in: F. Bauden, M. Dekkiche (eds), Mamluk Cairo: A Crossroad for Embassies, Leiden: Brill (forthcoming)
Written letters were, together with oral messages and gifts, decisive elements in diplomatic enco... more Written letters were, together with oral messages and gifts, decisive elements in diplomatic encounters. For the later medieval period, here: the Mamlūk sultanate, there is an abundance of sources, be it original documents preserved in library collections and archives or copies of documents preserved in administrative manuals and chronicles. Previous diplomatic research on administrative letters in both fields – original documents and literary sources – has mostly concentrated on the textual contents of documents. Material aspects, like support, script, format, or folding of documents have been meticulously recorded in editions as secondary information relevant to the specialist only, while aspects of writing and reading techniques, transportation, and archiving have been left over more or less to social historians not directly engaged in the editing of documents. Only recently has the intrinsic, indeed indispensable, nexus been realised between textual and non-textual aspects of documents (John Wansbrough; Tamer El-Leithy). The paper addresses the share of textual and ceremonial aspects in Arabic administrative letters on the basis of original letters from the Mamlūk period.
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In den Beiträgen des Bandes wird die islamische Stiftung nicht als eine statische und unflexible Institution islamischen Rechts verstanden. Vielmehr werden einzelne Stiftungsgeschichten untersucht und in ihrem zeitlichen und regionalen Kontext gesehen. Damit stellen die Autoren die soziale Praxis und die Anpassungsfähigkeit des islamischen Stiftungswesens in den Vordergrund."
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شكل فرنا الحكم الإسلامي الأول والثاني فترة رئيسية لما كان ليصبح المحاكم الإسلامية تحت العباسيين. شهد هذا العصر تحرر سلطة قضائية متخصصة التدريجي من ولاية تقع تحت مسؤولية الموظّفين الأمويين والنخب المحلية. قد تعاملت دراسات أجريت مؤخرا مع هذه الأشكال المحلية للولاية ومع ظهور المحاكم الإسلامية على أساس مؤسسي. المقال التالي هو بناء على هذا، ومع ذلك، كان مستمرا في اتجاه مختلف: هو تهدف إلى توضيح الممارسات الفعلية لحل الصراعات. وتشمل هذه العمليات السرية التي تكمن وراء القواعد الرسمية والمؤسسات. بين البرديات العربية واليونانية وهناك العديد من الوثائق التي كانت منتجة نيابة عن أصحاب الكور، أو التي كانت موجهة إليهم، في وظيفتهم كمسؤولين للعدالة. تكشف الأجزاء القصّاصية لهذه الوثائق عن مناولة للتظلم التي كانت تعتمد إلى حد كبير على وسائط الاتصال متطورة. ما هو أكثر من ذلك فإن الوثائق تظهر بدرجة عالية بين السكان، الموظّفون المتعلمون والسكان الإميين على حد سواء، من قبول دور الوثائق المكتوبة لتسوية النزاعات القانونية.
الكلمات الرئيسية: المؤسسات القانونية ــ بدايات الإسلام ــ نخب محلية ــ تمركز البيروقراطية ــ برديات.
Local Judicial Authorities in Umayyad Egypt (41-132/661–750)
The first two centuries of Muslim rule over Egypt form a key period of what was to become Islamic courts under the Abbasids. This era witnessed the gradual emancipation of a specialised judiciary from a jurisdiction that fell more or less under the responsibility of Umayyad administrators and local elites. Recent studies have dealt with such local forms of jurisdiction and the emergence of Islamic courts on an institutional basis. The following essay is building on this attainment, yet is continuing in a different direction: it aims at clarifying actual practices of conflict solution. These include more covert processes that lay beyond official rules and institutions. Arabic and Greek papyri abound in documents that were produced on behalf of, or were addressed to, heads of districts in their function of administrators of justice. The narrative parts of these documents reveal a handling of grievance that was heavily reliant on elaborate modes of communication. The documents similarly show a high degree of acceptance among the population – both literate officials and by trend illiterate subjects – of the role of written documents in the settlement of legal conflict.
Keywords: Legal institutions – early Islam – local elites – bureaucratic centralisation – papyrology.
Autorités judiciaires locales en Égypte omeyyade (41-132/661–750)
Les deux premiers siècles de la domination musulmane sur l’Égypte constituaient une période clef pour ce qui deviendra des tribunaux islamiques sous les Abbassides. Cette époque était témoin d’un développement au cours duquel une système judiciaire spécialisée s’émancipait progressivement d’une compétence qui a été précédemment plus ou moins réservée aux administrateurs omeyyades et élites locales. Des études récentes ont traité cette compétence judiciaire locale et l’émergence des tribunaux islamiques du point de vue institutionnel. L’essai suivant est construit sur cette foundation-là mais poursuit dans une direction différente: son proposition vise à clarifier la pratique de resolution de conflits. Cette dernière comprend le cadre de processus clandestins qui étaient au-delà des règles officielles et ses institutions. De nombreux exemples de documents sont existants parmi les papyrus arabes et grecs qui ont été générées au nom de chefs de district, ou qui leur sont envoyés, en sa qualité d’administrateurs de justice. Les parties narrative de ces documents révèlent un traitement de griefs que dépendait aussi fortement des modes de communication élaborés. De même, les documents montrent un taux élevé d’acceptation parmi la population, administrateurs alphabétisés mais surtout les gens analphabètes, du role des documents écrits dans le règlement des conlits juridiques.
Mots clés: Institutions légales – débuts de l’Islam – élites locales – centralisation bureaucratique – papyrology.
In den Beiträgen des Bandes wird die islamische Stiftung nicht als eine statische und unflexible Institution islamischen Rechts verstanden. Vielmehr werden einzelne Stiftungsgeschichten untersucht und in ihrem zeitlichen und regionalen Kontext gesehen. Damit stellen die Autoren die soziale Praxis und die Anpassungsfähigkeit des islamischen Stiftungswesens in den Vordergrund."
شكل فرنا الحكم الإسلامي الأول والثاني فترة رئيسية لما كان ليصبح المحاكم الإسلامية تحت العباسيين. شهد هذا العصر تحرر سلطة قضائية متخصصة التدريجي من ولاية تقع تحت مسؤولية الموظّفين الأمويين والنخب المحلية. قد تعاملت دراسات أجريت مؤخرا مع هذه الأشكال المحلية للولاية ومع ظهور المحاكم الإسلامية على أساس مؤسسي. المقال التالي هو بناء على هذا، ومع ذلك، كان مستمرا في اتجاه مختلف: هو تهدف إلى توضيح الممارسات الفعلية لحل الصراعات. وتشمل هذه العمليات السرية التي تكمن وراء القواعد الرسمية والمؤسسات. بين البرديات العربية واليونانية وهناك العديد من الوثائق التي كانت منتجة نيابة عن أصحاب الكور، أو التي كانت موجهة إليهم، في وظيفتهم كمسؤولين للعدالة. تكشف الأجزاء القصّاصية لهذه الوثائق عن مناولة للتظلم التي كانت تعتمد إلى حد كبير على وسائط الاتصال متطورة. ما هو أكثر من ذلك فإن الوثائق تظهر بدرجة عالية بين السكان، الموظّفون المتعلمون والسكان الإميين على حد سواء، من قبول دور الوثائق المكتوبة لتسوية النزاعات القانونية.
الكلمات الرئيسية: المؤسسات القانونية ــ بدايات الإسلام ــ نخب محلية ــ تمركز البيروقراطية ــ برديات.
Local Judicial Authorities in Umayyad Egypt (41-132/661–750)
The first two centuries of Muslim rule over Egypt form a key period of what was to become Islamic courts under the Abbasids. This era witnessed the gradual emancipation of a specialised judiciary from a jurisdiction that fell more or less under the responsibility of Umayyad administrators and local elites. Recent studies have dealt with such local forms of jurisdiction and the emergence of Islamic courts on an institutional basis. The following essay is building on this attainment, yet is continuing in a different direction: it aims at clarifying actual practices of conflict solution. These include more covert processes that lay beyond official rules and institutions. Arabic and Greek papyri abound in documents that were produced on behalf of, or were addressed to, heads of districts in their function of administrators of justice. The narrative parts of these documents reveal a handling of grievance that was heavily reliant on elaborate modes of communication. The documents similarly show a high degree of acceptance among the population – both literate officials and by trend illiterate subjects – of the role of written documents in the settlement of legal conflict.
Keywords: Legal institutions – early Islam – local elites – bureaucratic centralisation – papyrology.
Autorités judiciaires locales en Égypte omeyyade (41-132/661–750)
Les deux premiers siècles de la domination musulmane sur l’Égypte constituaient une période clef pour ce qui deviendra des tribunaux islamiques sous les Abbassides. Cette époque était témoin d’un développement au cours duquel une système judiciaire spécialisée s’émancipait progressivement d’une compétence qui a été précédemment plus ou moins réservée aux administrateurs omeyyades et élites locales. Des études récentes ont traité cette compétence judiciaire locale et l’émergence des tribunaux islamiques du point de vue institutionnel. L’essai suivant est construit sur cette foundation-là mais poursuit dans une direction différente: son proposition vise à clarifier la pratique de resolution de conflits. Cette dernière comprend le cadre de processus clandestins qui étaient au-delà des règles officielles et ses institutions. De nombreux exemples de documents sont existants parmi les papyrus arabes et grecs qui ont été générées au nom de chefs de district, ou qui leur sont envoyés, en sa qualité d’administrateurs de justice. Les parties narrative de ces documents révèlent un traitement de griefs que dépendait aussi fortement des modes de communication élaborés. De même, les documents montrent un taux élevé d’acceptation parmi la population, administrateurs alphabétisés mais surtout les gens analphabètes, du role des documents écrits dans le règlement des conlits juridiques.
Mots clés: Institutions légales – débuts de l’Islam – élites locales – centralisation bureaucratique – papyrology.
Lucian Reinfandt
Early Islamic administration mixed oral and written aspects: the document was both a symbolic representation of the messenger’s authority, and a medium for transmission of information, which the messenger’s testimony was intended to supplement. As a result, Arab administrative communication was more oral than written. The explanation stems from the important role of oral communication among Pre-Islamic Arabs (especially in trading cities like Mecca), even though they had recourse to writing and written documents.
Features of Islamic culture that are reminiscent of the traditional dominance of orality include the oral passing-on of historical accounts (isnād), and the preference for oral testimony over the written document in a legal context (šahāda). Even the Qur’an oscillates between oral preaching on the one hand, and the high esteem allotted to its written form and to the physical book, on the other. In the case of administrative communication, there are indications – disturbing and fascinating at the same time – that Arabic official letters, from the first 150-200 years at least, do not reflect actual administrative practice, which was in essence conducted orally. This would apply to all documents aiming at future action (letters, edicts) rather than at conveying or storing information about the past (lists, notes). The (modern) assumption of Aktenmässigkeit, which is to a certain extent justified for the Roman and Byzantine state, seems anachronistic for the early Islamic administration. Although the relationship between messenger and letter, as well as between the oral and written portions of the message, have not been systematically studied for the early Islamic period, preliminary analysis outlined in this paper suggests that the situation was analogous to what has been established for medieval Europe.
For the analysis of early Islamic communication, the following points are to be noted as important:
Contrary to what might be expected on the basis of Greco-Roman parallels, early Islamic administration did not produce a particularly dense “papyrus trail.” Thus the correspondence of the governor Qurra ibn Sharīk with his pagarch Basilius in Aphrodito, in both Greek and Arabic, seems at first sight to be a dense exchange of letters documented for the narrow time span from December 25, 708 to February 4, 711, but in fact Basilius’ chancery received, on average, just one letter per week from the governor.
The importance of messengers, as opposed to documents, in diplomatic exchanges of the 7th and 8th centuries between Arabs and Byzantium.
The unrefined character of early Arabic letters when compared to the Greek material. The complexity of Arab letters gradually increased over the centuries, until in the later Middle Ages a streamlined letter – without a courier – sufficed. This development is reflected in chancery manuals (e.g. Qalqašandī), and underscores the relative simplicity of early Arabic administrative letters and their dependence on additional human intervention.
Stylistic and grammatical features of the letters point to their oral character.
A comparison of the Greek and Arabic letters in the multilingual Qurra archive suggests that they were presented in different ways. For a similar argument, the paper draws on the evidence of two additional archives: of Apollonos Ano (Edfu, late 7th c, Greek), and Nāǧid b. Muslim (Fayyum, middle 8th c, Arabic-Greek). Arabic letters simulated direct (oral) encounters and exhibited few specifically ‘textual’ qualities.
These peculiarities of early Islamic administrative epistolography, and the administrative system that produced its letters, are thrown into sharp relief by a comparison with Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman data.
There is no documentary evidence preserved from the provincial centre of al-Fustat proper, but papyri from Upper Egypt show the interaction of Muslim rulers with local elites. The find spots are uneven and perhaps not representative for quantitative analyses, but the documents themselves display a coexistence of very different epistolographic traditions. Muslim administration did not produce a particularly dense ‘papyrus trail’ in Arabic comparable to the Greco-Roman situation; rather, human messengers seem to have played a more dominant role. The unrefined character of early Arabic letters, when compared with the Greek material, suggests that they were in need of the messenger’s additional intervention, similar to the role of messengers in medieval Europe. Stylistic and grammatical features hint at an ‘oral’ character of writings and their recitation before the addressee. Of special interest is the parallel documentation in multilingual letter dossiers (Qurra ibn Sharik; Najid ibn Muslim) that makes it clear that Greek and Arabic letters were designed differently and were obviously intended for different administrative occasions and were presented in different ways.
The peculiarities of early Islamic administrative epistolography suggest a dominance of oral communication and the important role of the messenger at the expense of the written document. It is my hypothesis that Arabic letters simulated direct (oral) encounters and exhibited few specifically ‘textual’ qualities and that, as a consequence, Arabic official letters preserved on papyrus reflect only to a minor degree actual administrative practice. This may be disillusioning for the historian eager for ‘hard facts’, but it provides an insight into the character of Arab rule not obtainable from other textual sources. In my paper, the evidence of Arabic epistolographic practice is compared with Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman data which permits an assessment of Arab-Muslim culture in a long Near Eastern perspective.