Mamadu Lamine
Mamadu Lamine (Muhammad al-Amin) (c. 1835-1887). Sarakole (Soninke) resistance leader.
Mamadu Lamine (also known as Muhammad al-Amin) came from a village near Kayes in what is today Mali. Mamadu’s father was a Muslim cleric. As a youth, he studied in Bondu and Bakel in the Senegal River region.
In the 1850s, Mamadu apparently met and served under al-Hajj ‘Umar, the Tukolor Islamic imperialist. After spending some time in Segu, Mamadu left in the 1860s on the pilgrimage to Mecca, passing through Wadai. Mamadu did not return to Segu until about 1880. Mamadu spent the next years in Segu as a virtual prisoner of Ahmadu. It is believed that Ahmadu may have resented Mamadu’s Sarakole identity or his slightly different ideas about the nature of the Tijaniya Islamic brotherhood. This episode was pivotal in inculcating an anti-Tukolor sentiment in Mamadu Lamine.
Mamadu returned to his birthplace in 1885. During his absence, the French had begun to compete militarily with the Tukolor for control of the Senegambia. A charismatic leader in his own right, Mamadu used anti-Tukolor and anti-French sentiment to build a large following.
Within a few months, Mamadu declared a jihad -- a holy war -- against his Senegambian neighbors and the Tukolor Empire. By 1886, Mamadu was ruler of a sizeable portion of the Senegambia. He made his headquarters at Dianna on the upper Gambia.
In early 1886, Mamadu first encountered the French in battle. Mamadu Lamine’s victories were sufficient to force Gallieni, the French commander, to come to terms with another imperialist, Samori Toure, so that the French could concentrate on the Senegambia.
More importantly, Gallieni temporarily allied with Mamadu Lamine’s old enemy, Ahmadu. After protracted fighting Mamadu Lamine was defeated by the French at Toubakouta in December 1887.
Although the accounts of his death conflict, Mamadu was probably caught and killed soon after the battle of Toubakouta. With his death, the Sarakole resistance movement died as well.
Lamine, Mamadu see Mamadu Lamine
Muhammad al-Amin see Mamadu Lamine
Amin, Muhammad al- see Mamadu Lamine
Mamadu Lamine (also known as Muhammad al-Amin) came from a village near Kayes in what is today Mali. Mamadu’s father was a Muslim cleric. As a youth, he studied in Bondu and Bakel in the Senegal River region.
In the 1850s, Mamadu apparently met and served under al-Hajj ‘Umar, the Tukolor Islamic imperialist. After spending some time in Segu, Mamadu left in the 1860s on the pilgrimage to Mecca, passing through Wadai. Mamadu did not return to Segu until about 1880. Mamadu spent the next years in Segu as a virtual prisoner of Ahmadu. It is believed that Ahmadu may have resented Mamadu’s Sarakole identity or his slightly different ideas about the nature of the Tijaniya Islamic brotherhood. This episode was pivotal in inculcating an anti-Tukolor sentiment in Mamadu Lamine.
Mamadu returned to his birthplace in 1885. During his absence, the French had begun to compete militarily with the Tukolor for control of the Senegambia. A charismatic leader in his own right, Mamadu used anti-Tukolor and anti-French sentiment to build a large following.
Within a few months, Mamadu declared a jihad -- a holy war -- against his Senegambian neighbors and the Tukolor Empire. By 1886, Mamadu was ruler of a sizeable portion of the Senegambia. He made his headquarters at Dianna on the upper Gambia.
In early 1886, Mamadu first encountered the French in battle. Mamadu Lamine’s victories were sufficient to force Gallieni, the French commander, to come to terms with another imperialist, Samori Toure, so that the French could concentrate on the Senegambia.
More importantly, Gallieni temporarily allied with Mamadu Lamine’s old enemy, Ahmadu. After protracted fighting Mamadu Lamine was defeated by the French at Toubakouta in December 1887.
Although the accounts of his death conflict, Mamadu was probably caught and killed soon after the battle of Toubakouta. With his death, the Sarakole resistance movement died as well.
Lamine, Mamadu see Mamadu Lamine
Muhammad al-Amin see Mamadu Lamine
Amin, Muhammad al- see Mamadu Lamine
Mameluke
Mameluke (in Arabic, Mamluk) (Mamluq) (Mamaluke) (Mamluke). Mameluke is Arabic for “white slave.” The word is related to the word for king, “malik,” indicating that a Mameluke was a slave owned by the ruler of the state.
Mamelukes were slaves that were used to form a solid foundation for the ruler of a country. Tribal frictions and a weak government had resulted in numerous revolutions in many states. The system of Mamelukes was intended to change this. Young boys were enslaved in countries far away, and then underwent rigid training before they joined the army of the state. As many of them came from Christian countries, they were converted to Islam. The Mamelukes formed an institution in the state, and clear regulations were imposed on their rights. By rule, the children of a Mameluke could not become a Mameluke; positions could not be transferred to relatives; and the right to transfer inheritance was strictly regulated.
The Mamelukes, at times, developed into a force so strong that they were able to overthrow the ruler of the country. This happened in Egypt in 1250, leading to the Mameluke dynasty which existed as an independent country until 1517, and as a subject of the Ottoman Empire until 1811.
The laws regulating Mamelukes were often not well respected and were frequently lifted. The definition of Mamelukes as slaves was never changed, not even when the Mamelukes became sultan. However, the ownership definition was changed, and the Mameluke system was understood as the real owner of the slaves.
Mameluke Sultanates were established and maintained by military (primarily Turkish and Circassian) slaves in Egypt (r.1250- 1517) and inSyria (r.1260-1516). The Egyptian Mameluke sultanatet had its origin in the Bahriyya, a military household of Qipcaq Turkish military slaves, which belonged to the bodyguard of the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt al-Malik al-Salih, Najm al-Din. The Bahriyya superceded the Ayyubids under the constraint of the military crises provoked by the crusade of Louis in 1249 and by the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1259. The Bahriyya line (1250-1390) was followed by the Burjiyya or Circassian line, which lasted until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1517. During the Ottoman period, the formation of Mameluke military households, known as Neo-Mamelukes and carrying the title of Bey, continued until they were destroyed by Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha in 1812.
The main capital of the Mamelukes was Cairo. Their name is derived from the Arabic mamluk (“taken into possession”). Historically, the Mamelukes were slave soldiers who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages. Over time, they became a powerful military caste often defeating the Crusaders. On more than one occasion, they seized power for themselves, for example, ruling Egypt from 1250-1517.
The first Mamelukes served the 'Abbasid caliphs at the end of the ninth century of Christian calendar in Baghdad. The Mameluke system was an evolution of a previous system, the Ghulam system, invented by the Caliph al-Mu'tasim, in which Turkish prisoners of war became the caliphal guard. This system ended in disaster in the 860s with the murder of four caliphs in a row, and the Mameluke system was created on its ruins. The main difference was that the Mamelukes were captured as children and then trained and moulded within the Islamic world to ensure their loyalty to their masters. The 'Abbasids "recruited" them mainly from areas near the Caucasus (mainly Circassian and Georgian) in later periods, and in the 13th - 14th centuries from areas north of the Black Sea (mainly Turkic, most of whom were Kipchak Turks) and of Yoruk background, as well as boys from East Slav populations. Those captured were of non-Muslim origin.
The Mameluke system gave rulers troops who had n link to any established power structure. Local non-Mameluke warriors were often more loyal to their tribal sheiks, their families, or nobles than to the sultan or caliph. If a commander conspired against the ruler, it was often not possible to deal with the conspiracy without causing unrest among the nobility. The Mameluke slave troops were strangers of the lowest possible status who could not conspire against the ruler and who could easily be punished if they caused trouble, making them a great military asset.
After Mamelukes were converted to Islam, many were trained as cavalry soldiers. Mamelukes had to follow the dictates of furusiyya, a code that included values such as courage and generosity, and also cavalry tactics, horsemanship, archery and treatment of wounds, etc.
Mamelukes lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such as archery competitions and presentations of mounted combat skills at least twice a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of Mameluke practices.
While they were no longer actually slaves after training, they were still obliged to serve the Sultan. The Sultan kept them as an outsider force under his direct command, to use in the event of local tribal frictions. The Sultan could also send them as far as the Muslim regions of Iberia.
Sultans had the largest number of Mamelukes, but lesser amirs could have their own troops as well. Many Mamelukes rose to high positions throughout the empire, including army command. At first their status remained non-hereditary and sons were strictly prevented from following their fathers. However, over time, in places such as Egypt, the Mameluke forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers. A similar development would occur in the Ottoman Empire with the Janissaries.
The origins of the Mameluke Sultanate of Egypt lie in the Ayyubid dynasty that Saladin (Salah al-Din) founded in 1174. With his uncle, Shirkuh, Saladin conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur al-Din of Damascus in 1169. By 1189, after the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin had consolidated the dynasty's control over the Middle East. After Saladin's death, his sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire, and each attempted to surround himself with larger expanded Mameluke retinues.
By 1200, Saladin's brother al-Adil succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing of imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-Adil incorporated the defeated Mameluke retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-Adil's death in 1218, and as his son al-Kamil's death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the power of the Mamelukes and soon involved them in the internal court politics of the kingdom itself.
1n 1315, they invaded and conquered a great part of Nubia, but the power remained with a Nubian prince who converted from Coptic Orthodox to Islam.
In June 1249, the Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France landed in Egypt and took Damietta. The Egyptian troops retreated at first. When the Egyptian sultan As-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his son Turanshah and then his favorite wife Shajar al-Durr (or Shajarat ul-Dur). She took control with Mameluke support and launched a counterattack. Troops of the Bahri commander Baybars defeated Louis' troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamelukes in March 1250, and agreed to a ransom. Political pressure for a male leader made Shajar marry the Mameluke commander Aybak. Aybak was later killed in his bath, and in the power struggle that ensued the vice-regent Qutuz took over. He formally founded the first Mameluke sultanate and the Bahri dynasty.
The first Mameluke dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the Bahriyya or River Island regiment. The name Bahri (meaning "of the sea or river") referred to their center in al-Rodah Island in the Nile. The regiment consisted mainly of Kipchak Turks.
When the Mongol troops of Hulegu Khan sacked Baghdad in 1258 and advanced towards Syria, Mameluke emir Baybars left Damascus to Cairo where he was welcomed by Sultan Qutuz. After taking Damascus, Hulegu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt but Qutuz had Hulegu's envoys killed and, with Baybar's help, mobilized his troops. Although Hulegu had to leave for the East when great Khan Mongke died in action against the Southern Song, he left his lieutenant, the Christian Kitbuqa, in charge, Qutuz drew the Mongol army into an ambush near the Orontes River, routed them at the Battle of Ayn Jalut and captured and executed Kitbuqa.
After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamelukes. It was said that Baybars, who seized power, was involved in the assassination. In the following centuries power was often transferred this way: the average reign of a Mameluke ruler was only seven years.
Under the outstanding Sultan Baybars (r. 1260-1277), the Mamelukes stopped the Mongol expansion westwards and successfully fought against the Crusaders. The Mamelukes defeated the Mongols a second time at Homs in 1260 and began to drive them back east. In the process, they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, formed mail routes, and formed diplomatic connections between the local princes. Baybars' troops attacked Acre in 1263, captured Caesaria in 1265, and massacred the inhabitants of Antioch in 1268. In 1291, the Mamelukes drove the last of the Crusaders out of Acre.
Mamelukes also defeated new Mongol attacks in Syria in 1271, 1281 (2nd Battle of Homs), 1303/1304 and 1312. They were defeated by the Mongols and their Christian allies at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299.
Under the Burji Mamelukes, Cairo became the most important center for trade between the East, India, and Europe, and the economy flourished. The Burji (meaning "of the tower") dynasty consisted mainly of Circassians. Sultan Barquq (r. 1382-1399) successfully resisted Timur’s advance to the southwest and organized the new state. Sultan Barsbay (r. 1422-1438) pursued an unfortunate economic policy based on state monopolies, but led a successful expedition to Cyprus.
After 1450, there came a period of economic decline, which coincided with the obsolescence of the dynasty’s war machinery. In 1517, the Mamelukes were ousted by the Ottomans under Selim I and their territories annexed. The institution of the Mamelukes continued under the Ottomans, although not in the same form as under the Sultanate. For reasons of religious legitimation, the Mamelukes had Abbasid shadow caliphs under their charge in Cairo after 1260.
Under the Mamelukes, art and architecture flourished, Mameluke metalwork and glass is well represented in museum collections of Islamic art, and most of the existing monuments in the old quarters of Cairo, Damascus, Tripoli and Aleppo are Mameluke.
In 1768, Sultan Ali Bey al-Kabir declared independence from the Ottomans, but the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus. Napoleon defeated Mameluke troops when he attacked Egypt in 1798 and drove them to Upper Egypt. The Mamelukes still used their cavalry charge tactics, changed only by the addition of muskets.
After the departure of French troops in 1801, Mamelukes continued their struggle for independence, this time against the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain. In 1803, Mameluke leaders Ibrahim Beg and Usman Beg wrote a letter to the Russian consul-general and asked him to act as a mediator with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador in Istanbul categorically refused to mediate because the Russian government was afraid of allowing Mamelukes to return to Georgia, where a strong national liberation movement was on the rise which might have been encouraged by a Mameluke return.
In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This was an excellent opportunity for the Mamelukes to seize power, but internal tension and betrayal prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamelukes defeated the Turkish forces several times, and in June the rival parties concluded a peace treaty by which Muhammad Ali who had been appointed as governor of Egypt on March 26, 1806, was to be removed and the state authority in Egypt returned to the Mamelukes. However, they were again unable to capitalize on the opportunity due to conflicts between the clans. Muhammad Ali kept his authority.
Muhammad Ali knew that eventually he would have to deal with the Mamelukes if he ever wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power.
On March 1, 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all Mamelukes to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamelukes paraded in Cairo. Near the Al-Azab gates, in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hll, Muhammad 'Ali's forces ambushed and killed almost all in what came to be known as the Massacre of the Citadel. According to the tradition, only one Mameluke named Hasan, survived when he cut his way through the Turks and jumped his horse over a precipice to freedom.
During the following week, hundreds of Mamelukes were killed throughout Egypt. In the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 were killed. Throughout Egypt an estimated 3,000 Mamelukes and their relatives were killed.
Despite these attempts by Muhammad 'Ali to defeat the Mamelukes in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is now Sudan. In 1811, these Mamelukes established a state at Dunqulah in the Sennar as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad 'Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamelukes. In response, the pasha sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamelukes, and reclaim it for Egypt. The pasha's forces received the submission of the kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamelukes, conquered Kordofan, and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last Funj sultan, Badi VII.
There were various offshoots of the Mamelukes. In 1206, the Mameluke commander of the Muslim forces in India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak (Aybak), proclaimed himself sultan, becoming in effect the first independent Sultan-e-Hind. This Mameluke dynasty of India lasted until 1290. was a term used for the early Turkish sultans of northern India who ruled from 1210 to 1290. In India, the term mamluk denotes a Turkish officer who was a slave; thus these rulers were also known for comprising the “slave dynasty” of Delhi. The ten main rulers of this dynasty were as follows: Qutb ud-Din Aibak (r. 1206-1210), Aram Shah (r. 1210), Iltutmish (r. 1210-1235), Ruknuddin Firuz (r. 1235), Raziyya (r. 1236-1240), Muizuddin Bahram (r. 1240-1242), Nasiruddin Mahmud (r.1246-1266), Balban (r. 1266-1287), Kaiqubad (r. 1287-1290), and Kaimurs (r. 1290). The historian Minhaj (c. thirteenth century of the Christian calendar) names these ruling houses after individual sultans, thus, Qutbi, Shamsi, and Balbani. With the exception of Aibak, all of these sultans wer Ilbari Turks, hence they have also been called the Ilbarites. The state under the Mamluks was an entity where ethnically restricted: power rested with the Turks alone and slave officers dominated the governing class. The Mamluks initiated the growth of an urban aristocratic culture and patronized the growth of Indo-Islamic architecture and the Persian language.
In Iran, the Mameluke corps were first introduced in the part of the Ottoman Empire that is now Iraq by pasha Hasan of Baghdad in 1702. From 1747 to 1821, Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by the Mameluke officers of Georgian origin who succeeded in asserting autonomy from the Sublime Porte, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order, and introduced a program of modernization of the economy and the military. In 1831, the Ottomans managed to overthrow Daud Pasha, the last Mameluke ruler, and imposed direct control over Iraq.
There were even Mamelukes that served in the armies of Napoleon. Napoleon formed his own Mameluke corps, the last known Mameluke force, in the early years of the 19th century of the Christian calendar, and used Mamelukes in a number of his campaigns. Even his Imperial Guard had Mameluke soldiers during the Belgian campaign, including one of his personal servants, Napoleon's famous bodyguard Roustan was a Mameluke from Egypt.
One of the pictures by Francisco de Goya shows a charge of Mamelukes against the Madrilene on May 2, 1808. Throughout the Napoleonic era there was a special Mameluke corps in the French army. In the instructions that Napoleon gave to Kleber at his departure from Egypt, Napoleon wrote that he had already bought from Syrian merchants about 2,000 Mamelukes with whom he intended to form a special detachment. On September 14, 1799, General Kleber established a mounted company of Mameluke auxiliaries and Syrian Janissaries from Turks captured at the siege of Acre.
On July 7, 1800, General Menou reorganized the company, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la Republique". In 1801, General Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamelukes under his command. On January 7, 1802, the previous order was cancelled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on April 21, 1802, reveals three officers and 155 other ranks. By decree of December 25, 1803, the Mamelukes were organized into a company attached to the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard.
Mamelukes fought well at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, and the regiment was granted a standard and its roster increased to accommodate a standard bearer and a trumpet. A decree of April 15, 1806 defined the strength of the squadron as 13 officers and 147 privates. Despite the decree of March 21, 1815, that stated that no foreigner could be admitted into the Imperial Guard, Napoleon's decree of April 24, 1815, prescribed amongst other things that the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard included a squadron of two companies of Mamelukes for the Belgian Campaign.
With the First Restoration, the company of the Mamelukes of the Old Guard was incorporated into the Corps Royal des Chasseurs de France. The Mamelukes of the Young Guard were incorporated into the 7th Chasseurs-a-Cheval.
A list of the Mameluke rulers includes:
In Egypt
Bahri Dynasty
* 1250 Shajar al-Durr (al-Salih Ayyub's Widow de facto ruler of Egypt)
* 1250 al-Muizz Izz-ad-Din Aybak
* 1257 al-Mansur Nur-ad-Din Ali
* 1259 al-Muzaffar Saif ad-Din Qutuz
* 1260 al-Zahir Rukn-ad-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari
* 1277 al-Said Nasir-ad-Din Barakah Khan
* 1280 al-Adil Badr al-Din Solamish
* 1280 al-Mansur Saif-ad-Din Qalawun al-Alfi
* 1290 al-Ashraf Salah-ad-Din Khalil
* 1294 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun first reign
* 1295 al-Adil Zayn-ad-Din Kitbugha
* 1297 al-Mansur Husam-ad-Din Lajin
* 1299 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun second reign
* 1309 al-Muzaffar Rukn-ad-Din Baybars II al-Jashankir
* 1310 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun third reign
* 1340 al-Mansur Saif-ad-Din Abu-Bakr
* 1341 al-Ashraf Ala'a-ad-Din Kujuk
* 1342 al-Nasir Shihab-ad-Din Ahmad
* 1342 al-Salih Imad-ad-Din Ismail
* 1345 al-Kamil Saif ad-Din Shaban
* 1346 al-Muzaffar Zein-ad-Din Hajji
* 1347 al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan first reign
* 1351 al-Salih Salah-ad-Din Ibn Muhammad
* 1354 al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan second reign
* 1361 al-Mansur Salah-ad-Din Mohamed Ibn Hajji
* 1363 al-Ashraf Zein al-Din Abu al-Ma'ali ibn Shaban
* 1376 al-Mansur Ala-ad-Din Ali Ibn al-Ashraf Shaban
* 1382 al-Salih Salah Zein al-Din Hajji II first reign
Burji Dynasty
* 1382 az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Barquq , first reign
* 1389 Hajji II second reign (with honorific title al-Muzaffar or al-Mansur) – Temporary Bahri rule
* 1390 az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Barquq, Second reign – Burji rule re-established
* 1399 An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj
* 1405 Al-Mansoor Azzaddin Abdal Aziz
* 1405 An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj (second time)
* 1412 Al-Adil Al-Musta'in (Abbasid Caliph, proclaimed as Sultan)
* 1412 Al-Muayad Sayf ad-Din Shaykh
* 1421 Al-Muzaffar Ahmad
* 1421 Az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Tatar
* 1421 As-Salih Nasir ad-Din Muhammad
* 1422 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Barsbay
* 1438 Al-Aziz Djamal ad-Din Yusuf
* 1438 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq
* 1453 Al-Mansoor Fahr ad-Din Osman
* 1453 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Enal
* 1461 Al-Muayad Shihab ad-Din Ahmad
* 1461 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Khushkadam
* 1467 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Belbay
* 1468 Az-Zahir Temurbougha
* 1468 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Qaitbay
* 1496 An-Nasir Muhammad
* 1498 Az-Zahir Qanshaw
* 1500 Al-Ashraf Janbulat
* 1501 Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tuman bay I
* 1501 Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri
* 1517 Al-Ashraf Tuman bay II
In India
* Qutb-ud-din Aybak (1206–1210), founded Mamluk Sultanate, Delhi
* Aram Shah (1210–1211)
* Shams ud din Iltutmish (1211–1236). Son-in-law of Qutb-ud-din Aybak.
* Rukn ud din Firuz (1236). Son of Iltutmish.
* Razia Sultana (1236–1240). Daughter of Iltutmish.
* Muiz ud din Bahram (1240–1242). Son of Iltutmish.
* Ala ud din Masud (1242–1246). Son of Rukn ud din.
* Nasir ud din Mahmud (1246–1266). Son of Iltutmish.
* Ghiyas ud din Balban (1266–1286). Ex-slave, son-in-law of Iltutmish.
* Muiz ud din Qaiqabad(1286–1290). Grandson of Balban and Nasir ud din.
* Kayumars (1290). Son of Muiz ud din.
In Iraq
* Hasan Pasha (1704–1723)
* Ahmet Pasha (1723–1747) Son of Hasan
* Sulaiman Abu Layla Pasha (1749–1762) Son-in-law of Ahmet
* Umar (1762 - 1776) Son of Ahmed
* Büyük Süleyman Pasha the Great (1780–1802) Son of Umar
* Ali Pasha (1802–1807) Son of Umar
* Küçük Süleyman Pasa the Little took (1807–1813) Son of Büyük Süleyman
* Sa'id Pasha (1813–1816) Son of Büyük Süleyman
* Daud Pasha (1817–1831) Son of Ali,Son-in-law of Büyük Süleyman and nephew
Mamluk see Mameluke
Mamluq see Mameluke
Mamaluke see Mameluke
Mamluke see Mameluke
Mameluke (in Arabic, Mamluk) (Mamluq) (Mamaluke) (Mamluke). Mameluke is Arabic for “white slave.” The word is related to the word for king, “malik,” indicating that a Mameluke was a slave owned by the ruler of the state.
Mamelukes were slaves that were used to form a solid foundation for the ruler of a country. Tribal frictions and a weak government had resulted in numerous revolutions in many states. The system of Mamelukes was intended to change this. Young boys were enslaved in countries far away, and then underwent rigid training before they joined the army of the state. As many of them came from Christian countries, they were converted to Islam. The Mamelukes formed an institution in the state, and clear regulations were imposed on their rights. By rule, the children of a Mameluke could not become a Mameluke; positions could not be transferred to relatives; and the right to transfer inheritance was strictly regulated.
The Mamelukes, at times, developed into a force so strong that they were able to overthrow the ruler of the country. This happened in Egypt in 1250, leading to the Mameluke dynasty which existed as an independent country until 1517, and as a subject of the Ottoman Empire until 1811.
The laws regulating Mamelukes were often not well respected and were frequently lifted. The definition of Mamelukes as slaves was never changed, not even when the Mamelukes became sultan. However, the ownership definition was changed, and the Mameluke system was understood as the real owner of the slaves.
Mameluke Sultanates were established and maintained by military (primarily Turkish and Circassian) slaves in Egypt (r.1250- 1517) and inSyria (r.1260-1516). The Egyptian Mameluke sultanatet had its origin in the Bahriyya, a military household of Qipcaq Turkish military slaves, which belonged to the bodyguard of the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt al-Malik al-Salih, Najm al-Din. The Bahriyya superceded the Ayyubids under the constraint of the military crises provoked by the crusade of Louis in 1249 and by the Mongol invasion of Syria in 1259. The Bahriyya line (1250-1390) was followed by the Burjiyya or Circassian line, which lasted until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Sultan Selim I in 1517. During the Ottoman period, the formation of Mameluke military households, known as Neo-Mamelukes and carrying the title of Bey, continued until they were destroyed by Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha in 1812.
The main capital of the Mamelukes was Cairo. Their name is derived from the Arabic mamluk (“taken into possession”). Historically, the Mamelukes were slave soldiers who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid sultans during the Middle Ages. Over time, they became a powerful military caste often defeating the Crusaders. On more than one occasion, they seized power for themselves, for example, ruling Egypt from 1250-1517.
The first Mamelukes served the 'Abbasid caliphs at the end of the ninth century of Christian calendar in Baghdad. The Mameluke system was an evolution of a previous system, the Ghulam system, invented by the Caliph al-Mu'tasim, in which Turkish prisoners of war became the caliphal guard. This system ended in disaster in the 860s with the murder of four caliphs in a row, and the Mameluke system was created on its ruins. The main difference was that the Mamelukes were captured as children and then trained and moulded within the Islamic world to ensure their loyalty to their masters. The 'Abbasids "recruited" them mainly from areas near the Caucasus (mainly Circassian and Georgian) in later periods, and in the 13th - 14th centuries from areas north of the Black Sea (mainly Turkic, most of whom were Kipchak Turks) and of Yoruk background, as well as boys from East Slav populations. Those captured were of non-Muslim origin.
The Mameluke system gave rulers troops who had n link to any established power structure. Local non-Mameluke warriors were often more loyal to their tribal sheiks, their families, or nobles than to the sultan or caliph. If a commander conspired against the ruler, it was often not possible to deal with the conspiracy without causing unrest among the nobility. The Mameluke slave troops were strangers of the lowest possible status who could not conspire against the ruler and who could easily be punished if they caused trouble, making them a great military asset.
After Mamelukes were converted to Islam, many were trained as cavalry soldiers. Mamelukes had to follow the dictates of furusiyya, a code that included values such as courage and generosity, and also cavalry tactics, horsemanship, archery and treatment of wounds, etc.
Mamelukes lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such as archery competitions and presentations of mounted combat skills at least twice a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of Mameluke practices.
While they were no longer actually slaves after training, they were still obliged to serve the Sultan. The Sultan kept them as an outsider force under his direct command, to use in the event of local tribal frictions. The Sultan could also send them as far as the Muslim regions of Iberia.
Sultans had the largest number of Mamelukes, but lesser amirs could have their own troops as well. Many Mamelukes rose to high positions throughout the empire, including army command. At first their status remained non-hereditary and sons were strictly prevented from following their fathers. However, over time, in places such as Egypt, the Mameluke forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers. A similar development would occur in the Ottoman Empire with the Janissaries.
The origins of the Mameluke Sultanate of Egypt lie in the Ayyubid dynasty that Saladin (Salah al-Din) founded in 1174. With his uncle, Shirkuh, Saladin conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur al-Din of Damascus in 1169. By 1189, after the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin had consolidated the dynasty's control over the Middle East. After Saladin's death, his sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire, and each attempted to surround himself with larger expanded Mameluke retinues.
By 1200, Saladin's brother al-Adil succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing of imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-Adil incorporated the defeated Mameluke retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-Adil's death in 1218, and as his son al-Kamil's death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the power of the Mamelukes and soon involved them in the internal court politics of the kingdom itself.
1n 1315, they invaded and conquered a great part of Nubia, but the power remained with a Nubian prince who converted from Coptic Orthodox to Islam.
In June 1249, the Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France landed in Egypt and took Damietta. The Egyptian troops retreated at first. When the Egyptian sultan As-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his son Turanshah and then his favorite wife Shajar al-Durr (or Shajarat ul-Dur). She took control with Mameluke support and launched a counterattack. Troops of the Bahri commander Baybars defeated Louis' troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamelukes in March 1250, and agreed to a ransom. Political pressure for a male leader made Shajar marry the Mameluke commander Aybak. Aybak was later killed in his bath, and in the power struggle that ensued the vice-regent Qutuz took over. He formally founded the first Mameluke sultanate and the Bahri dynasty.
The first Mameluke dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the Bahriyya or River Island regiment. The name Bahri (meaning "of the sea or river") referred to their center in al-Rodah Island in the Nile. The regiment consisted mainly of Kipchak Turks.
When the Mongol troops of Hulegu Khan sacked Baghdad in 1258 and advanced towards Syria, Mameluke emir Baybars left Damascus to Cairo where he was welcomed by Sultan Qutuz. After taking Damascus, Hulegu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt but Qutuz had Hulegu's envoys killed and, with Baybar's help, mobilized his troops. Although Hulegu had to leave for the East when great Khan Mongke died in action against the Southern Song, he left his lieutenant, the Christian Kitbuqa, in charge, Qutuz drew the Mongol army into an ambush near the Orontes River, routed them at the Battle of Ayn Jalut and captured and executed Kitbuqa.
After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamelukes. It was said that Baybars, who seized power, was involved in the assassination. In the following centuries power was often transferred this way: the average reign of a Mameluke ruler was only seven years.
Under the outstanding Sultan Baybars (r. 1260-1277), the Mamelukes stopped the Mongol expansion westwards and successfully fought against the Crusaders. The Mamelukes defeated the Mongols a second time at Homs in 1260 and began to drive them back east. In the process, they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, formed mail routes, and formed diplomatic connections between the local princes. Baybars' troops attacked Acre in 1263, captured Caesaria in 1265, and massacred the inhabitants of Antioch in 1268. In 1291, the Mamelukes drove the last of the Crusaders out of Acre.
Mamelukes also defeated new Mongol attacks in Syria in 1271, 1281 (2nd Battle of Homs), 1303/1304 and 1312. They were defeated by the Mongols and their Christian allies at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299.
Under the Burji Mamelukes, Cairo became the most important center for trade between the East, India, and Europe, and the economy flourished. The Burji (meaning "of the tower") dynasty consisted mainly of Circassians. Sultan Barquq (r. 1382-1399) successfully resisted Timur’s advance to the southwest and organized the new state. Sultan Barsbay (r. 1422-1438) pursued an unfortunate economic policy based on state monopolies, but led a successful expedition to Cyprus.
After 1450, there came a period of economic decline, which coincided with the obsolescence of the dynasty’s war machinery. In 1517, the Mamelukes were ousted by the Ottomans under Selim I and their territories annexed. The institution of the Mamelukes continued under the Ottomans, although not in the same form as under the Sultanate. For reasons of religious legitimation, the Mamelukes had Abbasid shadow caliphs under their charge in Cairo after 1260.
Under the Mamelukes, art and architecture flourished, Mameluke metalwork and glass is well represented in museum collections of Islamic art, and most of the existing monuments in the old quarters of Cairo, Damascus, Tripoli and Aleppo are Mameluke.
In 1768, Sultan Ali Bey al-Kabir declared independence from the Ottomans, but the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus. Napoleon defeated Mameluke troops when he attacked Egypt in 1798 and drove them to Upper Egypt. The Mamelukes still used their cavalry charge tactics, changed only by the addition of muskets.
After the departure of French troops in 1801, Mamelukes continued their struggle for independence, this time against the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain. In 1803, Mameluke leaders Ibrahim Beg and Usman Beg wrote a letter to the Russian consul-general and asked him to act as a mediator with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador in Istanbul categorically refused to mediate because the Russian government was afraid of allowing Mamelukes to return to Georgia, where a strong national liberation movement was on the rise which might have been encouraged by a Mameluke return.
In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This was an excellent opportunity for the Mamelukes to seize power, but internal tension and betrayal prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamelukes defeated the Turkish forces several times, and in June the rival parties concluded a peace treaty by which Muhammad Ali who had been appointed as governor of Egypt on March 26, 1806, was to be removed and the state authority in Egypt returned to the Mamelukes. However, they were again unable to capitalize on the opportunity due to conflicts between the clans. Muhammad Ali kept his authority.
Muhammad Ali knew that eventually he would have to deal with the Mamelukes if he ever wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power.
On March 1, 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all Mamelukes to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamelukes paraded in Cairo. Near the Al-Azab gates, in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hll, Muhammad 'Ali's forces ambushed and killed almost all in what came to be known as the Massacre of the Citadel. According to the tradition, only one Mameluke named Hasan, survived when he cut his way through the Turks and jumped his horse over a precipice to freedom.
During the following week, hundreds of Mamelukes were killed throughout Egypt. In the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 were killed. Throughout Egypt an estimated 3,000 Mamelukes and their relatives were killed.
Despite these attempts by Muhammad 'Ali to defeat the Mamelukes in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is now Sudan. In 1811, these Mamelukes established a state at Dunqulah in the Sennar as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad 'Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamelukes. In response, the pasha sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamelukes, and reclaim it for Egypt. The pasha's forces received the submission of the kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamelukes, conquered Kordofan, and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last Funj sultan, Badi VII.
There were various offshoots of the Mamelukes. In 1206, the Mameluke commander of the Muslim forces in India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak (Aybak), proclaimed himself sultan, becoming in effect the first independent Sultan-e-Hind. This Mameluke dynasty of India lasted until 1290. was a term used for the early Turkish sultans of northern India who ruled from 1210 to 1290. In India, the term mamluk denotes a Turkish officer who was a slave; thus these rulers were also known for comprising the “slave dynasty” of Delhi. The ten main rulers of this dynasty were as follows: Qutb ud-Din Aibak (r. 1206-1210), Aram Shah (r. 1210), Iltutmish (r. 1210-1235), Ruknuddin Firuz (r. 1235), Raziyya (r. 1236-1240), Muizuddin Bahram (r. 1240-1242), Nasiruddin Mahmud (r.1246-1266), Balban (r. 1266-1287), Kaiqubad (r. 1287-1290), and Kaimurs (r. 1290). The historian Minhaj (c. thirteenth century of the Christian calendar) names these ruling houses after individual sultans, thus, Qutbi, Shamsi, and Balbani. With the exception of Aibak, all of these sultans wer Ilbari Turks, hence they have also been called the Ilbarites. The state under the Mamluks was an entity where ethnically restricted: power rested with the Turks alone and slave officers dominated the governing class. The Mamluks initiated the growth of an urban aristocratic culture and patronized the growth of Indo-Islamic architecture and the Persian language.
In Iran, the Mameluke corps were first introduced in the part of the Ottoman Empire that is now Iraq by pasha Hasan of Baghdad in 1702. From 1747 to 1821, Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by the Mameluke officers of Georgian origin who succeeded in asserting autonomy from the Sublime Porte, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order, and introduced a program of modernization of the economy and the military. In 1831, the Ottomans managed to overthrow Daud Pasha, the last Mameluke ruler, and imposed direct control over Iraq.
There were even Mamelukes that served in the armies of Napoleon. Napoleon formed his own Mameluke corps, the last known Mameluke force, in the early years of the 19th century of the Christian calendar, and used Mamelukes in a number of his campaigns. Even his Imperial Guard had Mameluke soldiers during the Belgian campaign, including one of his personal servants, Napoleon's famous bodyguard Roustan was a Mameluke from Egypt.
One of the pictures by Francisco de Goya shows a charge of Mamelukes against the Madrilene on May 2, 1808. Throughout the Napoleonic era there was a special Mameluke corps in the French army. In the instructions that Napoleon gave to Kleber at his departure from Egypt, Napoleon wrote that he had already bought from Syrian merchants about 2,000 Mamelukes with whom he intended to form a special detachment. On September 14, 1799, General Kleber established a mounted company of Mameluke auxiliaries and Syrian Janissaries from Turks captured at the siege of Acre.
On July 7, 1800, General Menou reorganized the company, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la Republique". In 1801, General Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamelukes under his command. On January 7, 1802, the previous order was cancelled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on April 21, 1802, reveals three officers and 155 other ranks. By decree of December 25, 1803, the Mamelukes were organized into a company attached to the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard.
Mamelukes fought well at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2, 1805, and the regiment was granted a standard and its roster increased to accommodate a standard bearer and a trumpet. A decree of April 15, 1806 defined the strength of the squadron as 13 officers and 147 privates. Despite the decree of March 21, 1815, that stated that no foreigner could be admitted into the Imperial Guard, Napoleon's decree of April 24, 1815, prescribed amongst other things that the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the Imperial Guard included a squadron of two companies of Mamelukes for the Belgian Campaign.
With the First Restoration, the company of the Mamelukes of the Old Guard was incorporated into the Corps Royal des Chasseurs de France. The Mamelukes of the Young Guard were incorporated into the 7th Chasseurs-a-Cheval.
A list of the Mameluke rulers includes:
In Egypt
Bahri Dynasty
* 1250 Shajar al-Durr (al-Salih Ayyub's Widow de facto ruler of Egypt)
* 1250 al-Muizz Izz-ad-Din Aybak
* 1257 al-Mansur Nur-ad-Din Ali
* 1259 al-Muzaffar Saif ad-Din Qutuz
* 1260 al-Zahir Rukn-ad-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari
* 1277 al-Said Nasir-ad-Din Barakah Khan
* 1280 al-Adil Badr al-Din Solamish
* 1280 al-Mansur Saif-ad-Din Qalawun al-Alfi
* 1290 al-Ashraf Salah-ad-Din Khalil
* 1294 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun first reign
* 1295 al-Adil Zayn-ad-Din Kitbugha
* 1297 al-Mansur Husam-ad-Din Lajin
* 1299 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun second reign
* 1309 al-Muzaffar Rukn-ad-Din Baybars II al-Jashankir
* 1310 al-Nasir Nasir-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun third reign
* 1340 al-Mansur Saif-ad-Din Abu-Bakr
* 1341 al-Ashraf Ala'a-ad-Din Kujuk
* 1342 al-Nasir Shihab-ad-Din Ahmad
* 1342 al-Salih Imad-ad-Din Ismail
* 1345 al-Kamil Saif ad-Din Shaban
* 1346 al-Muzaffar Zein-ad-Din Hajji
* 1347 al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan first reign
* 1351 al-Salih Salah-ad-Din Ibn Muhammad
* 1354 al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan second reign
* 1361 al-Mansur Salah-ad-Din Mohamed Ibn Hajji
* 1363 al-Ashraf Zein al-Din Abu al-Ma'ali ibn Shaban
* 1376 al-Mansur Ala-ad-Din Ali Ibn al-Ashraf Shaban
* 1382 al-Salih Salah Zein al-Din Hajji II first reign
Burji Dynasty
* 1382 az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Barquq , first reign
* 1389 Hajji II second reign (with honorific title al-Muzaffar or al-Mansur) – Temporary Bahri rule
* 1390 az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Barquq, Second reign – Burji rule re-established
* 1399 An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj
* 1405 Al-Mansoor Azzaddin Abdal Aziz
* 1405 An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj (second time)
* 1412 Al-Adil Al-Musta'in (Abbasid Caliph, proclaimed as Sultan)
* 1412 Al-Muayad Sayf ad-Din Shaykh
* 1421 Al-Muzaffar Ahmad
* 1421 Az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Tatar
* 1421 As-Salih Nasir ad-Din Muhammad
* 1422 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Barsbay
* 1438 Al-Aziz Djamal ad-Din Yusuf
* 1438 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq
* 1453 Al-Mansoor Fahr ad-Din Osman
* 1453 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Enal
* 1461 Al-Muayad Shihab ad-Din Ahmad
* 1461 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Khushkadam
* 1467 Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Belbay
* 1468 Az-Zahir Temurbougha
* 1468 Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Qaitbay
* 1496 An-Nasir Muhammad
* 1498 Az-Zahir Qanshaw
* 1500 Al-Ashraf Janbulat
* 1501 Al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Tuman bay I
* 1501 Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri
* 1517 Al-Ashraf Tuman bay II
In India
* Qutb-ud-din Aybak (1206–1210), founded Mamluk Sultanate, Delhi
* Aram Shah (1210–1211)
* Shams ud din Iltutmish (1211–1236). Son-in-law of Qutb-ud-din Aybak.
* Rukn ud din Firuz (1236). Son of Iltutmish.
* Razia Sultana (1236–1240). Daughter of Iltutmish.
* Muiz ud din Bahram (1240–1242). Son of Iltutmish.
* Ala ud din Masud (1242–1246). Son of Rukn ud din.
* Nasir ud din Mahmud (1246–1266). Son of Iltutmish.
* Ghiyas ud din Balban (1266–1286). Ex-slave, son-in-law of Iltutmish.
* Muiz ud din Qaiqabad(1286–1290). Grandson of Balban and Nasir ud din.
* Kayumars (1290). Son of Muiz ud din.
In Iraq
* Hasan Pasha (1704–1723)
* Ahmet Pasha (1723–1747) Son of Hasan
* Sulaiman Abu Layla Pasha (1749–1762) Son-in-law of Ahmet
* Umar (1762 - 1776) Son of Ahmed
* Büyük Süleyman Pasha the Great (1780–1802) Son of Umar
* Ali Pasha (1802–1807) Son of Umar
* Küçük Süleyman Pasa the Little took (1807–1813) Son of Büyük Süleyman
* Sa'id Pasha (1813–1816) Son of Büyük Süleyman
* Daud Pasha (1817–1831) Son of Ali,Son-in-law of Büyük Süleyman and nephew
Mamluk see Mameluke
Mamluq see Mameluke
Mamaluke see Mameluke
Mamluke see Mameluke
Mameto
Mameto. In Brazil, a circumcized black, usually a Muslim.
Mameto. In Brazil, a circumcized black, usually a Muslim.
Ma Ming-hsin
Ma Ming-hsin (Muhammad Amin) (d. 1781). Chinese Muslim leader. He was instrumental in the development and spread of the “New Teaching.”
The founder of the "new sect" as opposed to the "old sect" which embraced long accepted Chinese Muslim doctrines of accommodation to Confucian ideology.
Ma taught the way of the Zahiriya branch of the Naqshbandi order after he returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Armed conflict with the old sect occurred around Lauchou, a known center of the Chinese Muslims. This conflict led to a rebellion against Chinese rule. The militancy of the new sect showed first in Kansu and Shensi from 1862 to 1877. In the second rebellion, which racked Yunnan from 1856 and 1873, its leader Tu Wenhsiu, succeeded in establishing a separate Muslim state for sixteen years.
Ming-hsin, Ma see Ma Ming-hsin
Muhammad Amin see Ma Ming-hsin
Amin, Muhammad see Ma Ming-hsin
Ma Ming-hsin (Muhammad Amin) (d. 1781). Chinese Muslim leader. He was instrumental in the development and spread of the “New Teaching.”
The founder of the "new sect" as opposed to the "old sect" which embraced long accepted Chinese Muslim doctrines of accommodation to Confucian ideology.
Ma taught the way of the Zahiriya branch of the Naqshbandi order after he returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. Armed conflict with the old sect occurred around Lauchou, a known center of the Chinese Muslims. This conflict led to a rebellion against Chinese rule. The militancy of the new sect showed first in Kansu and Shensi from 1862 to 1877. In the second rebellion, which racked Yunnan from 1856 and 1873, its leader Tu Wenhsiu, succeeded in establishing a separate Muslim state for sixteen years.
Ming-hsin, Ma see Ma Ming-hsin
Muhammad Amin see Ma Ming-hsin
Amin, Muhammad see Ma Ming-hsin
Mamluk
Mamluk. See Mameluke.
Mamluk. See Mameluke.
Mamluks
Mamluks. See Mameluke.
Mamluks. See Mameluke.
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-Ma’mun) ('Abdallah al-Mamun) (Abu Jafar al-Mamun ibn Harun) (September 14, 786 - August 9, 833). ‘Abbasid caliph (r. 813-833). He restored the unity of the empire and, in 827, proclaimed Mu‘tazilism as the official doctrine. One of the logical consequences of this step was imposing the doctrine that the Qur’an was created. This measure inaugurated a period of “trial” (in Arabic, mihna) which was to last officially during the caliphates of his successors al-Mu‘tasim bi-Allah and al-Wathiq bi-‘llah. Al-Ma’mun’s measure was revoked by the Caliph al-Mutawakkil. This doctrine was strongly opposed by many, the most prominent among them being Ahmad ibn Hanbal, whom the caliph had flogged. Al-Ma’mun excelled in Hanafi jurisprudence and was distinguished by his love of knowledge. He encouraged the translation into Arabic of Greek and Syriac works on philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and medicine.
Al-Mamun was the son of Harun al-Rashid and a Persian slave girl, Marajil. Born about 786, he was slightly older than his half brother Amin, son of the Arab Zubayda, but Amin was first heir to the caliphate and al-Mamun second.
In 802, Harun al-Rashid father of al-Mamun and Amin ordered that Amin would succeed him and that al-Mamun would serve as governor of Khurasan (with Fadl ibn-Sahl as vizier) and as caliph after the death of Amin. Al-Mamun was reportedly the older of the two brothers, but his mother was a Persian woman while Amin's mother was a member of the reigning 'Abbasid family. After al-Rashid's death in 809, the relationship between the two brothers deteriorated. In response to al-Mamun's moves toward independence, Amin declared his own son Musa to be his heir. This violation of al-Rashid's testament led to a civil war in which al-Mamun's newly recruited Khurasani troops, led by Tahir bin Husain, defeated Amin's armies and laid siege to Baghdad. In 811, Amin was beheaded and al-Mamun was recognized as caliph throughout the empire.
Al-Mamun became caliph but continued to reside in the East despite disturbances in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. In the struggle of rival interest groups, al-Mamun, hoping for wider support, in 817 designated as his successor Ali ar-Rida, head of the descendants of Ali, Muhammad's cousin. This step provoked a revolt in Baghdad, and Ibrahim, al-Mamun's uncle, was proclaimed caliph. Al-Mamun moved slowly back toward Iraq, entered Baghdad without difficulty, and ended the revolt (819). Ali ar-Rida had meanwhile died at Meshed.
(Al-Mamun, in an attempt to win over the Shi'a Muslims to his camp, named the eighth Imam, Ali ar-Rida, his successor, if he should oulive al-Mamun. Most Shi'ites realized, however, that ar-Rida was too old to survive al-Mamun and saw al-Mamun's gesture as empty. Indeed, ar-Rida died in 818. The incident served to further alienate the Shi'ites from the 'Abbasids, who had already been promised and denied the Caliphate by al-'Abbas.)
A significant development during al-Mamun's reign was the rise of a semi-independent hereditary dynasty under the caliph. A Persian general called Tahir played a large part in al-Mamun's success against his brother. After some time in the West, he was, in 821, made governor of Khurasan, where there was serious trouble. Tahir gave signs of aiming at independence, and, when he died in 822, al-Mamun, who could not risk losing the province, appointed Tahir's son Talha to the governorship. One of Talha's brothers succeeded in 828. On the model of the Tahirid, independent dynasties, nominally appointed by and subordinate to the caliph, became a feature of the Islamic world, until the caliphs had no real power left.
(Al-Mamun had been named governor of Khurasan by Harun, and after his ascension to power, the caliph named Tahir as governor for his military services in order to assure his loyalty. It was a move that al-Mamun soon regretted, as Tahir and his family became entrenched in Persian politics and became increasingly powerful in the state, contrary to al-Mamun's desire to centralize and strengthen Caliphal power. The rising power of the Tahirid dynasty became a threat as al-Mamun's own policies alienated them and his other opponents.)
For most of the rest of his reign, there were disorders to be suppressed in various parts of the empire. Despite this fact, however, trade flourished, and the 'Abbasids were at the zenith of their prosperity. By 830, al-Mamun felt capable of mounting annual expeditions against the Byzantines. It was on one of these that he died in August 9, 833 at Tarsus. He was succeeded by his half-brother, al-Mu'tasim.
(At-Tabari recounts how al-Mamun was sitting on the river bank telling those with him hw splendid the water was. He asked what would go best with this water and was told a specific kind of fresh date. Noticing supplies arriving, he asked someone check whether such dates were included. As they were, he invited those with him to enjoy the water with these dates. All who did this fell ill. Others recovered. Al-Mamun died. As he was dying, he spoke, expressing his belief in the unity of God and his reliance on God's mercy. He encouraged his successor to continue his policies and not burden the people with more than they could bear.)
Al-Mamun became an enthusiast for Greek thought and is credited with the founding of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma), an institute for translating foreign, especially Greek, books into Arabic. Translations had been made of Sanskrit and Persian works in the time of his great-grandfather and of Greek books of that of his father. Many Greek books were already extant in Iraq in Syriac translations, and most of the first translations into Arabic were made by Christians from these Syriac versions. The earliest interest of the Arabs was in astronomy (with astrology) or medicine, but Greek philosophy also attracted attention.
The interest in Greek philosophy is linked with the rise of the theological school of the Mutazilites. Nineteenth century European scholars admired their apparent rationalism and liberal views, such as a belief in freedom of the will. It is now realized that, despite their interest in Greek ideas, they remained close to their Islamic basics. Several leading Mutazilites were prominent at al-Mamun's court, notably Thumama and Ahmad ibn-Abi Duad. Al-Mamun was probably attracted not only by the philosophical but also by the political aspect of their thought, for they were attempting to reconcile contemporary tensions. The stimulation of interest in Greek works influence the whole subsequent course of Islamic thought.
In accordance with Mutazilite teaching, al-Mamun established toward the end of his reign (perhaps in 827) the inquisition, or mihna. All higher officials had publicly to profess that they believed the Qur'an to be the created not the uncreated, word of God. This was not mere theological hairsplitting but the basis of a hoped for compromise between opposing forces. Most officials made the required declaration, but a leading jurist, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, refused and was prevented from lecturing. The inquisition lasted until about 850.
The mihna is comparable to Medieval European inquisitions only in the sense that it involved imprisonment, a religious text, and a loyalty oath. The casualties of 'Abbasid inquisition would not approach a fraction of those executed in Europe under similar circumstances. In the effort to centralize power and test the loyalty of his subjects, al-Mamun required elites, scholars, judges and other government officials to undergo the test, which was a series of questions relating to theology and faith. The penalty for failing the mihna could include death.
The controversy over the mihna was exacerbated by al-Mamun's sympathy for Mu'tazili theology. Mu'tazili theology was deeply influenced by Aristotelian thought and Greek rationalism, and stated that matters of belief and practice should be decided by reasoning on the basis of the Qur'an. This defied the literalist position, according to which everything a believer needed to know about faith and practice was spelled out literally in the Qur'an and the hadith. Moreover, the Mu'tazilis stated that the Qur'an was created rather than eternal, in opposition to general Muslim opinion that the Qur'an and the Divine were co-eternal. The fact that the Mu'tazili school had its foundations in teh paganism of Greece further disenchanted a majority of Islamic clerics.
Although al-Mahdi had proclaimed that the caliph was the protector of Islam against heresy, and had claimed the ability to declare orthodoxy, religious schlars in the Islamic world believed that al-Ma'mun was overstepping his bounds in the mihna. The penalties of the mihna became increasingly difficult to enforce as the ulama became firmer and more united in their opposition. Although the mihna persisted through the reigns of two more caliphs, al-Mutawakkil abandoned it in 848. The failure of the mihna seriously damaged caliphal authority and ruined the reputation of the office for succeeding caliphs. The caliph would lose much of his religious authority to the opinion of the ulama as a result of the mihna.
The ulama and the major Islamic law schools became truly defined in the period of al-Ma'mun and Sunnism, as a religion of legalism, became defined in parallel. Doctrinal differences between Sunni and Shi'a began to become more pronounced. Ibn Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali legal school, became famous for his opposition to the mihna. Al-Mamun's simultaneous opposition and patronage of intellectuals led to the emergence of important dialogues on both secular and religious affairs, and the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) became an important center of translation for Greek and other ancient texts into Arabic. This Islamic renaissance spurred the rediscovery of Hellenism and ensured the survival of these texts into the European renaissance.
Al-Mamun's reign is marked by his efforts to the translation of Greek philosophy and science. Al-Mamun gathered scholars of many religions at Baghdad, whom he treated magnificently and with tolerance. He sent an emissary to the Byzantine Empire to collect the most famous manuscripts there, and had them translated into Arabic. It is said that, victorious over the Byzantine Emperor, Al-Mamun made a condition of peace be that the emperor hand over a copy of the Almagest. Al-Mamun also conducted, in the plains of Mesopotamia, two astronomical operations intended to determine the value of a terrestrial degree, Almanon crater, on the Moon, was named in recognition of al-Mamun's contributions to astronomy.
There were a number of other key developments in the reign of al-Mamun. The shakiriya, which were to trigger the movement of the capital from Baghdad to Samarra during al-Mu'tasim's reign, were raised in al-Mamun's time. The shakiriya were military units from Central Asia and North Africa, hired, complete with their commanders, to serve under the Caliph.
Al-Mamun also attempted to divorce his wife during his reign because she had failed to bear him any children. His wife hired a Syrian judge of her own before al-Mamun was able to select one himself. The judge, who sympathized with the caliph's wife, refused the divorce. Following al-Mamun's experience, no further 'Abbasid caliphs were to marry, preferring to find their heirs in the harem.
Shortly before his death, during a visit to Egypt in 832, al-Mamun ordered the breaching of the Great Pyramid of Giza. He apparently entered the pyramid by unblocking a tunnel made by grave robbers in ancient times. Because the pyramid had already been robbed, his expedition found only the empty granite sarcophagus.
The 'Abbasid empire grew during the reign of al-Mamun. Hindu rebellions in Sindh were put down, and most of Afghanistan was absorbed with the surrender of the leader of Kabul. Mountainous regions of Iran were brought under a tighter grip of the central 'Abbasid government, as were areas of Turkestan. However, battles against the Byzantine Empire continued in Asia Minor, and al-Mamun would die while leading an expedition in Sardis.
Abu'l-'Abbas 'Abd Allah al-Ma'mun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
'Abdallah al-Mamun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
Abu Jafar al-Mamun ibn Harun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al- (Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-Ma’mun) ('Abdallah al-Mamun) (Abu Jafar al-Mamun ibn Harun) (September 14, 786 - August 9, 833). ‘Abbasid caliph (r. 813-833). He restored the unity of the empire and, in 827, proclaimed Mu‘tazilism as the official doctrine. One of the logical consequences of this step was imposing the doctrine that the Qur’an was created. This measure inaugurated a period of “trial” (in Arabic, mihna) which was to last officially during the caliphates of his successors al-Mu‘tasim bi-Allah and al-Wathiq bi-‘llah. Al-Ma’mun’s measure was revoked by the Caliph al-Mutawakkil. This doctrine was strongly opposed by many, the most prominent among them being Ahmad ibn Hanbal, whom the caliph had flogged. Al-Ma’mun excelled in Hanafi jurisprudence and was distinguished by his love of knowledge. He encouraged the translation into Arabic of Greek and Syriac works on philosophy, astronomy, mathematics and medicine.
Al-Mamun was the son of Harun al-Rashid and a Persian slave girl, Marajil. Born about 786, he was slightly older than his half brother Amin, son of the Arab Zubayda, but Amin was first heir to the caliphate and al-Mamun second.
In 802, Harun al-Rashid father of al-Mamun and Amin ordered that Amin would succeed him and that al-Mamun would serve as governor of Khurasan (with Fadl ibn-Sahl as vizier) and as caliph after the death of Amin. Al-Mamun was reportedly the older of the two brothers, but his mother was a Persian woman while Amin's mother was a member of the reigning 'Abbasid family. After al-Rashid's death in 809, the relationship between the two brothers deteriorated. In response to al-Mamun's moves toward independence, Amin declared his own son Musa to be his heir. This violation of al-Rashid's testament led to a civil war in which al-Mamun's newly recruited Khurasani troops, led by Tahir bin Husain, defeated Amin's armies and laid siege to Baghdad. In 811, Amin was beheaded and al-Mamun was recognized as caliph throughout the empire.
Al-Mamun became caliph but continued to reside in the East despite disturbances in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. In the struggle of rival interest groups, al-Mamun, hoping for wider support, in 817 designated as his successor Ali ar-Rida, head of the descendants of Ali, Muhammad's cousin. This step provoked a revolt in Baghdad, and Ibrahim, al-Mamun's uncle, was proclaimed caliph. Al-Mamun moved slowly back toward Iraq, entered Baghdad without difficulty, and ended the revolt (819). Ali ar-Rida had meanwhile died at Meshed.
(Al-Mamun, in an attempt to win over the Shi'a Muslims to his camp, named the eighth Imam, Ali ar-Rida, his successor, if he should oulive al-Mamun. Most Shi'ites realized, however, that ar-Rida was too old to survive al-Mamun and saw al-Mamun's gesture as empty. Indeed, ar-Rida died in 818. The incident served to further alienate the Shi'ites from the 'Abbasids, who had already been promised and denied the Caliphate by al-'Abbas.)
A significant development during al-Mamun's reign was the rise of a semi-independent hereditary dynasty under the caliph. A Persian general called Tahir played a large part in al-Mamun's success against his brother. After some time in the West, he was, in 821, made governor of Khurasan, where there was serious trouble. Tahir gave signs of aiming at independence, and, when he died in 822, al-Mamun, who could not risk losing the province, appointed Tahir's son Talha to the governorship. One of Talha's brothers succeeded in 828. On the model of the Tahirid, independent dynasties, nominally appointed by and subordinate to the caliph, became a feature of the Islamic world, until the caliphs had no real power left.
(Al-Mamun had been named governor of Khurasan by Harun, and after his ascension to power, the caliph named Tahir as governor for his military services in order to assure his loyalty. It was a move that al-Mamun soon regretted, as Tahir and his family became entrenched in Persian politics and became increasingly powerful in the state, contrary to al-Mamun's desire to centralize and strengthen Caliphal power. The rising power of the Tahirid dynasty became a threat as al-Mamun's own policies alienated them and his other opponents.)
For most of the rest of his reign, there were disorders to be suppressed in various parts of the empire. Despite this fact, however, trade flourished, and the 'Abbasids were at the zenith of their prosperity. By 830, al-Mamun felt capable of mounting annual expeditions against the Byzantines. It was on one of these that he died in August 9, 833 at Tarsus. He was succeeded by his half-brother, al-Mu'tasim.
(At-Tabari recounts how al-Mamun was sitting on the river bank telling those with him hw splendid the water was. He asked what would go best with this water and was told a specific kind of fresh date. Noticing supplies arriving, he asked someone check whether such dates were included. As they were, he invited those with him to enjoy the water with these dates. All who did this fell ill. Others recovered. Al-Mamun died. As he was dying, he spoke, expressing his belief in the unity of God and his reliance on God's mercy. He encouraged his successor to continue his policies and not burden the people with more than they could bear.)
Al-Mamun became an enthusiast for Greek thought and is credited with the founding of the House of Wisdom (Bayt al-Hikma), an institute for translating foreign, especially Greek, books into Arabic. Translations had been made of Sanskrit and Persian works in the time of his great-grandfather and of Greek books of that of his father. Many Greek books were already extant in Iraq in Syriac translations, and most of the first translations into Arabic were made by Christians from these Syriac versions. The earliest interest of the Arabs was in astronomy (with astrology) or medicine, but Greek philosophy also attracted attention.
The interest in Greek philosophy is linked with the rise of the theological school of the Mutazilites. Nineteenth century European scholars admired their apparent rationalism and liberal views, such as a belief in freedom of the will. It is now realized that, despite their interest in Greek ideas, they remained close to their Islamic basics. Several leading Mutazilites were prominent at al-Mamun's court, notably Thumama and Ahmad ibn-Abi Duad. Al-Mamun was probably attracted not only by the philosophical but also by the political aspect of their thought, for they were attempting to reconcile contemporary tensions. The stimulation of interest in Greek works influence the whole subsequent course of Islamic thought.
In accordance with Mutazilite teaching, al-Mamun established toward the end of his reign (perhaps in 827) the inquisition, or mihna. All higher officials had publicly to profess that they believed the Qur'an to be the created not the uncreated, word of God. This was not mere theological hairsplitting but the basis of a hoped for compromise between opposing forces. Most officials made the required declaration, but a leading jurist, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, refused and was prevented from lecturing. The inquisition lasted until about 850.
The mihna is comparable to Medieval European inquisitions only in the sense that it involved imprisonment, a religious text, and a loyalty oath. The casualties of 'Abbasid inquisition would not approach a fraction of those executed in Europe under similar circumstances. In the effort to centralize power and test the loyalty of his subjects, al-Mamun required elites, scholars, judges and other government officials to undergo the test, which was a series of questions relating to theology and faith. The penalty for failing the mihna could include death.
The controversy over the mihna was exacerbated by al-Mamun's sympathy for Mu'tazili theology. Mu'tazili theology was deeply influenced by Aristotelian thought and Greek rationalism, and stated that matters of belief and practice should be decided by reasoning on the basis of the Qur'an. This defied the literalist position, according to which everything a believer needed to know about faith and practice was spelled out literally in the Qur'an and the hadith. Moreover, the Mu'tazilis stated that the Qur'an was created rather than eternal, in opposition to general Muslim opinion that the Qur'an and the Divine were co-eternal. The fact that the Mu'tazili school had its foundations in teh paganism of Greece further disenchanted a majority of Islamic clerics.
Although al-Mahdi had proclaimed that the caliph was the protector of Islam against heresy, and had claimed the ability to declare orthodoxy, religious schlars in the Islamic world believed that al-Ma'mun was overstepping his bounds in the mihna. The penalties of the mihna became increasingly difficult to enforce as the ulama became firmer and more united in their opposition. Although the mihna persisted through the reigns of two more caliphs, al-Mutawakkil abandoned it in 848. The failure of the mihna seriously damaged caliphal authority and ruined the reputation of the office for succeeding caliphs. The caliph would lose much of his religious authority to the opinion of the ulama as a result of the mihna.
The ulama and the major Islamic law schools became truly defined in the period of al-Ma'mun and Sunnism, as a religion of legalism, became defined in parallel. Doctrinal differences between Sunni and Shi'a began to become more pronounced. Ibn Hanbal, the founder of the Hanbali legal school, became famous for his opposition to the mihna. Al-Mamun's simultaneous opposition and patronage of intellectuals led to the emergence of important dialogues on both secular and religious affairs, and the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) became an important center of translation for Greek and other ancient texts into Arabic. This Islamic renaissance spurred the rediscovery of Hellenism and ensured the survival of these texts into the European renaissance.
Al-Mamun's reign is marked by his efforts to the translation of Greek philosophy and science. Al-Mamun gathered scholars of many religions at Baghdad, whom he treated magnificently and with tolerance. He sent an emissary to the Byzantine Empire to collect the most famous manuscripts there, and had them translated into Arabic. It is said that, victorious over the Byzantine Emperor, Al-Mamun made a condition of peace be that the emperor hand over a copy of the Almagest. Al-Mamun also conducted, in the plains of Mesopotamia, two astronomical operations intended to determine the value of a terrestrial degree, Almanon crater, on the Moon, was named in recognition of al-Mamun's contributions to astronomy.
There were a number of other key developments in the reign of al-Mamun. The shakiriya, which were to trigger the movement of the capital from Baghdad to Samarra during al-Mu'tasim's reign, were raised in al-Mamun's time. The shakiriya were military units from Central Asia and North Africa, hired, complete with their commanders, to serve under the Caliph.
Al-Mamun also attempted to divorce his wife during his reign because she had failed to bear him any children. His wife hired a Syrian judge of her own before al-Mamun was able to select one himself. The judge, who sympathized with the caliph's wife, refused the divorce. Following al-Mamun's experience, no further 'Abbasid caliphs were to marry, preferring to find their heirs in the harem.
Shortly before his death, during a visit to Egypt in 832, al-Mamun ordered the breaching of the Great Pyramid of Giza. He apparently entered the pyramid by unblocking a tunnel made by grave robbers in ancient times. Because the pyramid had already been robbed, his expedition found only the empty granite sarcophagus.
The 'Abbasid empire grew during the reign of al-Mamun. Hindu rebellions in Sindh were put down, and most of Afghanistan was absorbed with the surrender of the leader of Kabul. Mountainous regions of Iran were brought under a tighter grip of the central 'Abbasid government, as were areas of Turkestan. However, battles against the Byzantine Empire continued in Asia Minor, and al-Mamun would die while leading an expedition in Sardis.
Abu'l-'Abbas 'Abd Allah al-Ma'mun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
'Abdallah al-Mamun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
Abu Jafar al-Mamun ibn Harun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Abbas ‘Abd Allah al-
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al-
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al- (Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al-Ma’mun) (b. 1185). Sovereign of the Almohad dynasty (r.1229-1232). He was very well-read, and equally versed in profane and religious learning.
Abu'l-'Ala' Idris al-Ma'mun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al-
Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al- (Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al-Ma’mun) (b. 1185). Sovereign of the Almohad dynasty (r.1229-1232). He was very well-read, and equally versed in profane and religious learning.
Abu'l-'Ala' Idris al-Ma'mun see Ma’mun, Abu’l-‘Ala’ Idris al-
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