolically selected—with both of its

34 al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, ii. 675.35 Ibid, ii. 681.36 Mona Hassan, Longing for the Lost Caliphate: A Transregional History

(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 126–41.37 al-Sakh:w;, al-Daw8 al-l:mi6, ii. 40 and al-Suy<3;, Dhayl Fabaq:t al-huff:C

li-l-Dhahab; (Damascus: Ma3ba6at al-Tawf;q, 1347 [1928]), 381.38 As also noted by Shih:b al-D;n Ab< 6Amr in his Uns al-Aujar f; aby:t Ibn

Eajar (Beirut: D:r al-Rayy:n, 1988), 172, and Bauer, ‘Ibn Eajar and the ArabicGhazal’, 37–8.

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meanings—to establish the poetic rhyme or q:fiya for the rest of thepoem, ‘al-Abb:si’ is like a lynchpin that anchors both its structuralrhyme and its deeper meaning. Or, in other words, the 6Abbasid heritageembodied by al-Musta6;n al-6Abb:s shapes the poem’s form as well as itscontent.

The second stanza then connects both al-Musta6;n al-6Abb:s and his6Abbasid dynasty to the third greater meaning of al-6Abb:s—theirancestor. Here, though, the reference is indirect: ‘The rightful standing ofthe family of al-MuB3af:’s uncle / has been restored after long neglect’(line 2). And the indirectness of the rhetorical reference elevates itsprestige. Instead of attributing the caliph and his dynasty to al-6Abb:sdirectly through his personal name, Ibn Eajar connects them back to theProphet MuAammad himself who was chosen by God. Hence, IbnEajar’s decision to describe the Prophet in this stanza as al-MuB3af: (thechosen one) explicitly associates al-Musta6;n with the blessings of divinefavour and envelops him in the hallowed family of God’s Messenger.

This virtuous heritage of al-Musta6;n as an 6Abbasid from the Prophet’sfamily is elaborated over the next nine stanzas as Ibn Eajar explains theturn of events that set political affairs aright. On Tuesday, 2 Rab;6al-2khir815/12 July 1412, al-Musta6;n entered Cairo victoriously as its Sultan-Caliph following the defeat of the Mamluk sultan al-N:Bir (line 3).39

People joyously celebrated his arrival as mahd;, am;n, ma8m<n, and3:hir—in Ibn Eajar’s poetic descriptions (line 4)—which are not onlylinguistic and religious references to his salvific role, trustworthiness,protection, and purity, but also allusions to his 6Abbasid predecessors bythose regnal names in Baghdad. Moreover, al-Musta6;n hails from theblessed household of the Prophet (ahl al-bayt) from among the pure andvirtuous children of H:shim (Ban< H:shim)—replete with botanicalallusions to the paradisiacal garden (raw@a) metaphysically attained in theProphet’s mosque between his pulpit and tomb (lines 5–6).40 Al-Musta6;ndescends from this noble family (usra) that is destined to lead, which IbnEajar refers to as asar< al-khu3<b (line 8) in a play on the tripartite root ofusra. Their household is typified by strength and bravery, like that of lions,as well as beauty and poise, like that of gazelles (line 9). And against thebackdrop of these luminous stars signifying his blessed family, al-Musta6;nis like the full moon (al-badr) (line 10)—an analogy typically drawn for

39 Ibn Hajar al-6Asqal:n;, Inb:8 al-ghumr, vii. 61.40 m: bayna bayt; wa-minbar; raw@atun min riy:@ al-janna in Ab< 6Abdill:h

MuAammad b. Ism:6;l al-Bukh:r;, 4aA;A al-Bukh:r; (Stuttgart: ThesaurusIslamicus Foundation, 2000), i. 223, 353 (#1204–5, 1921), iii. 1333, 1480–1(#6668, 7421) and Ab<-l-Eusayn Muslim b. al-Eajj:j, 4aA;A Muslim (Stuttgart:Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, 2000), i. 564–5 (#3434–6).

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the Prophet MuAammad thereby strengthening the associative bondsbetween them.

The twelfth stanza shifts to the fourth understanding of al-6Abb:s—connecting the personal name with its original linguistic meaning.‘Because of his cheerfulness to the delegations [to him], he is calledsmiling (b:sim), / and out of reverence, he is [also termed] frownful(6abb:s)’ (line 12). Here, al-Musta6;n is depicted as a magnanimous rulerinspiring joy and awe in his subjects. He warmly welcomes thedelegations sent to him, and is thus described as smiling or b:sim, butout of reverence for him, al-Musta6;n is also described as grave. Thepoetic pun centres on the linguistic origins of the name al-6Abb:s as theemphatic form of 6:bis or frowning—which, it should be noted, is also acommon epithet for the majestic lion. From another angle, the verse alsohints at deep reverence for the person of al-6Abb:s, intertwining themeanings of the Cairene sultan-caliph, the Prophet’s uncle, and theirlinguistic connotations in Ibn Eajar’s poetry.

The next part of the poem focuses on God’s rectification of affairs in thesultanate through al-Musta6;n and the Mamluk am;rs who supported hisascension to the throne. Gratitude is due to God who has elevated hisreligion through their valiant efforts after it had been in a woeful state(lines 13–14). These Mamluk leaders rightfully foreground al-Musta6;n astheir im:m (in a poetic reference to the lengthy juridical tradition onleadership), similar to how one necessarily writes the basmala first on apiece of parchment (line 17). Building on this juridical tradition of theimamate, IbnEajar’s artistically asserts that placing the organization of theMamluk dominion in the hands of a capable ruler has ameliorated itsgovernance and alleviated people from the tyranny of the deposed Mamluksultan al-Malik al-N:Bir (lines 18–29). Recognizing divine control ofaffairs, Ibn Eajar comments how God ultimately brought al-N:Bir toaccount for his oppression and transferred leadership from him as a formerslave (al-mal;k) to al-Musta6;n as a master (m:lik) (lines 30–31).

This transition of power launches Ibn Eajar’s next set of poeticexaltations over news of the virtuous 6Abbasid al-Musta6;n’s role as headof state and its joyful reception, near and far. Makka as the mother ofcities, al-Atheeb (al-Udhayb) in the east, and Fes in the west arepersonified in their elation (line 32). It is only the malevolent ignoramuswho denies the glory and majesty of al-Musta6;n as sultan-caliph(line 33). And in lauding that ‘the traits of al-6Abb:s are gathered only /in his grandson, the king of humankind al-6Abb:s’, Ibn Eajar once moreplays on the multiple meanings of ‘al-6Abb:s’, this time by using it as apersonal name twice in the same stanza to refer to different individuals(line 34): first for the Prophet’s blessed uncle and second for hisdescendant the Cairene sultan-caliph. To elaborate on the latter’s

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contemporary preeminence, Ibn Eajar further deploys intriguing histor-ical poetics: al-Musta6;n has assumed dominion after the cruel MamlukSultan al-N:Bir shirked his moral obligations similar to how the glorious6Abbasids came to power after the oppressive Umayyads (lines 35–6).And lest one forget the righteous reign of the Umayyad caliph 6Umar b.6Abd al-6Az;z, Ibn Eajar works in a comparison to him as well.41

Al-Musta6;n has come to power the way that this most courageous of theUmayyad caliphs spread justice and redressed the wrongs of hispredecessors (line 37). Thus, al-Musta6;n’s auspicious reign is renderedanalogous in Ibn Eajar’s poetry to 6Umar b. 6Abd al-6Az;z’s virtuouscaliphate as well as to the earlier bygone days of the 6Abbasid caliphateof Baghdad.

By way of conclusion, Ibn Eajar articulates his willing servitudetoward al-Musta6;n as a deserving master and patron (mawl:) (line 38).He apologizes for the brevity of his panegyrics but suggests that it is hisawe of al-Musta6;n’s extensive merits that has withheld him from givingthe sultan-caliph his poetic due (line 39). Ibn Eajar further prays forGod, the Lord of all people, to increase al-Musta6;n’s glory amid divineprotection and also expresses his appreciation that al-Musta6;n has lentIbn Eajar’s poetic praise a sympathetic ear (lines 40–1). Without al-Musta6;n’s assuring presence, Ibn Eajar avers that he would have beentormented by anxiety—for Ibn Eajar positions himself as the sultan-caliph’s faithful servant (kh:dim) and slave (6abd) (lines 41–2). Inelaborating on this willing subjugation, Ibn Eajar weaves in linguisticallusions to the sacred rites of pilgrimage and the holy sanctuary inMakka. Ibn Eajar is a wholeheartedly devoted servant who has raisedhis voice in recitation of al-Musta6;n’s praises and striven to serve himreadily—but the verbs in this verse, Baf:, zamzama, and sa6:, evoke theMount 4af:, the waters of Zamzam, and the ritual running between thetwo mounts of 4af: and Marwa in imitation of Hagar’s emblematic questfor water and her utter reliance and dependence on God (line 42). IbnEajar’s poetic efforts are thus enveloped in the aura of sacrality. Furtheremphasizing the sanctity of his poetic aspirations, Ibn Eajar concludeswith a Qur8:nic allusion. The breaths he exhales in praising the family ofthe Prophet MuAammad (:l bayt MuAammad), as represented bythe 6Abbasid al-Musta6;n, are comparable to musk (miskiyyat al-anf:s)(line 43)—in other words, among the most precious and appealing waysto spend one’s time. As for the literary allusion embedded in this line tothe Qur8:nic verse 83: 26 khit:muhu misk or ‘its seal is musk’, Ibn Eajarexpressively signals that he too has reached the end of his poem.

41 Ab< 6Amr, Uns al-Aujar, 177.

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RECEPTION AND CIRCULATION OFIBN EAJAR’S POEM

Based on many extant manuscripts, we know that copies of Ibn Eajar’scollection of poetry—and with it his panegyric dedicated to al-Musta6;n—travelled from their point of origin in Egypt at least as far as to Spain in thewest, to Mesopotamia and India in the east, to Istanbul in the north, andto Arabia further south. Some of these manuscripts were copied during IbnEajar’s own lifetime from his original d;w:n or other authorized copies ofit, and additional versions were copied out by hand as late as the eleventh/seventeenth century. One of the early manuscripts copied out during IbnEajar’s lifetime in 14 Dh< l-Eijjah 847/ 3 April 1444 based on his 815/1412 compilation bears ownership marks from an Aleppan in 916/1511and another proprietor in 964/1556, both before and after the Ottomanconquests, until the manuscript eventually made its way into the librarycollection established by the Koprulu family in Istanbul in the eleventh/mid-seventeenth century. The stamp of the Ottoman Grand VizierKopruluzade Fazıl Ahmed (1045–87/1635–76), as ‘al-Waz;r Ab< l-6Abb:s AAmad b. al-Waz;r Ab; 6Abdill:h 6urifa bi-K<prul;’, ensured themanuscript’s inalienable designation as a charitable endowment or waqf(Figure 3). Other copies of the manuscript continued to change handsamong private owners well into the twelfth/eighteenth and thirteenth/nineteenth centuries.42

The far-reaching circulation of al-Suy<3;’s T:r;kh al-khulaf:8 and IbnIy:s’s Bad:6i6 al-zuh<r, each of which incorporated Ibn Eajar’s poem intotheir histories of al-Musta6;n, further ensured that his panegyric waswell-preserved among a broad readership in manuscript form forcenturies. Already, al-Suy<3; indicates that Ibn Eajar’s poetic commem-oration of al-Musta6;n’s reign had achieved and retained great fame

42 ‘al-Sab6 al-Sayy:ra’, Arsiv Numarası 34 Fa 1282, Fazıl Ahmed PasaKoleksiyonu, Koprulu Yazma Eser Kutuphanesi, Istanbul, Turkey; KatipCelebi, Kashf al-Cun<n 6an as:m; al-kutub wa-l-fun<n (Beirut: D:r IAy:8 al-Kutub al-Tur:th, n.d.), i. 765, ii. 977; Carl Brockelmann, Geschichte derArabischen Litteratur (Leiden: Brill, 1938), SII 75; IbnEajar al-6Asqal:n;,D;w:n(ed. al-Sayyid Ab< al-Fa@l; Hyderabad: J:mi6at al-6Uthm:niyya, 1962), 46–7; id.,D;w:n (ed. Firdaws N<r 6Al; Eusayn), 48–68; Ab< 6Amr, Uns al-Aujar, 33–5, 39–44; Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n;, D;w:n al-sab6 al-sayy:ra al-nayyir:t (ed. MuAammadY<suf Ayy<b; Jeddah: N:d; Abh: al-Adab;, 1992), 59–76; N:Bir b. Su6<d b.6Abdill:h al-Sal:ma, Mu6jam Mu8allaf:t Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n; al-makh3<3a bi-maktab:t al-Mamlaka al-6Arabiyya al-Su6<diyya (Fayy<m, Egypt: D:r al-Fal:A,2002), 87–90.

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several decades after its composition.43 And another generation later, al-Suy<3;’s own student Ibn Iy:s (852–930/1448–1524) recorded the poem’sopening section reflecting back on al-Musta6;n’s short-lived reign as bothsultan and caliph even as he also chronicled the Ottoman conquest ofEgypt and the Ottoman sultan’s removal of its 6Abbasid caliph fromCairo.44 Numerous manuscript copies of both authors’ well-receivedhistorical works spread widely.45 The subsequent publication of al-Suy<3;’s T:r;kh since 1857,46 Ibn Iy:s’s Bad:6i since 1884,47 and IbnEajar’s D;w:n since 1962 has transmitted these materials in new printed

Figure 3: ‘al-Sab6 al-Sayy:ra’, Koprulu Library Manuscript. Courtesy ofSuleymaniye Kutuphanesi, Istanbul, Turkey.

43 al-Suy<3;, T:r;kh al-khulaf:8, 575–7; id., Eusn al-muA:@ara, ii. 75–6.44 Ibn Iy:s, Bad:6i6 al-zuh<r f; waq:6i6 al-duh<r, i. 747, 823–8.45 Katip Celebi goes so far as to describe al-Suy<3;’s T:r;kh al-khulaf:8 as the

best work of its genre. See his Kashf al-Cun<n, i. 293.46 al-Suy<3;, The Tar;kh al-Kholf:a, or History of the Caliphs: From the Death

of Mohammad to the Year 900 of the Hijrah (eds. W.N. Lees and Mawlawi Abdal-Haqq; Calcutta: W. Nassau Lees, 1857).

47 Ibn Iy:s, Bad:6i6 al-zuh<r (Cairo: Ma˙ba6at Sharaf M<s:, 1884); Ibn Iy:s,

Kit:b T:r;kh MiBr al-mashh<r bi-bad:6i6 al-zuh<r f; waq:6i6 al-duh<r (Cairo: al-Ma

˙ba6a al-Kubr: al-Am;riyya, 1893–4).

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formats for modern audiences—even as the passage of time has obscuredmany of its poetic references and deeper meanings.

One of these subtle references extols the critical role of the day’sforemost Mamluk officer in bolstering the 6Abbasid caliphate of hisday—and briefly its sultanate too. In avowing, ‘Without the system ofrule (niC:m al-mulk) in his hand, / the situation of people in the kingdomwould not be set aright’ (line 18), Ibn Eajar constructs a rather ironicdouble entendre. On the one hand, in the most obvious meaning of theverse, Ibn Eajar asserts that the rule of al-Musta6;n has rectified people’saffairs in his dominion; al-Musta6;n is the rightful caliph who meta-physically elicits and spreads divine blessings among his subjects andlegitimates the state’s military and civil administration—and as deservingsultan al-Musta6;n governs over it too. Yet in the less apparent reading ofthis poetic verse, Ibn Eajar also commends the critical role of theMamluk am;r Shaykh al-MaAm<d; in enabling al-Musta6;n’s rule. Assultan, al-Musta6;n delegated the administration of Egypt (tadb;r al-mamlaka bi-l-diy:r al-miBriyya) to Shaykh al-MaAm<d; and bestowed onhim the title of ‘NiC:m al-Mulk’.48 Thus, the succeeding verses alsoappear to praise him as the worthy am;r (lines 19–20), equal to theoccasion—who successfully deposed al-N:Bir in favour of al-Musta6;n aswell as continued to facilitate the sultan-caliph’s administration.

The irony, of course, lies in Shaykh al-MaAm<d;’s eventual usurpationof the sultanate from al-Musta6;n within a matter of just six months, yetit does not end there. The honorific title of ‘NiC:m al-Mulk’ that al-Musta6;n bestowed on his Mamluk atabeg Shaykh al-MaAm<d; harkenedback to that of the famous Seljuq vizier and atabeg NiC:m al-Mulk(408–85/1018–92); both powerful men served under 6Abbasid caliphs.Yet as Im:m al-Earamayn al-Juwayn; (419–78/1028–85) had argued, itwas in fact NiC:m al-Mulk who fulfilled the role of head of state or im:mof Islamic jurisprudence rather than the ceremonial caliph. Was IbnEajar’s play on words an even subtler allusion to this legal discourse?After all, Ibn Eajar later acknowledges, ‘In reality, he [al-Musta6;n] onlyhad the title, sermon, and gold and silver coinage in his name’. Suchspeculation aside, with Shaykh al-MaAm<d;’s assumption of the sultan-ate, Ibn Eajar legally endorsed and validated this historical precedentthat had differentiated between the distinctive roles of a blessed caliphand an executive sultan throughout the Mamluk era. As official mufti ofthe Court of Justice (Dar al-6Adl), Ibn Eajar selected ‘Ab< l-NaBr’ (‘thefather of victory’) as a fitting kuny: for Shaykh al-MaAm<d; as the newMamluk sultan, al-Malik al-Mu8ayyad, in Sha6b:n 815/ November 1412.In doing so, IbnEajar upheld the resumption of the centuries-old Islamic

48 al-Suy<3;, T:r;kh al-khulaf:8, 577.

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legal tradition acknowledging the actual head of state’s duties andresponsibilities in lieu of the 6Abbasid caliph.49

ARABIC POEM

سابعلالداعلانيعتسملاب ساسألاتباثحبصأكلملا ١سانتلوطدعبنماهلحمل ىفطصملامعلآةناكمتعجر ٢سارعألابفحاثالثلاموي يفنوميملارخآلاعيبريناث ٣سافنألارهاطبيعنومأم مهنيمأمانألايدهممودقب ٤سايلايفددرتمدصاقنم ىرتلهفءاجرلاهبفاطتيبلاوذ ٥سارغألابيطتبانملايكاز ةضوريفمشاهنمامنعرف ٦يساكلاوهبيلاحلاودمحلل يرتشملاوىبتجملاوىضترملاب ٧ساندألانممهريغبامم اورهطوبوطخلااورسأةرسأنم ٨سانكءابظمهسلجمباوناك اولخاذإوىغولااورضحاذإدسأ ٩سالغألاىجديفقرشأردبلاك مهنيبامهرونبكاوكلالثم ١٠سابقملاةءاضإئيضيملق ةيآةمالعلادنعهفكبو ١١سابعلابلالجإللوىعدي مساببنيدفاوللهرشبلف ١٢سالبإيفناكدقامدعبنم هنيدلزعملادمحلاف ١٣يساوموهرأثكردمنيبنم العلاناكرأءارمألاةداسلاب ١٤يسارلامشألاايلعلابصنميف اوقتراوبقانملاءابعأباوضهن ١٥ساوسولانممهسرحياف ىدرلاكرتعمبىعرصىدعلااوكرت ١٦ساطرقلايفامسبميدقت مدقتمهلالجبمهمامإو ١٧سانلالاحكلملايفمقتسيمل هريبدتيفكلملاماظنالول ١٨سالفإلابهتعجرهدهجبو العلابطخهلبقريمأنممك ١٩سامشطرفدعبنمهلتعضخ اهؤفكيلاعملاءاجاذإىتح ٢٠سايقملاعباصأرصمليننم تنعذأوكولملايديأهلتعاط ٢١سانجألاوعاونألارئاسنم ممعملكمعاملظلازأو ٢٢سابلالكهالولهبرهد يفسؤبلاانعدردقيذلاوهف ٢٣

49 Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n;, Inb:8 al-ghumr, viii. 213; al-Sakh:w;, al-Jaw:hir wa-l-durar, ii. 600; Mub:rak, al-Khi3a3, vi. 38. IbnEajar assumed the official position ofmufti at D:r al-6Adl in 811/1408 and held it until his death; for additional context,see Aftab Ahmad Rahmani, The Life and Works of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Dhaka:Islamic Foundation Bangladesh, 2000), 87–8, and Anne Broadbridge, ‘AcademicRivalry and the Patronage System in Fifteenth-Century Egypt: al-6Ayn;, al-Maqr;z;,and Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n;’, Maml<k Studies Review, 3 (1999), 85–107, at 90–1.On al-Juwayn;’s seminal legal precedent regarding the head of state as im:m, seeHassan, Longing for the Lost Caliphate, 101–11, 118, 120.

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

1 The foundations of political rule (al-mulk) have become sound,with thejust 6Abbasid al-Musta6;n;

2 The rightful standing of the family of al-MuB3af:’s uncle has beenrestored after long neglect;

3 In the second of the blessed [month of] Rab;6 al-2khir on Tuesday,was celebrated

4 the coming of the saviour of all people, their trustworthy one, safefrom blemish, and pure of breath,

5 from the household (bayt) encircled by hopes (3:fa bihi al-raj:8); socan any one hesitant or despondent (q:Bid mutaraddad f;-l-ya8s) be seen?

6 A branch growing from H:shim in the garden (raw@a), pure inorigins (z:k; al-man:bit), wholesome in roots (3ayyib al-aghr:s),

7 with al-Murta@: and al-Mujtab: and al-Mushtar; adorned andcloaked in praise,

8 From a family (usra) who captivated affairs (asar< al-khu3<b) andare purified from the impurities (adn:s) that afflict others;

ساسآلاضقانتملارصانلاب هلاعفدضوعدملالذاخلاب ٢٤يسانتوةبرغيفاهنأكو هدنعتناكةمعنمك ٢٥سامرأللهتبحصوأرانلاك هعولضنيبرشلارسلازام ٢٦سآنمهلامةمايقلاىتح اهمثإهيلعةئيسنسمك ٢٧ساسأريغبتينبدقردغلل اهنكلهناكرآىنباركم ٢٨يسانبسيلرشللهنكل ةراتركذيوىسنيئرمالك ٢٩ساكلارمهتلفيملهوذخأ اذإىتحىرولابرهلىلمأ ٣٠سايقريغبتردصهمايأ كلامبكيلملاهنمانلادأو ٣١

سافوبيذعلاكبرغوقرش نمضرألاوىرقلامأترشبتساف ٣٢سانخلالهاجلاريغسانلايف اهدحجلواحيالدجمتايآ ٣٣سابعلاىرولاكلمهديفحل ىوسعمجتملسابعلابقانمو ٣٤يساقلادوحجلادعبنمكلملايف ةسائرنيعتسمللاوركنتال ٣٥سابعلاونبايندلافلاسيف مهدعبنمىتأدقةيمأونبف ٣٦يساخلاريبملادعبنملدعلل ارشانةيمأينبجشأىتأو ٣٧سابنمىريالفلوبقلاكنم ايجاركلىتأدقكدبعيالوم ٣٨ساطسقلابهتءاجاهنكل هحادمأتلوطةباهملاالول ٣٩سانلابرباسورحمقحلاب امئادكزعسانلابرمادأف ٤٠يساقيمومهلانمناككالول مداخلحيدملاعمتستتيقبو ٤١سارلالبقنينيعلاىلعىعسو ايداحمزمزوادوافصدبع ٤٢سافنألاةيكسمىرولانيب دمحمتيبلآيفهحادمأ ٤٣

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9 They are lions in the presence of tumult (usdun idh: Aa@ar< al-wagh:),and when they withdraw, they are gazelles in their gatherings(wa-idh: khalaw k:n< bi-majlisihim Cib:8a kin:s);

10 They are like the stars (kaw:kib), and his light among them is likethe full moon (badr) rising in the darkness of night,

11 In his palm is a manifest sign (6ind al-al:mati :ya), a pen thatillumines like the light of agarwood incense (al-miqb:s);

12 Because of his cheerfulness (bishrihi) to the delegations [to him], heis called smiling (b:sim),and out of reverence, he is [also termed]frownful (6abb:s) [a common epithet of the lion];

13 So praise belongs to God who elevates His religion (al-Mu6izz li-d;nih) after it had been in a state of despair (ibl:s),

14 through the notable leaders (al-s:dat al-umar:8), the foundations ofheights (ark:n al-6ul:), among those who avenge and console (min baynmudrik tha8rihi wa-muw:s;);

15 They hoisted (naha@<) the burdens of virtuous traits (man:qib) andwere elevated to the most honourable, preeminent lofty station (manBibal-6aly: al-ashamm al-r:s;)

16 They left behind hostility (tarak< al-6id:) felled on the battlegroundof ruin (sar6: bi-mu6tarak al-rad:), So God protects them from evilinsinuations (al-wasw:s),

17 And their leader (im:muhum) with his majesty is put forward(mutaqaddim) the way that starting with the name of God is uppermoston a piece of parchment (al-qir3:B);

18 Without the reins of rule (niC:m al-mulk) in his hand the situationof people in the kingdom would not be set aright;

19 How many leaders (am;r) before him aspired to heights (al-6ul:)and returned with efforts rendered bankrupt,

20 Until the one equal to it approached the heights (al-ma6:l;) and itsubmitted to him (kha@a6at lahu) after much withholding (far3 shim:s),

21 the hands of kings (ayd; al-mul<k) obeyed him, and from obtainingEgypt the measurements of the Nilometer (aB:bi6 al-miqy:s) surrendered(adh6anat),

22 and he removed oppression that had overwhelmed everyonewearing a turban (mu6ammam) of all sorts and types (min s:8ir al-anw:6wa-l-ajn:s),

23 for he is the one who removed from us despair (bu8s) in an age thatwithout him would be full of detriment (b:s = ba8s),

24 from the abased one who carries a name that is the opposite of hisdeeds, al-N:Bir, who is incompatible with the foundation (al-mutan:qi@al-as:s) [of governance];

25 How many blessings of God did he have as if they were in exile andforgotten;

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26 The secret of evil remains between his ribs (@ul<6) like a fire or [one]that escorts him to the grave (BaAibathu li-l-arm:s);

27 How many wrongs did he initiate for which the sins fall upon himuntil the Day of Judgment; no one grieves for him (m: lahu min :s);

28 He laid the basis for schemes that were developed withoutfoundation because of [his] treachery;

29 Every man forgets and remembers at times but one does not forgetevil;

30 The Lord of humankind gave him [al-N:Bir] leave (aml: lahu) untilthey captured him and the bitterness of the cup did not escape him;

31 He transferred rule from the owned (ad:lan: minhu al-mal;k, playon maml<k) to the owner (m:lik), whose days commenced (Badarat)without comparison;

32 Makka, the mother of cities (umm al-qur:), and the earth rejoicedin the East and the West, like al-Atheeb and Fes (al-Udhayb wa-F:s)

33 Only the insinuating ignoramus (al-j:hil al-khann:s) among peopletries to deny the signs of [al-Musta6;n’s] glory,

34 And the traits of al-6Abb:s are gathered only in his grandson, theking of humankind al-6Abb:s;

35 Do not deny al-Musta6;n’s eminence (ri8:sa) in state affairs (mulk)after the [preceding] cruel evasion (al-juA<d al-q:s;) [of duty],

36 For after the Umayyads came the 6Abbasids in the days of old (f;s:lif al-duny:),

37 And the most courageous of the Umayyads came spreading justiceafter the perditious and disgraceful (al-mub;r al-kh:s;)

38 My master, your slave has come to you full of hope in acceptanceby you, so he does not see any harm (fa-l: yar: min b:s=ba8s);

39 If it were not for [my] (being in) awe, his praises would have beenextolled at length, but they suit him with due justice;

40 May the Lord of (all) people always increase your glory (6izzak)with truth, protected by the Lord of (all) people;

41 You still (baq;ta) listen to the praise of a servant (kh:dim), whowould have been tormented by worries without you (lawl:ka k:na minal-hum<m yuq:s;),

42 A servant (6abd) wholeheartedly devoted, who raised his voice inrecitation, (6abdun Baf: wuddan wa-zamzama A:diyan) and strove toserve readily (wa-sa6: 6al: al-6aynayni qabl al-r:s = ra8s);

43 His praises for the family of MuAammad among creation are theprecious fragrance among breaths (miskiyyat al-anf:s).

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AbstractAlthough Ibn Eajar al-6Asqal:n; is primarily known for his seminalscholarship in the field of prophetic traditions or Aad;th studies, he wasalso an accomplished poet. In fact, as this article reveals, one of thepoems that IbnEajar included in his carefully crafted collection from theninth/fifteenth century struck a deep chord of Muslim memoriessurrounding a restored Islamic caliphate. Far from the image ofcomplete apathy to the Cairene 6Abbasids that has long been conven-tional wisdom, Ibn Eajar’s panegyric for al-Musta6;n (r. 808–16/1406–14) lauded the 6Abbasid caliph’s assumption of the Mamluk sultanate asa restoration of legitimate rule to the blessed family of the Prophet (ahlal-bayt). In crafting his poem, Ibn Eajar draws upon a deep reservoir ofdevotional love for the Prophet’s family in the late Mamluk era,embodied by al-Musta6;n as the descendant of the Prophet’s uncle al-6Abb:s, and upon a dynamic and evolving Islamic legal tradition onmatters of governance. Even though al-Musta6;n’s combined reign assultan and caliph lasted only a matter of months, Ibn Eajar’s commem-oration of it became a famous piece of cultural lore down through thelast years of the Mamluk Sultanate and past the Ottoman conquest ofEgypt. Through exploring the intertwined histories of Ibn Eajar, al-Musta6;n, and their contemporaries, as well as analysing published andmanuscript recensions of Ibn Hajar’s poetry, topographies of Cairo,Mamluk chancery documents, and treatises on Islamic law and Aad;thliterature, this interdisciplinary article elucidates the religious and socio-political complexity of veneration for the 6Abbasid caliphate in the lateMamluk era.

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