Please join us for our upcoming seminar on: "Brokering Culture Across Socio-Political Boundaries: Ḥanafī Immigrants in Fourteenth Century Cairo" by Dr. Or Amir (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

Monday, May 31, 2021, from 17:30 to 19:00 (Israel time) via Zoom.

To receive the Zoom link, please subscribe by contacting Alon Ben Yehuda on alon.ben-yehuda@mail.huji.ac.il.

ABSTRACT

Since the Mongol invasions into the eastern Islamic lands in the thirteenth century, a steady stream of Muslim scholars made their way to the Mamluk Sultanate, where those scholars found abundant employment opportunities and a vibrant scholarly scene. This constant migration had its peaks, which reflected the political upheavals in Mongol ruled territories, but were also influenced by growing demand on the part of the Mamluk elite for Ḥanafī, Turkish speaking scholars. Although little research had been done on this phenomenon, it seems that since the mid-fourteenth century the rate of Ḥanafī immigrants increased significantly, reaching a zenith during Tamerlane’s destructive campaigns. Concomitantly, Ḥanafī immigrants were favorably welcomed in the numerous learning institutions founded by the Mamluk emirs, mainly in Cairo, where they were afforded lucrative positions.

This presentation will address the intricate dynamics between the Ḥanafī immigrants, the Mamluk elite and the local – predominantly Shāfi‛ī and Arabic speaking – scholars. It will ask what was the cultural brokerage played by the new immigrants in Mamluk society, where a significantly differing normative Islamic culture was espoused compared to that which prevailed in the so called ‟Balkans-to-Bengal complex,” from where those immigrants arrived. Did these scholars play a role as cultural brokers and, if so, was this role confined to the households of the Turkish-speaking Mamluk emirs, or did it percolate to wider social circles? And what was the reaction of the local scholars to the growing influence (and the accompanied material patronage) those new actors enjoyed? These dynamics will be addressed by discussing several case studies of Ḥanafī scholars who migrated to Cairo from the east, their social integration therein and their role as cultural brokers.

Or Amir studies the social history of the medieval Islamic world, and especially the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria. In his PhD (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2020) he studied the relations between the Mamluk ruling elite and Sufi shaykhs, and the social role played by those shaykhs. He published several articles on Sufism and Islamic society in Mamluk Palestine and on mobility and cross-cultural exchange between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Mongol ruled eastern Islamic lands. Currently, he is a post-doctoral fellow and instructor at The Hebrew University.