D.S. Richards' Study Mamluk Scroll

A Damascus Scroll Relating to a Waqf for the YūnusiyyaAuthor(s): D. S. RichardsSource: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (1990), pp.267-281Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25210786 .Accessed: 26/10/2011 02:18

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A DAMASCUS SCROLL RELATING TO A WAQF FOR THE Y?NUSIYYA1

By D. S. Richards

The Y?nusiyya is one of those small-scale, largely family-based Sufi orders

which proliferated in the later Middle Ages. Little is known of its growth and

development. The eponymous founder, one Y?nus ibn Y?suf Ibn Mus?'id

al-Shaib?n?, was a holy man of the type described as majdh?b, which is

explained as meaning that he had no shaikh and was self-initiated into the life

of devotion and sanctity. He died in 619 (1222-3), approaching ninety years of age, in the district of the Mesopotamian town of Dara, in a village called

al-Qunayya. As our source, Ibn Khallik?n, adds, "His tomb there is well

known and an object of pilgrimage".2 From a few sources we learn a little about a great-grandson of the founder,

a Shaikh Saif al-D?n al-Raj?hl ibn S?biq ibn Hil?l ibn Y?nus, who came to

Damascus "from the East" or "from Iraq", was received with honour and

acquired a village in the Ghuta and a residence in Damascus. His following was considerable and it is said that he had great influence in the reign of al

Mans?r Qal?w?n and that he was "useful to the regime", but without

specifying how. Late in 690 (1291) he was arrested and taken to the Citadel in Cairo, but was subsequently freed. He died in Damascus in 706 (1306-7).3

References to members of the Y?nusiyya are very sparse. In early 723

(1323) a sufi who had come to Cairo from Damascus "in the garb of afaq?r of the Y?nusiyya

" was executed by an outraged Sultan. In a fit of exaggerated

zeal for the dignity of Islam the sufi had used the axe (tabar), which it seems

he always carried, to kill a haughty Christian government official.4 Whether this was an isolated case or typical of the Y?nusiyya of that period it is

impossible to say.

Muj?r al-D?n al-'Ulaim? records the existence of a Y?nusiyya z?wiya in the Jerusalem of his day, that is, around the beginning of the sixteenth century. Apart from the tomb of the founder mentioned above, there is only one other devotional centre known to me from the regular sources. Ibn al-Mibrad, in

1 I am grateful to Dr Geoffrey Khan for bringing my attention to this scroll and to the

authorities of the Cambridge University Library for providing me with a microfilm of it. 2

Waf?y?t al-A'y?n, ed. Ihsan Abbas, Dar Sader (Beirut, n.d.), vol. VII, pp. 256-7, and

Maqr?z?, Khit?t, Bulaq, 1853, vol. II, p. 435. See also J. S. Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam

(Oxford, 1971), p. 15 and notes 4 & 5. 3

See the information in Ibn Hajar, al-Durar al-K?mina, (Cairo, 1966), vol. II, p. 200; al

Maqr?z?, Kit?b al-Sul?k, (Cairo, 1956), vol. I, p. 774, & vol. II, p. 31 ; Ibn al-Fur?t, Tdrtkh (Beirut,

1939), vol. VIII, p. 129 (for his arrest); Ibn al-Suq?'?, Tail Kit?b Waf?y?t al-A'y?n, ed. J. Sublet,

(Damascus, 1974), p. 73 (the translation, pp. 95-6, needs to be revised). 4 Sul?k, vol. II, pp. 241-2.

268 A YUNUSIYYA SCROLL

a work finished in 883 (1478), mentions amongst the mosques (mas?jid) of

Damascus one "in the z?wiya of Shaikh Y?nus", adding that it is "new, not

mentioned by him",5 meaning that it is not to be found in Tzz al-D?n Ibn

Shadd?d, his own main source, who died in 684 (1285), a few years after the

completion of his well-known topographical work, al-A'l?q al-Kh?tira. A

considerable amount of new information is provided by the scroll which is

the main subject of this article.

Preserved in the Cambridge University Library is a large paper scroll, classified as Or. 2159 (15). It was acquired in 1971, but no details of its

provenance are recorded.6 The most accurate measurement that could be

managed made it 850 cm in length and an average of 30 cm in width. The text

on the recto covers approximately 778 cm only, and something approaching two-thirds of that is taken up by the initial document (no. 1 below). The

scroll is clearly the product of a series of court procedures in Damascus. The

various acts it contains stretch over a period of one hundred and eighty years, from 768 (1366) to 953 (1546), and occupy both sides. Throughout document no. 1 there are joins roughly every 39 cm and across each of these is written

"My sufficiency is God (hasb? Allah)" as a form of authentication. The hand

appears to be that of the issuing qadi, which would fit the practice described

by Ibn Ab?'1-Dam in slightly different circumstances.7 After the start of the

second text on the recto there are three identical authentications, but in a new

hand, about every 41 cm.

This scroll may be described as follows. The first document found on it, which is dated Monday, 14 Muharram 768 (Monday, 21 September 1366), contains a confirmation of the terms of a waqf made by Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h?, the great-grandson of Shaikh Y?nus, largely in favour of the Y?nusiyya order. This is achieved by reference to, and a certain amount of quotation from, a series of earlier confirmations and declarations concerning the waqf,

made (all but the latest) on the verso of the original waqf instrument, the

waqfiyya of Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h?. The process ends with a verbatim transcript of the original waqfiyya, which was dated 9 Shaww?l 690 (5 October 1291), and therefore effectively extends the period covered by the scroll to two

hundred and fifty-five years. It is perhaps likely that the original waqfiyya 5

Y?suf b. al-H?d? Ibn al-Mibrad, Thim?r al-maq?sid ft dhikr al-mas?jid, ed. Muhammad

As'ad Talas (Beirut, 1934), p. 103. The text quoted in Sami Dahan, La Description de Damas

dlbn Saddad (Damascus, 1956), p. 131, note 1, should be corrected accordingly. Unfortunately I did not have access to vol. II of al-Nu'aimfs al-D?ris ft ta'r?kh al-mad?ris, (Damascus, 1951), to see what information it contains on this and the other zawiyas connected with the Y?nusiyya.

6 The scroll was presented to the Library on 7 September 1971 by the managers of the Browne

Fund, having purchased it from Christie's. 7

Kit?b Adab al-Qadct, (Damascus 1982), p. 571 : when "

transferring "

to another authority an

act, either in a copy or by appending the original, i.e. in a kit?b hukm?, the qadi signs his usual

'al?ma top right, and then puts the same or a different 'al?ma that he uses over the joins ?al?

aws?lihi).

A Y?NUSIYYA SCROLL 269

was getting to be in a parlous state and it was desirable to produce a certified

copy of it. However, it was part of recommended notarial practice, whenever

a separate deed was drawn up which referred to a previous legal act, to

reproduce the latter word for word in the new document.8 The rest of the

present scroll in its turn records on both the recto and verso subsequent confirmations of, and petitions concerning, the waqf.

Before giving an account of the waqf itself, it will be convenient to describe

the steps that take us back to the original waqfiyya, namely the acts that were

written on it. They will be listed here in chronological order, although in

document no. 1 of this scroll they are alluded to in the opposite order,

providing a sort of isn?d for the copy of the waqf instrument.

A Isj?l, dated Friday, 24 Shaww?l 690 (Friday, 19 October 1291), issued

by Sharaf al-D?n al-Hasan9 b. 'Abd Allah Ibn Qud?ma al-Hanbal?,

containing the authentication of a declaration (iqr?r10) of the donor, Saif al

D?n al-Raj?h? re the content of the waqfiyya and his ownership of the land

until the creation of the waqf, and a judgement that the waqf is valid.

B Joint isj?l, dated Friday, 1 Dh?-1'Qa'da 690 (Friday, 26 October 1291), issued by the Qadis Shih?b al-D?n Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Shafi'? and

Hus?m al-D?n al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-Qasraw?n? al-Hanafi,11 containing authentication and ratification of A.12

C Isj?l, dated Monday, 6 Ramadan 692 (Monday, 10 August 1293), issued

by deputy Qadi Sharaf al-D?n Ahmad13 b. Ahmad b. Ni'mat Allah al

Muqaddas? al-Shafi'?, containing authentication etc. of B. D Isj?l, dated Monday, 24 Rajab 730 (Monday, 15 May 1329), issued by

deputy Qadi Zain al-D?n Muhammad14 b. 'Abd Allah al-'Uthm?n? al-Shafi'?, authentication etc. of C.

E Isj?l, dated Monday, 6 Sha'b?n 745 (Monday, 14 December 1344), issued by Qadi Bah?' al-D?n Muhammad15 al-Subk? al-Shafi'?, containing

authentication etc. of D.

8 See Ibn Abfl-Dam, op. cit., pp. 558-9, & 571-2. For this copying of documents in extenso

into later documents, see also R. Vesely, "Les Requ?tes en Egypte au XVIe si?cle", Revue des

?tudes Islamiques, XLV (1977), p. 217. 9

Ibn al-Fur?t, VIII, pp. 213 & 216, Sul?k, I, p. 817: died Shaww?l 695 (August 1296), aged 57.

10 A similar iqr?r is found at the end of a model waqfiyya in Ibn Abfl-Dam, Kit?b Adab al

Qad?* (Damascus, 1982), p. 548. 11

For a later example of an isj?l tanf?dh?, issued by qadis of all four schools of law, see R.

Vesely, "Les Requ?tes etc.", loe. cit., p. 243, n. 1. 12

For a model isj?l containing one qadi's authentication of the isj?l of another, see al

Nuwair?, Nih?yat al-arab, IX, pp. 151-2. 13

al-Suq?'?, op. cit., no. 13, p. 10: died Ramadan 694 (July-August 1295). See also Ibn al

Fur?t, VIII, pp. 196 & 201 ; Sul?k, I, pp. 810-11." 14

Durar, IV, pp. 98-9: came to Damascus 725 (1325), died Rajab 737 (February 1337). 15

Durar, IV, pp. 109-10: born Rabf I 707 (September 1307), died Rabf II 777 (September

1375).


F Isj?l,1* dated Sunday, 22 Dh?'1-Hijja 767 (Sunday, 30 August 1366), issued by the deputy Qadi Wal? al-D?n al-Subk? al-Sh?fi'? (see no. 1 below),

containing authentication, etc. of E., the isj?l of his father.

On the basis of this "isn?d"11 the Qadi Wal? al-D?n proceeded to issue a

fresh document (see below for no. 1 of the contents of the scroll) with the

copy of the original waqfiyya. However, one should also note an independent "isn?d" back to a legal act of the donor, executed in 698 (1299), by which

he assigned the trusteeship which he had exercised hitherto to his children.

This is found in no. 6 below. The contents of the waqf will now be examined.

The property made into waqf was an estate (data khar?jiyyd) known as

Subaina al-Sharqiyya (or East Subaina), one of the Ghuta villages in the

district of Damascus.18 Ibn al-Suq?'? tells that this village was granted

(utliqa) to Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h? and his full ownership (milkiyya) of it

recorded in a deed, whereas Ibn Hajar, writing of the grant of the village to

Saif al-D?n, uses the word uqtta, which would normally imply only the

temporary usufruct of the land and thus rule out the possibility of legally

making it a waqf.19 There is another question which is probably unanswerable. That concerns the significance of the relationship, if there is

one, between the date of the waqf, Shaww?l 690 (October 1291), and the date

of the donor's arrest, Dh?'1-Hijja 690 (December 1291). All the fields, the peasant houses and the irrigation canal and the

concomitant water rights (the source of the water was in the village of

Darayya) were included in the waqf, but the mosque and the highway and the

cemetery were excluded in standard form. The adjoining lands are given in

what seems to be anti-clockwise order. The names with a question mark

following them are written without diacritical points, and are not to be relied

upon, and remain unidentified. On the south were the lands of Dair

Banah(?), to the east the lands of the villages of Abu Nas?(?) and Dair

Nasr(?) and al-Raih?niyya,20 to the north lands known as Kam?l al-D?n al

B?niy?sf s and lands of al-Qatffi\T), and on the west side the lands of al

16 This seems to have been written on the recto of the original waqfiyya, because E is

confusingly described as "

beginning in the margin to the right of the verso of Wal? al-D?n's

isj?V\ i.e. F. 17

For a reason that is not clear to me, A, B and C are alluded to indirectly, that is to say, as they are alluded to and quoted from in D. That is why, it seems, their respective qadis have

the indication of their demise after their names, "God have mercy on him (rahimahu Allah)". Their text can hardly be quoted directly if their death is assumed to have occurred.

18 In the Gazetteer of Syria, prepared by M. Hourani and C. Heyda, published by the Defense

Mapping Agency, Washington, D.C., 2nd ed., 1983, it appears as Subaynah as-Saghfra, lat. 33? 27 N long. 36? 17 E, to the N.E. of Subaynah al-Kab?ra (

= al-Gharbiyya).

'

19 See the sources in note 3.

20 On modern maps the settlement of Hawsh al-Rayh?niyya is a little more than 1 km. N.E.

of Subaina al-Sagh?ra ( =

al-Sharqiyya).


M?daniyya(?) and Subaina al-Gharbiyya (or West Subaina).21 The actual

boundary in most cases was formed by the irrigation canals of the adjoining lands. The annual khar?j of the village was not specified but evidence for it

was said to be in "the old registers" (al-jarSid al-qad?ma). The produce of the waqf land was to be used for institutional and for

family purposes. For the latter the initial intention was the donor's own

benefit during his lifetime and the benefit of his eight children at the time of

the waqf, Ts?, S?lim, Fadl, S?biq, Muhammad, Sitt al-Atr?k, Qifj?q and Sitt

al-Umar?', and then their descendants. By 698 (1299), as no. 6 shows (see

below), the donor had gained another son, 'Abd al-Rahm?n, and lost a

daughter, Sitt al-Atr?k.

A special provision was made for the full sister of the donor, al-Sitt

Khurasan, and subsequently her descendants. She was assigned ten

Damascene ghir?ras ("sacks")22 of wheat. If her line died out, this amount

reverted to the donor's own descendants.

Other special amounts of produce were set aside annually for the local

institutions of the Y?nusiyya order. These were a zawiya and tomb outside

Damascus, situated on the "northern eminence" (al-sharaf al-shimal?), and a zawiya in the city within the B?b T?m?. This latter, which had previously been the house of the Ayyubid official, Am?n al-Dawla,23 had been given to

Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h? in freehold (see above), and had been made a waqf "

for

prayer, worship and [the Sufi] dhikr" before the date of this present waqf. There was a further zawiya, named after the donor (and presumably also founded by him), in the village of East Subaina. A special stipulation gave the donor and his descendants the right to place in, and remove from, the

zawiyas anyone they wished, and also complete control of access to them. The zawiya extra muros was to receive five "sacks" of wheat for the

resident and visiting Y?nusiyya sufis (fuqara*) and for the Qur'?n reciters at

the tomb, who were to recite daily after morning prayer, dedicating the merit

(thaw?b) of their recital to the "inhabitants" of the tomb and, after his death, to the donor. Ten "sacks" were allotted to the zawiya intra muros, for the

sufis as above and for the upkeep of the institution. The remaining zawiya in the village was assigned five "sacks" annually. As the waqfiyya stipulated,

21 This village was part of the waqf of the Dar al-Qur'?n al-Kar?m al-S?b?niyya in Damascus

according to al-Nu'aim? (al-D?risfita'rikh al-mad?ris, ed. Ja'far al-Hasani, (Damascus, 1948), I, p. 15; note 12 says that the village is situated 8 km south of Damascus). See the same text in

the partial edition of al-Nu'aimi (Z)wr al-Quf?nfXDimashq, ed. al-Munajjid, (Beirut, 1973), p. 20) but al-Munajjid gives the distance from Damascus as 10 km (in Tashih Kit?b al-D?ris, (Beirut,

1981), pp. 12-13). 22 According to Hinz, Islamische Masse und Gewichte, (Leiden, 1970), pp. 37-8, the Damascene

ghir?ra as a unit of capacity is about 265 litres and as a unit of weight about 204.5 kg. 23 Am?n al-Dawla Kam?l al-D?n Ab?'l-Hasan ibn Ghazal al-S?min, the vizier of al-S?lih

Ism?'?l in Damascus.

272 A Y?NUSIYYA SCROLL

the trustee (the n?zir) could distribute these amounts at his discretion, and

could either bake bread for feeding the sufis or sell some or all of the produce for cash and distribute that or use it for lighting and furnishing the zawiyas and such-like expenses.

Of the rest of the annual produce, half was to go to the donor while he

lived but then be joined to the other half, which went to his children, and

subsequently to their lineal descendants.

If his direct line completely died out, the donor stipulated a fresh division

of the agricultural produce :

(a) one eighth to the resident sufis (muj?wirm) at the Prophet's tomb in

Medina;

(b) one eighth to such sufis in al-Khalil (Hebron) ;

(c) one eighth to the zawiya of Shaikh Y?nus at Qunayya in Dara

(Mardin), for the upkeep, and for the mujawirin and visitors to the Shaikh's

tomb next to the zawiya;

(d) one eighth for the upkeep of, and for the sufis and Qur'?n reciters at, the Damascus zawiya extra muros).

(e) one quarter for the upkeep of the other two zawiyas, one intra muros, and the other in the village of East Subaina. Any residue of this quarter to be

distributed to resident or visiting sufis and the poor (mas?km); (f) one quarter to the wider relatives of the donor (his aq?rib) and their

descendants. If they die out, this amount reverts to the benefit of "the

zawiya" (sic). If all these conditions failed, the ultimate beneficiaries were to be the sufis

and the poor anywhere. The first charge on the waqf is always to be the maintenance of the income

producing land, through such expenses as purchase of equipment, cattle,

seeds, and loans and wages for peasants. As for the exploitation of this land,

leasing is expressly banned while direct "owner-occupier" cultivation for the

waqf through the peasantry is possible. This I take to be the sense of the term

al-muf?laha. If leasing proves unavoidable, then no contract is to be for more

than two years at a time. This was a fairly standard condition, but the next

stipulation is very suggestive of social conditions, namely that no part of the

land should ever be leased to "a man of influence, or one whose seizing control of the waqf is to be feared, one from whom no justice is to be

obtained, or one who appears to the trustee likely to sub-let to any such

person".24

24 Compare what Ibn Abfl-Dam writes in the first half of the thirteenth century about the

desirability of limiting the length of leases (Kit?b Adab al-Qadff (Damascus, 1982), p. 534): "the

aim is to preserve the status of the waqf property, not to allow persons to seize control of it,

especially in such an age as ours, when a dominant group has taken to making a two or three

hundred year lease on a waqf. Time goes by and it becomes just like freehold property".

A YUNUSIYYA SCROLL 273

The trusteeship (the nazar) of the waqf was to be reserved to the donor, Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h?, for the rest of his life. He gave himself powers to

appoint and dismiss an agent (wak?t), or to assign the trusteeship by wasiyya.

Any trustee so appointed would in turn have these powers. If, however, the

donor died without making such a wasiyya, or if the chain was broken at any other stage, the trusteeship would then pass to his children, or their direct

descendants. If that line failed, the trustee would be ex officio the [Sh?fi'?]

Qadi of Damascus, again with powers to appoint a deputy. Two of the later texts on the scroll (nos. 11 and 17) show the donor's great

grandson and his great-great-grandson petitioning the Qadi to be recognised as the fit trustee under the terms of the waqfiyya. This suggests that the family were still benefiting from the waqf in the second half of the fifteenth century. It does not necessarily mean that the institutions at Damascus were still

functioning. The great-great-grandson, 'Abd al-Q?dir, lived at the end of his

life in the suburb of Salihiyy?, where he built a zawiya, a bath-house and a

residence.25

The full contents of the scroll may be described as follows, following the

chronological order of the various items but indicating where they are to be

found on the scroll.

1. Recto i

An isj?l, dated Monday, 14 Muharram 768 (21 September 1366) issued by the Sh?fi'? deputy Qadi Wal? al-D?n Abu Muhammad26 'Abd Allah b. Bah?' al-D?n Muhammad b. Sad?d al-D?n 'Abd Allah b. Yahy? b. 'Al? al-Ans?r? al

Khazraj? al-Subk? (acting for Qadi T?j al-D?n 'Abd al-Wahh?b27 b. 'All b. Hasan b. 'Al? al-Subk?) (his 'al?ma: al-hgmd lill?h wa-as'aluhu al-tawfiq).28

Authentication and ratification of the series of documents A to F (see

above), but in the reverse order, and a verbatim copy of the waqfiyya

(certified as collated with the original and correct in a note in the right margin).

2. Verso i

Isj?l, dated 17 Jumada I 768 (19 January 1367) issued by Qadi Rad? al-D?n Ab? Muhammad 'Abd al-Rahm?n b. 'Abd Allah b. 'Abd al-Rahm?n al

Hanaf? (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h 'al? ntamih?). Authentication and ratification of no. 1.

25 al-Ghazz?, al-Kaw?kib al-s?'ira, (Beirut 1945), I, p. 241. The same source, I, pp. 225-6,

records that a Qur'?n reader, who died in 915 (1509-10), retired to live in "the zawiya of Muhy? al-D?n al-Raj?h?in al-sahm al-a'l?", the latter apparently being a part of al-Salihiyy?. This seems to refer to the Zawiya of 'Abd al-Q?dir (see note 44 below). 26

Durar, II, p. 398 : born Jumada II 724 (May-June 1325), died 7 Shaww?l 785 (3 December

1383). 27 Durar, III, pp. 39-41 : born 727 (1326-7), died 7 Dh?'1-Hijja 771 (2 July 1370). 28 There is another (later?) 'al?ma below it: al-hamd lill?hi 'al? ihs?nihi.


3. Verso ii

Isj?l, dated 6 Rajab 768 (8 March 1367), issued by deputy Qadi Sal?h al D?n Ab?'l-Barak?t Muhammad b. Sharaf al-D?n Muhammad b. al-Munajj? al-Tanukh? al-Hanbal?29 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h wall al-hamd).

Authentication and ratification of no. 2.

4. Verso iii

Isj?l, dated 13 Dh?'1-Qa'da 768 (11 July 1367), issued by deputy Qadi Shams al-D?n Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. M?s? b. Muhammad b. Sanad

b. Tam?m al-Lakhm? al-Malik?30 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h haqq hamdihi). Authentication and ratification of no. 3.

5. Verso iv

Isj?l, dated 9 Shaww?l 770 (17 May 1369), issued by Qadi Badr al-D?n Abu

'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Hibat Allah al-Shafi'? (his 'al?ma: ahmad Allah wa-as'aluh al-tawfiq).


6. Recto ii

Isj?l, dated Friday, 7 Ramadan 800 (Friday, 24 May 1398), issued by Qadi Shams al-D?n Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Shih?b al-D?n (?) Ahmad b.

Sharaf al-D?n Mahmud al-Nabulus? al-Muqaddas? (?) al-Hanbal?31 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h rabb al-'alamfn al-hamd lill?h Allah k?fin 'abdahu).

Authentication and ratification of an ishh?d, dated 13 Sha'b?n 800 (1 May

1398), issued by the Qadi 'Alam al-D?n Muhammad al-Qafas? al-Malik?32

and written on the verso of a kit?b al-tafwTd (see below), the last, in time, of a series of similar documents as follows :

(a) Ishh?d, dated 24 Ramadan 706 (29 March 1307), issued by Qadi

Najm al-D?n Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Muhsin al-Dimashq? al-Shafi'?.33

(b) Ishh?d, dated Monday, 17 Rajab 698 (Monday, 20 April 1299), issued by Qadi Jamal al-D?n Muhammad b. Sulaim?n al-Zawaw? al-Malik?.34

(c) Isj?l, dated Friday, end of Jum?d? II 698 (Friday, 3 April 1299), issued

by Qadi Jal?l al-D?n Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qazw?n? al-Shafi'?.35

29 Durar, V, p. 5: born in 710s (1310s), died Rabf II 770 (November-December 1368).

30 Durar, V, p. 40: born Rabf II 729 (February 1329), died Safar 792 (January-February

1390). The edition (ed. Muhammad al-Haqq, Cairo) has Nu'aim in place of Tamim and, as

kuny?, Abu'l-'Abbas. 31

Daw\ VII, p. 107: born in 740s (1339-48), died Muharram 805 (August 1402). 32

Daw\ X, p. 13: died Muharram 805 (August 1402), was qadi in Damascus eleven times in

twenty-five years. 33

Durar, I, p. 202: died Sha'ban 726 (July 1326) aged 77. 34

Durar, IV, pp. 68-9: born in 630s (1232^1), died Jum?d? II 717 (August-September

1317), became qadi in Damascus in 687 (1288) and held the office until the year of his death. 35

Durar, IV, p. 120-3: born 666 (1267-8), died 15 Jumada I 739 (29 November 1338).


This contained an ishh?d by the donor of the waqf, Saif al-D?n Raj?h? (sic) and his four sons (see below), in the form of a kit?b al-tafw?d.

The text of this kit?b al-tafw?d, which is dated 28 Jum?d? II 698 (2 April 1299), is quoted in full (a certification that the text has been collated with the

original and is correct is in the right margin) and contains :

(a) an empowering of his four sons (Sharaf al-D?n 'Isa, Am?n (?) al-D?n

S?lim, Shams al-D?n Fadl and S?biq al-D?n S?biq) to exercise the nazar (the

trusteeship) of his waqf and to act for his two minor sons ('Izz al-D?n

Muhammad and Badr al-D?n 'Abd al-Rahm?n) and any subsequent sons

until such time as they severally become of age and able to act for themselves ;

(b) a declaration that his two daughters (Qifj?q and Sitt al-Umar?') are

competent to manage their own finances and interests.

7. Verso v

Isj?l, dated Sunday, 13 Safar 808 (Sunday, 9 August 1405), issued by Qadi 'Ala' al-D?n 'Al? b. Muhammad al-Subk? al-Sh?fi'?36 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd

lill?h kam? huwa ahluh?). Authentication and ratification of no. 1 (the ishhad of his brother, Wal? al

D?n).

8. Verso vii

Isj?l, dated Sunday, 7 Dh?'1-Qa'da 843 (Sunday, 10 April 1440), issued by

Qadi Zain (also Sharaf) al-D?n S?lim b. Ibrah?m al-Zawaw? al-Malik?37 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h wa-huwa hasb?).

(a) Authentication and ratification of no. 7.

No. 7 is authenticated on the basis of a note (found in the right margin of no. 7) testifying to the genuineness of the first and second of its witness

formulae, the writers of which had since died. Below this note the Qadi Zain

al-D?n wrote: shahid? Hnd?bi-dhalika mustanid?n 'al?l-khattain. Then below each of the original signatures the present Qadi, Zain al-D?n, wrote : shuhida

'ala khattihi rahimahu Allah ta'?l?. Zain al-D?n wrote his instruction (see

below) for the drawing up of no. 8 in the right margin of no. 7 (at 90? to the

main text).38

(b) Authentication and ratification of an ishh?d, dated 1 Rabf I 791 (29

February 1388), issued by former deputy Qadi Sharaf al-D?n 'Isa b. 'Uthm?n

38 Daw\ V, p. 308: born 759 (1358), died Rabf II 809 (September-October 1406). 37 Daw\ III, p. 240 (and 243): born ca. 770 (1368-9), died 873 (1468-9). 38 The hand of the Qadi Zain al-D?n is markedly

" north-African

" in character. Muj?r al-D?n

(II, pp. 247-8) records an Am?n al-D?n S?lim b. Ibrahim al-Maghrib? al-Sanh?j? (also died in

873), who was qadi in both Damascus and Jerusalem. I think this suggests that the two entries

given by Sakh?w? {Daw\ III, pp. 240 & 243, see footnote above) do refer to a single person.


al-Ghazz? al-Shafi'?,39 acting for Qadi Rukn al-D?n Muhammad al-Sulam? al

Sh?fi'L This latter document is quoted in full (a note in the right margin certifies

that the text was collated with the original and is correct) and contains a

declaration that the then trustee of al-Raj?hFs waqf was prevented from

delivering the ten "sacks" of wheat assigned to the zawiya at Damascus within B?b T?m?, because it had been established that the house was still a

waqf for the descendants of the donor, and would become a zawiya only when their line died out.

9. Verso viii

Isj?l, dated Monday, 14 Dh?'1-Hijja 843 (Monday, 16 May 1440), issued

by Qadi Niz?m al-D?n 'Umar b. Ibrahim b. Muflih al-Muqaddas? al

Hanbal?40 (his 'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h rabb al-'alim?n al-hamd lill?h 'al?jazTl

'at?'ihi). Authentication and ratification of no. 8.

10. Verso ix, in right margin of no. 9

Isj?l, dated 13 Muharram 847 (13 May 1443), issued by deputy Qadi Shih?b al-D?n Ahmad b. Muhammad b. 'Arabsh?h al-Hanaf? (his 'al?ma: al hamd lill?h Allah lat?f bi-Hb?dihi).


11. Recto v

Text of Petition (no date), presented by [Shams al-D?n] Muhammad b.

Muhammad b. 'Umar b. 'Isa b. Saif al-D?n al-Raj?h?. The petitioner asks for a mahdar to be written recognising that he is the

most suitable trustee (n?zir) of his ancestor's waqf according to its terms.

Below to the left is written li-yuktab (let it be written), presumably in hand

of the Qadi Ibn Muflih (see no. 12).

12. Recto vi

Mahdar, dated last third of Rabf II 854 (2-11 June 1450).

Testimony of "expert" witnesses that (a) they "know" the petitioner in

no. 11 ; (b) he deserves the trusteeship of the waqf. "Written by the exalted.. .order of the Qadi.. .Shih?b al-D?n Ibn Muflih al

Muqaddas? al-Hanbal?."41

39 Daw\ III, pp. 283-4: born before 740 (1339), died Ramadan 799 (May-June 1397). 40 Daw\ VI, pp. 66-7: born 781 or 782 (1379-81), died Rabf II 872 (November 1467). 41 Daw\ I, p. 152: born 815 (1412-13), died 4 Sha'b?n 884 (21 October 1479; "he held the

position of qadi in Damascus more than once".


13. Recto vii (below no. 12, to the left) Fasl al-tdh?r, dated 11 Jum?d? I 854 (22 June 1450). Ahmad b. 'All b. Y?suf b. al-Raj?h? testifies that he has no objection to the

form or content of no. 12.

14. Recto viii (below no. 12, to the right) Fasl al-'idh?r, dated 19 Jum?d? I 854 (30 June 1450). Shams al-D?n Muhammad b. Abu Bakr b. Y?nus al-Raj?h?, and Zain al

D?n 'Umar b. 'Al? b. 'Ubaid (?) al-Raj?h? testify that they have no objection to the form or content of no. 12.

15. Recto ix (below 13) Fasl al-tdh?r, dated 28 Jum?d? I 854 (9 July 1450).

Testimony by (a) Shams al-D?n Muhammad b. al-Hajj Ahmad b. 'Umair

al-Fakhur?, and (b) his full sister, F?tima, and (c) his wife, Uns (?) bt. al

Shaikh 'Al? b. Y?suf al-Raj?hiyya that they have no objection, etc. to no.

12.

16. Verso x

Isj?l, dated 29 Rajab 873 (12 February 1469), issued by the deputy Qadi 'Ala' al-D?n 'Al? b. Sulaim?n al-Mardaw? al-Hanbal?,42 acting for Qadi

Burh?n al-D?n Ibrahim b. Muhammad Ibn Muflih al-Hanbal?43 (his 'al?ma:

al-hamd lill?h al-lat?f al-khab?r). Authentication and ratification of no. 10.

17. Recto x

Text of Petition (no date), presented by [Zain al-D?n] 'Abd al-Q?dir b.

Muhammad,44 al-khat?b in Mizza, the son of the petitioner in no. 11 (now deceased).

Request for a mahdar recognising him as sole trustee of the waqf, according to its terms. Below to left is written li-yuktab.

42 Daw\ V, pp. 225-7: born c. 820 (1417), died Jumada I 885 (July-August 1480). 43 For his son, Najm al-D?n 'Umar, see al-Ghazz?, al-Kaw?kib al-s?'ira (Beirut, 1945), I, pp.

284-5. 44

His full genealogy is given in al-Ghazz?, op. cit., I, p. 241. Back to Shaikh Y?nus it is as

follows, with the two steps that are missing in al-Ghazz? added in square brackets : 'Abd al-Q?dir b. Muhammad [b. Muhammad] b. 'Umar b. 'Isa [b. al-Raj?h?] b. S?biq b. Hil?l b. Y?nus. Note that he is called al-MizzX thumma al-S?lihi, but Muhy? al-D?n, not Zain al-D?n. According to al

Ghazz?, he was born 12 Rab?' I 852 (16 May 1448), studied fiqh, became a sufi, served as a

Hanbal? deputy qadi and died 14 Muharram 910 (27 June 1504).


18. Recto xi

Mahdar, dated first third of Jumada I 877 (4?13 October 1472). Testimony of witnesses that (a) they "know" the petitioner in no. 17, and

(b) he deserves the trusteeship according to the terms of the waqf. "Written by the exalted...permission (idhn) of the Qadi...Burh?n al-D?n

Ibn Muflih".

19. Verso xi

Isj?l, dated 20 Jum?d? II 891 (23 June 1486), issued by the deputy Qadi Shih?b al-D?n Ahmad b. 'Abd Allah al-'Askar? al-Hanbal?45 (his 'al?ma: al

hamd lill?h wa-ilaihi tafw?d?). Authentication and ratification of no. 16.

20. Verso xii

Isj?l, dated 5 Rajab 891 (7 July 1486), issued by the deputy Qadi 'Ala' al

D?n 'Al? b. al-Bah?' al-Baghdad? al-Hanbal?46 (the 'al?ma is in the same

wording and in the same hand as that in no. 19, although the person of the

deputy qadi is different). Authentication and ratification of no. 6. Two of the witnesses to this

present document testified to the authenticity of the fourth and seventh

signatures found on no. 6, the writers of which had since died. This testimony is found in a (left) marginal/^/ (authenticated by the qadi) near the end of

no. 6.

21. Verso xiii

Isj?l, dated 8 Rajab 891 (10 July 1486), issued by the deputy Qadi Shih?b al-D?n Ahmad b. Ahmad al-Raml? al-Shafi'?47 (no 'al?md).

Authentication and ratification of nos. 19 and 20.

22. Verso xiv

Isj?l, dated Monday, 23 Rajab 953 (Monday, 20 September 1546), issued

by the deputy Qadi Burh?n al-D?n Ibrahim48 Ibn al-Akhn?'? al-Shafi'? (his

45 He was acting as deputy qadi in Damascus for Burh?n al-D?n Ibn Muflih in 910 (1504-5),

see Ibn Tul?n, Muf?kaha, I, p. 276. This Burh?n al-D?n is the grandson of the one named in no.

16, see al-Ghazz?, op. cit., I, pp. 108-9. 46

Daw\ V, p. 208: born ca. 818 (1415). Sakh?w? met him in the Salihiyy? suburb of

Damascus and in Cairo. He was appointed deputy qadi by Najm al-D?n b. al-Burh?n Ibn

Muflih. This was in Rab?* I 885 (May 1480) according to Ibn Tul?n, Muf?kaha, I, p. 15,

although he had already acted for another qadi. 47

al-Ghazz?, op. cit., I, p. 131: "settled in Damascus and served as deputy qadi several

times," but called Shams al-D?n in this text. He died Saturday, 10 Dh?'1-Hijja 923 (Saturday, 26 December 1517). See also Ibn Tul?n, Muf?kaha, I, pp. 317-18 & 338.

'

48 al-Ghazz?, op. cit., Ill, p. 78: died Wednesday, 7 Rajab 954 (Wednesday, 24 August 1547).


'al?ma: al-hamd lill?h wa-bihi thiqat?. harr ara m?nusiba Hay y a al-Burhan? (T) al-AkhnS? al-Sh?fi'? al-h?kim bi-Dimashq al-mahr?sa khil?fatan-'ufiya

'anhu).


23. Recto xii & xiii (at the very beginning of the scroll)

(a) A note (no date, but Ottoman) by D?'?d b. Ahmad al-Hanaf?, acting for Am?n Efend?, Q?dl al-Sh?m, verifying this whole series of documents and

a judgment that it is valid.

(b) A note (no date, but Ottoman) by Ya'q?b b. 'Al?, overseer of waqfs in

Damascus, acting for 'Al? Celeb?, the then qadi, verifying that the resources

detailed in this scroll still belong to the waqf.

Throughout the series A to F and the texts on the present scroll the

continuity (ittis?l) of "evidence" is maintained by the fact that at least two

of the witnesses of any document testify before the qadi who is to issue a

subsequent one.49 He formally accepts their testimony and the same persons

generally appear in the list of witnesses to his own document. The qadi marks

the continuity of evidence by writing something like "He bore witness to that

in my presence (shahida 'indi bi-dh?lika)" below the original witnessing formula (raqm al-shah?da) in the earlier document. I had assumed that such a note was added by the qadi who issued the document, but why would a

qadi "countersign", so to speak, only two or so of the witnesses to his act, and to what end? In any case, the text of no. 1 is explicit. The Qadi Wal? al

D?n, when authenticating the preceding isj?l of his father, accepted as

evidence (bayyina) for it "the testimony of [two named court witnesses] whose names and raqm al-shah?da he countersigned, to the effect that they had delivered [their evidence], at the foot of the isj?l drawn up on the bottom

right verso of the [original] waqfiyya". To use the technical term which

appears so often in the scroll, he wrote the 'al?mat al-ad?" wdl-qub?l. The qadi then gives instructions for his own document to be drawn up by

writing an appropriate form of words immediately alongside the first lines of

the preceding document, in its right margin and at 90? to it, or sometimes at

some other angle. That such a marginal note (for example, li-yusajjal or li

yushhad bi-thub?tihi wa-tanfidhih?) is also written by a later qadi to command

the drawing up of his own isj?l is demonstrated by the siting of the distinctive "

north-African" hand of the qadi in no. 8. His hand countersigned the

witness formulae in no. 7 and wrote in the right margin of the same: li

yusajjal bi-thub?tihi wa-tanf?dhihi wdl-hukm bi-sihhat al-thub?t fihi bfl

49 No document on this scroll confirms no. 5. The fact that three of its witnesses have a qadi's "

countersignature "

beneath their names probably means that a separate isj?l was issued on their

evidence. On the other hand, although no. 22 expressly confirms no. 21, there is no overlap in

the witnesses.


shah?da 'alSl-khatt flhi ma'a'l-'Um bfl-khil?f50 The comparable "instruc

tion" subsequently added to his own document (no. 8) is in a quite different hand.

In nos. 8 and 20 the necessary testimony to the previous document was not

passed in direct form, or even in indirect form, since court practice did allow in certain circumstances testimony in the style of

" Such and such a person,

known to me etc., asked me to bear witness to his testimony, that he testified as follows..."51 The two cases mentioned above seem noteworthy to me in

that they rely utterly on acceptance of the written word and the signatures of

deceased court witnesses, without even a veneer of oral transmission. This is

all the more remarkable in that there existed an opinion that an individual

witness, who had forgotten the circumstances of his own testimony, could not renew it on the basis of any written record of his.52

ADDENDA

Volume II of al-Nu'aimrs al-D?ris (see note 5 above) is now available in a re

issue of Ja'far al-Hasanf s edition, (Cairo 1988). The entry for the Y?nusiyya zawiya (op. cit., p. 213) is, as far as I can see, identical with the so-called

abridgement of al-'Almaw?, in the French version of Sauvaire, Journal

Asiatique, 1895, pp. 399?401. It is "on the northern eminence at Damascus, west of al-Warr?qa and the Tzziyya madrasa extra muros". What the

Warr?qa was or is is unknown to me, although it is mentioned as al- Warr?qa

al-qad?ma by Ibn Shadd?d (La Description de Damas..., ed. S. Dahhan,

(Damascus, 1956), p. 141) but without explanation. The other institutions in

Damascus and elsewhere are not referred to.

Nu'aim? (p. 215) quotes al-Dhahab? and al-Asad? (?) on the perhaps excessive

ecstasies of al-Shaikh Y?nus, and on the Y?nusiyya order al-Asad? says,

reprovingly : hum sharr taw?'ifal-fuqard wa-la-hum a'm?l tadull 'al?'1-istiht?r

wa'l-inhilal qawlan wa-ftlan astahyi min Allah ta'?l? wa-min al-n?s al

tafawwuh bi-h?.

According to Ibn Kath?r, al-Bid?ya, (Cairo, 1358 A.H.), vol. XIV, p. 44, Saif

al-D?n al-Raj?h? was buried in his house in Bab Tuma district on 6 Rajab 706

50 R. Vesely (in "

Les Requ?tes etc.," loc. cit., pp. 221-2 and note 1) interprets such a marginal instruction as an order by the qadi issuing a document for the registration of that same

document in the tribunal's registers. 51 See the section Ffl-shah?da 'al?l-shah?da in Ibn Abfl-Dam, op. cit., pp. 399-403. There

is the merest reference to the death of a witness as a justification for such a procedure, but an

earlier oral transmission is presumed (op. cit., p. 413). See also al-Khass?f, Kit?b adab al-q?di, ed. Farhat Ziyada, (Cairo, 1978), pp. 724ff.

52 Similar condemnation of written proof (and seals) is in al-Khass?f, op. cit., p. 702.


(11 January, 1307). The previous year his son, 'Isa, had died and was buried

in the zawiya extra muros on Tuesday, 17 Muharram (10 August, 1305), see

Ibn Hajar, Durar, ed. M. al-Haqq, (Cairo n.d.), vol. Ill, p. 279 (correct the

spelling of his father's name), and Ibn Kath?r, op. cit., p. 39 (correct date). His other son and successor, Fadl, died in Dh?'1-Qa'da 727 (September October, 1327) and was succeeded as shaikh by his brother, Y?suf, not

mentioned elsewhere (see Ibn Kath?r, op. cit., p. 132).

As for 'Abd al-Q?dir (see notes 25 and 44 above), he was shaikh of his

ancestor's zawiya, and the zawiya he himself built and endowed in Salihiyy? was in Harat al-J?b?n; and the Qadi Burh?n al-D?n Ibn Muflih al-Hanbal? was his cousin (ibn kh?lihi), see al-Nu'aim?, op. cit. pp. 216-17.

n

D.S. Richards' Study Mamluk Scroll

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