ASK Working Paper 31
ASK Working Paper
31
Yehoshua Frenkel
Mamluk Soundscape. A
Chapter in Sensory History
ISSN 2193-925X
Bonn, July 2018
ASK Working Paper, ISSN 2193-925X
Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg
History and Society during the
Mamluk Era (1250-1517)
Heussallee 18-24
53113 Bonn
Editors: Stephan Conermann/Bethany Walker
Author’s addresses
Prof. Dr. Yehoshua Frenkel
University of Haifa
Department of Middle Eastern Studies
E-Mail: frenkely@research.haifa.ac.il
Mamluk Soundscape. A Chapter in Sensory History
by Yehoshua Frenkel
Yehoshua Frenkel’s fields of interest include social history, legal institutions and cultural
study of the Middle Islamic Periods in the Arabic speaking lands.
Amongst his recent publications are:
- Y. Frenkel, "In Search of Consensus: Conflict and Cohesion among the Political Elite of the
Late Mamlūk Sultanate", The Medieval History Journal 19/2 (2016): 253–284.
- Y. Frenkel, “Salve-Girls and Rewarded Teachers: Women in Mamlūk Sources”, in Yuval
Ben-Bassat (ed.), Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia
Levanoni (Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. 158-176.
- Y. Frenkel, “Some Notes Concerning the Trade and Education of Slave-Soldiers during the
Mamluk Era”, in Christoph Cluse and Reuven Amitai Ẓeds.), Slavery and the Slave Trade in
the Eastern Mediterranean 11th-15th Centuries (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), pp. 187-212.
- Y. Frenkel, "Islam as a Peacemaking Religion: Self-Image, Medieval Theory, and Practice",
in Yvonne Friedman (ed.), Religion and Peace Historical Aspects (London: Routledge, 2018),
pp. 84-97.
Table of contents:
Abstract
Introduction: Sound Studies
The Aim of this Chapter
Mamluk Authors on Sounds
Political Sounds
Civil Milieu Sounds
Monitoring the Voices
Conclusion
Bibliography
1
2
2
4
7
12
19
20
22
Mamluk Soundscape. A Chapter in Sensory History
Abstract
Sounds and pageantry play significant political and social roles. Giving meaning to sounds is
a social production. They create an acoustic community. This was not strange to pre-modern
authors. By studying Mamluk soundscape we again new insights to the elites' and commoners'
practices and discourse. Data by contemporaneous writers cast light on the role of music, on
events that took place in the public sphere, and on reactions that these sounds generated.
These sources tell that sounds were instrumental in boosting a sultans’ image and prestige.
Recent studies highlight the diverse ethnic composition of the Mamluk military aristocracy.
Texts that were produced by members of this ruling class illuminate public performances in
Arabic and in Turkish, hence enrich our knowledge of the court culture and languages. From
the accounts of sounds we can also deduce on scholarly ties that connected pre-Islamic
Hellenistic civilization with the learned discussion that prevailed among Mamluk scholars.
Sounds played a key role in religious rituals and ceremonies. Accounts of Sufi assemblies and
visitors' guides provide thick descriptions of such communal events. Similar data can be
extracted from pious endowments charters. Looking at the soundscape from an opposite angle
we come across deeds that prevented non-Muslims from raising their voices in public spheres.
Mamluk period Pact of Umar illuminates this socio-religious reality and sultan's efforts to
control sounds in urban environments.
1
Introduction: Sound Studies
That sounds and pageantry play significant political and social roles in public arenas is but
common wisdom.1 Students of the Qur n are familiar with the acoustic mode of several
sections of the Holy Book, particularly the last sūras. Hearing is a shared communal sense
and sounds have a collective capacity, they influence us. Intentionally and non-deliberately,
voices call attention. Their melodies and rhythm generate an emotive mode.2 We can soundly
maintain that sounds create an acoustic community.3 As such, sounds have a social role. They
echo events, either chaotic (fitna)4 or harmonic. A glorious event was described “nothing
similar to it was heard”.5 This is the contradiction between yawm mashhūd or fil (wellattended festival but also funeral)6 and yawm muhhawīl or mahūl (dreadful day).7 Moreover,
sounds reflect the changing times. An ambassador from Istanbul brought to Damascus a
playing clock that staged a musical show each hour.8
The historical interpretation of voices is based upon the assumption that giving
meaning to sounds is a social production.9 Awareness of this led to the expansion of a new
historical field. Some years ago, Roman Jacobson wrote on the sound of reading, on rhythm
that catches the ear and the attention. For him: “The task is to investigate speech sounds in
relation to the meanings with which they are invested, i.e. sounds viewed as signifiers”.10 This
developing field of historical studies investigates the production of sounds in the public
sphere and their ingestion. It examines the inspiration of sonic environments upon people’s
emotions. The emergence of this field illuminates the growing interest of professional and
amateur historians in sensory history, in the past of sounds and lights.11 Hence, the history of
soundscapes joins the study of historical landscapes.12
The Aim of this Chapter
The historiographical turn in the 1970s affected the study of the Mamluk Sultanate. In
addition to investigating political and army institutions, scholars developed research interests
in religious and cultural history.The study of Mamluk political history and culture (12501517) is based primarily on chronicles and biographical dictionaries. Composers of these
sources either belonged to the religious establishment or worked for the sultanate’s
administration. Even a quick glance in Mamluk chronicles will reveal that sounds preceded
events or concluded them. To secure this observation I will refer in the following pages to
voices that occurred in the urban public sphere. It is sufficient to mention here the names of
Arkette, “Sounds Like City”, 160.
Sells, “Sound and Meaning”, 403-430.
3
Schafer, The Soundscape, 215.
4
Ibn ajar al- Asqal nī, al-Durar al-k mina, 3:262 Ẓno. 681 Kitbugh ẓ.
5
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:154, 283 Ẓgathering at the Ibn Tūlūn Mosqueẓ; One Thousand Nights, 3:539
Ẓnight 738 the wedding of Ardashīr and ay t al-Nufūsẓ.
6
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:267 Ẓ894/August 1489 the opening of the Nile’s damẓ, 271 Ẓ895/1490 the
performance of singers in a royal circumcision), 276; Ibn Rajab al- anbalī, abaq t al- an bila, 3:429 ẒRabī a
Khatūn attended the inauguration of a school sitting behind the curtainẓ; Ibn Khallik n, Wafay t, 65 (the funeral
of al-Jaw d al-Isfah nīẓ.
7
Ibn Taghrī Birdī Ẓ813-874/1411-1470), al-Nujūm al-z hira, 15:96 (AH 843); Ibn a r , al- urra al-mu īʿa,
35.
8
Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 2:483 (777/1376).
9
Kelman, “Rethinking the Soundscape”, 215.
10
Jakobson, Six Lectures.
11
Febvre, “La sensibilité et l’histoire”; Corbin, “Charting the Cultural History of the Senses”;
Bull/Gilroy/Howes/Kahn, “Introducing Sensory Studies”; Smith, “Producing Sense”.
12
Ergin, “The Soundscape”.
1
2
2
al-Maqrīzī, Ibn ajar al- Asqal nī or Ibn Khaldūn. Theirs and others’ works are tagged as
siy sa oriented historiography,13 namely source material that largely aims at fortifying the
sultanate’s ruling elite. Hence their writings devote considerable space to reports of the
sultans’ courts and on careers among the authors’ social circles. They inform us also of the
soundscape of the Sultanate. The following story clearly illuminates a common feature of
Mamluk historical textsand supports our research questions and methodology,14 which are at
the roots of the present contribution:
On Rabīʿ the first (20 April-19 May) on the first of Pashons (9 May-7 June in the Coptic
calendar; it is Mary the Mother of God’s birthday) the sultan changed his dress. He took
off the winter woollen costume and dressed in the summer white uniform. Next, he held
the Prophet’s mawlid festival15 and played polo.16
The reports on the conversion of the leader of Damascus’ Jewish congregation provides a
second example to the style and contents of the siy sa-oriented historiography. The event is
reported by a contemporaneous author:
In this year on Tuesday 4 Dhū l- ijja Ẓ31 July 1302ẓ Abd al-Sayyid ibn al-Muhadhdhab,
then the chief judge of the Jews of Damascus who inherited this post from his father and
grandfather, came over to the d r al-ʿadl (palace of justice or court of grievances).
Together with him were his sons. They all converted to Islam. The viceroy of Damascus
granted them robes of honour (khilʿa) and ordered that horses be prepared so they could
ride in a parade in the city of Damascus and for drums (dab dib) to be beaten and horns
(abw qṭbūq t) be played at the tail of the procession. All this was for the purpose of
publicizing their conversion to Islam.17
The governor of Cairo arrested the singer adīja al-Ri bīya. She was a famously beautiful
Arab artist who mesmerized dignitaries and influential men. One of her admirers even
composed several short verses regarding her:
The beauty of adīja al-Ri bīya hide the parhelia / the loveliness of her singing
decorates her words // She resembles the moon at the night it is full / may her vision
never ever fade from my eyes and heart.
In order to limit her influence, the governor ordered this prestigious lady to stop performing.
The expulsion from the stage broke her heart and she died at a very young age.18
Sounds reflected the nature of the ruling system. In urban centres of the Sultanate they
informed the subjects of the political goals of their rulers. Often, they accompanied royal
processions of Mamluk sultans, the voices of armies riding to the battle fields, the entry of
Khalidi, Arabic Historical Thought, 183-184 Ẓ“a new historiography came into being under the umbrella of
siyasa, most typically represented in what may be called the imperial bureaucratic chronicle. Ẓ…ẓ The Mamluk
chronicles, in my opinion the climax of this siyasa-oriented historiography, broadened to include the alpha and
the omega, the bidaya and the nihaya of history”ẓ.
14
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:193 (887/1482).
15
On vocal aspects of this yearly celebrations see Katz, The Birth, 63-87; Homerin, “Sufism in Mamluk
Studies”, 196.
16
On the hippodromes of Cairo and the game see Shehada, Mamluks and Animals, 203-206.
17
Al-Yūnīnī, Dhayl (ed. and trans. Guo), 1:206-27; Ẓed. Abbasẓ: 656; Ibn Kathīr supplements additional
information: “The procession came to a halt at their house. There they celebrated at night. Jurists and judges
participated with them in the completing the recitation of the Qur n”. Ibn Kathīr, al-Bid ya wal-nih ya, 18:10.
18
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:185-186 (886/1481).
13
3
victorious battalions, and the echoes of prisoners on their way to jail19 or to the site of
execution are only several categories of noisy political activities. Their effects on the
audiences certainly are more affective in illiterate societies. Indeed, the Mamluk society was
not an uneducated one, but no doubt the urban mobs were not the target of written texts.
Sounds were the tools to affect them.20
The research of soundscape contributes to the reconstruction of diverse fields of study
of Mamluk urban society and its military aristocracy. The data presented so far and additional
episodes that will be mentioned below highlight the potential contribution of soundscape
history to the study of Mamluk politics and urban society.21 It casts light on Cairo’s Citadel,
royal images, social perceptions, rituals and communication. Hence, by concentrating on these
accounts this paper aims at fixing the role of sounds’ reports as the central research question
and thus contributing to the developing field of sensory history. The distinguishing feature of
this historical method is its explicit treatment of the senses. This branch of historical studies is
based upon the presumption that the study of the senses is pertinent to the study of past
societies, and that the study of soundscape is undoubtedly a salient component of this research
field. But this venture is not an isolated investigation of an esoteric field. It constitutes a
section of social history and is a potential contribution to popular culture. We cannot isolate
our examination of the political history of the Mamluk Sultanate from the study of the cultural
production within its realm. We can argue soundly that in our efforts to reconstruct the past a
holistic approach is a methodological obligation. In the present endeavour my attention will
be focused mainly on court culture. Although our reconstruction of Mamluk sounds is based
primarily on written accounts, nevertheless material sources preserve data on how these tools
were employed to produce sounds. Indeed, we cannot hear past noises, though imagining how
voices once sounded is an option. We cannot turn up the volume of history and catch the
sounds of the past. Yet we can identify the traces of sounds in written sources, and from them
we can collect data, which if properly analysed will contribute to our reconstruction of past
societies. Consequently, by giving us another dimension of past societies the study of
soundscape provides us with an additional tool to study these societies’ histories.
Mamluk Authors on Sounds
Let us move now from these general reflections regarding sounds in Islamic public spheres to
a condensed report on ear-witness accounts from the Mamluk realm. Yet before presenting
the source material used in our investigation of Mamluk sounds, I would like to call your
attention to the well documented fact that the political and social importance of voices, their
impacts and the control of them were not strange to Muslim scholars who compiled the
Middle Islamic period texts that are at our disposal. These scholars highlighted the social and
political importance of public performances,22 including the sounds that were produced in the
lands under the Mamluk sultans’ control, long before modern politicians employed mass
assemblies, processions, and sound and light plays. From their writing we can deduce easily
that sounds affected the population of the Mamluk Sultanate, no doubt about it. To support
this statement, it is sufficient to present here several well-known Mamluk period writers’
statements on sounds and on measures to monitor noises. The pseudo-Aristotle’s advice to
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:137 ẒCairo, 882/1477: “He was put on a donkey and disgraced by hanging a bell
on his neck”ẓ.
20
Smith, Sensing the Pasts, 42.
21
Presumably the first to study this field was Schafer, The Soundscape.
22
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3: 106-07 ẒMu arram 880/May 1475 the returning Hajj pilgrims were received by
singers).
19
4
Alexander the Great was well received by Mamluk period Muslim scholars,23 as we can work
out from colophons of several copies that were reproduced in the lands of the Sultanate. In
this work the great popular Greek philosopher is quoted as advising the legendary king:
And let there be plenty of frightening and terrific sound-producing instruments, even if
you do not need them. For verily instruments that produce frightening sounds and
alarming voices will inspire thy men with courage and strengthen their spirits. From the
opposite end those instruments will terrify thy enemy. Fear will disperse them.24
This short citation can serve us as a springboard to further supporting evidence.25 The names
of several “famous” Mamluk compositors pop up instantly. I will transmit three fifteenthcentury accounts by authors who painted a comprehensive picture of Mamluk institutions.
These translations are arranged chronologically. It is no surprise to learn that in his alMuqaddima Ibn Khaldūn holds forth on music and on sound. In a chapter entitled The
Characteristic Emblems of Royal and Government Authority, he deals with the ceremonial
instrument ( la):26
One of the emblems of royal authority is the set of instruments ( la), that is, the display
of banners and flags and the beating of drums ( ubūl) and the blowing of trumpets
(abw q) and horns (qurūn). In the Book on Politics (kit b al-siy sa) ascribed to Aristotle,
Aristotle mentioned that its real significance is to frighten the enemy in war. Frightful
sounds do have the psychological effect of causing terror. Indeed, as everyone knows
from his own [experience], this is an emotional element that plays a role on battlefields. 27
The explanation given by Aristotle – if it was he who gave it – is correct in some respects.
But the truth is that listening to music and sounds no doubt causes pleasure and emotion
in the soul. The spiritual temper of man is thereby affected by a kind of drunkenness,
which causes him to make light of difficulties and to be willing to die in the very
condition in which he finds himself. This (state of affairs) exists even in dumb animals.28
The second piece of sound analysis that Ibn Khaldūn wrote is found in a section that
concentrates on popular music and dancing. Here, the great historian maintains that:
When (the Arabs) sang, they often effected a simple harmony between the modes, as was
mentioned by Ibn Rashīq at the end of the Kit b al-ʿUmda, and by others. This was called
sin d. Most (Arab music) was in the light rhythm (khafīf) that is used for dancing and
marching, accompanied by drums (daff) and flutes (mizm r). It causes emotion and
makes the serious-minded feel light hearted. The Arabs called that hazaj. All these simple
types of melodious music are primary ones. It is not implausible to assume that they can
be grasped by nature without any instruction, as is the case with all simple crafts.29
In his encyclopaedic description of the sultanate’s political institutions and rituals, alQalqashandī describes the music bands of the Mamluk army in similar words:
23
The complex history of this text is beyond the limits of the present contribution. Yet from the history of the
manuscripts it is clear that in Ibn Khaldun’s days “sirr al-asr r” was popular among Arabic readers. Gaster,
“The Hebrew Version”; Manzalaoui, “The Pseudo-Aristotelian ‘Kit b Sirr al-asr r’”; Daiber, Islamic Though,
48.
24
Pseudo-Aristotle, in Badawī, al- ūl al- ūn niyya, 150 (ll. 2-3); Fulton, Secretum secretorum, 248.
25
Quatremère, Makrizi, 1: 173-174 (note 54).
26
Cf. Ibn Faḍl All h al- Umarī’s account of India. Quatremère, “Notices”, 188-189.
27
Cf. al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 1:935 (702/1303).
28
Ibn Khaldūn, al-Muqaddima, 2:42-43; ed. al-Shadd dī, 2:36-37; Rosenthal (trans.), The Muqaddimah, 2:48.
29
Ibn Khaldūn, al-Muqaddima, 2:359; ed. al-Shadd dī, 2:329; Rosenthal Ẓtrans.ẓ, The Muqaddimah, 2:403.
5
The abl-kh na is an assemblage of many drums together with trumpets and flutes. This
band produce a mixture of changing voices according to the occasion. Each evening, after
the evening prayer, it plays in the Citadel. It escorts the army companies on marches and
during fighting. It is a common instrument employed by kings generally. It is narrated
that Alexander [the Great] had in his service forty abl-kh na bands. Aristoteles, who
wrote for Alexander the Book of Government, mentions in this book that the secret behind
employing these bands is that during wars they terrorizes the enemy. Other
knowledgeable persons argue that these bands’ sounds excite the soul and strengthen the
mind in an equivalent manner to which cameldrivers’ voices affect the camels.
This is followed by a closer look at the musical bands:
Great cymbals (kūs t) are another musical instrument.30 They are basket shaped
instruments made from cooper that are designed like a small shield ( unūj). The player
knocks with one brass castanet on the other in an orchestrated tempo. In the abl-kh na it
goes with drums’ playing and blowing of pipes. This is done twice each night in the
Citadel. They go around it once after the night prayer and a second time before the call to
the morning prayer. It is named the circling of the Citadel. On the occasions that the
sultan is travelling this band circles his tent.31
Khalīl Ibn Sh hīn al- hirī tells his readers that the band of the sultan comprised forty loads
( aml pl. a m l) of cymbals (kūs t), four double headed kettledrums (duhūl), four reed pipes
(zumūr), and twenty trumpets (anfira). Among the instruments used in the abl-kh na of an
amīr, says al- hirī, were two duhūl, two zamr, and four nafīr, but not the great kūs tṬ An
at bak (field marshal) was allowed twice this number, whilst an amīr muqaddam (commander
of one thousand) was only permitted a horn (būk).32 According to his summary of the music
production in the elites’ courts:
the amīrs of a thousand numbered in the past 24 amīr. Each one of them commanded one
hundred mamlūks and other professional officers, and one thousand reserve soldiers
(jundī). They had before their houses eight ʿloads’ (a m l) of abl-kh na [bands], and
two timbales ( abl dahl), two flutes (zamr), and four trumpets (anfira), as well as new
timbale and flutes. The orchestra playing at the gate of the army’s commander in chief
(at bak [al-ʿas kir]) was twice as large. In the past (i.e. during the reign of the first
sultans), the number of the abl-kh na emirs was forty commanders. Each one of them
commanded forty mamlūks. Three bands of abl-kh na players and two trumpets (nafīr),
but today (i.e. in the days of al- hirīẓ, there are only two drums ( abl) and two flutes
(zamr).33
The symbolic power of the abl-kh na reflects the military character of the Mamluk regime.
The sounds produced by these musical bands in peace and war, in the towns and during
expeditions, clearly conveyed to the listeners the true nature of the sultanate, certainly more
sharply than any political theory that some jurist wrote for the governing military
aristocracy.34
Ibn Taghrī Birdī says that under Qal wūn (d. 678/1290) a wazīr possessed a abl35
kh na, and we read of a similar privilege in 821/1418, although we are told that the custom
Ibn Khaldūn states that kūs t were allowed to each amīr who commanded an army battalion. Al-Muqaddima,
2:46; Rosenthal (trans.), The Muqaddimah, 2:52.
31
Al-Qalqashandī, Ṣub al-aʿsh , 4:8-9.
32
Ibn Sh hīn al- hirī, Zubdat kashf, 125.
33
Ibn Shahin al- hirī, Zubdat kashf, 113.
34
Ayalon, “Studies on the Structure of the Mamluk Army – I”, 469-470; Farmer, “ abl-Kh na”.
35
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, Nujūm, 8:141.
30
6
was not usual. According to him, it was only the officers (umar ) who commanded a
battalion of one thousand soldiers who were granted this honour. By the 9th/15th century,
however, an amīr of forty cavaliers was allowed to possess a abl-kh na, but for a time he was
only allowed to sound it when on duty. When the Ottomans conquered Egypt in 923/1517, the
bands of the battalions were suppressed.36
We mentioned above the role of drums and trumpets in the battlefield, an ancient
method of transmitting vocal signals during fighting that was familiar to the Mamluk
armies.37 Mu ammad al-Aqsar ī (d. 749/1348), a Damascene author about whom little is
known, remarks in his book on horsemanship that military horses trained for battle should be
used to the beat of drums ( ubūl) and cymbals (kūs t)Ṭ38 In his comprehensive study of the
Mamluk army, David Ayalon summarizes this military institution. As the point of departure
of his study, Ayalon uses narrative accounts in the chronicles of music-bands ( abl-kh na),39
yet he adds also the accounts of Mamluk administration guides. Based on these sources, he
explains that the amīr of abl-kh na was so called because holders of this and higher ranks
were entitled to have a band playing ( abl-kh na) in front of their houses. According to the
sources, he says, the abl-kh na consisted of a group of musical instruments, including many
drums and some trumpets (abw q), and flutes (zumūr) of various timbres and playing in a
specific style. Every evening, following the evening prayer, the instruments would be played.
The abl-kh na accompanied the army battalions ( ulb pl. a l b) of the sultan or the amīrs in
wars and expeditions with the aim of heartening the troops and striking terror into the hearts
of the enemy.40 Similar interpretations of royal processions are put forward by several
scholars. Headed by the carrier of the standard (ʿalam-d r), who carried the great royal
banner (j lish) of gold-embroidered yellow silk adorned with a tuft of horsehair, the
procession advanced. Behind the standard carriers walked the armour bearers headed by the
arsenal commander (sil -d r). The amīrs, on horseback or on foot, came next with their
retinue of mamlūks, in similar order and with hardly less pomp, and the tail was brought up by
the royal band, al- abl-kh na al-sharīfa, an ensemble more noisy than melodious, composed
of four big drums, forty brass cymbals, four double-reed clarinets, and twenty small
kettledrums.41
Political Sounds
Sounds were instrumental in boosting a sultans’ image and prestige. Sounds were – and are –
a tool to inform, particularly in zones where direct eye contact is limited. Buildings obstruct
visibility and voices surpass this obstacle. The playing of the drums informed listeners of a
new development. The rhythm broadcasted the notation, perhaps the announcement that a
new sultan had ascended the throne in the citadel on the hill overlooking Cairo, or an alarm
caused by a crisis. Chronicles tell that bands of drummers ( abl-kh na) publicly announced
momentous events. The rhythm of drums on these occasions differed from the music played
by tambourines or the beating of the drums during fighting. The Mamluk rulers staged
cavalcades, pageants (mawkib pl. maw kib), communal ceremonies,42 processions of the
36
Quatremère (trad.), al-Maqrizi, I/1, 173-4 (note).
Aelian in Dillon (trans.), The Tactics of Aelian, 128; this Greek author (al-Y nūsẓ was not strange to Arab
audiences. Wüstenfeld, Das Heerwesen der Muhammedaner.
38
Jensen, “The Mamluk Lancer”, 13 (Arabic), 14 (English).
39
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 1: 694-695; Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3: 4 (872/1468), 34 (873/1469); Ibn Zunbul,
khirat al-mam līk, 78.
40
Ayalon, “Studies on the Structure of the Mamluk Army”, 469-470.
41
Stowasser, “Manners and Customs at the Mamluk Court”, 19.
42
Cf. the description from Damascus by a contemporary author. Al-Dhahabī, al-ʿIbar, 4:3 (701/1301).
37
7
palanquin (ma mal),43 displays of penalties (tasmīr),44 and public festivities. On cheerful
occasions such as investitures of sultans, proclamations of royal births, or recovery of the
sultan’s health, cities were decorated. This was done also in cases that a contester succeeded
in winning a political challenge.45 News of military triumphs was broadcasted across the cities
by the playing of drums46 and victories saw public celebrations. On these occasions, cavalry
and infantry marched across the city, drums played loudly, jugglers performed, and emblems
of state were put on display.47
In grave cases, times of tension, or crisis the kettledrums and cymbals played war
marches (duqqat al-kūs t arbiyyan).48 Writing about a political crisis during the second term
in office of al-N ir Mu ammad (1299-1309), the historian al-Maqrīzī says: “and the great
cymbals (kūs t) of the sultan in the Citadel of Cairo were beaten and played the sound of war
(duqqan arbiyyan), with the intention of calling those units of the army that kept their loyalty
to the sultan to gather into the citadel”.49 Reports of victories are often appended with the
plain and simple line:“and the drums roared “duqqat al-bash ir”,50 “durribat lahū albash ir”51 or “duqqat lahū al-bash ir wa-k na yawman mashūdan”52 or “wa-duqqat alkūs t”.53 So were also transmitted the news of the ascendancy of a new sultan. With sounds,
camel-lights and decorations, as can be deduced from the following account of a circumcision
that took place in Damascus:54
[And] Ibn ijjī said: in a word Ẓwa-ʿal al-jumla), such a festive day never was seen in
Damascus before. The viceroy ordered to be brought eight horses coated with horseblankets (kan bīsh) made of silk and embroidered with gold and silver (zarkash), and on
them golden saddles. The presenting senior commanders mounted the horses. Then the
boy was summoned to the grand tent. The commanders rode out, and the viceroy and his
son followed them. The musicians paraded behind them till they arrived at the Palace of
Felicity (d r al-saʿ da).55
The following section brings together several reports, presented in chronological order that
cast light on the task of voices in spreading news and on loud receptions of them. To support
the paradigm I advocate, I choose to present several public performances in Mamluk Cairo
and in other provinces of the Sultanate. The aim is to demonstrate the contribution of
soundscape studies to the investigation of Mamluk political discourse. By concentrating upon
accounts of political events that took place in the major cities of the Sultanate, I am aiming at
elucidating the thesis that sounds inform us of the social environment and of the political
nature of past regimes and historical societies. To welcome the victorious Mamluk battalions
returning to Cairo after victory over the Mongols in Ayn J lūt, the city was decorated
Ibn Ba ū a, Tu fat al-nuẓẓ r, 1:93-94; Shoshan, Popular Culture, 70-72; Behrens-Abouseif, “The Mahmal
Legend”, 94.
44
Ibn al-Qaysar nī, Kit b al- urr al-ma ūn, 93.
45
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 2:214 (AH 842/).
46
Ibn Iy s, Bad i al-zuhūr, 2:100 (828/1425).
47
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 4:521 (naf petroleum in 823/1420).
48
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 8:170.
49
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2:77 (707/1307).
50
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 10:302 (755/October 1354); al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 4:893 (836/1433); Ibn
Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 2:316 (AH 857), 342 (AH 861).
51
Al- Aynī, al-ʿIqd al-Jum n, 302 (792/February 1390 the drums played three days).
52
Abū mid al-Qudsī, Duwal al-isl m, 49, 56, 89, 90.
53
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2: 73; al-Yūsufī, Nuzhat al-n ẓir, 141; Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 1:129.
54
Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 4: 28-29; Ibn ijjī, Ta rīkh Ibn ijjī, 370; cf. Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:115 (Ibn
Ri b al-Mughnī in Damietta 880/Aprilẓ. On him see assan, “ ift al-maġ nī”, 380-81.
55
I.e. the governors’ quarters. On this palace see Brinner, “D r al-Sa da”; Rabbat, “The Ideological
Significance”.
43
8
(zuyyinat).56 Similar descriptions of beautification can be detected in reports on royal
processions.57 This passive verb occurs hundreds of times in the chronicles that tell of the
entrée royale.58 Moreover, this demonstration of honour was not limited to the military
aristocracy but was occasionally also shown towards the religious establishment. When the
q ī Karīm al-Dīn arrived in Cairo (717/1317) the city was decorated and thousands of
candles and torches ignited. At night a reception was orchestrated.59
As Qal wūn was concluding his preparation to seize the throne in Cairo (in 1279),
several of his Mamluks joined him. In two days and seven hours they crossed the distance
separating Cairo from Damascus. “Such a speed never was recorded in the past”, says the
historian, and adds: “and then the drums were beaten and all the population, city dwellers and
countryside residents, were notified about this promising information”.60 Describing the siege
of Acre (690/1291) by al-Ashraf ibn Qal wūn, the chronicler tells that:
at dawn the sultan and his armies advanced towards the city, the kettledrums played
loudly, they produced frightening sound and high unpleasant voices.61
Similar vocabulary is used in an account of the Mamluk victory over the Mongols at Marj alṢuffār (702/1303):
Advancing, the sultan’s kūs t and the trumpets (būq t) played. Their sounds shook the
earth and hearts trembled… The sultan and his cavalry spent the night sitting on their
horses while the drums were playing. Their sound attracted the dispersed soldiers, who
advanced toward the sultan’s drums ( ubūl) and kettledrums.62
The account of the resignation of al-Malik al-N ir (in 708/1309) is another case in point. The
vacant throne was occupied by Baybars al-Jashnagīr. The military and civil elite assembled
and publicly pronounced their recognition of the legitimacy of the new sultan. Following this
open support, Baybars rode to the Castle while the military aristocracy walked behind him.
“The drums were beaten”, says the chronicler, “and the heralds carried the message to other
centres of the sultanate”.63 Reporting on the recovery of the sultan al-N ir Mu ammad (in
730/1330), the chronicler tells that Cairo was decorated magnificently, in several sites bands
of musicians played, the kettle drums were continually beaten and the amīrs’ abl-kh na also
played.64 Following the arrest of al-Nashw,65 Cairo was decorated (zuyyinat). Popular poems
(azj l) and satirical verses (bal līq) were played in the streets as the civil population
celebrated the event.66 An embassy from Cairo carrying gifts to the ruler of eastern Turkey,
including an elephant and a giraffe,67 stopped in Damascus (741/May 1341). The locals
rushed out to examine the animals. While the delegation rested, the elephant was paraded
Abū mid al-Qudsī, Duwal al-isl m, 33, 55.
Abū mid al-Qudsī, Duwal al-isl m, 36.
58
Al- Aynī, al-ʿIqd al-jum n, 297-298 (792/1390).
59
Al-Safadī, Nuzhat al-m lik, 241.
60
Ibn al-Daw d rī, Kanz al-Durar, 232 (AH 678); For his career see Northrup, From Slave to Sultan, 81-84.
61
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 8:6.
62
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 8:126.
63
Ibn Kathīr, al-Bid ya wal-nih ya, 18:80 (ah 708).
64
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2:318.
65
On him see Levanoni, “The al-Nashw Episode”.
66
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2:482 (740/1339).
67
Cf. the sending of a giraffe to Tamerlane in 806/1404. The animal was dressed by a yellow silk gown. The
jurists of Damascus debated its origin, is it a hybrid of a cow and a camel, and questioned its flesh may be eaten.
Ibn ijjī, Ta rīkh Ibn ijjīi, 612, 613.
56
57
9
along the city’s streets.68 Describing the departure of Tankiz, the governor of Damascus, to
Anatolia, the chronicler says: “Tankiz was decorated according to the royal etiquette, [his
army] adorned in red ribbons and playing on kettle drums”.69
The detailed account of the nomination and coronation of al-Malik al- hir Sayf alIsl m Abū Sa īd Barqūq (784/November 1382) enriches our acquaintance with the sultanate’s
royal ceremonies. Following his proclamation, the caliph bestowed upon him the sultan’s
robe. From the embankment on the Nile, Barqūq rode up the hill to the citadel, where he
ascended the throne. While his train paraded it started raining, and the population believed
this was a good omen. The army bowed and kissed the ground in front of him. The city was
decorated for seven days, and the drums played. Similar act occurred in the cities of Syria.70
The account of the victorious return of Barqūq to the throne in 792/1390 preserves the joyful
scene at the welcoming reception. A mission from Cairo proceeded to meet him at dawn when
he arrived at Rayd niyya. Among the dignitaries were the descendants of the Prophet, Sufis
carrying banners (san jiq), army battalions dressed for combat and armed with weapons, Jews
carrying candelabra and the Torah, Christians holding candles and Bibles. The masses
chanted blessings, and the women trilled. As the beating to the drums spread the news that the
young prince Faraj had ascended the throne, the streets of Cairo were decorated.71 After his
temporary recovery, sultan Barsb y bestowed garbs of honour on the surgeons who had
treated him. Drums delivered the message.72
The news of a victory over the Ottomans pleased the dwellers of the Citadel
(891/April 1486). In preparations to welcome the expedition force, Cairo was decorated.
While the soldiers entered the Sultanate’s capital the sound of the drums rumbled.73 A month
later, as severe illness endangered the life of Q ytb y, high tension loomed in Cairo. His
recovery pleased his followers (891/May 1486). Orders were issued to decorate the city’s
streets. Drummers played marches spreading the good tidings (duqqat al-bash ir).74 As fake
news circled in Cairo narrating that the island of Rhodes had surrendered due to political
manoeuvres, the sultan considered the playing of military music bands to communicate the
false but pleasing information.75
The effects created by sounds were familiar to past societies. In his efforts to prop up
his image as a good ruler and sound Muslim, the sultan al-Ashraf Q ytb y initiated a
construction policy. At the aram al-Sharīf in Jerusalem he ordered the building of a new
learning institution (madrasa) and water installations. Learning that his construction initiative
had been successfully completed, the sultan directed a group of army commanders to travel to
the city. They were accompanied by several reciters and preachers76 and the recently
nominated head of the new school (al-Ashrafiyya). Recitation and lecturing were key
components of the inauguration ceremony (walīma; 890/June 1485).77 Describing the
establishment of the dashīsha in al-Madīna by the sultan Q ytb y,78 the historian says: “and
Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 1:132.
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2:142.
70
Al-Jawharī al- ayrafī, Nuzhat al-nufūs, 1:38-40.
71
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 3:985 (802/1399).
72
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, Nujūm, 15:99 (841/1437).
73
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:228.
74
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:229.
75
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 4:272.
76
From preachers’ biographies we can deduce that chanting was not strange to them. From Shih b al-Dīn
A mad al-Qard Ẓ780-841/1378-1438) we learn that he studied music. Ibn ajar al- Asqal nī, Inba al-ghumr,
4:76-77 (bio. no. 5); al-Majmaʿ al-mu assis, 3:77-78 Ẓbio. no. 442ẓ. Ibn ajar was familiar with this preacher
and met with him on several occasions. Berkey, “Storytelling, Preaching and Power in Mamluk Cairo”, 62.
77
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:218; On this institute of learning and the nearby fountain (sabīl) see Tamari, “AlAshrafiyya”; Burgoyne, Mamluk Jerusalem, 606.
78
Behrens-Abouseif, “Sultan Qaytbay’s Foundation”.
68
69
10
the voice rose high in approval”.79 The thesis that the study of sounds contributes to the
learning of the cultural history of past Islamic societies is supported by accounts of the Rajab
and Hajj ma mal (a ceremonial palanquin) processions that accompanied the pilgrim caravans
in Cairo and Damascus.80 Reports on this festival reveal that it was inaugurated in Ayyubid
Egypt.81 Mamluk chronicles report that starting in the reign of al- hir Baybars, the ma mal
departed Cairo to the holy cities of Arabia. Describing the festive departure of the ma mal
caravan from Cairo, late Mamluk writers describe a noisy happening.82 When the lady Tugh y
arrived at Cairo, on her way to the holy cities of Arabia, she was saluted with gorgeous
celebrations. As she departed from the Hajj Pond the sultan’s flags waved, and the kettle
drums played.83 Another noisy event was the Nile festival (kasr al- alīj). Historical accounts
describe fire plays and ceremonial sounds.84 Yet music was not only reserved for rulers’
shows or religious occasions. Royal wedding processions (zaffa) that escorted the bride to her
new dwelling seem also to have been used to demonstrate the host’s wealth, strength, and
status.85 During the wedding of the prince Anuk, singing girls played with tambourines.86
Reports of mass circumcisions inform us that loud music was played.87 Describing an event in
Damascus, the local historian Ibn ijjī exclaims that “such a festive day never was seen in
Damascus before. The commanders rode out, and the viceroy and his son followed them. The
musicians paraded behind them till they arrived at the Palace of Felicity (d r al-saʿ da).The
circumcision took place there”.88
To argue that use of sounds in efforts to shore up political images were not a unique
Mamluk phenomenon would be supported by a quick review of historical texts from all
quarters of the Abode of Islam. Sources in Arabic and Persian from all over the Islamicate
world provide accounts of the employment of musical instruments to cheer up the soldiers,89
to impress audiences and to broadcast might. Ibn Funduq, the historian of the city of Bayhaq
in Iran, for example, tells of the role of drums and horns in alerting the Ghaznavid expedition
force.90 A quick glance at popular narrative sources will illuminate the prevalence of this
practice of beating the drums to proclaim joyous events and disseminate information.91 Such,
for example, is found in a tale of the arrival of the ill king’s boat from an island to the land.
As it anchored, and the servants were making the preparations to receive him, “the drums
played” (wa-duqqat al-bash ir li-qudumihi).92 Another example is a story in the dateless
“One Thousand and One Nights”. The sound of drums filled the city’s airas the wedding of
the king Badr and Jawhara was proclaimed.93 In another story we are told that a birth was
publicised by maids who played with tambourines and other musical instruments.94 In
addition to these noisy sounds in the open-air that the armies of the sultanate produced,
listeners could hear more mild voices in gathering. Such were the literary salons that took
place at the sultans’ courts. Poets read verses that highlighted the virtue of the ascending
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:165.
Meloy, “Celebrating the Mahmal”.
81
On Ibn Jubayr’s account see Jomier, Le Mahmal, 47; Warner, “Commerce and Spirituality”, 211-214.
82
Frenkel, “Volksroman under the Mamluks”, 25.
83
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 2: 233.
84
Shoshan, Popular Culture, 42-44, 49-50; Lutfi, “Coptic Festivals”.
85
Cf. Frenkel, “Marriage and Family“.
86
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 9:102 (732/April 1332).
87
Abū mid al-Qudsī, Duwal al-isl m, 36; Frenkel, “Popular Culture”, 198.
88
Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 4:28-29; Ibn ijjī, Ta rīkh, 370.
89
Al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, 1:429, 431 ẒQu uz in 658/1260ẓ.
90
Ibn Funduq al-Bayhaqī, Ta rīkh Bayhaq, 487.
91
Al- arīrī, Maq m t, 126-127 (interpretating notes).
92
Ibn Arab Sh h, kihat al-khulaf , 29.
93
Habicht, Alf Layla wa-Layla, 10:71.
94
MacNaghten, The Alf Laila, 1:353.
79
80
11
sultan.95 Following the arrest of the king of Cyprus by al-Ashraf Barsb y (in 1427) the poet
Ibn al-Kharr read a qa īda. At the assembly of the leading political figures in Cairo he
praised the victorious sultan.96 The limited number of sound accounts presented above is
supported by numerous short reports in contemporary Mamluk chronicles. The development
of the public sphere by the governing elite was not restricted to stone and marble. The
narrative accounts of the Mamluk soundscape fortify our argument that in order to capture
their subjects’ attention sultans and emirs shaped an urban space where mass events took
place. Streets and squares were also decorated with textiles, colours, and lights. Music and
sounds attracted the attention of passers-by and of large crowds.
Civil Milieu Sounds
Islam is a scriptural civilization. Qur n means reciting. A second tag of the scripture is alkit b, which means a written book, although the followers of the messenger who proclaimed
the revelations believed that he was al-nabī al-ummī (the illiterate prophet). This did not
belittle the social role of texts and flamboyant reading. On many occasions loud reciting of
verses from the Qur n served as the axis of a religious ceremony. The following section is
concerned with the acoustic mode of several texts, not in their semantic mode, i.e. not with
social or liturgical history, but with the lyrical intensity of the reported performances. These
reports serve as a clear indication that the governing military commanders and sultan were
aware of the importance of creating an urban environment that would affect the visions and
minds of their subjects. Since these accounts consist of the sheer bulk of the information that
contemporary authors reported upon, readers of Mamluk chroniclers are familiar with this
data;97 hence I can limit the number of reference presented here. A first example to highlight
this role of reading loudly in the public sphere during Islamic rituals is taken from a manual
by Muwaffaq al-Dīn ibn Uthm n (d. 615/1218), an Ayyubid historian of Cairo’s cemetery. In
his book he provides a list of prayers that should be recited at the shrine of Sayyida Nafīsa.
The visitor is advised to start his vocal ritual by reciting two verses from the Qur n. The first
verse is a plea to All h: “The mercy of God and His blessings be upon you, O people of the
House!”;98 it is followed by a direct appeal to the dead: “O People of the House, God only
desires to put away from you abomination and to cleanse you”.99 Then the visitor should
proclaim:
O God You encouraged me to execute deeds that I am familiar with, which I said, heard,
obeyed, believed and made as a reward for Your Prophet, whom You commissioned to
guide us towards You and to lead us towards You, as You said: “He is All-compassionate
to the believers”.100 We adore Your guidance and we esteem the duties You imposed upon
us and this obligation, the love of the family [of the Prophet Mu ammad], that You
imposed upon us. O All h with my tongue I accomplish it, and I believe in itin my heart,
with my feet I advance towards it, hoping to attain favour in this world and in the
hereafter. Appealing to You that in the day when all family bonds and ties would be cut,
You would help me. O God bless your Prophet.101
Al- Aynī, al-ʿIqd al-Jum n, 121.
Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Manhal, 3:269-70, 7:213.
97
Ibn Duqm q, Nuzhat al-an m, 277.
98
Q. 11, Hūd: 73.
99
Q. 33, al-A zab: 33.
100
Q. 33, al-A zab: 43.
101
Ibn al-Faqīh Uthm n, Murshid al-zuww r, 186-187; Ibn al- ayy t al-An rī, al-Kaw kib al-sayy ra, 34;
This prayer refers to Q. 33:56: God and His angels bless the Prophet (yu allūnaʿal al-nabī). O believers, do you
also bless him ( allū ʿalayhi), and pray upon him peace.
95
96
12
The vocal appeal attests to the strong belief that the loud voice would be heard in heaven. It is
composed from selected Quranic verses and vows that name All h and Mu ammad. The
visitor fortifies his belief by making them public sounds, his sounds also emphasize that Islam
is the governing religion in the vicinity where he utters his words. A different picture of vocal
performance in the open public sphere is provided by Taqī al-Dīn al-Maqrīzī. The great
historian reports in his topography of Cairo on a Sufi practices that hypnotized the city:
People form Old Cairo (mi r) would come on Fridays to the Fatimid quarter of the city to
gain blessings and benefit from watching the Sufis of the central Sufi lodge (the Sa īd alSu da kh nq h). Presenting an imposing appearance on Friday they used to go to alkim mosque. The Chief Sufi sheikh of the lodge (kh nq h) would lead, while the
novices (khudd m) marched ahead of him. The most senior amongst them carried the
volumes (rabʿa) of the Noble Book on his head. They would walk in silence and restraint
demureness to the door of the al- kim mosque [and stop] near the pulpit (minbar). They
would enter, and the Shaykh then would make a prayer of greeting to the mosque from
under a canopy (sa ba) that he always had with him and the people would pray [in
turn]. Then everyone would sit, and they would distribute the volumes of the Noble
Qur n among them, reading from the Qur n until the mu adhdhin would call for the
afternoon prayer. Then they would collect the volumes and busy themselves with prayer
and listening to the preaching (khu ba), all of them listening humbly. When it was time
for prayer and invocations, one of the readers of the kh nq h would get up and read
something appropriate from the Qur n and then bless the Sultan Saladin, the endower of
the kh nq h, and the rest of the Muslims. When he had finished, the Shaykh would get up
from his prayers and then walk from the mosque to the kh nq h, the Sufis [walking] with
him in the same way they had come to the mosque. This is one of the most beautiful
customs of the people of Cairo.102
Supplications to All h and pleas to bless the prophet Mu ammad and his community can be
traced from Islam’s early days. During the Abbasid period Muslims started to circulate
written and oral eulogies praising Mu ammad the Seal of the prophets. An early example of
these writings is a booklet by Ibn Abī
sim, who among other traditions transmits the
following prophetic maxim:
We told the Messenger of All h: “we have learned how to say hello and goodbye”; but
now we ask you how to pray for your own sake. Mu ammad said: “say O God extol
Mu ammad and his family similarly to Your extolment of Abraham and his household.
You are the praiseworthy and the glorious. O God bless Mu ammad and his family
similarly to Your blessing of Abraham and his household. You are the praiseworthy and
the glorious”.103
This and similar texts were received with open arms by Mamluk audiences, who made use of
some of these early booklets in praise of the Prophet.104 Moreover, several Mamluk authors
contributed directly to this literary genre. Readers’ lists (sam ʿ t) support this conclusion. An
observable case demonstrating this is the library of the Damascene scholar Ibn Qayyim alJawziyya.105 We should assume that this ritual reading in praise of the Prophet was a loud
sound ceremony and that the reciter raised his voice while uttering his supplications
Al-Maqrīzī, Kit b al-maw ʿiẓ, 4/2:729-730 (based on an informant who passed away in 800/13970 [Hofer,
The Popularisation of Sufism, 94].
103
Ibn Abī
im, Kit b al-Sal t, 12.
104
Al-Maqdisī, Thabat masmūʿ t, 161.
105
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Jal al-afh m, 44 Ẓ33ẓ, 61, 73 Ẓn. 71ẓ, 94 Ẓno. 97 quoting Ism īl b. Is q al-Q ḍī,
a l al- al tʿal al-nabī, 41 Ẓno. 31ẓ, 97 Ẓno. 102ẓ, 105 Ẓno. 116 quoting Ibn Abī simẓ, 116 Ẓno. 131 quoting
Ibn Abī
imẓ, 117 Ẓno. 133 quoting Ism īl b. Is q al-Q ḍīẓ, 496, 497, 504.
102
13
(duʿ ).106 Several decades later Ibn N ir al-Dīn al- amawī Ẓalso known as al-Dimashqīẓ
wrote a very detailed biography of the prophet Mu ammad (sīra).107 Prayers for the Prophet
occupy many pages in his composition.108 Relying on earlier authors, Ibn N ir al-Dīn ties the
commandment to pray for the cause of the Prophet Mu ammad to explicit sayings that are
attributed to him. Such, for example, is the maxim: “pray for me wherever you are because
your prayer will reach me”.109 Mu ammad al-Jazūlī Ẓd. c. 869/1465ẓ, a North African Muslim
scholar and Sufi composed the very popular booklet al il al-khayr tṬ It is not clear if 15thcentury Egyptians were familiar with this highly revered master. Al-Sakh wī, a productive
Mamluk author, says in his biographical dictionary:
He stopped in Cairo in 840AH. In the pilgrimage of 841AH he visited Mecca. Afterwards
he moved to al-Madīna and settled there. He returned to Mecca in 842AH and married.
There he begat children, thought and wrote legal opinions. He died in Mecca in
863AH.110
Although this information conflicts with other accounts of the life and death of al-Jazūlī, we
may accept al-Sakh wī’s note as supportive evidence of Egyptians’ familiarity with the
Maghribī Shaykh. There is no question that later Muslim generations were familiar with alJazūlī, whose book became a popular prayer manual.111 As with the public narration of the
Prophet’s sīra, this manual was also performed loudly.112 The history of the Prophet’s
birthday and death festival (mawlid al-nabī celebrated on the 12th of Rabī I) has been studied
thoroughly.113 At the Mamluk Sultanate these celebrations were already a well-established
custom. The veneration of the prophet Mu ammad was expressed during the Mamluk period
in royal public celebrations. This public festival was performed yearly at the royal court in the
mountain citadel.114 The following account is not the only one that contemporary sources
transmit:
On Monday the 11th, as the custom is, the sultan [Qanı av] organized the novel birthday
ceremony to commemorate the birth and death (mawlid) of the prophet Mu ammad. He
instructed the pitching of the colossal tent that was produced by the sultan al-Ashraf
Q ytb y. It is said that it had cost 36 thousand golden dinars. This tent was constructed in
the shape of a large hall divided into three wings and at its middle four tall pillars
carrying a dome. Nothing on earth resembles it. It was produced from colourful textiles.
No less than three hundred sailors are needed to erect this tent. The sultan ordered it be
pitched in the inner garden of the citadel. Near it the servants of the drinks prepared from
leather several troughs and filled them up with sweet water. Using racks, they hung
precious clay pitchers and porcelain jars and bronze bowls. The place was much more
decorated than usual. Accompanied by the army’s chief of staff the sultan took his place
in the tent. High ranking army commanders joined them. In line with custom the heads of
the religious establishment and the upper social echelons followed suit. Then all the
readers of the Qur n and the preacher ascended from the city of Cairo to the citadel on
Q. 17, al-Isr : 11 “Man prays for evil, as he prays for good” and 40: 60 “Your Lord has said, ‘Call upon Me
and I will answer you’”. See Katz, Prayer, 29
107
Al-Maqrīzī, Imt ʿ al-asm ʿ.
108
Ibn N ir al-Dīn al- amawī, J mi al- th r, 8:101 ff.
109
Ibn N ir al-Dīn al- amawī, J mi al- th r, 8:105, 128.
110
Al-Sakh wī, al-Ḍaw al-l miʿ, 7:258-259 (no. 651)
111
Padwick, Muslim Devotions, 146-147.
112
Shinar, “Traditional and Reformist Mawlid Celebrations”, 382-384; Shoshan, Popular Culture, 23-24.
113
The Mamluk encyclopaedist al-Qalqashandī, Ṣub al-aʿsh , 3:502 (Fatimid mawlid); Schimmel, And
Muhammad is his Name, 370-371.
114
During the celebrations in Mecca the name of the ruling sultan was mentioned by Ibn ahīra al-Qurayshī, alJ miʿ al-la īf, 285.
106
14
the hill. The sultan ordered the assembly be served with food and it was distributed
lavishly. This was a special occasion and more exciting than any past mawlid.115
The commemoration was an arena that witnessed routine performances of ritual reciting of
anecdotes concerning the Prophet’s life. During this memorial event, storytellers narrated
popular stories (about the Prophet’s miraculous achievements). A guiding model of how
contracts should be written illuminates the arrangements that were made to recite eulogies in
praise of Mu ammad and his merits:
The outlines of a document of a charity in favour of the noble mawlid are: X has donated
etc. etc. the described property as a real, legal etc. endowment. He regulated that the
supervisor of the charity and its administrator will start first with the construction of the
property. … the surplice of the capital will be used to hire a learned scholar who will sit
in the above-mentioned location and in front of him a stand (kursī). During the night of
12th Rabī I, he will recite attractively to the gathering poems on the miraculous birth of
the Prophet. It will be a clear reading accompanied with explanations, in high voice that
the audience will be able to hear it, but with no music. In addition, the pious charity will
pay to a chaste and trusted person who will be in charge of the candles. He will set the
lamps and light the candles, arrange the meal and distribute it to those who gather to
commemorate the mawlid… he also we pay to three bands, each band is composed of a
leader and three men who accompany him. They will recite the complete reading from A
to Z. They will pray for the founder of the charity and ask God to bless him and all the
Muslims, women and men alike. They will continue to recite blessings till a reciter who
will read poems in praise of Mu ammad will start reading.116
A second yearly celebration to commemorate Mu ammad’s miraculous biography was the
annual festival of his night-journey. Although the reciting of literary narratives of this
mythical event was well-received, popular practices of the Mi r j ritual caused angry
reactions within certain circles, as can be deduced from Ibn al- jj al- Abdarī’s “reports” on
the “Night of Mu ammad’s Ascension” (on the 27th Rajab).117 In this chapter the critical jurist
argues that:
[From their wrong innovation] is their gathering in circles. Each circle has an elder whom
they all imitate in the ritual of recollection, of repeating God’s name and recitation of
verses (dhikr)118 from the Book Ẓi.e. Qur nẓ. If only that implied ritual remembrance
prayer and recitation from the Qur n! Instead they play with God’s religion. For
instance, for the most part the chanter (dh kir) who leads the remembrance prayer does
not say the Qur nic statement “There is no god but God (l il ha illa’ll h) [which
indicates that God is One and Unique (kalīmat al-taw īd)]”, rather he says “Don’t follow
him, let’s go!”. They shorten the letter A and employ it as a link without a vowel sound.
When they say “Glory be to God”(sub na’ll h), they quicken the pace of it so much and
repeat it until you can hardly understand. The reciter performs verses from the Qur n,
adding to it what is not in it, subtracting from it what is in it, in accordance with
intonations and reverberations which resemble singing (al-ghin )and scales which they
adopted, the reprehensible conditions (dhamīma) of which you already know.
Then there is a great matter, al- Abdarī adds. The reciter begins with the recitation of the
Qur n, and another reciter delivers lines of poetry, or wishes to do so, so they silence the
Qur n reciter, or strive with him, or leave this one and his poem and that one and his reciting
Ibn Iy s, Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 5:24-25 Ẓ11 Rabī I 922/ 14 April 1516ẓ.
Al-Asyū ī, Jaw hir al-ʿuqūd, 1:368 [Katz, in Brockopp, The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad, 145.
117
Colby, “The Rhetoric of Innovative Tradition”, 39-40; Webb, “The Familiar and the Fantastic”.
118
Homerin, “Recalling You, My Lord”.
115
116
15
on account of their noticing others listening to a mystical trance music (sam ʿ) of poetry and
those forged intonations. These types of games with religion, were they to be held outside the
mosque, would be prohibited. How then is it allowed when it is inside the mosque, moreover,
on this noble night? “We surely belong to All h and to Him we shall return” (Q. 2: 156).119
Within walls of lodges and other constrictions as well as in open spaces, Sufis gathered and
practiced their meditative rite of recollection (dhikr).120 Ibn A All h explains what a dhikr
is:
remembrance of All h is liberation from ignorance… It has been said that it is the
repetition (tardīdẓ on the Name of the Invoked ẒGodẓ by the heart and by the tongue…
Remembrance may be with the tongue, the heart, or members of the body. It may be
practiced secretly or openly…Invoking with the tongue is the remembrance of the letters
[of God’s name] without being in the [state of] presence ( u ūr) [with God].121 It is the
outward remembrance, but it has great virtue as witnessed by the [employment] of verses
from the Quran, stories on the history of the Prophet and his sayings.122
Another example by Ibn A All h is the following story:
One of our comrades used to say frequently All h, All h. One day a tree trunk fell on his
head and fractured his skull. The blood spilled on the ground spelling All h, All h.123
In a third piece, Ibn A
ecstatic occasions:
All h dwells upon the issue of dancing and chanting during dhikr
You would experience in your mind the sound of cymbals and horns. Invoking is
powerful. When the sound descends into a place, it does so with its horns and cymbals.
The invocation is against everything except God (al- aqq). When it settles in some place
it actively seeks to expel its opposite, as we find in the combination of water and fire.124
This dhikr ritual, the constant evoking of the name of God,125 sometimes led to modes of
behaviour that were not approved by critical observers who voiced their condemnations.
Describing the great Sufi Shaykh Abū al-Waf , the historian Ibn ajar provides an ego
document:
I met him in a Sufi gathering (daʿwa) and I rejected his companions gesturing in
prostration towards him. He continued with the chanting [to reinforce ecstasy and induce
mystical trance] (sam ʿ) and during the whirling dance he recited the verse: “Wherever
you turn, there is the Face of God” (Q. 2:115). Law students that were presented cried
out: “You have blasphemed! You have blasphemed!”So he stopped the session and
accompanied by his followers left [the mosque]. 126
No wonder that some circles in the Mamluk elite were not happy with these popular events
and made efforts to censor them. Their critical evaluation of the commoners cast light on
Al- Abdarī, al-Madkhal, 1:297 [The English translation is based upon Colby, “The Rhetoric of Innovative
Tradition”, 40].
120
Tafur, Travels and Adventures, 71 describes the unruly friends of All h. On them see Karamustafa, God’s
Unruly Friends.
121
Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 105
122
Ibn A All h, Mift al-fal , 3 [Koury-Danner (trans.), The Remembrance of God in Sufism, 45-46].
123
Ibn A All h, Mift al-fal , 4 [Koury-Danner (trans.), The Remembrance of God in Sufism,, 48].
124
Ibn A All h, Mift al-fal , 4-5 [Koury-Danner (trans.), The Remembrance of God in Sufism,, 48].
125
For an inner Sufi definition of this ritual see Najm al-Dīn Kubr ed. Mole [trans. argar, 128].
126
Ibn ajar al- Asqal nī, Inb al-ghumr, 2:308 [no. 16]; McGregor, Sanctity, 55.
119
16
prevalent practises.127 This is not the place to dwell upon questions regarding “the
Mediterranean Islamic city” and its features.128 Circumventing the architectural or structural
dimensions of this colonial model, I will dwell in this study on its social and legal features,129
advancing the thesis that these urban conglomerates were governed by regulations and
decrees that were interpreted as derived from the sacred Islamic Law (sharīʿa).130 The
prevalence of the Islamic courts and judges, the role of the mu tasib, the predominance of the
sounds of Islamic religious rituals and the marginality of non-Muslims (through restrictions
imposed on them) were all component in the routine life of human spaces that clearly define
an “Islamic city”.131 To these criteria we should add the principle role of Islamic pious
foundations (waqf pl. awq f) in establishing urban institutions and in the daily life of these
towns. The influence of religious endowments on the landscape of the Mamluk city was
immense.132 The awq f paid for the construction of a very wide range of social and religious
institutions. They also met the maintenance costs of these edifices and also paid regular
salaries to their staff. From waqf certificates and other legal documentation we learn that
muezzins and reciters were paid by pious charities to call to prayer or to recite verses from the
Qur n.
Sounds from minarets made Islam heard as well as seen. They produced a space where
five time a day calls to the believers to congregate in the mosques (adh n)133 are heard loudly
and clearly. Passers-by would also hear loud readings from the Qur n and from adīth
collections (in Mamluk Cairo particularly from Sa ī al-Bukh rī).134 Yet limiting myself to
the study of urban acoustic spaces I dwelled in this chapter only concisely upon sonic
enclaves that housed religious rituals, such as Sufi mystical invocations (dhikr) or students’
auditions (sam ʿ). Indeed, a vast range of contemporaneous sources support the indicators
presented above and allow the use of the term “Islamic city” regarding the Mamluk towns in
Egypt and Syria. In their streets sounded not only royal and military voices, analysed
previously, but also communal and religious voices, namely sounds that constitute an integral
component of Islamic rituals.135 Awq f documents, some already mentioned previously, refer
to several functionaries whose duties included raising their voices loudly so that the
endowers’ fame would reach the ears of the population. The endowment certificate of the
madrasa that the sultan Abū al-Ma sin al-N ir asan (1356-1361) built in al-Rumayla
(near the Citadel of Cairo in 760/1359) provides an example of such a case.136 He appointed a
team of sixteen muezzins and four shifts’ heads who would recite the call to prayer, “those
leading the rituals of Islam”, and readers of the Qur n “who will recite continually and
repeatedly the Book of God,137 and will not stop from doing it day and night”. He also
appointed, in addition to adīth teacher, a reader to recite traditions from the adīth
collection and an additional performer (m di ) who would recite poems eulogizing (mad ī )
Ibn ajar al- Asqal nī, Inb al-ghumr, 3: 402-03 (831/April 1428, an ego document).
Neglia, “Some Historiographical Notes”.
129
Gottreich, “Rethinking the ‘Islamic City’”.
130
Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, 119-125.
131
Frenkel, “Is There an Islamic Space?”.
132
Raymond, “Les Grands Waqfs”: 114-116; Luz, The Mamluk City, 107-147.
133
Describing a political crisis at the court of the sultan asan Ẓ759/August 1358ẓ that involved soldiers and
Sufis, the historian tells: “before the call to the evening prayer the situation calmed down and the disturbances
stopped”. Ibn Taghrī Birdī, al-Nujūm al-z hira, 10:309.
134
On that, see further below.
135
Al-Dhahabī, al-ʿIbar, 4:13 (A band of Sufis was received with open arms “wa-k nat tudaqqu lahū nawban”ẓ.
136
Al-Harithy, “The Four Madrasahs”.
137
The Ottoman scholar Birgvi ẒBirkawīẓ opposed the payment to Quran readers, a practice which he considered
no less then hypocrisy.
127
128
17
the Prophet.138 Accomplishing this task, they will pray, and on behalf of the donor will ask
God’s beneficiation. In the mausoleum (qubba) the donor/sultan appointed sixty men whose
task was to recite from the Qur n continually, day and night. Thirty would read in the night
and thirty during the day. Each shift was prolonged two hours and the readers’ team was
composed of five men. At the end of each session one of the team would address God on
behalf the sultan.139
A similar formula is mentioned in the waqf document that the sultan Q yitb y
endowed to maintain the shrine complex of Ibr hīm al-Dasūqī. He stipulated the addition of
three Qur n reciters. One was to recite every day after the evening prayer by the window of
the dome where the saint was buried.140 Letters sent by pilgrims from the Hajj road were
among the texts that were performed publicly. Damascene chronicles regularly inform their
readers about letters sent by pilgrims either on the way to Mecca or when they were back
from Arabia.141 Moreover, supplications by passers-by who walked through the towns’ alleys
or stopped at the mausolea (turbas)’ windows echoed the voice of Islam. These sounds
certainly accentuated the authority of Islam. Starting with the Ayyubid Sultanate it became
traditional for the founder of a religious institution to add his own intended mausoleum
(turba) to a religious building he had founded.142 Often, mausoleums were much more richly
decorated than the buildings they were attached to. Ideally the façade of the chamber where
the sarcophagus of the founder stood opened onto the street. It was given a large rectangular
window with an iron grill.143 It housed a Shaykh who recited the Qur n for the blessings of
the soul of the dead. Sitting in the dark tomb chamber, next to the sarcophagus that was
illuminated by candles, his voice was intended to attract the attention of passers-by. The vocal
sound linked the tomb with the urban public space. Several court records cast light on reciters
of the Qur n who were employed by urban mausolea and of payments to these men, whose
voices were heard by passers-by. A nomination degree (marsūm) from Jerusalem provides an
example of this. The supervisor (n ẓir) of the shrine of z, a late army officer, ordered that
rim al-Dīn Ibr hīm replace the late Yūnis.144 He was to sit near the tomb and recite from
the Qur n groups of verses (ʿashr).145
Documents and inscriptions from other shrines throughout the Mamluk Sultanate carry
similar stipulations.146 The tomb chamber at the Jal qiyya, in the Chain Street, contains two
cenotaph grilled windows opening on the street.147 As in the case with the ziyya, it housed
a reciter. A court record from Jerusalem deals with pious endowments that payed reciters who
set next to a tomb and read from the Qur n.148 The audio-visual elements of design
contributed to the development of an Islamic urban space. The vow of silence that Muslims
made strengthens the claim that sounds do matter.149 Taking an oath not to speak can be traced
Compare with the position of a reciter who will read the “Poem of the Mantle” at the Dome of the Rock on
Friday and on Monday. Rab yi a, Sijill t, sijill 149 p. 72 (no. 157).
139
Al-Harithy, The Waqf Document, 4, 149-150 153, 155-158; and her studies “The Complex of Sultan asan”;
“The Four Madrasahs”.
140
Hallenberg, “The Sultan Who Loved Sufis”, 153.
141
Ibn ijjī, Ta rīkh, 37, 380.
142
Salam-Liebich, The Architecture of the Mamluk City, 198; Behrens-Abouseif, Islamic Architecture in Cairo,
15; al-Harithy, “The Concept of Space”.
143
Muhammad Beg b. akariy , wiya Ẓc. 748/1348ẓ Jerusalem aram doc. ## 643 = Burgoyne, Mamluk
Jerusalem, 72.
144
Diem, “Philologisches”, 11 (doc. 214).
145
Al-D nī, Kit b al-naq , 133; idem, al-Mu kam, 14-15; Sell, The Faith of Islam, 347 (app. A: ʿIlm al-tajwīd);
Rippin, The Blackwell Companion to the Quran, 178.
146
Gaube, Arabische Inschriften, 91 (no. 174).
147
Burgoyne, Mamluk Jerusalem, 191.
148
Rab yi a, Sijill t, 84 (no. 178/2 1064/1654).
149
Ibn Abī al-Duny , Kit b al-Ṣamt.
138
18
in early traditions.150 Jesus, who became a moral example for many Muslims, is associated
with sayings in favour of silence.151 Al-Suyū ī transmits a maxim: “to refrain from talking
continually, day and night, is forbidden”.152 His selection of this tradition indicates that
practicing a vow of silence was not strange to his society. Moreover, some Sufi circles
inspired their followers to practice silence.153
Monitoring the Voices
That control of sounds was significant we can construe by looking from an opposite angle:
namely, from reports on the banning of the production of voices and of noises. While
Muslims made loud vocal and instrumental sounds, non-Muslims were ordered to lower their
voices. In the domains of the Mamluk Sultanate standard regulations designed the limits of
the sounds that these communities were permitted to produce. Intending to prop up the
hegemony of Islam, the governors envisioned the control of the sounds that their non-Muslim
subjects were producing, and even to suppress them.
The history of the Pact Ẓ ahdẓ of Umar is far beyond the limits of the present study, hence it
is sufficient to call your attention to several adaptations of this pseudo-certificate that
circulated in the Sultanate’s domains. A version of an early compilation that was copied in
Mamluk Cairo (in 1455) casts lights on this aspect of Muslim-Christian relations.154 An item
in this fictive pact contains an undertaking by the Christians: “We shall beat on small balls
(naw qis) gently and reading [the Bible] we shall not rise our voices”.155 The rules imposed
on non-Muslims are in line with this interpretation. Again, a text compiled by Ibn Qayyim alJawziyya156 indicates the desirable direction. In his book on regulations concerning Jews and
Christians he limits Christians’ public celebrations and bans them from openly displaying
crosses. Analysing the Pact of Umar the famous Damascene jurist quotes what he presents as
a letter that the Christians of Syria wrote to the caliph Umar:
We shall use the n qūs (wooden clappers or gong clappers)157 only within our churches
and play them only very softly. We shall not display our crosses or our books in the roads
or markets of the Muslims. We shall not raise our voices during praying, recitation or
when calling to following our dead.158
Restrictions that religious scholars issued regarding funerals and lamentations provide a
different sort of evidence of efforts paid by Mamluk rulers to govern the sounds voiced in the
public sphere. For example, they criticize the sounds produced during funerals. The
employing of professional mourners, these scholars argued, contradicts the Islamic norms.
The raising of the voices of these women disturbs the ideal of bearing patiently with God’s
verdict and, the scholars argued, contradicts the Islamic norms. The voices of these women
disturb the ideal of bearing patiently with God’s verdict.159 The regulations of the markets’
inspector (mu tasib) provide several examples to support my interpretations concerning the
social function of sounds and the authorities’ efforts to monitor voices. According to Mamluk
Calder, “ inth, birr, tabarrur, ta annuth, 214-215.
Khalidi in Samir (ed.), Christian Arab Apologetic // idem. The Muslim Jesus, 59 no. 13.
152
Al-Suyutī, al-Amr bil-ittib ʿ, 231.
153
Waugh, Visionaries of Silence.
154
Cohen, “What was the Pact of Umar?”, 137.
155
Tritton, The Caliphs, 5.
156
On him see Hoover “Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya”, Masthurhah, “The Views of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah”.
157
For a description, see Shams al-Dīn al- urq nī, Shar al-Zurq nī ʿal al-Muwa a 1:121.
158
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, A k m, 3:1159.
159
El Cheikh, Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity, 44-58.
150
151
19
period manuals, the mu tasib should inspect the towns’ graveyard, and he should also prevent
women from ostentatious lamentation, visiting graves, and following the bier.160 Measures to
control sounds were not limited to voices produced by the Protected People. Procedures to
restrict voices created by women and rival Muslim communities serve as a clear indication of
the politics of the ruling military aristocracy and its continuous efforts to control the public
space. Sultan’s steps often brought them closer to the religious establishment. This policy
upholds the deduction regarding the Mamluk soundscape and its political dimensions
presented above.
Yet it is clear that the military aristocracy did not follow blindly those religious
scholars who expressed hostility to popular sounds. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s attack (in
740/1339-40) on Sufi groups that assembled (sam ʿ) to chant, play music, beat drums, blow
horns and dance161 did not lead to the governors’ cracking down on the popular Sufi group.
Their visibility in sources shows that the voices they made were perceived as an approved
component in the Mamluk soundscape. This is in opposition to music that singers played.
Again and again we come across reports on taxation imposed upon places that housed
musicians and the abolition of this tax. This step was received as a sign of the sultan’s
religious commitment.162 The control of voices in urban environments emphasises the
characterisation of the Mamluk city as an Islamic town. That is, as a place where social values
were articulated as Islamic public regulations. In constructed zones sounds served as the
major tool in transmitting messages that were blocked by walls and other obstacles. Behind
the screens women could perceive (min war al-sit r) the military bands. The beating of the
drums penetrated the raised barriers. Cities’ dwellers would hear during the dark nights the
voices of the muezzins. Passers-by could catch the voice of readers reciting verses from the
Qur n.
Conclusion
In line with the social and cultural characteristics of Mamluk society, orality and written
documents were complementary modes of communication and not opposite poles. Walls and
constructions could not stop sounds from penetrating the ears and minds of the subjects,
notifying them that they were controlled by an authoritative force. The need to achieve this
goal designated at the same time the performances of the rulers who invested considerable
sums in creating an imposing urban space. The soundscape echoed the multilingual nature of
Mamluk court culture. Devotional invocations were read loudly in what might be called
intersection diglossia.163 Turkish was used regularly in Mamluk society. The accounts and
stories that are at the heart of this research contribute to the study of everyday life and politics
in the late Middle Islamic Period. They support the thesis that sounds served more than a
simple identity tag; sounds were a social communication tool, employed by believers who
held that their voices were heard by God. The melody transmitted the message. Uttering or
listening to sounds created among the audiences a sense of a joined action, it inspired them
and motivated them. The participants could share the feeling that their voices might generate
heavenly reaction. Sound are strongly related to power and authority, 164 and hence to
establishment ambitions to control the soundscape. They mediate between the rulers and the
Ibn al-Ukhūwwa, Kit b Maʿ lim al-qurba, 106 ẒArabicẓ [trans. Levy, 18 ẒEnglishẓ]; Ohtoshi, “Cairene
Cemeteries”, 110.
161
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, al-Kal m ʿal masalat al-sam ʿ.
162
Ibn Q ḍī Shuhba, Ta rīkh, 2: 506-07.
163
Al-Kh zind rī, Ta rīkh majmūʿ al-naw dir, 159.
164
Al- afadī, th r al-uwal, 247-250.
160
20
subjects and shape the public’s mind. 165They are an efficient tool to install in the minds and
hearts of subjects the image that the ruling elite aspire to. The sounds of the sultanate echoed
the political structure of this regime – a military aristocracy that claimed to govern Egypt and
Syria on behalf of Islam and presented as its raison d’être the protection of the Muslims. We
can uphold the thesis of a unique Islamic soundscape. The subjects of the sultanate and its
governing elite were exposed to sounds that echoed the self-image of the leading military
aristocracy. By its self-definition the sultanate was an Islamic state. This is clearly reflected in
contemporary jurists’ writings, biographies and chronicles. The ceremonies at the streets of
the cities fortified this stance. The year centred around pilgrimage festivals, the departure and
return of the Hajj caravan, were flamboyant ceremonial occasions. The calls to the mosques
(adh nẓ and the daily reciting from the Qur n, funerals, popular festivals and other events
had a phonetic dimension that can be identified as a unique Islamic one. The drums and
trumpets declared that a powerful army was steering the governing wheels. These
reverberating voices rumbled in the streets. They served as symbols of sultanic authority, of
royal (al-malik) power. They projected control of the space, disseminating the sultan’s image
as protector of Islam and of Arabia’s holy cities, the governing elite of the sultanate thereby
manipulated pre-mamluk tradition. Although we should point out that voices can be employed
as a subversive tool, which can erode governing power, express resentment, protest, and
challenge the rulership. The above examples clearly illustrate the potential contribution of
soundscape history to the study of Mamluk history, architecture and archeology. Students of
historical anthropology would agree with the methodical presumption that soundscape history
casts light not only on old practices and custom, but also on the invention of tradition in
medieval circumstances.166
165
Certainly, this was not the only tool sultans used to cultivate an authoritative image. See the One Thousand
Nights story about Q yitb y walking around the streets of Cairo dressed as a North-African pilgrim. Ibn Iy s,
Bad iʿ al-zuhūr, 3:121 (881/December 1476).
166
Hobsbawm/Ranger, The Invention of Tradition.
21
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