THE MAMLUKS AND IBN XALDUN
THE FOLLOWING IS EXTRACTED FROM A LECTURE BY DAVID AYALON ON AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PASSAGE IN IBN XALDUN'S KITAB AL-'IBAR (CAIRO 1867), V, 360-373, CONCERNING MAMLUK POWER IN EGYPT.
I SHOULD LIKE TO STRESS THE MAIN CONCLUSION, OR THE MAIN MESSAGE, OF THAT PASSAGE, WHICH IS OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE. AND THE MESSAGE IS VERY SIMPLE. UP TO AND INCLUDING THE TIME OF IBN XALDUN THERE WERE TWO MAJOR POWERS THROUGHOUT ISLAMIC HISTORY: THE ARABS AND THE MAMLUKS. IBN XALDUN PUTS THIS IN THE CLEAREST POSSIBLE TERMS. AND THERE IS NOTHING ELSE.
THIS VIEW, WITH WHICH I AGREE FOR THE MOST PART, HAS TO BE CORRECTED AND ADJUSTED IN VARIOUS WAYS, WHICH I HAVE TRIED TO DO ALSO. WHAT SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED IN THIS CONTEXT IS THAT THERE HAD BEEN A GREAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MIGHT AND RULE OF THE ARABS AS COMPARED WITH THE MAMLUKS. THE FIRST HAD BEEN QUITE SHORT, WHEREAS THE SECOND HAD BEEN VERY LONG AND, AS FAR AS IBN XALDUN IS CONCERNED, WITH EXCELLENT CHANCES OF LASTING ALMOST INDEFINITELY. ACCORDING TO OUR AUTHOR, THE MAMLUK INSTITUTION, WHICH HE HAD WITNESSED IN EGYPT TOWARDS THE END OF THE 8TH/14TH CENTURY, HAD BEEN AS STRONG AND FRESH AS EVER.
THE REASON WHY ARAB POWER LASTED FOR SO SHORT A TIME AND MAMLUK POWER FOR SO LONG IS IMPLIED IN OUR PASSAGE AND IT FITS VERY MUCH IBN XALDUN'S ENTIRE THEORY. WHAT THE MAMLUKS AND THE ARABS HAD IN COMMON WAS THAT THEY WERE OF NOMAD, OR AT LEAST OF TRIBAL, ORIGIN. BUT WHEREAS THE ARABS, AFTER A SHORT TIME, HAD LOST BOTH THEIR NOMAD QUALITIES AS FIGHTERS AND THEIR RELIGIOUS SHARPNESS, THE MAMLUKS, WHO HAD BEEN REJUVENATED ALL THE TIME, KEPT THEIR NOMADIC AND TRIBAL CHARACTERISTICS FOREVER, AS WELL AS THEIR RELIGIOUS FERVOUR, THE FERVOUR OF NEWLY CONVERTED MUSLIMS.
LET ME MENTION HERE HOW HE EXPRESSES THE QUALITY OF THE ARABS AND THAT OF THE MAMLUKS AT THE PEAKS OF THEIR POWERS. THE ARABS AT THE ZENITH OF THEIR POWER HAD "INTENSITY OF[FEELING OF TRIBAL]DESCENT AND FRESHNESS OF RELIGION"; AND THE MAMLUKS EMBRACED ISLAM WITH "THE DETERMINATION OF TRUE BELIEVERS, WHILE RETAINING THEIR NOMADIC VIRTUES".
THAT IS THE COMBINATION. THIS IS, THEN, THE MAJOR MESSAGE OF THE WHOLE PASSAGE, WHICH IS, IN MY VIEW, EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT AND SOUND. IBN XALDUN WAS VERY WEAK CONCERNING DETAILS AND EVEN FACTS, INCLUDING VERY IMPORTANT ONES. AS FAR AS FACTS ARE CONCERNED, HE SHOULD BE USED VERY CAREFULLY AND CRITICALLY, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO IDEAS, TO CONCEPTIONS, EVEN WHEN WE DO NOT AGREE WITH HIM, IT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY.