The Mamluks

The Mamluks inspired an important part of the culture that, according to some scholars, is still present nowadays.
They didn’t rule in a huge area: in some times they were very powerful, in others they lose some power and their territory was very limited.

History

- IBN TULUN (son of a Turk converted to Islam): he was sent to Egypt as a governor, but he was able to took the power for himself and create a dynasty (the TULUNIDS), but it didn’t last much time.

- Thousands of Mamluks were employed as servants (in fact Mamluk means “possessed”, and therefore “slave”), especially in Egypt but during the time they organized as clan, with a chief that fought to impose their order (around XII century).

- Origins: in Egypt under AYYUBID Dinasty, with SALADIN who captured Jerusalem and consolidated the dynasty -> Ayyubids acted as ATABEGS (“chiefs”) and in 1315 invaded Nubia.

--> the Mamluks represented an example of the possibility to emerge and change status, from slaves to chiefs.

BAYBARS: 1250: first Mamluk that created a real dynasty (BAHRI). He stopped the Mongols and defeated the Franks( the term Crusaders was known only in Europe because they were sent to fight in the name of the Cross. In the Arab world they always were “the Franks”.). They were nominated caliphs after the Mongols took Baghdad.

The Mamluks and the Art of the Knights

FURUSIYYA: Arab knightly martial exercise -> it means the art of being a knight and the art of being able to organize a war (in fact one of the abilities required to a knight was to be a good player of chess, a game created by the Persians).
In the same time of the Furusiyya there was the spread of comic literature against the Mamluks -> e.g. ironic stories about sultan Baybers

how is it possible that, in the Middle Ages, we have at the same time a serious literature about Mamluks and a comic production about this period?
-> it can be appreciated as an expression of opposition, absolutely extraordinary in the Arab world. When Baybers went to the power, he imposed a real dictatorship, so people were terrified, but still they had a sort of possibility to express their own opinion against the ruler.

More, the experience of the Mamluks is important because it shows that it is easier, in a world of clans, that the people who are able to use the army can control the situation (as the Mamluks did) -> Sadat, Saddam Hussein, Ben Ali, etc. were all “men of the army” -> it can be called Mamluk mentality.

The Mamluks and Economy

At the same time it is possible to observe the importance of the ECONOMIC element of the connection between West and East:
- Muhammad -> the silk road was closed;
- Abbasids -> the silk road was open, it was a period of peace;
- split between Arab princes, clans, Mamluks, Turkish chiefs -> the silk road was closed again;
- Mamluks -> they had the control of the trade through sea (Yemen, Red Sea, Egypt, Mediterranean), until XV century (when Magellano discovered the possibility to go to India without passing in the Arabian Peninsula)

--> this represented the end of Mamluks’ wellness (that derived from the relations with Europe)

--> they became poor and weak -> Ottomans conquered their areas.