Pilgrims And Sultans: The Hajj Under The Ottomans 1517-1683 1850436061, 9781850436065

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Note on Transliteration and Abbreviations
List of Tables
Introduction
1. The Pilgrimage to Mecca in Pre-Ottoman Times
2. Caravan Routes
3. Caravan Security
4. The Finances of the Holy Cities
5. In Praise of Ruler and Religion: Public Buildings in Mecca and Medina
6. The Pilgrimage as a Matter of Foreign Policy
7. The Pilgrimage in Economic and Political Contexts
Conclusion
Chronology
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

Pilgrims and Sultans

Pilgrims and Sultans The Hajj under the Ottomans

1517-1683 SURAIYA FAROQHI

I.B .T a u ris & C o L td

Publishers L o n d o n * N ew Y ork

For Andreas Tietze with respect and affection

Published in 1994 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 45 Bloomsbury Square London WC1A 2HY 175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 In die Unimd States o f America and Canada distributed by St M artin’s Press 175 Fifth Avenue New York NY 10010 Copyright © 1990, 1994 by Artemis Verlag, M unich All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library o f Congress ISBN 1-85043-606-1 Typeset by Photoprint, Torquay, Devon Printed and bound in G reat Britain by WBC Ltd, Bridgend, M id Glamorgan

Contents

Preface Note on Transliteration and Abbreviations List of Tables Introduction

vii ix xi 1

1 T h e Pilgrimage to M ecca in Pre-O ttom an Tim es

13

2

Caravan Routes

32

3

Caravan Security

54

4

T he Finances o f the Holy Cities

74

5

In Praise o f Ruler and Religion: Public Buildings in M ecca and M edina

92

6

T he Pilgrimage as a M atter o f Foreign Policy

127

7

T he Pilgrimage in Economic and PoliticalContexts

146

Conclusion

174

Chronology Notes Bibliography Index

188 191 214 236

Preface

Every book is ultimately a collective work, and cooperation begins at an early stage, when the author begins to develop the chosen topic. N ot all those who at some point suggested directions to take, and aspects to cover, will necessarily agree with the final result. Nevertheless, I am grateful to a num ber o f people who helped along my thinking - such as it is - and suggested sources to consult O f course, none o f them can be held to the slightest degree responsible for the deficiencies o f this book. D oris Behrens-A bouseif helped with the Arabic sources, and gave generously o f her time and patience. Tim e and again, I have profited from the rich experience and erudition o f Andreas T ietze. I owe references to many Ottom an sources to M ehm et Genç; more importantly, I am grateful for his pertinent observations on the functioning o f O ttom an state and society. Engin Akarli, Halis Akder, Cornell Fleischer, Christoph Neum ann and Isenbike Togan read through individual chapters and made valuable suggestions. R ifa'at A bou-El-H aj redirected my attention to the forest when the trees pressed too close; I have also profited from his ability to ‘brush die fur o f a text against die nap*, teasing out information diät the author o f a given primary source may have included without being aware o f the fact. Among the people who helped me locate sources, the officials o f the Ba$bakanhk Ar§ivi-Osmanli Ar§ivi in Istanbul deserve special mention; they have helped in many different ways. I am especially grateful to my old teacher M ithat Sertoglu, form er director-general o f the archives; he first made me feel the excitement o f working with a rich and underexploited body o f documentary evidence. Veli T ola and vu

viii

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

M esude Çorbacioglu were also very helpful. Hafez K. Shehab (Princeton), T osun Ancanli (Harvard) and W infried R iesterer (M unich) helped me locate im portant printed sources, while Andreas T ietze made it possible to procure microfilms from the Vienna National Library. T he present book is somewhat different from the Germ an edition which preceded it. T he introduction is radier more explicit. Profiting from die counsel o f reviewers, I have gladly elim inated die last chapter, which took the story to the present day but was based exclusively on published material. T he space thus gained allowed me to discuss financial affairs in a more detailed fashion, and to treat M eccan society as reflected in the Ottom an documents somewhat more fully. T he book's new tide reflects these various changes. C hrisd Catanzaro and Giorgios Salakides produced the index, and I am grateful to them .

Note on Transliteration and Abbreviations

TR A N SLITER A TIO N T he present transcription is that employed by the Etuydopedia of Islam. Long vowels are marked by a line: â, ï, ü. T o maintain consistency, composite names such as S a'd al-D m or 'Abd al-Rahün have also been spelt according to El rules, although in Turkish they are pronounced Sadettin and Abdiirrahim. But otherwise the El convention o f treating Arabic or Persian loans in Turkish as if they were still part o f their original languages has not been followed. An Ottoman would therefore be called Ahmed or M ehm ed, while a nonOttoman bearing this name is referred to as Ahmad or M uhammad. Certain doubtful cases exist, in which I have normally adopted Turkish pronunciation. Geographical term s still in use today have been spelt according to common usage. Names no longer in use have been transcribed. W ords like shaykh, Sultan or Pasha which have entered the English language have been spelt in the customary fashion.

ABBREVIATIONS

El Entyclopedia of Islam IA Islam Ansiklopedisi IFM Istanbul Üniversitesi Iktisat Fakiiltesi Mecmuast ix

x

P ilg rim M id Su lta n s

MD MM MZ

M ühim me D efterleri (section in the Prime M inisteris Archives in Istanbul) M aliyeden M üdew er (section in the Prime M inister’s Archives in Istanbul) M ühimme Zeyli (section in the Prime M inister’s Archives in Istanbul)

List o f Tables

1 2 3 4 5 6

Payments to Beduins from Egyptian Provincial Budgets, to Facilitate Hajj Travel Payments to Beduins from Syrian Provincial Budgets, to Facilitate Hajj Travel Bâyezîd IPs Gifts to the Hejazis Expenditure for Pilgrims and the Holy Cities from the Central Adm inistration's Budget Expenditure on Behalf o f the Holy Cities According to the Egyptian Budget o f 1596-7 (in pára) Expenditure on Behalf o f the Holy Cities According to Early Seventeenth-century Egyptian Budgets (in para)

56 57 77 78 79 81

Introduction

European and American readers who first encounter the word pilgrimage* will think o f medieval m en and women on their way to Rome, Santiago da Compostela or Jerusalem , or possibly o f m odem Catholics visiting Lourdes and Fatima. B ut for a M uslim, pilgrimage to M ecca plays a much more central role in die practice o f his or her belief. Apart from a lim ited num ber o f instances in which pilgrimage was prescribed for die atonem ent o f sins by die medieval and early m odem Catholic C hurch, Christian pilgrimages to Jerusalem are voluntaiy. In Islam, however, pilgrimage to M ecca is obligatory for all believers wealthy enough to afford it, even though at all tim es the majority o f M uslims have been unable to fulfil this obligation for financial and other reasons. T his practical difficulty does not however diminish the religious importance o f the pilgrimage. M oreover, the pilgrimage in Islam is fundamentally different from the experience with which Christians are familiar. T h e K a'aba with its Black Stone, which the pilgrims kiss whenever they can come close enough, is by no means a relic, even though the pilgrims commem­ orate Abraham /Ibrâhîm , the builder o f the ‘Ancient House*, one o f the names o f die K a'aba. T he latter structure possesses a religious significance unequalled even by the most venerated holy places in Christianity. W hen devoting him self or herself to the rites o f the pilgrimage, the M uslim m editates the might and mercy o f G od, and also forswears the devil and all his works. T he rites o f visitation are also quite different from those practised by Christian churches. T he M uslim pilgrim does not necessarily enter die K a'aba, even though this is possible at certain tim es o f the year. T he pilgrimage is valid even if die K a'aba was beheld only from the

1

2

P ilg rim and Su lta n s

outside, while in most Christian places o f pilgrimage, pious visitors are expected to enter the church or shrine. A visit to the grave o f the Prophet M uhammad in M edina is by no means an obligation, even though many pilgrims will combine a stay in die second Holy City o f the Hejaz with their pilgrimage to M ecca, and some will even affirm that they had a more profound religious experience in M edina. Before the nineteenth century most pilgrims who came to M edina probably visited the graves o f members o f the Prophet’s family and those o f various venerated figures from the first centuries o f Islam, and many do so even today. But quite a few religious scholars disapprove o f such visits, as detracting from the veneration due to God alone. M oreover, these visits have no connection with the pilgrimage itself. T here is no cult o f relics connected with the K a'aba, even though many pilgrims expect certain blessings when they drink water from the well Zamzam located inside the M eccan sanctuary. M any religious scholars even disapprove o f the popular custom o f carrying back a bit o f M eccan earth as a pilgrimage m em ento.1

T H E PILGRIM AGE AS A SOCIAL AND PO LITIC A L PH EN O M EN O N T he present study has a fairly m odest aim. In the first place, it is m eant to deal with the pilgrimage as a political and social, rather than a religious phenomenon. T hese different aspects were o f course closely linked in real life; to quote just one example among thousands, die pilgrimage caravans travelled at a greater or lesser speed according to the amount o f time left until the prayer m eeting on the plateau o f 'Arafat. For if that was missed, the entire pilgrimage was invalid, and the pilgrims* effort wasted. T his latter consideration is without doubt a religious phenomenon, but greater speed on the part o f tardy pilgrims might lead to a severe loss o f camels. T his, in turn, could give rise not only to economic difficulties, when replacem ents had to be purchased, but also to political conflict, if the caravan comm ander tried to force desert dwellers to supply the caravan with riding animals. We also need to keep in mind that pilgrims o f the sixteenth century did not separate the economic and social aspects o f their activities from the religious side, which to them doubtlessly constituted the essential reason for undergoing the trouble and sacrifices entailed by the journey. But for today’s researcher, this division into socio-economic and religious domains is a great con­ venience, if only because religious and legal texts concerning the pilgrimage demand different skills from the researcher trying to evaluate them than do archival materials. Given the limitations o f

Introduction

3

m ost specialists, including the present author, the two sets o f skills are rarely encountered in die same person. Secondly, we are concerned with a fairly limited period, namely the first two centuries o f Ottoman control over the Hejaz. O ur study begins in 922/1517, the year in which Sultan Sefiim I conquered Cairo; for die purposes o f this study, this event will be taken as the end o f the medieval period and the beginning o f the early m odem age. T he first two centuries o f Ottoman control m erit detailed study for a variety o f reasons. First o f all, we have become accustomed to view this period o f extraordinary political and cultural florescence almost exclusively either from the perspective o f Istanbul and the central Ottoman lands, or from the ‘national history’ point o f view. In the latter perspective, Ottoman history is regarded as im portant because it forms a necessary preliminary to Syrian, Hungarian or o f course Turkish national history. Yet such a perspective is especially inappropriate when applied to the pilgrimage cities o f M ecca and M edina, whose enduring religious significance far outweighs their role in die formation o f the m odem state o f which they form a part. In discussing relations o f the Ottoman central government with a rem ote province, we are thus induced to study problems which have litde relation to future nation building, but touch a num ber o f issues crucial for die functioning o f the Ottom an Empire during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

TRAVEL AND CO M M U N ICA TIO N W hen we study die pilgrimage as a phenom enon o f political and social history, it forms part o f the history o f human communication, o f the transfer o f both material and immaterial resources; the relative economic strengths and weaknesses o f different regions also have a m ajor part to play in such a model. Communication took place at different levels: on the basic level, the pilgrims during their stay in the Holy Cities had a unique opportunity to affirm their faith and to communicate this experience to their fellow pilgrims. T he importance o f this aspect emerges most clearly from the pilgrimage account o f Ibn Diubavr. an Andalusian o f the late twelfth century CE.2 Less visible in die surviving sources, but certainly not o f less importance, is die communication between returning pilgrims and their neighbours who did not have a chance to visit the Holy Cities. Remote litde towns o f fifteenth-century Anatolia often boasted very large num bers o f people who called themselves hajjis, that is, returned pilgrims. For our purposes it is quite irrelevant w hether diese people had really been to M ecca. If they had not, if most hajjis owed their tide to the

4

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

fact that it had become part o f a given name, or was accorded out o f general respect, for age and experience, the message was even clearer: the pilgrimage constituted something uniquely blessed and desirable, which people hoped their children might accomplish even if they themselves had not had die opportunity.3 O r if an outlying Ottom an town somewhere in the Balkans housed a m odest foundation benefiting the poor o f M edina, this m ust have brought home to die townsmen that there was in fact such a city, with men and women living in it who no doubt spent their days in pious m editation. In an otherwise highly localized society, in which most people cultivated a garden and produced for a limited m arket, this message m ust have broadened horizons considerably. T he transfer o f immaterial resources should be viewed in the same context: to the inhabitants not only o f Cairo, but also o f fairly remote Anatolian towns, the annual return o f the pilgrims was a major event, to be celebrated by a procession that at times became so exuberant that the authorities issued prohibitions.4 It would appear that the fellow townsmen o f the pilgrims thought that the latter brought something valuable into the community, som ething that was worth welcoming by a special feast And that this valuable, albeit immaterial resource was brought in from a distant place again counterbalanced all those elem ents in the lifestyle o f Ottoman towns which made for extreme localization.

FO O D , PRECIO U S M ETALS AND PO LIT IC S O ther transfers concerned material resources such as food and money. If tw entieth-century historians dealing with the seventeenthcentury rebel Kaürdiioghlu have correctly read die evidence, this local magnate was well aware o f the transfer aspect o f the pilgrimage.5 H e was supposedly m uch opposed to the outflow o f gold and silver carried to the Hejaz by the hajjis, and therefore robbed their caravans with special relish. Since we do not know who attributed this bullionist motivation to Katirdiioghlu. w hether it was invented by his enemies or w hether he him self espoused it, this story should not be made to carry the weight o f excessive interpretation. But it can still serve as a warning that popular approval for the transfer o f money and grain to the Hejaz was perhaps not as unanimous as one might assume. In spite o f die possibility o f occasional protests, the transfer o f gold, silver and grain to the Beduins o f the Syrian and Arabian deserts and

Introduction

5

to the inhabitants o f the Holy Cities continued apace. In the Ottom an core lands o f Anatolia and Rumelia, gold was not m uch used even in die larger transactions o f the townsmen, and European traders, too, mainly dealt in silver. T herefore the gold was probably supplied largely by the Ottom an government, which received it in the shape o f tributes, or by the Egyptian treasury and Egyptian taxpayers; for in this province, access to the gold o f Africa was easier than elsewhere. As we shall see, however, these resources sometimes were insuf­ ficient, and then silver was rem itted, m uch to the dissatisfaction o f die Hejazi recipients. T his preference for gold may be connected with die growing importance in the commercial exchanges o f the Arabian peninsula o f Indian traders, who usually demanded payment in gold.6 In the M iddle Ages, M ecca apparently sometimes received supplies from Yemen, but by the time o f the Ottom an conquest, Egypt was almost the sole source o f grain consumed in die Hejaz. In die later fifteenth century, when the Egyptian economy and particularly its agriculture were in crisis, this should have made food supplies in the Hejaz precarious.7 Yet contemporary sources apparently did not regard die m atter in those term s, or else the public foundations which supplied most o f the grains exported to the Hejaz were under less fiscal pressure and therefore more productive than ordinary Egyptian villages. O n the other hand, it is assumed that the first century o f Ottom an rule over Egypt was a time in which abandoned villages were resetded, and population increased - but this fact is not reflected in the supply situation o f M ecca, either: die chronicler Kutfo al-D in complained o f die declining yields o f Egyptian foundation villages. W as Kutb al-D in a partisan o f the M amluks or simply an elderly man who thought everything was better in his youth, or is there something wrong with the assessments o f present-day historians?8 T he overwhelming importance o f Egypt in supplying die Hejaz was due to die productivity o f die region, and, more importantly, to the fact that w ater-borne transport was available most o f the way. In spite o f the atrocious reputation o f Red Sea ships and their owners, docum ented from the twelfth up to the nineteenth century, land transport o f major quantities o f supplies was avoided as far as possible. T his is true even though a large share o f the grain was donated and not sold, making minimization o f costs theoretically less im portant than in the commercial sector.9 Presumably Syrian grain was o f limited importance, as there was no Suez Canal - even though Ottom an adm inistrators o f the sixteenth century once planned to (tig one, and the seventeenth-century traveller Ewliyä Celebi waxed enthusiastic over the possibility o f such an undertaking.10 T he spurts o f activity observed in the town o f Suez, which possessed a wellfrequented port even though its lack o f water made perm anent

6

P ilgrim s and Sultans

habitation difficult, are nevertheless connected with die need to transport grain by ship. A N CIEN T PROBLEM S AND NEW DEPARTURES M any o f the problem s o f Ottom an adm inistrators had confronted earlier rulers as well, and continue to demand solution today. T o begin with, there was the question o f supplies. Pilgrims normally were responsible for their own food, m ounts and other necessities. But since the pilgrims could not possibly bring all they needed from their often rem ote home towns, the Ottoman administration had to ensure that they could purchase grain, blankets and riding gear along the way. W ater had to be supplied in wells and cisterns along the main routes; this was not only a technical but also a political problem , as the Beduins inhabiting the desert equally needed water, and could not be persuaded to share it without some compensation. Pilgrims whose resources gave out had to be accorded some emergency aid; in the Holy Cities, a degree o f provision had to be made for those people who were unable to find shelter for themselves, as well as for the sick. T he safety o f desert routes and sea lanes could not be procured by individuals at all, even though some groups, particularly die M aghribis, made efforts in that direction. C ertain solutions to these problem s had been worked out before the Ottomans arrived, and were modified according to changing circumstances. T hus, even in M amluk tim es, the needs o f the perm anent inhabitants o f the Holy Cities had been taken care o f by supplying them with grain from public foundations located in Egypt. But by die early sixteenth century these no longer sufficed, and new ones were instituted by Süleymän the Lawgiver, also known as the M agnificent, and some o f his successors." A contemporary chro­ nicler indicated that this was due to declining tax yields in Egypt, but it is also possible that the num ber o f pilgrims to M ecca increased during the expansive years o f die m id-sixteenth century. A quite new problem , on the other hand, was posed by the Ottoman 'ilmiye (juridical and religious scholars), who by the sixteenth century had become strongly bureaucratized. T he kädis o f M ecca and M edina were high-level functionaries o f an imperial state whose centre was situated thousands o f miles away. T o a member o f the religious and juridical establishm ent o f the time, taking a position in the Hejaz might appear as an obstacle to further advancem ent T o ensure that officials o f standing accepted these positions nonetheless, in the seventeenth century form er kadis o f the Holy G ties were offered special inducements in the form o f seniority rights, which allowed many o f these high-level officials rapid prom otion after their return

Introduction

7

from die H ejaz.12 T hus Ottoman rule m eant both novel departures and the continuation o f policies devised centuries before, and this imbrication o f old and new arrangem ents will be a recurrent topic o f the present study.

PILG RIM S AND RULERS: T H E PROBLEM O F LEGITIM ACY All pilgrims, both male and female, were responsible for their own sustenance during the pilgrimage. T herefore, wives could not demand to be taken along as a m atter o f course if their husbands decided to travel to the Hejaz. In die kädi registers o f certain Ottom an towns we occasionally find wives who prom ised their hus­ bands a piece o f property in return for being taken along on the pilgrimage.13 Sometimes we also encounter the complaints o f women who had been abandoned en route in spite o f such a payment. Even for wealthy inhabitants o f Anatolian or Rumelian towns, a pilgrimage entailed grave financial sacrifices. Wealthy people tried to earn extra money by taking along trade goods, while poor pilgrims were sometimes reduced to beggary. In case o f calamities such as droughts, food scarcities and Beduin attacks, many pilgrims perished o f thirst, hunger and exposure. As long as die Ummayad and Abbasid caliphs held power (661-750 and 75CM258 CE), these rulers claimed die protection o f die pilgrims as both a duty and a rig h t T his function involved the setting o f rules die pilgrims were expected to follow. In extreme cases die caliph might even proclaim that no pilgrimage would take place in a given year, and absolve the faithful from their obligation for the time being. T his happened in 1047 and 1048 CE, when a famine in the Hejaz made it impossible to accommodate any further influx o f people. But whether such an admission o f failure underm ined the legitimacy o f the ruling caliph remains an open question.14 From die sixteenth century onward, the failure o f a pilgrimage caravan to reach M ecca and return home safely constituted a severe political liability to the Sultan currently occupying the Ottom an throne. T he same applied to major Beduin attacks: or uprisings in the Holy Cities. T o put it differently, such events occasioned a crisis o f legitimacy. Sultanic legitimacy was also upheld by the construction and repair o f pious foundations. T he mere right to put up public buildings in M ecca and M edina was considered a privilege.13 T he local rulers o f M ecca (known as Sherifs due to their descent from the Prophet M uhammad), who controlled the city’s day-to-day destinies from die tenth to die twentieth century, in pre-O ttom an times

8

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

dem anded a fee from every aspiring donor which equalled the sum o f money to be spent on die construction itself. T his state o f affairs indicates a degree o f competition between the Sherifs and their suzerains the Sultans residing in Cairo until 1517, and in Istanbul thereafter. M any M amluk and Ottom an Sultans were surely moti­ vated by reasons o f personal piety when they put up magnificent buildings in M ecca and M edina. But, in addition, they were also staking their claim to a preem inent political position in the Holy Cities. Construction activities therefore are treated at some length in this book, which focuses on die ways and means o f legitimizing sultanic power through the pilgrimage. Ottom an Sultans’ activities and responsibilities in die H ejaz are discussed in official documents with some frequency, but practically no texts have come to my attention which link the Sultan’s role in this m atter to his responsibilities as caliph. W hile die example o f certain M amluk Sultans is sometimes cited, Ottoman docum ents o f the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries never evoke die image o f H ärün al-Rashld and his consort Zubayda, who built the water conduits that Ottom an Sultans spent much time and money repairing. T his is all the m ore remarkable as the munificence o f die royal couple Süleymän the Lawgiver and K hurrem Sultan (Roxolana), who instituted major foundations in M ecca and M edina, would seem to have invited such a comparison. Ottoman official discourse was oriented toward the present and recent past, rather than toward the already very rem ote history o f early Islam. T he annual preparation o f the pilgrimage and public construction in the Holy Cities were very cosdy; and for at least part o f the year they also dem anded the concerted efforts o f num erous Ottom an officials. We may visualize pilgrimage affairs as a set o f interlocking mechanisms, whose component parts were m eant to balance one another. T hus the Sherif in Ottom an times was allowed many o f the trappings o f an independent ruler, but his authority was counter­ balanced by the Ottom an governor o f Jeddah, a highly prestigious official. T he Ottom an central adm inistration instituted a complicated set o f m easures, some o f which (such as gifts and tax exemptions) were m eant to ensure die support o f Beduins residing near die pilgrimage route.16 Free deliveries o f grain secured the cooperation o f the year-round inhabitants o f the Holy Cities. T hese m easures could only be effective if their application was property supervised, and the bureaucratic positions needed for this purpose were a source o f patronage and therefore a further means o f mobilizing support. W hen the linkages between different socio-political groups and fields o f activity were so num erous, a single failure could make the whole mechanism grind to a standstill. If gifts to Beduin tribes along

Introduction

9

die desert routes were om itted or not paid in full, or if disputes within die provincial governments o f Egypt or Syria prevented the mobiliza­ tion o f support to die caravan from among die desert tribes, die pilgrims had to prepare to protect themselves - and they did not always succeed in doing this. If discontented Beduins attacked the caravans, food scarcities in M ecca and M edina might be die result, and the pilgrims also suffered; for in the case o f shortages, die locals often were better placed to secure supplies. Sim ilar problems occurred when die Beduins and their camels were decimated by droughts and epidemics. N ot only were needed supplies held back in Jeddah or Y anbu', but desperate men were likely to attack caravans and thus contribute to the general insecurity. T he whole set-up could only work if the Ottom an adm inistration kept on channelling resources even from rem ote territories to the Hejaz and the Red Sea region. At die same time this mechanism - an exchange o f gifts and prestations linking not only Istanbul, but also setdem ents on the Rumelian frontier with M ecca and M edina - also served as a powerful integrating device. In pre-industrial societies it was usually difficult to set up a governing apparatus affordable by the as yet weakly developed productive forces o f the society in question, and yet strong enough to hold together a large territory. Viewed from Istanbul, the state apparatus for die support o f the pUgrimage had the great virtue o f being flexible and m ulti-purpose. T he Ottom an state protected the pilgrimage because this was an activity demanded by the M uslim religion, and because this protection legitimized the Sultan. At the same tim e, through the soldiers and foundation officials that were sent to the Hejaz to ensure the safety o f pilgrims, die Ottom an state maintained a presence in some o f its most rem ote border provinces. O ften control was loose; sometimes it was almost symbolic. T he Ottom an state nonetheless managed to maintain itself in the Hejaz with only one fairly brief interruption during the W ahabi wars o f the early nineteenth century, and the mechanisms supporting the pilgrimage significantly contributed to this success. A study dealing with the views and policies o f the Ottom an central adm inistration with respect to the hajj inevitably touches upon the images and representations then current in the upper reaches o f Ottom an society, and from there diffused into the population at large. T he Sultan, as a generous benefactor o f the inhabitants o f M ecca and M edina and as the organizer and protector o f the pilgrimage, constituted a dom inant image. T his imparts a special colouring to even m undane m atters such as the clogged water pipes leading from 'Arafat to M ecca, and a certain unity to die changing policies o f Sultans and viziers. Large sums o f money were spent upon the

10

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

pilgrimage every year, and m ost o f diese expenditures yielded no economic return. T his fact alone indicates that die Sultan’s tide 'Servant o f die Holy Places' was more than a m atter o f rhetoric, and formed an im portant aspect o f the Ottoman state’s legitimation vis à vis the society it governed.

SO U RCES A discussion o f these issues becomes possible because, by the middle o f the sixteenth century, the Ottom an Empire possessed a developed bureaucratic structure and well-functioning state archives.18 Everyday issues concerning food supplies, military security, public construction and many other m atters were docum ented at length; and die Registers o f Im portant Affairs (Mühimme D efterleri) in the Ottom an archives in Istanbul contain hundreds o f sultanic commands con­ cerned in one way or another with pilgrimage affairs. Some o f diese valuable sources have been used in specialized articles, often published in conference proceedings difficult to locate even for the specialist, but most o f the Ottom an archival m aterial concerning the pilgrimage has rem ained completely untouched so far. From the beginning o f the Registers o f Im portant Affairs in die middle o f the sixteenth century down to 1018/1609-10, more than fifty volumes were found to contain material on the hajj, on an average ten rescripts to each register. M ore often than might be expected, the rescripts preserved in the M ühimme D efterleri contain quantitative data, such as die sums o f money spent on various repair and rebuilding projects in and around the G reat M osque o f Mecca. Even more significant are die accounts o f negotiations which preceded political action in the Hejaz, and which inform us o f the m anner in which the Ottom an adm inistration bargained for political support in the Red Sea region. Many pilgrim age-related activities were financed out o f the resources o f Egypt and Syria, and are thus docum ented in provincial financial accounts, o f which we possess a few samples from latesixteenth century Egypt and a larger num ber from seventeenthcentury Syria. T hese documents contain information on the military expenditures connected with the caravan. Particular attention was paid to the soldiers’ equipm ent, such as the cannons regarded as indispensable for any desert campaign. M oreover, die Ottom an adm inistration’s attem pt to obtain a m easure o f control over the num erous endowments supporting the poor o f M ecca and M edina resulted in the compilation o f inventories which list all die relevant foundations existing at the end o f the sixteenth century. These

Introduction

11

inventories m ention die revenues each foundation was expected to send to the Hejaz, and thus allow us to assess die contribution o f different regions to the hajj effort. Among narrative accounts, our main source is die pilgrimage report o f Ewliyä Celebi.19 Strangely enough, this text has all but escaped the attention o f historians, although many other sections o f his great travel narrative have been studied intensively. O n die surface, Ewliyä’s account is intended to help pilgrims fulfil their religious duties, and therefore occasionally mentions the prayers to recite at the various stations in a pilgrim’s itinerary. Like the other sections o f his narrative, however, Ewliyä’s account o f his pilgrimage concentrates upon a description o f the larger cities and their inhabitants. H ere are the experiences o f a vibrant and adventurous Ottom an gentleman among Beduins, robbers and doughty pashas, and the serious purpose o f the pilgrimage does not prevent him from describing hum orous or satirical scenes. A unique narrative account is that o f SfiheyU.20 About his life nothing is known, except that he was a Damascene or Syrian living in the seventeenth century. H e has left an account, in straightforward Ottom an, o f the restoration o f the K a'aba under Sultan M urad IV, after die building had collapsed in a disastrous rainstorm in 1039/ 1630. Süheylï gives a stone-by-stone account o f what happened on the site during the construction period, but also describes die m anner in which the Egyptian official Ridwan Beg, who headed the project, managed to short-circuit all opposition to his way o f running the affair; if Siiheylfs impression is correct, die Istanbul authorities avoided all direct involvement. Another im portant narrative source is die life story o f M ehm ed Agha, one o f die two full-length biographies o f Ottom an architects o f die classical period.21 T his text has recently become available in English. T he author is a certain D ja'fer Efendi, about whom we know almost nothing except that his father was named Shaykh Behräm and that he belonged to M ehm ed Agha’s clientele. In D ia'fer Efendi’s account, M ehm ed Agha is described in a style vaguely rem iniscent o f popular hagiography. For our purposes the biography is im portant because M ehm ed Agha was responsible for major restorations in M ecca, and D ia'fer Agha presents certain clues concerning the m anner in which educated Ottomans regarded projects o f this kind. A poem in praise o f M edina, which concludes the chapter on M ehm ed Agha’s activities in the Holy Cities, is also o f interest in this context. In the following chapter we will accompany some o f the more famous pilgrims o f the M iddle Ages, particularly Ibn Diubavr. the twelfth-century Andalusian who has left a most detailed and lively description o f his experiences in the Hejaz. T his will give us the

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opportunity to discuss die major elem ents o f the pilgrimage ritual and the localities which the pilgrims visited. T his b rief account o f medieval pilgrimages is intended, however, as a mere backdrop for a discussion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which pilgrims such as Ewliyä Celebi and M ehm ed Edib, provincial adm inistrators such as the Egyptian M amluk Ridwän Beg, and rulers such as Süleymän the Lawgiver (1520-66) and Ahmed I (1603-17) constitute the focus o f our attention.22

1 The Pilgrimage to M ecca in Pre-Ottoman Tim es

W ith die expansion o f die islamicate empire under die first four caliphs (632-61 CE) and die Ummayad dynasty (661-750 CE), an area reaching from Spain to Iran had come under M uslim sway.1 T he centre o f this empire was first located in M edina, but soon moved to Damascus. T he conquerors were all M uslims, and many members o f the conquered people soon adopted their religion. Even though the islamization o f die Iranian ruling class was not complete until the end o f the eighth century, a m ultitude o f pilgrims from a variety o f linguistic and cultural backgrounds were already arriving in M ecca by the end o f die seventh century CE. T he area from which pilgrims travelled to M ecca expanded even further during the subsequent centuries: in the tendí century M ahm üd o f Ghazni, famed for the support which he gave to the poet Ferdosi, conquered part o f northern India. T he islamization o f large num bers o f Central Asian T urks also took place during this period. In the thirteenth century, the Mongol conquests at first resulted in a setback, as Chingiz Khan and his immediate successors did not adopt Islam, while favouring non-M uslim s as a counterweight to entrenched Muslim elites. But, in the long run, the M ongols established in die M iddle East did adopt Islam, while die T atars, who dom inated Russia for several centuries, also became M uslims. T he islamicate world thus expanded impressively in die afterm ath o f the M ongol conquests. A fifteenth-century pilgrim crowd in M ecca would have included, apart from Arabs and Iranians, T urks from Anatolia and the Balkans, T atars from what is today southern Russia, Central Asians, Indians and even die occasional African king.

13

14

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

A PO E T ’S PILGRIM AGE HANDBOOK For die history o f die pilgrimage in the medieval period down to 1517, the accounts o f travellers constitute die most im portant sources. T hese texts were written with a practical purpose in mind, namely to help a pilgrim find his way to the sanctuaries and perform the pilgrimage rites in a correct and dignified manner. M any o f these accounts contain historical information, much o f it referring to the major mosques. T his historical and art historical detail was not considered in any way frivolous or futile. Events such as the activities o f the Prophet and his companions were o f major significance to the believer. T herefore the pilgrimage guides should be regarded both as pious works and as descriptions o f actions and tilings located in time and space. Religious motivation and minute attention to m undane detail in no way excluded one another. Unfortunately, the pilgrimage accounts almost never contain information perm itting us to estimate die num ber o f people participating. T he poet N asïr-i Khosraw. who lived in the eleventh century CE, has left a detailed account o f his pilgrimage.2 N asir-i Khosraw came from the town o f Balkh in m odem Afghanistan, and undertook the pilgrimage after a major religious experience, which induced him to transform his hitherto rather worldly style o f life. W hile visiting Egypt, he was gready impressed by the florescence this country experienced under the Fätim id caliphs. H e converted to the Ism â'Ilî version o f Shi'ism which the Fätim ids propounded, and ultimately achieved high rank in the spiritual hierarchy o f this faith. N asir-i Khosraw’s first visit to M ecca fell in the year 1047, a time o f drought and famine. N ot only the Hejaz but Iraq was affected, so that outside support was not forthcoming, and no pilgrimage caravan could be se n t T he Fätim id ruler dispatched an embassy, no m ore, to escort the covering for the K a'aba, which even at this early period was sent every year from Cairo, and N asir-i Khosraw formed part o f this embassy. After crossing the Red Sea, the travellers visited the Prophet’s mosque in M edina, then followed the pilgrimage route through die d esert They found the Holy City all but abandoned, but as the time for the hajj had just arrived, N asir-i Khosraw was able to perform the rites o f the pilgrimage. Yet the calamities o f that year perm itted no more than a short stay; the author admits to having spent but two days in M edina, and he probably rem ained no longer in M ecca than stricdy necessary. H e was able to return in later years, however, and his pilgrimage account refers to his second, more leisurely v isit N asir-i Khosraw’s intention is to provide orientation to die pilgrim with no previous experience o f the Holy City, and he therefore begins with an account o f its geographical location. H e then discusses the

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m anner in which die city fits into die landscape. H is description leads us to the walls which close off the wadis leading into M ecca and the very few trees growing within the city limits. He also evokes die hills o f Safa and Marwa, between which die pilgrims rush back and forth, thereby completing an essential part o f the ritual - which is discussed in detail, so that die pilgrim knows where to go at different stages o f his visit Nasür’s account also includes die hospices o f M ecca and provides information about water supplies, presumably with practical purposes in mind. At the same tim e, he avoids any discussion o f his personal religious experience. After returning from die pilgrimage, N aslr-i Khosraw led an adventurous life in die service o f the Fätim ids and their particular variety o f Shi'ism ; in die end he was killed in the m ountains o f Badakhshan. But for many other scholars and literati, the pilgrimage was the beginning o f a more conventional career. In Neyshapur, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, scholars often visited M ecca before embarking on careers as teachers and judges. For diese people, the pilgrimage was an occasion on which to visit centres o f Islamic learning, and pursue their studies in Islamic law and the Prophet’s words and deeds (hadtth). Some o f them also taught for a while in die mosques and theological schools (madrasa) o f die cities they visited, the caliphal city o f Baghdad being especially popular in this resp ect Upon their return to Neyshapur, these scholars, who were usually die scions o f prom inent families, had gained additional prestige due to their knowledge and piety, even though the hajj was not an indispensable precondition for an official career.3 U nfortun­ ately, we do not possess a pilgrimage account by a Neyshapuri traveller. All our information stems from b rief notices in the biographical dictionaries o f the tim e, whose aim was not to provide a record o f pilgrimage and travel, but to docum ent die reliability o f individual scholars in the transfer o f religious knowledge throughout die centuries. We therefore have no way o f knowing what the Neyshapuri scholars brought home as their m ost im portant experi­ ences.

O N T H E ROAD T O M ECCA M atters are somewhat different when we turn to die pilgrimage account o f Abü'1-Husayn M uhammad b. Diubavr. usually known as Ibn Diubavr.4 H e was a courtier and secretary in the service o f the governor o f G ranada, and famed for his literary talents. But while participating in court life he had allowed him self to be persuaded to drink wine, and afterwards he m uch regretted this breach o f Islamic

16

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

law. H is patron was moved by Ibn Diubavr’s scruples, and not only gave him leave to undertake die pilgrimage, but also a generous allowance for his expenses. Ibn Diubavr’s pilgrimage was quite dramatic. In 1183 he travelled to the M oroccan city o f Ceuta, where he embarked on a Genoese ship which took him to Alexandria in E gypt H e probably chose a Genoese ship because, during the period o f the crusades, die Italian cides dom inated M editerranean trade and their ships were thus compara­ tively secure from pirate attacks. T his use o f European ships by M uslim pilgrims from the western M editerranean was to persist throughout the centuries. Even in die seventeenth century, Algerians, Tunisians and Tripolitanians often travelled on English or French ships as far as Alexandria, and then joined die pilgrimage caravan in Cairo.5 W hen Ibn Diubavr arrived in Egypt, the country was governed by Sultan Saladin (Salâh al-D m Ayyübl), who m uch im pressed the author by his energetic rule and generous programme o f public construction. Ibn Diubavr then journeyed to the U pper Egyptian port o f Aydhäb, which at that time was still a m ajor commercial centre, though it was to lose m ost o f its importance by die fifteenth century. Ibn D iubavt’s impressions o f Aydhab and its inhabitants were mostly negative. An account o f the pearl fisheries located near the city he concludes with the words: ‘But indeed these folk are closer to wild beasts than they are to m en /7 His bad impressions were probably prom pted by the treatm ent m eted out to pilgrims: the ships on which the latter were made to cross the Red Sea were always perilously overloaded, so that the passengers were squeezed together like chickens in a basket In this fashion, the owners o f the boats attem pted to maximize their earnings without any regard for die safety o f the passengers: some even said in so many words that the owner only provided the ship, responsibility for safe arrival resting with die passengers alone. Ibn Diubavr warns all pilgrims against the use o f this route and suggests a long detour as an alternative. A pilgrim coming from the western M editerranean region is advised to travel first to Baghdad by way o f Syria, and continue his journey with the Baghdad pilgrimage caravan. ‘And should he find this circling road to be too long, it will be easy in comparison with what he would m eet in Aydhab and places like it.'8 Ibn Diubavr also mentions a pilgrimage route near the coast, which led from Egypt to the Sinai and from there to M edina by way o f 'Aqaba, and which probably corresponded to the route followed by seventeenth-century Egyptian pilgrims. In Ibn Diubavr’s tim e, however, this route was impassable due to a Frankish crusader castle located nearby. Ibn Diubavr’s short voyage across the Red Sea was so troublesom e that his negative reactions are easy to understand. (On his return

The Pilgrim age to M ecca in Pre-O ttom an Tim es

17

journey, he did in fact travel by way o f Baghdad, although we do not know w hether this decision was motivated by security considerations alone.) Shortly before landing in Jeddah, his ship was caught in a severe storm and swept off its course, so that eight days were needed to cover the short distance between Aydhab and Jeddah. N or were the pilgrims’ troubles at an end once they reached die port o f M ecca, which at that time was still a m odest setdem ent with houses built mostly o f reeds. Ibn Diubavr complains bitterly about the inhabitants o f the Hejaz, who for the most part ruthlessly exploited die pilgrims and used all m anner o f stratagem s to deprive them o f their food and money. H is worst experiences were with die am ir o f M ecca. Sultan Saladin at this time was trying to alleviate die difficulties o f die pilgrims by assigning the amir grants o f money and foodstuffs. In return, die amir was to forgo die customs duties he had hitherto dem anded from pilgrims. T he amir however viewed the pilgrims as no more than a source o f revenue which he was legitimately entided to exploit, and when Sultan Saladin’s grant was slow to arrive, die wealthy traveller from Andalusia seem ed as good a substitute as any. Ibn Diubavr was detained, and he and his companions were made to serve as hostages to guarantee the continuing prestation o f Egyptian wheat and money. T his experience caused Ibn Diubavr to pen a few harsh comments on die S h i'i beliefs o f the Hejazis, whom he regarded as heretics. H e wished that their lands might be conquered by the Spanish Sunni dynasty o f the M uwahhidun/Alm ohads, and the inhabitants themselves be punished for their num erous sins and heretical practices. Yet even when expressing his anger, Ibn Diubavr uses m oderation. Certainly die amir o f M ecca acted unjustly and, as a ruler, was much inferior to Sultan Saladin o f E gypt Even so, he rem ained a descendant o f die Prophet M uhammad and, as such, was respected by the pious Ibn Diubavr.9

T H E R ITES O F T H E PILGRIM AGE O n die short trip from Jeddah to M ecca, the company o f pilgrims stopped to change into pilgrim s' garb (ihrem). T his has rem ained m ore or less unchanged since die Prophet's tim e, and for men consists o f two seamless pieces o f white cloth. O ne o f diem covers the loins, reaching down to die knee; the other is worn on the shoulder.10 T he pilgrims wear sandals that leave die instep bare, or, if unavoid­ able, ordinary shoes. T here are no special features to die women pilgrims’ garb. T h e English traveller Richard Burton, who saw mid­ nineteenth-century women pilgrims, remarks that the face covering should not touch die face and that die women therefore wore masks

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P ilgrim s and Sultans

made out o f palm leaves; but present-day photographs show that almost all pilgrims leave their faces uncovered.11 Many theologians believe that this uniform garb symbolizes the equality o f all believers in the sight o f God. Pilgrim behaviour is governed by a set o f rules which emphasize the special status o f the M ecca pilgrim. According to many theologians, these rules express the pilgrims’ separation from wordly concerns and their complete dedication to God. T he most im portant rule is the prohibition against killing living beings o f any kind, opart from the ritual sacrifice at the end o f the pilgrimage. H unting is accordingly forbidden, and arm ed men through the centuries have expressed their peaceful intentions by entering the Holy City wearing the ihröm. M arital relations and even the conclusion o f marriage contracts are likewise prohibited, and the same applies to disputes and discussions. N o perfum es are to be used, nor are pilgrims to cut their hair or their nails. M en are required to let their beards grow. Bathing is perm itted, and the pilgrims take a bath before donning die ihröm. At die end o f the pilgrimage, when die pilgrim, now a hajji, reenters ordinary life, he cuts his hair, beard and nails. For die rites o f pilgrimage to be valid, pilgrims have to make a declaration o f intent stating w hether they wish to undertake the hajj or merely the lesser pilgrimage or 'umra. T he hajj, which includes a visit to the 'Arafat as m entioned above, can only be perform ed once a year; most pilgrims coming to M ecca from afar have this purpose in mind. T he time for the pilgrimage is the ninth day o f die twelfth month o f the Islamic lunar year, known as D hû al-H ididia. T he 'umra rites are limited to the perim eter o f M ecca and can be undertaken at any time o f the year. Ibn Diubavr and his companions donned the ihröm at a predeter­ mined spot between Jeddah and M ecca. Pilgrims arriving from other directions also knew exacdy where they were to change into pilgrims’ clothing. T he seventeenth-century Ottom an traveller Ewliya Celebi approached M ecca from die direction o f M edina and stated that the pilgrims o f his time put on die ihröm in a place called B i'r 'All, not very far from M edina.12 Today, pilgrims who travel to M ecca from M edina change their clothing in D hù al-Hulayfa, sometimes called Äbär 'AH, which is probably identical with Ewliya Celebi’s B i'r 'AH. Pilgrims who wish to avoid the discomfort o f travelling through the desert dressed only in an ihröm can wear their ordinary clothes until they get to die locality known as M akim al-'U m ra. They are, however, expected to compensate for this indulgence by a supplementary sacrifice. Pilgrimage guides, who showed the new arrivals the rites and sites as their successors do to the present day, came to M akäm al-'U m ra to m eet their charges, ln Ewliyä’s time

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there was a pond at this place, which received water by m eans o f a water wheel and was surrounded by rooms in which pilgrims could refresh themselves. T his complex was still rather new, having been founded by a governor o f Egypt in 1662-3, less than ten years before Ewliya’s visit Pilgrims approaching die Holy City by sea donned the ihräm in a place about the same distance away from M ecca as the locations in which this ceremony is perform ed today. T hose who arrived from the south changed into die ihrem when they first saw M ount Yalamlam, which lies about 54 kiíom etres to the south o f M ecca.

T H E KA'ABA Ibn Diubavr has left a most vivid account o f the pious emotions o f the pilgrims when they entered M ecca and saw the K a'aba for the first tim e.13 It was already night, and from all sides he heard prayers and invocations o f God, particularly the ‘here my G od, here I am’ which forms part o f the ritual used on this occasion. After entering the mosque, die pilgrims circumambulated the K a'aba seven times and touched its covering at a certain place, hoping for an answer to their prayers. If in spite o f the crowd it was possible to approach the Black Stone, they kissed it. 'AU b. Abï Bakr al-Haraw ï, a contemporary o f Ibn Diubavr. has left a m atter-of-fact description o f the M ecca and M edina sanctuaries.14 H e includes an account o f the history o f the building, which was a m atter o f interest to M uslim scholars and on which a considerable body o f evidence had therefore been collected. His ‘Inventory o f Pilgrimage Sites’ recounts that the original K a'aba was built by die Prophet Ibrâhîm. T h is building rem aíñéíTm ore or 1 « T in its original state u n til- one o f the most im portant tribes o f M ecca, namely the Kuraysh, rebuilt it in the seventh century, at the time o f the Prophet M uhammad. T he latter was him self a member o f die Kuraysh. It was assumed that he had intervened in person by solving a dispute over precedence which concerned the placing o f the Black Stone, one o f the most im portant elements o f the structure. D uring die civil wars o f the early Ummayad period the K a'aba was burned down. Ibn Zubayr, who for a time reigned as caliph in M ecca, rebuilt and enlarged it. T he structure now could be entered by two doors; but when Ibn Zubayr had been deposed by the Ummayad governor al-H adidiadi. the latter tore down what liis defeated rival had constructed and rebuilt the K a'aba according to what was known o f the building which had existed in the time o f the Prophet M uhammad. T his new building was smaller than its predecessor, one o f the doors had been walled up, and the floor was covered with stones taken from the previous building. T he new structure thus was

20

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

four cubits higher than ground level. T his was die building seen by Ibn Diubavr and al-Haraw i. In later tim es, however, the K a'aba was to undergo extensive repairs, which in one case amounted to a total reconstruction. W ith this aspect o f the K a'aba’s history, which coincided with die reigns o f die Ottom an Sultans Ahmed I and M urid IV (1603-17 and 1623-40), we will deal in C hapter 5. W hen Ibn Diubavr visited the K a'aba, the building was richly decorated with die precious gifts o f various M uslim rulers.15 T he door and its posts were made o f silver gilt, while the lintel was o f pure gold. T he interior was decorated in coloured m arble, and three teak columns supported the roof. A silver band surrounded the building on the outside. T he flat and slighdy inclined roof, as well as die walls, were covered with fine tissues o f silk and cotton cloth. In Ibn Diubavr’s time, die covering o f die K a'aba was green and set off with red bands, decorated with the name o f the caliph then reigning, al-N asir li-D m Allah (1180-1225).16 O ne o f the last Abbasids to play an active political role, he attem pted to reorganize the fityän, associations o f pugnacious young men recruited from among the poorer city dwellers, as a base o f his own power. Al-Nasir’s name, m entioned in highly visible form as servitor o f die Holy Places (khadtm al-haramayn) was noted by pious visitors like Ibn Diubavr. and his symbolic presence at the K a'aba considerably enhanced his political reputation. H e did not, however, succeed in his attem pt to establish him self as ruler o f M ecca and M edina in a more concrete political sense. Ibn Diubavr also visited the stone on which Ibrâhîm supposedly stood when building the K a'aba. A small annexe had been specially built to accommodate it: Ibn Diubavr informs us that originally it had been kept in a separate wooden building, then transferred to this annexe for its better protection. T he Andalusian pilgrim has also left a detailed description o f the other buildings in die courtyard o f the G reat M osque. T hus, even though his visit was not a part o f obligatory pilgrimage ritual, he described die well Zamzam, whose water is highly esteem ed and considered a cure for many diseases. After refreshing themselves at die well, Ibn Diubavr and his companions undertook the seven ritual courses between the hills o f Safa and M arwa, both located within the city proper. T hese courses serve as a commemoration o f the plight o f H ädiar/H agar, after she had. been cast out o f die household o f Ibrahim along with her infant son Ism ä'ü, and reduced to a desperate search for water to keep her son and herself alive. W ith this rite, the 'umra or lesser pilgrimage was at an end. As the time o f the hajj was as yet several m onths away, the pilgrims changed into their ordinary clothes, and began their Uves as

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temporary residents o f the Holy City. T he pilgrims could repeat the 'umra whenever they felt die desire to do so; in that case, they left the city and travelled to the spot where the regular inhabitants o f M ecca donned the ihräm. Being a wealthy man, Ibn Diubavr could afford to make him self comfortable while waiting for the m onth o f the pilgrimage. H e participated in local festivities and apparently liked the sweetmeats on sale in M ecca, as he confesses that he spent a lot o f money in die confectioners’ shops. H is appartm ent was wellappointed, and offered a spectacular view o f the G reat M osque and the K a'aba. Ibn Diubavr probably used these m onths to collect the information on the buildings o f M ecca which served to make his account into our principal source for the medieval pilgrimage.

T H E HAJJ CEREM ONIES T h e Islamic calendar is lunar; the dates o f religious festivals are determ ined on the basis o f statem ents on the part o f credible witnesses, who testify that they did in fact observe the new moon. In 1184, when Ibn Diubavr was in die Hejaz, the determ ination was more difficult than it normally is in die latitude o f M ecca. At the time the new moon should have appeared, the sky was overcast and nothing was visible. O n the other hand, many pilgrims ardently wished for the ritual ‘station’ on 'Arafat (wakfa), die plateau to the east o f M ecca, to take place on a Friday. For a saying attributed to the Prophet M uhammad promises that whenever this central ritual o f the pilgrimage, which takes place on the ninth day o f D hù al-H ididia. falls on a Friday, die pilgrims can expect much greater blessings than in an ordinary year. T herefore quite a few people came forward claiming to have seen the new moon, even though, physically speaking, this was an impossibility. T he kadi o f M ecca insisted on rejecting their testim onies, and was not exactly gende with the overzealous witnesses.17 Apparently he commented that ‘those M aghribis [several o f the claimants were M aghribis] are deranged. A hair escapes from their eyelashes, they see something, and immediately they think it to be the new moon.’ Ibn Diubavr approved o f the kàdt’s attitude, as he thought die pilgrimage was not amenable to what he felt to be frivolous manipulation. In his view, the pilgrim s' devotion was bound to suffer if even m inor details were not handled with the appropriate seriousness. In the end the kadi devised a compromise which satisfied both sides. H e ordered die ritual station on the 'Arafat to begin on Friday afternoon and continue into Saturday. Just before the day appointed for the wakfa, new groups o f pilgrims entered the Holy City. Ibn Diubavr mentions the Yemenis and a

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form er prince o f Aden recently deposed.18 O n the 7 D hù al-H idjdja a m essenger arrived from die Iraqi pilgrimage caravan which was still on its way. Thereupon the kadi preached a solemn serm on in front o f the pilgrims assembled in the city, in which he explained the ritual o f die hajj. H e announced that on die next day the caravan would move to M ina, the first stop on die way to 'Arafat. O n Thursday a large crowd set out; however the pilgrims hurried more than seemed desirable to Ibn Diubavr. as diere was a constant danger o f being attacked by Beduin m arauders. As western Catholics o f the four­ teenth century felt few scruples when they enslaved G reek Christians, and many Beduins, even though they had been M uslims for centuries, did not hesitate to rob unwary pilgrims on their way to and from the sanctuary. Travellers who attem pted to resist were often killed. W hoever claimed to rule the Hejaz, therefore, above everything else needed to protect the pilgrims from attack. According to Ibn Diubavr’s testimony, the ruling amir o f M ecca was quite successful in this task - which legitimized him in die eyes o f die Andalusian traveller and, no doubt, in the view o f a wider public. T he pilgrims spent their first night after leaving M ecca in an uninhabited locality called M uzdalifa where there was an abundant supply o f water. T his was due to the munificence o f H ärün alRashld’s wife Zubayda, who in die ninth century had built a num ber o f water reservoirs in this place. T he 'Arafat plateau was reached the next day. At this locality, surm ounted by die ‘M ount o f Mercy* (Diabal al-Rahm at), the pilgrims prayed in a num ber o f mosques or at prayer niches in the open air. H ere the assembly which constitutes the core o f the pilgrimage took place. Ibn Diubavr says veiy litde about this event, so that we have to supplem ent his story with other, m uch more recent information. According to die Ottoman traveller Ewliya Celebi, who participated in the ‘station* at 'Arafat in 1672, the pilgrims prayed in the M osque o f Ibrâhîm and waited on die plateau for the kadi o f M ecca to begin his solemn serm on.19 In Ewiiyä’s time, the pilgrims assembled according to their region o f origin; the Anatolians to the west, the Abyssinians, Yemenis, Iraqis and Hejazis at other prearranged places. T his custom was already centuries old when Ewliya Celebi wrote, for Ibn Diubavr also noted that the Yemenis assembled by tribe, and that no tribe ever transgressed on the territory assigned to another.20 Both Ibn Diubavr and Ewliya were full o f admiration for the large num ber o f pilgrims who had assembled on 'A rafat Ibn Diubavr particularly mentions die nonArabs o f high rank, both men and women. But unfortunately neither o f these two writers, nor any other travellers from die time before the nineteenth century, have made an attem pt to estimate the num ber o f participants.

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T o ensure the validity o f the wakfa on 'Arafat, it was necessary to adhere to certain rules. T he territory known as 'Arafat, where the pilgrims absolutely needed to sojourn, was set off from the outside world by a line o f boundary stones. T he time factor was also significant, as apparent from the dispute between the kadi o f M ecca and the over-zealous M aghribis. It was essential that die pilgrims arrive at 'Arafat on time, that is while the preacher was still speaking. Ewliyä recounts how for that very reason his own caravan pressed forward in hurried m arches, spending only the briefest possible time in M edina. T hat year, the Basra caravan was also in trouble; 1671-2 fell in a period o f widespread political tension, and in such years Beduin tribes tended to be especially aggressive. T he Basra pilgrim­ age caravan was set upon, but reinforcem ents sent from M ecca helped to repel the attackers. T he unlucky caravan almost missed the m eeting at 'A rafat 'T hey [the Basra pilgrims] entered [the site o f 'Arafat] at the boundary stones [marking off the site in the direction of] Iraq. They also brought along their dead to die wakfa. Thank G od, they were able to perform their pilgrimage: If they had arrived but a short time later, it would have been invalid.'21 At the beginning o f the meeting, many people called out 'H ere my God, here I am*, and Ewliyä says that this continued for an hour. According to die same source, the kadi's serm on concerned the further course o f the pilgrimage. T he pilgrims were instructed how to behave when sacrificing and throwing stones at the rocks o f M ina, which in this context symbolize the devil. W hen the serm on ended, the pilgrims hurriedly left the site o f the meeting. As it was already turning dark, this procedure gave rise to a certain am ount o f confusion. At M uzdalifa the pilgrims assembled for another ritual 'station*, which this time took place by night and was particularly impressive due to the many candles lit by the Khorasanis. T he pilgrims collected pebbles which they would need the next day for the stoning o f the devil. M ost pilgrims left M uzdalifa by night so as to perform the m orning prayer in M ina and subsequently throw their seven stones against a specially designated rock. After d û t, those who could afford it sacrificed an animal, and thereby fulfilled their religious obligations for the day. Ibn Diubavr does not toll us how die pilgrims spent their free time in M ina?2 Today it is customary for pilgrims to return to M ecca, which is close by, and to circle the K a'aba seven times (tawdfal-ifada) before taking off die pilgrim’s garb.23 T he men shave, and everybody returns to M ina dressed in his or her best clothes. However, both Ibn Diubavr and Ewliyi Celebi are describing pilgrimages perform ed in unsetded times, in which people may have put off their visit to the K a'aba to the time o f their final return to the Holy City.

24

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In M ina a large fair was held at this time. Ewliyi Celebi, who calls this place ‘M ine pazan' (‘the m arket o f M ina'), records that many goods were on sale here, ‘from precious pearls to die coarsest o f glass’. Ewliyä's story is confirmed by an anonymous source from the sixteenth century. T he Bahrain pearls, which Ibn Diubavr and Ewliyi both m ention, were the m ost remarkable speciality o f this fair. In addition a good many foods and beverages were on sale. T he pilgrims, who during their stay in M ina were excused from m ost o f the restrictions which they had imposed on themselves upon approaching the Holy City, now visited with one another and made merry. O n the two following days the lapidations were repeated, m ost pilgrims throwing forty-nine stones in all. Ibn Diubavr explains that originally the pilgrims had spent an additional day in M ina, further extending the lapidations, but in his time the ritual had been abridged because o f the unsafe conditions obtaining in the area. W hen die pilgrims reentered the city after an absence o f several days, they perform ed the concluding rite o f their pilgrimage, namely the final circumam bulation o f the K a'aba. For this occasion, Ibn Diubavr changes his perspective, thereby contributing to the liveliness o f his tale. W hile up to this point he has recounted mainly his own experiences, he now concentrates upon die behaviour o f his fellow pilgrims. H e was particularly interested in the Khorasanis, who m ust have seem ed m ost exotic both to him and to his readers, in all likelihood mainly educated Andalusians and N orth Africans. We learn that on this occasion the covering o f die K a'aba had to be pulled up, as otherwise it would certainly have been ruined by the pilgrims who threw themselves upon the covering and clung to it. T his form o f devotion was foreign to Ibn Diubavr. but he describes it with equanimity and tolerance. T his is particularly obvious when he discusses the women pilgrims, who threw themselves into the crowd, hoping for a chance to visit the interior o f the K a'aba, and reem erged radier the worse for wear.24 Ibn Diubavr also comments favourably on the Khorasani preachers, who could speak most impressively both in Arabic and Persian. H e also approved o f the Khorasanis’ custom o f soliciting questions from the congregation after their sermons; many o f these question-and-answ er sessions developed into an outright examination o f the preacher by his listeners.

IBN DIUBAYR'S IDEAS CO N C ER N IN G T H E PILGRIM AGE In the course o f his narrative, Ibn Diubavr quite frequently discusses his own reactions to different aspects o f the pilgrimage. We already know that he had a strong sense o f reality, and did not believe that

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manipulation for pious ends was a good thing. As a highly educated man, Ibn Diubavr m ust have known very well that many religious scholars believed pilgrims derived greater blessings if they perform ed tiie toakfa on a Friday, yet he insists that G od’s mercy can be expected by any pilgrim. T o put it differently, Ibn Diubavr recommends that the pilgrims use the opportunity provided by the pilgrimage to reflect upon G od's mercy, and avoid being overly anxious about the details o f the ritual. H e thus rem arks that die Beduins o f the Yemen lack even an elementary knowledge o f the Islamic ritual, but possess an abundance o f good intentions.25 Ibn Diubavr concludes his account o f Beduin religious life, which includes an enum eration o f the many mistakes fliese people make when saying their prayers, with a saying ascribed to the Prophet M uhammad: ‘T each them ritual prayer, and they will teach you the prayer o f the h e a rt'26 O n a m ore personal level, Ibn Diubavr also discusses his religious experiences in the course o f the pilgrimage. H e praises the night when his caravan first entered M ecca, and thanks his C reator for the grace o f pilgrimage, for now he feels included in the community o f those who may hope for the intercession o f the Prophet Ibrâhîm . T he hum ble invocations by which pilgrims acknowledged their being in G od's presence are m entioned as an awesome experience, and the nightly prayers held in the G reat M osque during the fast o f Ramadan made a profound impression on Ibn Diubavr. Concerning the Prophet's m iracles, Ibn Diubavr occasionally m entions them and does not express any doubts on that score. But it is obvious from his account o f the M eccan sanctuaries outside the G reat M osque, often associated with the personal and family histoiy o f the Prophet, that miracles play a very subordinate role in his style o f piety. As to assorted practices pilgrims engage in for the sake o f obtaining blessings (baraka), Ibn Diubavr is quite critical. T hus he describes pilgrims who try to pass through a narrow opening in a cave because the Prophet allegedly did the same, and remaries that they are likely to get themselves into trouble: apart from looking ridiculous, trying to wriggle out o f the narrow opening is painful as well.27 At the core o f the M eccan pilgrimage rituals there survive p reIslamic practices which have interested both scholars o f the early Islamic period and tw entieth-century specialists in comparative religious studies. T hese rituals have been transform ed by the Prophet M uhammad and his immediate successors, however, and reinter­ preted in a strictly monotheistic sense. Ibn Diubavr’s account perm its us to see how a pious and learned person o f the twelfth century who possessed a strong critical sense, viewed the rituals o f the pilgrimage. Pilgrims o f his calibre took the hajj as a way toward a m ore profound understanding o f their m onotheistic religion. Ibn Diubavr stressed the

26

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

importance o f an interior life, and had no time for an overly ritualistic approach. Certainly the author, who was a courtier in addition to being a scholar, came from an elite milieu, and his understanding o f the pilgrimage may well have been a minority phenomenon. But we are fortunate that at least one w riter o f the twelfth century has been so explicit about his thoughts and feelings.

T H E PR O PH ET’S M O SQ U E IN M EDINA T he Prophet M uhammad died in M edina in 624 CE, in die year 10 according to the M uslim reckoning. H e was buried in his form er dwelling place, soon to be rebuilt as a m osque.28 Later, other im­ portant personages o f early Islamic history were buried there, including his first two successors Abü Bakr (reigned 632-4) and 'U m ar (reigned 634-44). D uring the years immediately following the death o f the Prophet, M edina was die capital o f the Islamic empire which was then expanding rapidly. But with the reign o f M u'äwiya (661-80) the em pire's political centre moved to Syria and Iraq, and M edina became a city inhabited by religious scholars, who developed and elaborated Islamic law. Throughout the history o f Islam the city has held a particular attraction for pious people. Although a visit to M edina does not form part o f the Islamic pilgrimage ritual, many visitors to the Hejaz use the opportunity to pray at the Prophet’s grave, either when travelling to M ecca or else on the return trip. N aslr-i Khosraw, when visiting the Hejaz in 1048, also paid a visit to the Prophet's m osque in M edina, and has left a b rief description o f the sanctuary.29 In his tim e, the building consisted mainly o f the following parts: a cham ber with an adjacent court, an enclosed and partly roofed area in which die Prophet's grave was located, the preacher's chair and the hall named the ’G arden' (Rawda) which separates the preacher's chair from the Prophet's grave. N asir-i Khosraw even m entions the net, which closed off the unroofed parts o f the mosque, so birds could not get in. But we possess even older descriptions, one o f die most remarkable being that o f Ibn 'Abd Rabbih, w ritten in the tenth century. Ibn 'Abd Rabbih relies almost completely on his own observations and seems to have paid but scant attention to the work o f his predecessors. H e came from the same region as Ibn Djubayr, namely Andalusia, and was a courtier like his successor, active in the entourage o f the caliph 'Abd al-Rahm an III; to his contemporaries he was mainly known as a poet and literary man. Ibn 'Abd Rabbih's description is extremely careful and detailed, so that his text has often been used by m odem scholars attem pting to reconstruct the appearance o f the Prophet’s mosque in die early

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27

centuries o f its existence.30 T he author gives an account o f the columns carrying the roof o f the gallery and o f die windows, which he compares to those o f die G reat M osque o f Cordoba; he also cites the text o f the inscription which decorated one o f die mosque walls. In Ibn 'Abd Rabbih’s time a m irror hung on die m osque wall, which purportedly had belonged to 'Aysha, the Prophet’s favourite wife, who was very active in politics after her husband's death. T he preacher’s chair used by die Prophet struck the observer by its simplicity, lacking any adornm ent or special elegance. T he platform used by the preacher had been closed off by a slab o f wood, so that the seat o f die Prophet was not used by die preachers o f Ibn 'Abd Rabbih’s time. T he author did not doubt the authenticity o f die chair, but with respect to the other mementoes preserved in the mosque, he merely comments ‘and God knows best*.31 T he most detailed description o f the Prophet's m osque dates from the concluding years o f the fifteenth century.32 Its author is the Egyptian scholar al-Sam hüdï, and it is a critical and carefully documented account Al-Sam hüdl has located a great many sources concerning die mpsque and compares them so as to arrive at a realistic reconstruction. H e also discusses die buildings originally located in the vicinity, which in the course o f various building campaigns were included in the mosque itself. We find a moving description o f the weeping and lamentations with which the pious people o f M edina reacted to the decision o f the caliph W alîd b. 'Abd al-M alik (reigned 705-15) who had die m odest habitations o f the Prophet’s wives tom down to make room for die enlarged mosque. Apparently many devout people felt that these dwellings should have been preserved to dem onstrate the extreme modesty and lack o f ostentation practised by the Prophet, at a time when all the treasures o f this world were readily accessible to him.33 From al-Sam húdfs description we understand that in Ummayad tim es, die G reat M osque o f M edina was built o f hewn stone. T he stones were held together by the application o f plaster, and several loads o f shells had been used in the decoration o f the building. Only the roof was made o f gilt palm wood. In the eighth century the mosque did not yet possess any m inarets; the latter were added later and had to be rebuilt several tim es because o f lightning damage. W hen al-Sam hüdï wrote, however, little rem ained o f the mosque o f Ummayad times, as it had been struck by two devastating fires, in 1256 and 1481. After the first fire only casual repairs could be undertaken due to lack o f m eans, for two years after this event, in 1258, die M ongols conquered Baghdad, killed the Abbasid caliph and destroyed the city. W ith no help forthcoming from that quarter, major repairs had to wait for the M amluk Sultans o f Egypt to stabilize their

28

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position. Repairs were finally undertaken by Sultan K ä'it Bay (reigned 1468-% ), who was also active as a builder in M ecca. In M edina, K ä'it Bay twice sponsored the rebuilding o f the Prophet’s mosque, as the fire o f 1481 destroyed most o f what had been built a few years previously. T his Sultan had the wooden dome over the Prophet’s grave taken down and a cupola o f stone erected in its place. Little trace rem ains o f K ä'it Bay’s buildings today, as a further campaign o f restoration, or indeed rebuilding, was undertaken in the time o f die Ottom an Sultan 'Abd ül-M edjïd (reigned 1839-61). T he medieval m osque therefore needs to be reconstructed from written sources. Ibn 'Abd Rabbih had little to say on the grave o f the Prophet proper, which in his time bore only m odest decorations. T his is in accordance with the views o f certain Islamic schools o f law, which recom mend this simplicity even today. Ibn 'Abd Rabbih simply discussed the prayers to be perform ed at the Prophet’s grave, and recom m ended that worshippers observe a certain decorum . Particu­ larly, pilgrims should not cling to the grave, behaviour which in the author’s view is characteristic o f the ignorant W hen visiting the Prophet’s grave, the principal concern was to offer prayers to God, even though visitors were free to invoke the intercession o f the Prophet as well.

T H E HOLY C IT IE S IN T H E LATER M ID D LE AGES F or the late M iddle Ages, that is the period preceding the Ottom an conquest o f Egypt in 1517, we possess a comprehensive history o f M edina and a series o f M eccan chronicles. T hese texts docum ent the tensions between the M amluk Sultans o f Egypt, who exercised suzerainty over the Sherifs o f M ecca (functioning as local rulers), and other im portant princes o f the Islamic world. T hese rivalries sometimes had repercussions upon cerem onial life in the Holy Cities.34 T hus, in 1424-34, the Egyptian Sultan Barsbäy refused the dem ands o f Shährukh. son and successor o f T im ur Lenk, who repeatedly requested the privilege o f being perm itted to donate a covering for the K a'aba. M ehm ed the C onqueror (reigned 1451-81) was likewise refused when he made a similar offer. Difficulties o f this kind had a long tradition: a full century earlier, am ir Cübän (died 1327), one o f the most powerful figures at the court o f the Ilkhanid Abu Sa'Id, had undertaken to construct a waterpipe to alleviate the lack o f water in M ecca, which had grown ever more serious with the passage o f tim e.35 Amir Coban donated 50,000 gold coins for this purpose. Conditions o f work on this line, which led from Hunayn

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29

over 'Arafat to die Holy City, were reputed highly satisfactory, and many Beduins, including their womenfolk, accepted employment on the construction site. W ork was completed within four months, but die reaction o f the Egyptian Sultan to a project initiated by a rival court was decidedly negative. Luckily a skilled negotiator, who previously had been in charge o f the construction site, managed to make the whole affair palatable to the Egyptian Sultan. T he latter contented him self with the construction o f a second pipeline next to the one built by amir Cübän, without taking revenge for the flouting o f his authority. In addition to die rulers o f Egypt and Iran, the Sultan o f Yemen occasionally claimed suzerainty over M ecca.36 T hus die Sultan alM udjahid perform ed the pilgrimage several tim es and built a major complex o f pious foundations in M ecca. But while sojourning in the Holy City on his second pilgrimage in 1351, he was arrested because he insisted upon his rights as an independent sovereign, vis à vis both the Sherifs o f M ecca and the envoy o f the Egyptian Sultan. T he next years were filled with extraordinary adventures. D ue to his arrest, alM udjähid was unable to complete the requirem ents for his second pilgrimage. Instead he was brought to Egypt, where the ruling Sultan treated him in a m anner befitting his station and soon released him. Al-M udjahid was already on his way back to Yemen when the Egyptian authorities changed their m inds and decided to hold die Yemeni ruler captive as a possible rival. T his time he was held in a castle not far from the D ead Sea, but soon released when a form er fellow prisoner, who had once again achieved a powerful position in Cairo, interceded for him. W hile in this region, al-M udjahid dem onstrated his piety by visiting the M uslim sanctuaries o f Jeru ­ salem and Khalil al-R ahm in (Hebron) and ultimately managed to return to Yemen by way o f the Red Sea (1352). T he chronicler who reported all these events evidently felt some sympathy for alM udjahid. H e reports that the offended ruler took revenge by prohibiting all trade with M ecca, which m ust have increased the perennial supply problem s o f the Holy City. Unfortunately the account does not tell us w hether al-M udjahid really had the intention o f annexing M ecca, or w hether these designs had merely been imputed to him by his opponents. Be that as it may, the Sultans o f Yemen certainty attem pted to establish a presence in M ecca; thirty years after the adventures o f al-M udjahid, a new conflict ensued, when a Yemeni ruler sent a covering for the K a'aba, a gesture which the Egyptian rulers apparently regarded as their own exclusive prerogative. D uring the fifteenth century, the last hundred years o f Mamluk domination over M ecca, several large-scale building projects were

30

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undertaken. A fire which had broken out in a hospice near die G reat M osque had spread to the northern and western galleries o f die sanctuary, and 130 columns had collapsed.37 T his part o f the M eccan G reat M osque was completely rebuilt - even the foundations were dug out and reinforced. T he new columns consisted o f several pieces o f stone held together by iron rods and crowned by marble capitals. T he latter carried a wooden roof, gilt and painted in bright colours. T he lack o f suitable tim ber in die Hejaz greatly retarded die completion o f the project, however, as supplies had to be im ported from India or Asia M inor. In the third quarter o f die fifteenth century the Egyptian Sultan K a'it Bay and his amirs sponsored further large construction projects, many o f them quite controversial.38 T hus Ibn al-Zam in, a close friend o f the Sultan, built a hospice which created a serious obstruction on the way between Safó and Marwa, which all pilgrims had to traverse many tim es in the course o f their sojourn. A kadi o f M ecca and other religious scholars protested in Cairo against die project, but Ibn alZamin had the ear o f the Sultan, and the hospice was built anyway. T he authorities were so worried about public disturbances, however, that construction could only go on by n ig h t Sultan K a'it Bay also built a theological school and a hospice in the immediate vicinity o f the G reat M osque, and several private houses and hospices were tom down for that purpose.39 T he new complex, named Ashrafiya, was built o f m ulti-coloured marble and contained a library; due to the negligence o f librarians and users, however, a few decades later the latter had lost many o f its books. An Indian scholar named K utb al-D ïn, who lived in M ecca in the sixteenth century, was in charge at that time and in his chronicle o f the city o f M ecca has left a graphic account o f the desolate conditions he found at die beginning o f his tenure o f office. He also describes how he attem pted to improve them , tracking down the people who had borrowed library books and in some cases securing their return. H e also had many damaged volumes restored and rebound. T o repair damage to the building fabric was apparently not within his power, however.40 As we will see in the following chapters, the Ottom an Sultans o f the sixteenth century were more concerned about establishing new foundations than restoring old ones. T he only exceptions to this rule were the G reat M osques o f M ecca and M edina. K utb al-D m has also left an account o f i the m anner in which the • . Ottomans took over the Hejaz in 1517. In the first stages o f Ottom an rule, changes were lim ited in scope. At this time the Holy Cities were already totally dependent on Egyptian foodstuffs.42 As a result, even short interruptions o f the connection between the two regions, which occasionally occurred in the early sixteenth century

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owing to Portuguese incursions into the Red Sea, led to panics and uncontrolled price rises. Given this situation, the S herif o f M ecca sent his young son to Cairo to offer the Ottom an Sultan Sefim I (reigned 1512-20) suzerainty over the Hejaz. Selim I accepted this proposition and, for the stretch o f four centuries, M ecca and M edina became part o f the Ottom an Empire. T he following chapters will deal with the structures and networks which during the first two centuries o f Ottoman rule ensured die survival o f pilgrims and Hejazis. T he interplay o f long-term structures and ad hoc improvisation will constitute die dom inant them e o f our account

2 Caravan Routes

W ith the Ottom an takeover o f the Hejaz, the two Holy Cities came to depend on the protection o f a Sultan whose capital and principal scenes o f activity were m uch more rem ote, both geographically and in term s o f language, than had been the case in M amluk times. T ies between the Holy Cities on the one hand and Damascus and Cairo on the other continued to exist, but Cairo was now no more than a provincial centre. M ajor political decisions, such as the institution and occasionally deposition o f the Sherifs o f M ecca, were from now on made in Istanbul. Officials o f die Sultan residing in die Ottom an capital also decided w hether new buildings were to be erected in the Holy Cities, or w hether the grain supply to the Hejaz should be increased by adding further Egyptian villages to the public founda­ tions inherited from M amluk times. However die caravan routes linking die Hejaz to Cairo and Damascus in no way lost their previous im portance, for connections between die Holy Cities and Istanbul continued to pass through either one o f these two provincial capitals. From Alexandria, the seaport o f Cairo, a short and under normal circum stances reasonably comfortable voyage took the traveller to Rhodes, an Ottom an possession since Sultan Süleymän had con­ quered the island from the Knights o f S t John in 1522. From Dam ascus Istanbul was reached by way o f a long but well-travelled caravan route, which passed through northern Syria and dien entered Anatolia by a narrow defile between die m ountains and the M editerranean. Caravans stopped in Adana, then crossed the T aurus M ountains and the dry central Anatolian steppe before the next major staging post, Konya. Ultimately the Sea o f M arm ara was reached, and skirting it die caravans came to Usküdar, which in the sixteenth

32

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33

century was still an independent town and not merely a suburb o f Istanbul. If the extant pilgrimage accounts reflect die real preferences o f travellers, m ost pilgrims coming from Anatolia and Rumelia journeyed by way o f Damascus. T he present chapter deals with the two official pigrimage caravans, which every year left Cairo and Dam ascus for the Hejaz. In addition, a Yemeni pilgrimage caravan m ust have existed, but almost no information on this m atter can be found in the Ottom an records. At certain times a separate caravan from Basra on the Persian G ulf crossed the Arabian peninsula from east to west, but political conflicts between Ottomans and Safawids often closed this route. C ertain pilgrims doubtless reached M ecca on their own, without the protection o f an officially sponsored caravan. T he M aghribis, particularly, often travelled in this fashion, and the same probably applied to many pilgrims living on die Arabian peninsula.1 Since these unofficial caravans have left few traces in Ottom an government records, however, very littie is known about them . T he two main caravans, on the other hand, are abundantly documented. We can trace the history o f the Cairo and Damascus caravans back to the time o f the Abbasid caliphs: H ärün al-Rashid (reigned 786-809), a contemporary o f the Byzantine empress Irene (reigned 797-802) and Charlemagne (reigned 768-814), perform ed die pilgrimage nine tim es.2 W hile m ost o f his successors did not travel to M ecca personally, they regularly sent high-level officials to represent them at die pilgrimage. T he pilgrimage caravans that we know from the Ottom an docum entation o f die sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, took shape under the M amluk Sultans, between 1250 and 1517. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century authors, dealing with die Ottom an Sultans in their role o f protectors to die pilgrimage, have often m easured Ottom an perform ance against die yardstick o f what had been done, really or presumedly, by their Mamluk predecessors. T his explains why Ottoman Sultans adhered as closely as they could to the practices connected with the names o f K ä'it Bay (reigned 1468-96) and K ânsüh al-G hûri (reigned 150116).

T H E CAIRO PILGRIM AGE CARAVAN T he Cairo caravan has frequently been described. O ne o f the most valuable accounts was written by the Egyptian 'Abd al-K adir alD iazari in the middle o f the sixteenth century.3 T his w riter was able to draw upon extensive personal and family experience with respect to the adm inistration o f pilgrimage caravans, as both he and his father

34

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

had worked in düs line. As al-DiazarTs account has been published and extensively studied, a summary o f its main points will be suf­ ficient for our present purpose. Down to 1406-7, there was no fixed order in die Cairo caravan, which resulted in a good deal o f confusion when crossing narrow defiles. An order o f precedence was then instituted, which in alDiazarTs opinion had become unavoidable due to the large num ber o f pilgrims. It had the disadvantage, however, that die better-off among them , who were able to afford faster m ounts, secured places in the front or middle o f the caravan, leaving the poorer pilgrims in the caravan’s rear, the most vulnerable section. T he caravan commander was in charge o f assigning the pilgrims their places; he normally joined the caravan at 'Adjrüd, five stops away from Cairo and not far from Suez. Apparently the officials who planned the trip back in Cairo believed that the really difficult part o f the desert journey only began at this spot. A l-Diazari describes die caravan as divided up into several subsections, which he calls katàrs. T heir num ber varied with the size o f the caravan; in a large one, there might be as many as nine.4 At the very head o f die caravan travelled the ‘desert pilots’, who were often Beduins and thoroughly familiar with the stretch o f desert to be traversed. They were followed by water carriers and notables. Next came the cash supplies carried by the caravan, namely donations to die inhabitants o f M ecca and M edina provided by die public foundations instituted by different Mamluk Sultans, along with subsidies to be paid to Beduins providing various services to die pilgrims (see Chapters 3 and 4). T he cash was guarded by soldiers, and the caravan’s artillery travelled in die immediate vicinity. A troop o f soldiers had special orders to m arch on that side o f die caravan which faced not die Red Sea but die m ountains, which on this route are often located close to the seashore. Since navigation on die Red Sea with its many coral reefs was highly dangerous, an attack from that direction was m uch less likely. T he next section o f the caravan consisted o f another treasury, which belonged to the M amluk Sultans and presumably was m eant for die ordinary expenditures o f die caravan. Sharpshooters arm ed with bows and arrows as well as torchbearers were responsible for die security o f this section o f the caravan. M erchants carrying valuable goods usually travelled close to the treasuries, while ordinary pilgrims made up the rear. Among the num erous officials accompanying die Cairo caravan, the comm ander’s secretary occupied a key position.5 H e had to be consulted whenever im portant decisions were taken, and he was responsible for the payment o f subsidies to the Beduins who travelled with die caravan and thus ensured its safety. A kadi settled disputes *

•

•

Coronan Routes

35

among die pilgrims. Al-Diazari liked to praise past tim es in contrast to a present which he regarded as much less brilliant; he claimed that the office o f caravan kádi had lost m uch o f its previous lustre and now was almost always filled by T urks. Quite possibly his opinion is coloured by his own disappointm ent with his career. After all, he was the descendant o f a family well-established both in Cairo and M edina, yet had to content him self with a fairly m odest position. T he caravan kadi was accompanied by a num ber o f subordinates. Pilgrims wishing to conclude contracts or make their wills needed m en o f irreproachable lifestyle to act as witnesses; moreover, these men had to be found readily if ever their testimony was needed. T o ensure that they were available in such cases, al-Diazari*s father had begun to assign diem stipends. In addition to his secretary the caravan comm ander employed a second scribe, and this office was filled by al-D iazarfs father and later by the author himself. Al-Diazari thought that the scribes had a m ost im portant role to play, since the Mamluks - in contrast to later O tto­ m an practice - never allowed an amir to act as caravan comm ander m ore than once; therefore his scribes were responsible for ensuring continuity. O ther officials were in charge o f supervising die camels and horses as well as the official stores o f food, fodder and water. T he pilgrimage caravan o f the late Mamluk and early Ottom an periods thus should not be envisaged as a simple crowd o f pilgrims and soldiers. It appears more reasonable to regard it as a well-organized enterprise, in some ways comparable to an army on the m arch, with its commander as a temporary ruler holding court, and accompanied by his treasuries, scribes, subordinate officers, soldiers and Beduin auxiliaries.

T H E ORGANIZATION O F T H E DAM ASCENE CARAVAN For die Syrian caravan we do not possess an account even remotely comparable to the work o f al-Diazari. However, a mass o f official documents have survived, including a large num ber o f sultanic rescripts from the second half o f the sixteenth century, and a significant num ber o f account books covering the years 1600 to 1683. T he Damascus caravan resembled its Cairo counterpart in possessing a well-defined structure, which did not change m uch in the course o f die period under investigation. Presumably the Ottom ans also followed Mamluk models quite closely in this case. Syrian provincial budgets o f the seventeenth century routinely contain figures concerning expenditures on behalf o f die officials forming part o f the caravan.6 A num ber o f officials travelling with the

36

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pilgrimage were assigned camels for their journeys. T he num bers o f m ounts varied according to the rank o f the official involved. We thus gain an idea o f the caravan hierarchy. As an example, we may study the records o f 1636-7: the comm ander was granted the use o f eight camels, while his substitute, the ketkhiidà had two at his disposal/ It was the latter’s job to distribute the pilgrims among the different subsections o f the caravan; if the Damascus caravan resem bled its Egyptian counterpart, this task was not always an easy one. In addition there was an am ir in charge o f stopping points, also assigned two camels; this official probably coordinated the movements o f the different subsections o f the caravan whenever the latter setded down to rest or began a new stretch o f the journey. T his, too, was probably a difficult job: at the end o f a long day, many people - all thinly, tired and nervous, and for the most part arm ed - competed for scanty water supplies, and the am ir had to ensure that disputes did not degenerate into violence. T he M aster o f the Stables (miràkhpr) was in charge o f the horses and camels o f solchen and officials; he also helped die ketkhüdà o f the commander to keep the caravan in order. T here was also an m in in charge o f finances; he had a scribe at his disposal, and thereby ranked lower than his colleague in charge o f supplies, who was aided by two scribes. But possibly the difference in this case was not a m atter o f rank, but simply reflected the fact that supplies were more cumbersome to handle than cash. T he Damascus caravan also possessed a kädt and a supervisor (ndztr). T he latter’s dudes rem ain unspecified; however, die supervisor was a highranking official with two camels at his disposal, and thereby comparable to the kädt. H e also required die services o f a scribe. T here was also a supervisor in charge o f ‘the poor’. It was probably the supervisor’s job to adm inister the alms to be distributed among poor pilgrims on the Sultan's behalf; but this official, along with prayer leaders and muezzins, only possessed a comparatively modest status. All these men were assigned a single camel per person. T he same applied to the official who confiscated heirless estates for the Sultan’s treasury, and also to musicians, m essengers and other service personnel. Seventeenth-century accounts perm it us to identify yet other officials. T he Damascene caravan was accompanied by several pour­ suivants, who as a group were granted five camels, an official who adm inistered the gifts o f die Sultan to the population o f M ecca and M edina and a police officer (sübasht). W hen the caravan was about to leave Istanbul, the official dealing with largesse to the Hejaz was received by the ruler in a private audience. But in the older account books his office does not even occur, possibly because his expenses were paid from Istanbul directly and therefore did not concern the

Caravan R a u ta

37

finance departm ent o f Damascus. W hile most officials accompanying the caravan were chosen from among the notables o f Syria, the official in charge o f imperial largesse directly represented the Ottoman Sultan.

CEREM ONIES ACCOM PANYING D EPA RTU RES AND RETU RN S In die Ottom an Em pire, festivities connected with the pilgrimage served to emphasize the position o f the ruler, his capacity to win victories and the continuing florescence o f the dynasty in a form easily accessible to the subject population. T hese festivities were for the m ost part public, and thus comparable to the joyeuses entrées and other ceremonies o f medieval and early Renaissance Europe.8 From the sixteenth century onward, however, European festivities increasingly retreated into a non-public space, accessible to the ruler and his courtiers or to the patriciate o f a city, while the public celebrations lost much o f their previous lustre. A comparable development was less obvious in the Ottom an context, where public festivities rem ained important; and among the occasions celebrated on the streets o f Istanbul, Damascus and particularly Cairo, the departure and return o f the pilgrimage caravans constituted one o f the m ost brilliant events. T hese festivities have been recorded extensively by the Ottoman traveller Ewliyä Celebi, who lived in Cairo for about a decade and therefore had the opportunity to observe them in m inute detail. H is testimony gains in significance because he was a product o f the Ottoman Palace school and therefore intimately acquainted with imperial ceremonial. T his latter qualification does not apply to European visitors, who have also left accounts o f these festivities. Ewliyä’s description, therefore, has been employed as the basis o f our study. T he high point o f the departure ceremony came when the caravan commander appeared on the square o f Kara M eydän, which was normally used for military exercises and parades.9 H e was accompa­ nied by a num erous suite o f soldiers and officers, while the band played, and janissaries and other soldiers saluted their commander. T he caravan commander then visited the governor o f Egypt in his tent, which m ust have been put up in this place for the occasion. Now artillery was brought to the square, presumably the cannons which the commander was to take along with him on his desert journey. T he flag o f the Prophet, a major relic, was paraded about the grounds along with the palanquin symbolizing the Sultan’s presence, which was to accompany the caravan to M ecca; the palanquin was carried by

38

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a camel. At the formal audience, with all the notables o f Cairo present, the Pasha asked the caravan commander w hether he had received the money he was going to need - subsidies for the Beduin shaykhs along the desert route and for the Sherif o f M ecca, donations to people living in the Holy Cities, and ready cash for all die other needs o f the caravan. T he caravan commander formally acknow­ ledged that everything had been handed over, ‘down to the last grain and the last cloak', certain gifts taking die shape o f clothing. T he Pasha instructed a judge to record the m atter in his register and then, with a ritual invocation o f G od, rose from his seat and walked up to the camel carrying the palanquin. After rubbing his face and hands against this symbol o f the Sultan's presence, he once again invoked God and took the cam el's silver chain to lead the animal around the Kara Meydän. Ewliyi states that by this gesture he proclaimed him self the Prophet’s camel driver, or humble servant, and the author states that the audience was much moved when watching this gesture o f humility. In the meantime, die soldiers in a loud voice invoked die intercession o f the Prophet. T hen the Pasha turned to the caravan commander, affirming that die Ottom an Sultan controlled M ecca and M edina, acting as servitor o f die two Holy Places. H e, as die Pasha, was at once the Sultan’s representative and the ruler's slave. Acting in his official capacity, with the force and impressiveness required by his office, the Pasha now handed over the palanquin to die caravan commander and commended the pilgrims to the protection o f God, wishing them a victorious and safe return. T he Pasha then returned to his seat in the tent, and now it was the turn o f the caravan commander to parade the palanquin. After that, the caravan set out on its way. As ti> die cerem onies accompanying the return o f the pilgrimage caravan, Ewliyâ describes them so to say as a participant observer, as he presumably entered Cairo as a member o f the suite o f the caravan commander. After completing the pilgrimage in 1672, Ewliyâ did not return to Damascus where he had spent time before, but took the opportunity o f travelling to Cairo, where he seems to have resided for most o f the remaining years o f his life.10 W hen the caravan had reached Birkat al-Hadjdj. the last stop before Cairo, die commander stayed in this locality overnight, and gave a feast for the notables and officers o f Cairo. T he soldiers fired their muskets and cannons, and at the end there were fireworks which Ewliyâ greatly admired. T he next morning’s principal event was the ceremonial entry into the city. T he notables o f Cairo and the palanquin preceded the commander, who stopped at the tents o f various officers to salute them . At the entrance to the city, by the gate o f Bäb N äsir, the governor’s soldiers awaited the returning pilgrims. Leaving his suite behind, the Pasha

Caravan Routes

39

galloped ahead to m eet die arriving palanquin. H e dien dism ounted, and for forty or fifty steps ran beside the camel carrying the symbol o f die sultanic presence. Invoking die prayers o f die Prophet, the governor kissed the palanquin’s covering. T he caravan commander now welcomed his illustrious visitor with military music, and dis­ m ounted to rub his face against the foot o f the Pasha, who thereupon honoured the new arrival with a gown o f honour lined with sable. In response, the caravan commander kissed the ground, dien entered the city by the gate o f B ib N isir. H e spent the night as a visitor to the mosque o f D iänbulät while die governor rem ained in 'Adiliya. At this time, the people o f Cairo came to the mosque to pay their respects to the palanquin. At night religious scholars, pious people and derwish shaykhs assembled in the mosque and recited prayers in honour o f the P rophet We observe certain obvious parallels between the two cerem onies; in both instances, the two principal actors were the caravan comm ander and the Pasha o f Egypt. T he initial ceremony o f handing over the money to be spent on the pilgrimage had its parallel in an equally official encounter at the end, in which the caravan com­ m ander gave an account o f how he had spent die money entrusted to him. T hese two ceremonies emphasized the delegation o f power and responsibility from the Pasha to the caravan commander. But at the same time the ultim ate sources o f power and responsibility were made vividly apparent. W hen the Pasha led about the camel with the sacred palanquin, he declared that he was the Prophet’s camel driver, and thereby established a close, albeit subordinate relationship to the founder o f die M uslim religion. Since Ewtiya’s contem poraries believed that the palanquin, a symbol o f die sovereignty o f Islamic rulers, was directly connected to the practice o f die Prophet, the religious aura o f this ceremony was reinforced.11 According to Ewliyä, the palanquin originally had contained the m ost indispensable personal belongings o f the Prophet, namely his gown, a toothbrush m anufactured from the twig o f a tree, wooden clogs and a ewer for religious ablutions (since clay apparently was not available, the latter consisted o f basketware made impermeable by a coat o f pitch). T he Prophet’s favourite spouse 'Aysha also supposedly had travelled in this palanquin. W hen the Pasha played die role o f die Prophet’s camel driver, literate contemporaries may have been rem inded o f another event, this time pertaining to M amluk history. W hen Sultan Baybars (reigned 1260-71) wanted to perform this same gesture o f humility and lead the camel around, a saint intervened and perform ed die office him self.12 Given all these motifs from Islamic sacred history, the Ottom an ruler and his governor were firmly linked to the religious sphere and legitimized by this connection.

40

P ilgrim s and S u lta n s

O n the other hand, a m ajor m isunderstanding had to be avoided: since die Sultan was far away in Istanbul and die Pasha represented him with the appropriate pomp and circumstance, die spectator might easily assume that die governor was the successor o f the Mamluk Sultans, particularly since the caravan comm ander continually emphasized his subordination to die Pasha. Given the long tradition o f M amluk independence, that particular m isunderstanding had to be avoided at all costs. T his was achieved by the Pasha's public proclamation that he derived his power from the Sultan. N ot die governor o f Egypt, but the Ottom an ruler was die servitor o f the Holy Places. M oreover, die Pasha explicitly declared that he was die Sultan's kuly his servitor, who owed his position entirely to die ruler’s pleasure and whose inheritance was to return to the latter's treasury at his death. Such was the normal status o f a high-level Ottom an official.13 Probably these very explicit declarations were m eant to balance the impression generated by die ceremony, namely that the governor possessed an independent source o f religious legitimation due to his role as protector o f the pilgrimage. T h e cerem onies at the departure and return o f die caravan also emphasized the ties o f the pilgrims to their respective regions o f origin, from which they were absent for m onths or sometimes even years, and to which some o f them would never return. T he cerem onies accompanying the departure o f the caravan diluted the traum atic moments o f departure and return by dividing diem up into a sequence o f events. F or both those who departed and those who stayed behind, the separation thus was made more bearable. T he caravan was not like a ship which at a given moment has left port and sailed out onto the high seas. After leaving Damascus, the Syrian caravan spent considerable time at the stopping place o f Muzavrib, where pilgrims did their shopping in preparation o f the journey. 4 In the Egyptian case, part o f the cerem onies o f departure and arrival took place at Birkat al-H adjdj, the first stop after Cairo. O f course, there were practical reasons for this arrangem ent, which was popular in other O ttom an commercial centres as well.15 If the caravan did not travel very far on the first day, latecomers could join it at the last moment, while travellers could send for items which they had forgotten. O n the other hand, during die last stages o f the return journey, the pilgrims and their animals were exhausted, so that it was o f vital importance that they should be m et by supply caravans while still in the desert, and relatives and friends o f die pilgrims often joined the m erchants and officials making up diese caravans. But beyond this utilitarian consideration, the ‘slicing up’ o f departure and return also had a symbolic significance.

Caravan Routes

41

TRAVEL R O U TES T he travel routes between Cairo and Damascus on the one hand, and M ecca on die other, are well known from a variety o f pilgrimage accounts, the handbook compiled by 'Abd al-K ädir al-D iazari. and a few Ottom an official documents. Apart from al-DiazarTs account, all these sources pertain to die seventeenth century (compare m ap).16 Particularly interesting is a docum ent from the year 1647, which perm its us to view the pilgrimage roads in connection with die major courier routes traversing the eastern half o f the Ottom an Em pire.17 Anatolia was crossed by three im portant routes, which Ottom an sources describe as ‘right’, ‘left’ and ‘centre*. T he right-hand route (the designation assumes a traveller turning his back to Istanbul) led from the capital to Aleppo and Dam ascus, crossing Anatolia from northwest to southeast.18 From Damascus to M ecca, the pilgrimage route and that used by official couriers were virtually identical, as the lack o f water severely limited choices. As it was, couriers would often have had trouble procuring horses even on the pilgrimage route, for some o f the stopping points, such as Tabuk according to Ewliyâ Celebi, only consisted o f an open space where water was to be found, and fodder was probably scarce.19 Even in some o f the desert forts along the hajj route, garrisons were unable to maintain themselves, and it is hard to imagine how the officials responsible for the couriers* m ounts protected the animals from thieves. Probably special arrangem ents were made whenever an official m essenger was sent outside die pilgrimage season. M oreover, die 1647 docum ent does not tell us how a courier travelled between Cairo and M ecca, although such couriers needed to be sent with reasonable frequency. We do, however, possess evidence for a courier route leading from Damascus to Cairo by way o f Ramla, Ghazzah and Bilbays, and also for a connection between Damascus and the pilgrimage centres o f Jerusalem and Khalil al-Rahm än (H ebron, alKhalil). T he courier route from Istanbul by way o f Dam ascus to M ecca constituted one o f the three m ajor routes o f the eastern Ottom an Em pire.20 In the empire as a whole, the Istanbul-M ecca route was one o f seven, for in the Rumelian part o f the empire three major routes also radiated from Istanbul. Otoe o f them was the successor to the Via Egnatia o f Roman times, linking the Ottom an capital to die Adriatic co ast T he central route led to Hungary, which at this time was still an Ottom an province, while for an observer turning his back to die capital, the right-hand route led through Moldavia and Walachia into southern Poland. M oreover, due to die recently increased importance o f Izm ir as a trade centre frequented by

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European m erchants, a new courier route to this city had been instituted not long before. Unfortunately, we have no way o f knowing w hether die Istanbul-D am ascus-M ecca road was m ore or less frequented than die other courier routes. But given the num erous sultanic rescripts to recipients in the Hejaz made out by die Ottom an chancery and recorded in the Registers o f Im portant Affairs, this route, at least in peacetim e, m ust have been among the most frequented courier routes. Apart from correspondence with die Sherif o f M ecca, the central adm inistration needed to maintain liaison with the emtn o f Jeddah, who directly represented the Ottom an Sultan in the region, aided by die kUts o f the two Holy Cities and a host o f lesser functionaries. Both kddts, as high Ottoman officials, maintained their own correspondence with the central administration. Since the affairs o f the pilgrimage were considered so im portant by die Ottom an government, M ecca and M edina were supervised much more closely than would otherwise have been true o f two remote towns separated from the core o f die empire by vast stretches o f desert.

SERVICES T O PILG RIM S AND SO LD IERS In principle, every pilgrim was responsible for his or her own supplies. Only pilgrims who had fallen on hard tim es were, at least to some extent, under the care o f the staff o f the caravan commander. But soldiers and officials who accompanied the caravan as part o f their official duties had to be supplied with food and water out o f public resources. A special bureau was in charge o f this business, called ‘T he Sultan’s L arder for the Noble Pilgrimage’. T he servitors o f this bureau made sure that water was carried along in skins whenever there was reason to assume that there would be a shortage at the next stopping point. From the 1636-7 accounts o f die Damascus caravan we learn that a hundred camels had been set aside merely for this purpose.21 Presumably this was a year o f drought, but even in normal years the Damascus caravan took along at least fifty camels to ensure an adequate water supply. T he Egyptian caravan also often had trouble securing the water it required, even though occasionally pilgrims were assisted by foreign M uslim rulers. T hus in 1543-4 an Indian prince, M ahm üd Shàh. sent a quantity o f ivory with the proviso that it be sold to finance the digging o f wells for the Egyptian pilgrimage caravan. T he project proved difficult to execute, however, and al-D iazari was not greatly impressed by the success o f die enterprise.22 T his author also reports that, on one o f his num erous trips to M ecca, he unsuccessfully tried

Caravan Routes

43

lo persuade the caravan comm ander to hand over some o f the water m eant for soldiers and officials to die poor. But the caravan com m ander apparently was worried about the possibility d u t the soldiers m ight run out o f water themselves. A thoroughly organized caravan with a well-oiled bureaucratic machine no doubt made life easier for ordinary pilgrims. At the same tim e, the privileges o f highlevel officials and the high operating costs o f die bureaucratic apparatus often made it impossible to give poor pilgrims help when they m ost needed i t Food for die return journey was sometimes deposited in desert forts protecting the caravan’s stopping points. If these supplies were not in the meantime plundered by Beduins, this was a convenient arrangem ent Sometimes, however, more complicated transactions were needed. T hus Ewliyä reports that, in 1672, supplies belonging to the Sultan’s L arder were entrusted in M uzayrib to Beduins who undertook to transport them to al-'U la.23 O ther Beduins, probably the allies o f those encountered in Muzayrib, then returned the supplies to the caravan in the locality previously agreed upon. We do not know w hether the grain was physically transported, or w hether the Beduins o f al-'U lâ owned stocks from which they supplied the caravan. Given the fact that in a year o f unseasonable rains Beduins would have had almost as much trouble getting the grain to al-'U lä as the caravan itself, the second possibility seems more likely. Because the caravan represented a formidable accumulation o f military and political power by desert standards, such arrangem ents could be made without taking too great a risk. F or charitable services to poor pilgrims, 60 camels were set aside in the Damascus caravan o f the late sixteenth century.24 Twenty o f them carried foodstuffs, particularly ship’s biscuits, while the rem aining camels were intended to m ount pilgrims in cases o f emergency. W henever the caravan stopped, a special tent was set up for the poor, who also received a warm meal out o f the Sultan's bounty. A rescript from the year 1576-7 shows that this kitchen did not always function in the m anner intended: sometimes the meals were cooked so late that the poor had no chance to eat before the caravan set out again.25 At times the poor also received alms in cash, or were issued new trousers and shoes. We also hear o f indigent pilgrims being buried in shrouds which had been donated by pious persons. Some o f the foundations disbursing alms to poor pilgrims went back to M amluk times. T hus in 1580-1 a charity established by the last m ajor Mamluk Sultan Kânsüh al-G hùn (reigned 1501-17) was still operating. It regularly provided twelve loads o f ship's biscuits to the poor.26 However the administration in Istanbul needed to supervise these foundations constantly to make sure that they did, in fact, serve the

44

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poor. As it was customary to allow various dignitaries {mád¿ib ai­ re'âyet) the use o f officially financed mounts, abuse was especially easy with respect to camels. In 1579-80 the governor o f Damascus was threatened by the central government that he would have to foot the bill out o f his own pocket if he insisted on assigning camels to people not entitled to diem .27 T hese admonitions, however, were only moderately successful. An account book o f the Damascus caravan from the year 1647 shows that various influential people were perm itted die. use o f no less than 349 camels. In the seventeenth century, however, this merely m eant the payment o f a subsidy, as the finances o f the state no longer perm itted m ajor largesse; and die dignitaries thus honoured had to foot a good part o f the bill themselves. But in the sixteenth century, the cost o f renting camels for a sizable num ber o f influential people had been paid by the Ottom an treasury.

SU PPLY ING CARAVANS O N T H E R ETU R N T R IP M ore effective than the provisions in favour o f poor pilgrims were the auxiliary caravans which, on a commercial basis, supplied the travellers with food, fodder and mounts. W hen this seemed necessary, the caravan comm ander demanded supplies for the return journey. T hus in 1567-8 the commander reported that food and camels would urgendy be required in al-'U la, for all supplies would be exhausted by the time the caravan reached this setdem ent.28 In such cases the governors o f provinces along the pilgrimage route were solicited for help. M oreover, the place where pilgrimage and supply caravans were to m eet was advanced further into the desert, and die treasurer o f Damascus province was given the right to contract a loan in order to supply the caravan. In particularly urgent cases, he had the right to spend extra money on die caravan without first obtaining die consent o f the chief treasurer.29 T h e provincial adm inistrators in Egypt and Syria were obviously not in a position to check the references o f those people who volun­ teered to m eet the pilgrimage caravan in al-'U lä or K al'at al-'Azlam. As a result, legitimate traders and camel drivers were accompanied by a num ber o f less welcome visitors. Ewliyä Celebi claimed that the pilgrims, exhausted after their long trek, were often unable to guard their possessions against the thieves o f Cairo, who Still steal one's eye from under the eye m akeup'.30 Apart from thieves there were also outright robbers, whom the disgusted traveller compares with the 'Black Scribe' (Kara Yazid[i) and Diänbulädoghlu. some o f die major

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45

robbers and rebels from the crisis yean before and after 1600. Every now and then travellen were awakened by cries o f ‘D on't let him get away!' and ‘Now he is gone!'31 T he streets and m arkets o f Cairo, on the other hand, m ust have been unusually quiet during diese last weeks o f the pilgrimage season.

A PERM ANENT SO U RCE O F TRO U BLE: T H E ESTA TES O F DECEASED PILG RIM S T o die average Ottom an pilgrim, protecting life and property from thieves was difficult enough. Things got worse if a companion died on the road. G reat courage, skill and finesse were needed to protect the estate o f the deceased from the depredations o f the official in charge o f securing heirless property on behalf o f the Ottom an fisc, and hand it over to the legal heirs. T he general rule was that heirless property accrued to the fisc. But in the context o f the pilgrimage caravans this often was taken to mean that property could be confiscated if none o f the heirs was present in the caravan. H eirs who had stayed at home m ust have complained about diese abuses, for the central adm inisttration issued not a few rescripts to bring the situation under control. Pilgrims were explicitly perm itted to choose an executor who could take charge o f die estate.32 If a pilgrim died without appointing an executor, in the Egyptian caravan the fisc took over. In the Syrian caravan a more liberal rule applied, and fellow villagers or townsmen o f the deceased could also take charge o f the estate.33 Only if such people could not be located either, did the deceased's property fall to the Ottoman fisc. Yet these rulings were not always applied in practice, as die officials dealing with heirless property had paid appreciable sums for their appointments, and therefore tried to maximize profits during their limited tenure. Tem ptations were num erous, as many pilgrims carried sizable quantities o f money or goods to defray travel expenses. Some officials made a terrible reputation for themselves: ‘W hen a M uslim pilgrim dies, his tent companions are afraid o f the fiscal official, the scribe and die kadi. In order to avoid harm to property and honour, they do not wash the dead person and do not wrap him /her into a shroud, nor do they pray the prayers for the dead', as prescribed by Islamic ritual.34 Instead, the body was furtively buried in the deceased's te n t Repeated attem pts to curb the misbehaviour o f fiscal officials m et with only m odest success, and these people probably were among die most detested members o f the caravan.

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T H E NUM BER O F PILG RIM S Even though the Ottom an state o f the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries possessed a well-organized financial bureaucracy and fre­ quently counted its taxpayers, there was never any attem pt to count die pilgrims to M ecca. So we are lim ited to a few more or less informed guesses. T he detailed description o f the Cairo pilgrimage caravan which we owe to al-D iazari claims that, in 1279, 40,000 Egyptians and as many Syrians and Iraqis undertook the pilgrimage.35 A Christian pilgrim from the fourteenth century, Jacobo o f Verona, encountered a single hajj caravan in the desert and estim ated it at 17,000 people. In an anonymous account from die year 1580, probably written by a Portuguese, we find the figure o f 50,000 participants for the Egyptian caravan alone.36 We also possess some late medieval figures concerning the num ber o f camels in pilgrimage caravans. T hese appear more reliable, as camels are easier to count than people. A m ajor Syrian or Egyptian caravan might be made up o f m ore than 11,000 camels, but a small Iraqi caravan consisted o f no more than four to five hundred. T he Italian traveller Ludovico di Varthéma, who converted to Islam and visited die Holy Cities in 1503 as a M amluk, reports that his caravan carried 16,000 camel loads o f water. Ludovico di Varthéma travelled with the Dam ascus pilgrims; die Cairo caravan arrived in M ecca just before he did and, according to his estimate, it consisted o f 64,000 animals. T he Portuguese anonymous author believes that the Cairo caravan in about 1580 was made up o f at least 40,000 camels. Unfortunately, it is all but impossible to compute the num ber o f hum an beings from the num ber o f camels, for many o f the wealthier pilgrims brought along several loads o f supplies and trade goods. Very few eye witnesses o f the prayer m eeting at 'Arafat have recorded num erical data. Ludovico di Varthéma states that, in 1503, wealthy people sacrificed a total o f 30,000 sheep; however, quite a few o f them offered more than one animal. Supposedly 30,000 poor people were assembled on this occasion, and they consumed the m eat o f die sacrificial animals. According to the anonymous Portuguese author, 200,000 people and 300,000 animals participated in a late sixteenth-century prayer m eeting at 'Arafat.37 T he Spaniard 'Ah Beg, who visited M ecca in 1807, mentions 80,000 m en, 2000 women and a thousand children.38 Seven years later, John Lewis Burckhardt estim ated that about 70,000 people participated in the prayer meeting at 'Arafat.39 T his total includes not only the pilgrims who had come with the Cairo and Damascus caravans, but also Africans, Indians and

Caravan R o u ta

47

Afghans who had travelled by a variety o f land and sea routes. In addition, there were people from M edina present, while die M eccans themselves probably constituted the majority o f all pilgrims. Obviously, these estimates are not based on counts and therefore should be treated with caution.

FINANCIAL A D M IN ISTRA TO RS IN T H E PILGRIM AGE CARAVAN In this section we will not deal with die resources, both official and private, which ultimately paid for the pilgrimage (see C hapter 4), but with the day-to-day business o f the caravans’ financial adm inistrators. T he activities o f diese m odest but indispensable personages are recorded in the accounts o f the Damascus caravan, particularly the so-called daybooks (rüznámd¿e). A daybook from 1592-3 records, in the case o f each expenditure, die fimction o f the official who had ordered it.40 Usually no cash changed hands in the office o f the caravan adm inistration itself. T he head o f the ‘Sultan’s L arder for the Noble Pilgrimage' or other officials gave die payees pieces o f paper with their seals, which the latter then presented to the financial adm inistration for payment. Some people who had delivered goods to die caravan brought along a docum ent from die kadi attesting their claims. In procuring supplies for the Damascus caravan, the governor o f the province played a central role. At tim es his chief doorkeeper deputized for him, but the more im portant payments were made in the governor’s presence. T he Pasha also checked the accounts o f the pilgrimage caravan if there was any suspicion o f irregularities.41 In case such a suspicion was confirmed, the official responsible was required to make good the damage; after the accounts had been settled, a note to that effect was included in die registers. M ost caravan expenses had been m et before the pilgrims left Damascus; but occasionally additional purchases became necessary en route. Sometimes the caravan ran out o f cash, and pilgrims and m erchants were required to raise the money needed. T his arrange­ m ent was familiar from m erchant caravans, money being raised ad hoc when the caravan had to pay customs and tolls.42 In other instances officials borrowed money from wealthy pilgrims and m erchants who happened to be travelling with the pilgrimage caravan. O ften these debts were only repaid after a long lapse o f tim e, particularly when a member o f the caravan administration had reason to think that his

48

P ilgrim s and S u lta n s

expenditures m ight be questioned. In 1578-9 a form er official o f the Dam ascus caravan made sure that he went on campaign when the day o f reckoning approached, and 5600 gold pieces had to be returned to a creditor o f die caravan.43 M any caravans owed considerable amounts o f money. In 1656-7, debts am ounted to 23,000 esedi ghurush (Dutch silver coins, a popular means o f payment in the seventeenth-century Ottom an Empire). In this case, some o f the creditors were tax collectors active in Tripoli (Syria) and Safed (Palestine).44 O ther creditors had something to do with die port town o f Saydä (Sidon), but die docum ent does not specify the nature o f the relationship.45 Since many French traders visited Saydä, it is possible that die creditors in question were long­ distance m erchants dealing on the one hand with the Hejaz, and on the other with their European opposite num bers. Even the head o f a craft guild was listed among die creditors o f the caravan adminis­ tration. T here was a good deal o f variation among die sums advanced by individual creditors. O ne o f die tax collectors had lent 6066 esedi ghurushj and two o f the presum ed Saydä m erchants 2000 each. But other creditors were owed only a few hundred ghurush each; probably, they had delivered goods for which they had not yet received payment.

CAM ELS AM D CAM EL ENTREPREN EU RS Securing camels in the appropriate quantity and quality constituted one o f die m ost difficult problem s confronting the caravan adminis­ tration. Soldiers and officials by themselves needed more than 600 animals. In addition, a large num ber o f spare camels had to be taken along, as losses on the long route to M ecca were quite high. T his was merely the official part o f the caravan, and thousands o f camels were procured privately by pilgrims and m erchants. In order to encourage Beduins to supply the caravan with camels, their elders were sometimes granted the right to exhibit the flag o f the Sultan.46 T hese honours occasionally turned out to be counter­ productive, as they intensified rivalries between different groups, and if the latter degenerated into fights, the supply o f camels was adversely affected. T o be less dependent on such eventualities, the Ottom an adm inistration purchased its own camels and sometimes even sent them to the greener pastures o f Anatolia to keep them in good condition.47 M oreover, Sultan M uräd Ill’s G rand Vizier in 1586-7 experim ented with a new solution to the problem o f camel supply.48 Ibrâhîm Pasha established a pious foundation in favour o f

Caravan Routes

49

die Damascus pilgrimage caravan, and donated 600 camels to die new establishm ent. T he animals were placed at die disposal o f die caravan commander. T he provincial treasury o f Damascus was very much opposed to the whole project, however, claiming that the money needed for the upkeep o f the animals constituted a needless long­ term commitment of resources. As a result, the foundation did not continue long in operation. T his attitude o f the Damascene finance adm inistration may have had something to do with the fact that a num ber o f established entrepreneurs in die city made a living by renting out camels. T he docum ent which recounts the sad fate o f Ibrâhîm Pasha’s foundation is quite explicit in this respect: camel entrepreneurs ( mukawmm), fearing for their profits, made sure that the foundation’s herd was soon dispersed. However, the mukawmms probably made m ost o f their money from pilgrims and m erchants, while die service o f the Sultan was not a very profitable venture. In 1578-9 pilgrims paid between 50 and 55 gold pieces to get from Damascus to M ecca, while die Ottom an administration disbursed no m ore than 28 gold pieces for the same service.49 In die seventeenth century, prices rem ained at about die same level; ordinary animals cost the Ottom an adminis­ tration 26 gold pieces each, while the more expensive camels ridden by dignitaries rated 30 gold pieces per trip.50 Admittedly, the camel entrepreneurs may have received some money over and above the sums officially assigned to them . But private persons certainly were die more lucrative customers. In die sixteenth century the Ottom an adm inistration several times tried to secure the services o f camel entrepreneurs without any cash disbursem ent at all. Instead the latter were offered military prebends (timar, ze'àmet) o f die kind which supported Ottom an cavalry troops.51 T his novelty did not work out very well; in 1578-9 die governor and finance director o f Damascus were asked to determ ine w hether the Ottom an treasury could expect to save money by giving out such grants, or w hether entrepreneurs would continue to demand cash from the Ottoman adm inistration even after receiving timárs and ze'omets. Apparently the whole business was given up soon after, for in seventeenth-century accounts we find no further trace o f it. Before the Damascus hajj caravan left the fair o f Muzayrib, located a few days' travel to the south o f die city, camel entrepreneurs working for the state received an advance payment in cash. Further advances were often made in the course o f die journey, and if the entrepreneurs were not able to obtain money from the caravan authorities, they took a leaf out o f the caravan com m ander's book and put pressure on m erchants accompanying die caravan in order to ob­ tain a loan.52 Accounts were settled upon return to Damascus. O ther

50

P ilgrim s and S u lta n s

entrepreneurs managed to secure payment before even leaving for M ecca, but that in no way prevented them from demanding loans from the caravan treasu ry /3 Even though this procedure was illegal, many camel entrepreneurs managed to obtain about the same amount in loans and advances as they had received as regular payments. A popular pretext was the need to purchase grain and other foodstuffs, even though assignments from the ‘Sultan’s L arder for the Noble Pilgrimage’ had already been obtained. N ot all entrepreneurs managed to make a profit, however, as risks were considerable even in ‘good’ years. A camel entrepreneur returning to Damascus might discover that he owed the adminis­ tration money, because die am ount received as advances surpassed the total price the authorities were willing to pay.54 Some entrepre­ neurs devised quite remarkable strategies when they found them ­ selves in this plight. O ne man, who died deeply in debt, was found to have sold his possessions or turned them into a pious foundation; he m ust have hoped to avoid confiscation in that way. T he case was subm itted to die Council o f State (diwàn-i humàyàn), which decided that a person with debts to the Treasury had no right to constitute a pious foundation. Sale and foundation deeds were therefore declared invalid.55 O ther bankrupt entrepreneurs fled to rem ote provinces, such as Egypt or the Yemen. O ne o f the risks that camel entrepreneurs had to bear was the high mortality o f their beasts, for presumably they had to provide substitutes whenever one o f their customers lost his m ount. At least, this was the rule in late nineteenth- and early tw entieth-century Damascus, and although sixteenth-century docum ents say nothing explicit on this point, indirect evidence makes it seem likely that this rule existed in earlier tim es as well.56 Camel entrepreneurs often complained o f soldiers and officials m istreating the m ounts entrusted to their care by overloading them with trade goods.57 W hen the animals then collapsed, the entrepreneurs were asked to foot the bill. T hese complaints induced die Ottoman adm inistration to issue a rescript setting maxima for camel loads. But rules o f this kind were often broken, and the problem rem ained. C ertain entrepreneurs invested large sums o f money in the camel business, while others were discouraged by the high risks and provided camels as a sideline only. In 1591-2 some o f the larger entrepreneurs supplied 100-120 beasts.58 We have little information about camel prices, but in 1570-9 an animal could be bought for 6 0 70 Ottom an gold pieces.59 Between 1578-9 and 1591-2 the Ottom an gold coin rem ained stable; thus a large entrepreneur o f the late sixteenth century invested between 6000 and 8500 gold pieces. But sums o f this magnitude were the exception rather than the rule; in the

Caravan Routes

51

account books we find payments to quite a few entrepreneurs who had provided no more than a few dozen animals.

INVOLUNTARY SERVICES In some instances camel entrepreneurs did not willingly furnish their animals to Ottoman dignitaries on official business, but were forced to do so. In 1591-2 some Damascus notables managed to avoid this unwelcome responsibility by bribing the caravan commander, and that year there were not enough entrepreneurs with the requisite capital.60 T he following year a Damascene named Hekimoghlu Ahmed, whom rum our granted a fortune o f five million akie (or 41,667 gold pieces according to the official exchange rate), was ordered to furnish the caravan with one hundred camels. If the rum our was correct, Hekimoghlu was m eant to invest about 15 per cent o f his fortune. W hether he did so or not is impossible to determ ine, however, and documents from the seventeenth century make no further m ention o f entrepreneurs rendering forced services to the pilgrimage. Even though this case seems to have been exceptional in the history o f the Damascus caravan, it conformed to late sixteenth-century Ottom an administrative practice as docum ented for Anatolia and Rumelia.61 T o provide m eat for the inhabitants o f Istanbul, and particularly the court and janissaries, wealthy inhabitants o f the Balkans were obliged to furnish a set num ber o f sheep at officially determ ined prices. Some o f the people involved {¿¡eùb) possessed large flocks. But others drastically had to change their patterns o f investment so as to comply with official demands. If Ewliyä Celebi’s evaluation is at all realistic, some o f die rteleb managed to make a profit out o f their involuntary investment.6 2 But sixteenth- and seventeenth-century archival materials show that many d¿eleb attem pted to avoid service, so that new people constantly needed to be recruited; apparently, m ost d[eleb worked at a loss. Even less popular was service as a butcher in Istanbul, at least during the second half o f the sixteenth century, when wealthy provincials who had made themselves unpopular by usury were often drafted to perform this service. For political reasons, Istanbul m eat prices during this period were set at so low a level that they did not cover costs, and many butchers sustained heavy losses or even went bankrupt In the long run, however, the Ottoman government did not continue this policy, probably because it became more and more difficult to find people with the requisite fortunes who were not in the employ o f the Sultan and thereby exempt from services o f this kind. In the seventeenth century, Istanbul m eat prices were allowed to find

52

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

a level that perm itted butchers to live off their trade. Only die forced deliveries o f sheep continued. In the case o f Hekïmoghlu, there is no evidence that the camel hire to which he was entided was fixed at a punitively low level. In fact diere is no evidence at all that the Ottom an adm inistration interfered in the formation o f camel prices. However, such an interference probably did occur: between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, officially adm inistered prices were very m uch part o f Ottom an economic life.63 Even in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the governor o f Damascus and the Sherif o f M ecca prom ulgated the prices camel entrepreneurs could charge for the outgoing and return trips respectively.64 Admittedly entrepreneurs could try to charge higher prices under a variety o f pretexts. But these men did not possess a monopoly, as at least the wealthier pilgrims could and did buy their own camels. Camel suppliers could not pass on all their losses to the pilgrims, therefore, and bankruptcies were not a rare occurrence.

C O N TIN U ITY AND L O N G -T E R M CHA NGE If we compare die information provided by 'Abd al-K adir al-D iazari concerning the late M amluk and early Ottom an pilgrimage caravans with die data provided by late sixteenth- and early seventeenthcentury archival m aterial, elements o f continuity strike the eye. W hat­ ever change occurred from M amluk to Ottom an tim es happened gradually, and die Ottom an adm inistration’s approach was strictly pragmatic. In the late sixteenth century, the Registers o f Im portant Affairs every year contained rescripts concerned with concrete complaints. We learn o f a caravan commander who refused to stop the caravan at prayer tim e, so that pilgrims neglected their daily worship for fear o f being left behind.6* O ther pilgrims were given to the enjoyment o f fireworks, which disturbed the pious concentration o f their m ore restrained brethren. After their return to Damascus, Istanbul or Cairo, or even while still travelling, pilgrims probably made an official record o f their complaints and deposited it with the relevant kddt or in the offices o f the provincial governor. M oreover, secretaries o f die caravan commander, who tike al-D iazari were concerned with the affairs o f the pilgrimage on a full-tim e basis, probably collected, organized and passed on these complaints to Istanbul. Admittedly we have no proof that this is what occurred. But if this assum ption were totally false, die authorities in Istanbul could not have been as well-informed as our records show them to have been. T he experience accumulated in Istanbul constituted the base o f

Caravan Routes

53

new regulations and, in the long run, modified previous practice. But this was by no means a universal rule. As we have seen, the attem pt to force rich men to furnish the caravan with camels ended in failure, and it would be a mistake to believe that every Sultan’s command was automatically obeyed. O ther changes were caused more by the general political situation than by the specific needs o f the caravan. In the eighteenth century, the Pasha o f Damascus was normally appointed commander o f the pilgrimage, while in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries he had intervened only in urgent m atters and otherwise limited him self to a supervisory role.66 T his change was due to a different distribution o f power in the province. Before the fall o f the D ruze amir Fakhr al-D rn M a'än in 1635, a num ber o f families with power bases in rural Syria had played a significant role in provincial politics, and were integrated into the Ottom an system by receiving the honour o f commanding the pilgrimage caravan. But when these families were marginalized in the later seventeenth century, a caravan comm ander chosen from among their m idst did not benefit either the Ottom an central government or the pilgrims themselves. O n the other hand, the early eighteenth century was a period o f political reform , when the Ottom an administration tried to reassert control over the pilgrimage route, which had slipped away during the H absburg-O ttom an war o f 168399. T hus it m ust have seemed expedient to grant a single figure sweeping powers, and this happened to be the governor o f Damascus. As a result, we should imagine the pilgrims moving through a political terrain «diere they had no control over the main actors, even though in day-to-day m atters at least the wealthiest and best-connected among the pilgrims were not unable to influence events to their own advantage. T his situation will become even clearer when we analyse the institutions concerned with the military protection o f the pilgrimage caravan.

3 Caravan Security

It was one o f die obligations o f the Sultan as ‘Servant o f the Holy Places' to protect the pilgrims during their long journey through the Syrian and Arabian deserts. T his was not an easy task, as the deserts were controlled by the Ottom an Sultan only to a limited extent. T he Yemenis travelled through a vast region where even nominal control by the Padishah in Istanbul ended in die 1630s. M oreover, the pilgrims who arrived from Basra in a special caravan needed to traverse a desert over which Ottom an control was all but non-existent, even though Basra itself formed part o f the Ottom an Empire. It was not possible to secure the safety o f the pilgrims by stationing major bodies o f troops in the area. Q uite apart from the expenses involved, large garrisons would have used up much o f the water urgently needed by the pilgrims and the Beduins who constituted the perm anent inhabitants o f the desert region. T he pilgrimage caravan was accompanied by a detachm ent o f janis­ saries and, in the case o f the Syrian caravan, by cavalrymen in receipt o f a military tax assignment (tintât•). Only in case o f disturbances in the desert or the Holy Cities was this detachm ent increased to a more impressive size. For the most part, the safety o f the pilgrimage caravan was assured by official subsidies to the Beduins living along the hajj route (siirre). In Ottom an government circles, these payments were interpreted as a counterpart to the food and water which the Beduins delivered to the caravan. But when the payments in question were not made on time or did not satisfy the recipients in term s o f quantity or quality, the Beduins felt justified in attacking the pilgrims and thus securing their subsidies manu militari. T herefore the siim

54

Carava» Security

55

should be regarded not as a m ere payment for services rendered, but as a means o f protecting the caravan from Beduin attack.

BEDUIN SU BSID IES For die late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries we possess accounts o f die Syrian and Egyptian provincial finance adminis­ trations, which record official expenses related to die caravan (see C hapter 2). In the secondary literature it has become customary to call these accounts ‘budgets’ even though they record past expenses, and do not constitute a guide for future behaviour as is true o f regular budgets.1 Some o f these provincial accounts have even been published. But they were intended to serve stricdy practical purposes and in no way to stand as scientific statistics. T herefore the headings under which expenditures were recorded differ from one account to the next without formal redefinition o f die relevant categories. Officials o f the time knew exactly what they were documenting, but very often we do not, and therefore accounts a few years or decades apart are often difficult to compare. M inor differences between years, therefore, should not be made to carry the weight o f too much interpretation. But, even so, the provincial accounts are o f great significance because they allow us to establish an order o f magnitude with respect to the expenses o f the pilgrimage caravan’s official section. A further difficulty stems from die fact that Ottom an accounts o f the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries use a variety o f coins, which exchanged at different rates in different parts o f the country. Only for some o f the major cities do we possess lists o f the relevant exchange rates, and even these lists are often incomplete.2 Extrapolations are therefore unavoidable, which increases the possibility o f mistakes. But similar problem s are quite familiar to the historian o f die European M iddle Ages or the Early M odern period. We thus have no alternative but to use the accounts with a degree o f scepticism and to assume that even dubious statistics are better than none at all. T he Egyptian budget o f 1596-7 contains the names o f individuals and tribal units receiving subsidies.3 Presumably die individuals recorded did not receive grants for their own exclusive use, but also represented groups o f Beduins. Sometimes the provincial accounts inform us o f the stretch o f road for which the recipients were responsible. In Table I we have attem pted to separate subsidies in the narrow sense o f the word from the recompense for goods and services furnished. Payments for the provision o f camels have been elim inated

56

P ilgrim s and S u lta n s

T ab le I Payments to Beduins from Egyptian Provincial Budgets, to Facilitate H ajj Travel Payment in para

Payment in geld (sikke-i hasene)

Beduins, unspecified2

211,451

5286

1009/ 1600

Beduins, unspecified

206,170

5154

1010-11/ 1601-2

Beduins, unspecified (only payments not in compensation for specific services)

208,455

5211

1020/ 1611-12

Beduins, unspecified

222,945

5574

1023-4/ 1614-15

as in 1020/ 1611-12

222,945

5574

Year

Recipients

1005-6/ 1596-7*

1 Shaw (1968), P- 158 ff. 2 The Banü Husayn, descendants of the Prophet, were for the most part townsmen and not desert dwellers. But the accounts do not always perm it us to distinguish subsidies to the Banü Husayn, so they have been included in the total.

whenever recognizable as such. But often a tidy separation was impossible, because the accounts contain nothing but global figures. As far as Ottom an treasury officials were concerned, the difference between payment for services rendered and subsidies was quite irrelevant. In both cases, the ultim ate aim was identical, namely to provide for the safe transit o f the pilgrimage caravan. In the relationship o f Ottom an adm inistrators and pilgrims on the one hand, and Beduins on the other, political and economic factors were so closely intertwined as to be inextricable. T he Ottom an adm inistration obliged the Beduins to provide goods and services, but payments were especially generous so as to cem ent political loyalties. Between 1596-7 and 1614-15, 5100-5800 Ottom an gold coins were assigned every year from Egyptian provincial revenues as sum payments to Beduins. Oscillations are m oderate and m ust have had local reasons which we cannot now determ ine. In die Syrian case, changes from year to year are m uch more dram atic (see Table 2). Payments to tribes whose names appear in the table, such as the 'Anaza or WahTdät probably constituted only a share o f total subsidy

Caravan Security

57

Payment in para

Payment in gold (sikke-i hasene)

101,280

2532

I ll

T ab le 2 Payments to Beduins from Syrian Provincial Budgets, to Facilitate H qjj Travel

Year

Recipients

1005/ 1596-7

Rashid,ji N u'aym , Saläma (Beduins)

1018/ 1609- 10 1019/ 1610- 11

Beduins, unspecified Beduins, unspecified

9057

1020/ 1611-12

Beduins, unspecified

11,678

1085/ 1674-5

Beduins: Banü Sakhr,1 'U rbän-iKarak, 'Anaza, W ahldit, al-'Ü m r

4271

9076

Payment to Salim a, for transportation T otal (1674-5)

2220

4718

9268

64912

13,794

1 On die Barm Sakhr. see Hütteroth and Abdulfattah (1977), p. 169 f. Evliya Çelibi (1896-1938), vol. 9, p. 571, gives a list o f Beduin groups in receipt o f subsidies in the late seventeenth century. On the 'Anaza, see Rafeq (1970), passim. 2 This is no longer the sikke-i hasene, but a later and less valuable gold coin known as iherift. Since our data are insufficient, conversion is approximate.

payments, albeit an im portant one. For although the Rashid, N u'aym and Saläma were influential tribes frequently m entioned in die context o f the pilgrimage, the provincial accounts do not m ention them as siirre recipients. It is probable, however, that die increase in surre payments by the beginning o f the seventeenth century (see Table 2) is more than a mere optical illusion due to the dubious character o f the older data. For during those years die K urdish Pasha D iin b u lidoghlu 'Ah and the D ruze prince Fakhr al-D m 'Ah II were both trying to seize power in die Syrian provinces.5 As a result o f the ensuing unrest, the Beduins living along the hajj route were able to demand higher surre payments than was customary. T he Ottom an

58

P ilgrim s and Su lta n s

adm inistration having entrusted the Beduin notable Ahmad b. T urabiy with the task o f breaking Fakhr al-D in’s resistance, many tribal units were induced to abandon their normal routes o f migration, and needed to be compensated by increased subsidies.6 N or were the 1670s a particularly calm period; but if the accounts o f 1674-5 reflect reality to some extent, disturbances were less dramatic and surre increases accordingly less marked than at the beginning o f the century. For 1681-3 we possess a further group o f Syrian provincial accounts, which unfortunately contain only lump sums for all expenses connected with the Damascus pilgrimage caravan, so that the height o f Beduin subsidies cannot be determ ined.7 But in spite o f all fliese gaps in our information we can conclude that payments from Syrian revenue sources were usually higher than those derived from Egypt. Given the m uch more limited Syrian revenues, subsidies to the Beduins supplying and protecting the hajj caravan constituted a major item in the provincial ‘budget’. At the beginning o f the seventeenth century, the Ottom an adm inistration paid out between 15,000 and 17,000 gold pieces to the Beduins residing in the vicinity o f the caravan route; a sizable share, however, was handed over in the shape o f silver coins. T hus the Beduins were able to purchase certain goods in urban markets, such as arms and textiles, and thereby were integrated into the Ottom an economic structure.

T H E COM M ANDER O F T H E PILGRIM AGE CARAVAN In die long run, die political situation in the desert, but also in the cultivated regions o f Egypt and Syria, determ ined the height o f siirre payments. In the short run, however, the amount o f money to be paid over was determ ined in annual negotiations.8 O n the Ottom an side, the negotiators were the commanders o f the Syrian and Egyptian pilgrimage caravans, supported by the central adm inistration in Istanbul. T he Beduins were represented by their tribal leaders, often allied to the Sherifs o f M ecca by ties which were more or less solid according to circumstances. Since Beduin leaders did not put down their impressions in writing, documentation concerning the negotia­ tion process is one-sided. T here are not even any neutral observers, for Ottom an writers not in an official position at the time o f their pilgrimage, such as Ewliyä Celebi or 'Abd al-Rahm an H ibri, were close enough to the bureaucracy to reflect the official point of view.9 Ewliyä and other authors have drawn heroic images o f caravan commanders and military governors; but these accounts should be

Caravan Security

59

taken as part o f the self-image o f the Ottom an bureaucracy and not necessarily as a faithful depiction o f reality. Particularly die Egyptian records show us die caravan comm ander as responsible for the purchasing o f supplies.10 In addition he was in charge o f distributing subsidies to the Beduins and comm ander o f the detachm ent accompanying the caravan. H e decided how long the caravan was to rem ain at different resting places. In case o f danger he could order a detour or withdrawal to a fortified town or camp. Finally it was his responsibility to bring the Sultan's pious donations safely to M ecca and M edina. T hese basic responsibilities o f the caravan commander had been determ ined in M amluk tim es and did not change during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; this continuity becomes obvious when we study the sequence o f appoint­ m ent documents contained in the M ühimme D efterleri. In 1591-2, when Ahmed Beg, governor o f the sub-province o f Gaza, was appointed commander o f the pilgrimage, the importance o f continuity was specifically invoked, and a major reason for the appointm ent was tiie fact that Ahmed Beg had successfully commanded pilgrimage caravans in the past.11 T he appointm ent docum ent particularly recognized his m erits in procuring supplies for the caravan and having them transported to diverse stopping points. According to al-DiazarTs account o f the caravan in late M amluk times, sim ilar administrative and political skills had been dem anded o f earlier caravan com­ m anders.12 In the appointm ent docum ent concerning the provincial governor o f Gaza, only one o f the customary duties o f the caravan commander is not m entioned, namely the safe delivery o f the Sultan's gifts to M ecca and M edina. In practical life, however, some caravan commanders considered this their principal responsibility. W hen Ewliyä Celebi travelled to the Hejaz in 1671-2, the Syrian caravan was caught in a rainstorm only a few miles south o f Damascus. Soon the desert was transform ed into a sea o f m ud, in which the camels were unable to move.13 A delegation o f pilgrims visited the caravan commander, who in that particular year happened to be the governor o f Damascus, to discuss what should be done next. T he governor received them most ungraciously, and declared that if need be he would abandon the pilgrims to their fate in the middle o f the desert. H is own responsibility, he declared, was limited to the safe transport o f the Sultan’s gifts to M ecca and M edina, and o f the state palanquin symbolizing the Sultan's presence to 'A rafat.14 Now this was an unusual situation, as the governor had been charged with a punitive expedition against the rebellious Sherif o f M ecca. In this particular year, therefore, political and military considerations m ust have been more im portant than in normal years. But this incident dem onstrates

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that individual caravan commanders possessed, or thought they possessed, some leeway in determ ining the relative weight o f their different responsibilities. In the first half o f the sixteenth century, when Ottoman rule over Egypt was still being established, the authorities in Istanbul were careful not to appoint a M amluk to die office o f caravan commander. T his fact is worth noting, as at the time local administration rem ained solidly in M amluk hands; die central government was anxious to avoid anything that might endanger the regular collection o f revenues.15 But the caravan comm ander was not concerned with tax collection, and it was considered necessary to establish a balance between M amluk and non-M am luk officials. T hese conditions were o f special significance as the governor o f the pilgrimage caravan had reasonable expectations o f being appointed governor o f Egypt in the future. Beyond general considerations o f this type, the factors which had a role to play in the appointm ent o f a caravan comm ander are recognizable only from docum entation pertaining to the second half o f the sixteenth century. Candidates willing to subsidize the caravan out o f their own fortunes apparently had an advantage over their com petitors. T hus in 1560-1 Kara Shähin M ustafa Pasha, who as a governor o f Yemen had been severely criticized for his avarice, declared him self willing to conduct die caravan with an official budget o f only 14 ‘purses' o f akce.16 Possibly M ustafa Pasha was trying to counterbalance the impact o f the complaints levied against him by a show o f generosity. At the same time officials in Istanbul commented that the Pasha's family lived in Cairo and that he was willing to pay in hard cash for the privilege o f being reunited with diem . All these special circum stances obviously did not apply to M ustafa Pasha's successor. B ut die responsible authorities in the capital pretended to believe that future caravan commanders would also be willing to run the caravan on a budget o f 14 ‘purses', even though before M ustafa Pasha's tenure o f office, 18 ‘purses' had been die going rate.17 T he docum ent we possess concerns the negotiations which preceded the appointm ent o f M ustafa Pasha's successor. T he governor o f Egypt pleaded that 16 ‘purses’ constituted the minimum sum on which the caravan could be conducted. If the sum offered lay below this limit, Özdem iroghlu 'O thm än Pasha, known as a most successful military commander, would be unable til accept the appointm ent.18 T his argum ent induced the authorities in Istanbul to increase their offer to 16 ‘purses’, but the governor was emphatically informed that a higher offer was totally out o f the question. O ther considerations which might determ ine an appointm ent involved relations between die two caravan comm anders, at tim es a thorny issue. In the second half o f the sixteenth century, disputes between soldiers o f the Syrian and

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Egyptian caravans occurred frequently, particularly when the two groups escorted the Sultan's palanquin (imahmal). T he subject o f these disputes were mainly questions o f precedence at 'Arafat, and usually occurred at the time when the prayer m eeting which constitutes the high point o f die pilgrimage had been completed and the pilgrims hurriedly left die site.19 In M amluk tim es, die Cairo mahmal had enjoyed precedence, but toward the end o f the sixteenth century the Ottom an central adm inistration decided that die two mahmals should leave 'Arafat at the same time. T his rule if anything exacerbated disputes. In 1570-1 the quarrel even degenerated into a brawl in which the Egyptian caravan comm ander was wounded in the head. Given this situation, the responsible officials in Istanbul attem pted to defuse m atters by appointing caravan commanders who were on good term s with their opposite num bers. In 1580-1 K änsüh Beg, long-tim e commander o f the Damascene pilgrimage caravan, had nothing but praise for his colleague 'AH Beg, form er governor o f Jerusalem , who had just brought the caravan safely back under very difficult conditions.20 'Ah Beg therefore was reappointed commander o f the Cairo caravan, and only his death shortly before die pilgrims were due to leave Egypt prevented him from actually filling the office. Occasionally the authorities in Istanbul appointed two m en to command the Damascus pilgrimage in one and the same year. These appointments may reflect disputes between Syrian amirs, in which the central government preferred not to take sides. By appointing the representative first o f one faction and then o f the other, die central power probably intended to play off the two sides against one another and thereby retain control o f the situation. In certain instances, however, such a policy severely inconvenienced the pilgrims, for they risked attack by die partisans o f the man disappointed in his hopes for preferm ent and more than ready to prove his rival’s ineffectiveness. In other instances, Istanbul m ight appoint two candidates when the central adm inistration’s officials did not feel well enough informed about the distribution o f power in the Syrian desert to make a choice. In that case, the decision was left to the governor o f Damascus, who was in a better position to judge the situation even though he generally held office for a short time only. T hus we possess a rescript from the Ottoman Sultan dated 1570-1, in which die governor o f Damascus is asked to choose between the governor o f Gaza, Ridwän Beg, and his own finance director, 'Ah Beg.21 Somewhat more complicated was the case recorded in 1585-6. Once m ore a governor o f Gaza had been appointed comm ander o f die Syrian pilgrimage caravan, this office in die sixteenth century being much m ore im portant than the location o f Gaza would seem

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to w arrant22 Q uite frequently, this particular governorship was a stepping stone to more im portant positions, for instance the pashaltk o f Yemen.23 Yet when die candidate realized he was competing against K ânsûh Beg, an old but very powerful man and for most o f his life governor o f die fortress o f 'Adilun on the edge o f die Syrian desert, he withdrew his candidacy. It m ust be adm itted that Kânsûh Beg’s candidacy was merely symbolic, as at the tim e he was in Istanbul, after having been called there to give an account o f his manifold and, from the adm inistration’s point o f view, problem atic activities. H e thus had been appointed caravan comm ander as a mark o f the Sultan's favour after having cleared himself, and not as a practical proposition.24 As a result the Damascus caravan was left without any comm ander at all, a situation which much impeded travel preparations. T he rescript we possess was m eant to clarify this situation; die governor o f Gaza was told that die appointm ent o f his com petitor was a m ere formality and that he was to make sure preparations were completed on tim e. In this case, the governor o f Damascus was not asked for his opinion; die officials in Istanbul felt sufficiendy in control to make the decision on their own.

FRO M T H E BIOGRAPHY O F A CARAVAN COM M ANDER In order to understand why die governor o f Gaza did not believe that he stood a realistic chance o f becoming caravan comm ander in competition against Kânsûh Beg o f 'Adilun, we need to take a closer look at the latter’s biography.25 K ânsûh Beg came from an old family, but although throughout his life he m aintained close connections to the Beduins, his own relatives were village dwellers. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Syria it was common enough for influential families to m aintain rural seats which under propitious circumstances might be passed on for a few generations within the same family. T he fortress o f 'Adilun, which stfll stands today, was just such a family seat.26 W ell known in the C rusader period and destroyed during the M ongol wars, it was rebuilt and entered the hands o f Ibn S â'id ’s family in the later M amluk period. K änsüh’s ancestor Ibn S â'td had even, at tim es when he was fighting it out with the M amluk governor o f Syria, used 'Adilun’s strategic location to deny passage to the pilgrimage caravans. However, the family had trouble adapting to die changed situation after the Ottom an conquest o f Syria, and one o f Ibn S ä'Id’s sons as well as one o f his grandsons were executed. In later life Ibn Sä'Id seems to have lost all his power, and the chroniclers do not even report how he m et his end. T he family survived this temporary fall

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from favour, however, and in die second half o f the sixteenth century we find its members again established in and around 'Adflun - it seems the family never lost its main seat, or at least managed to regain it in fairly short order. We do not know for certain w hether Känsüh Beg was a son, grandson or other relative o f Ibn S â'îd ’s. In a docum ent dating from die year 1581 he is said to be eighty years old.27 Allowing for die fact that the Islamic year is a lunar year, Känsüh would have been bom about 1504-5, so that he may perfectly well be a son o f Ibn S â'îd ’s. But his political activity only began about 1551, so that either he m ust have been occupied with affairs o f purely local importance during the first half o f his life, or else he was bom later than suggested by the aforem entioned document. We know that Känsüh Beg paid substantial sums to the Ottom an central administration to secure his various appointm ents, even though he never held office in agriculturally productive regions. W hen at one point he fell into disfavour and wished to reestablish him self and obtain an appointm ent, he offered the government a hundred thousand gold pieces.28 T his was certainly an unusual situation, and the offer does not sound like a realistic proposition. But even when, under m uch more ‘norm al’ circum stances, he was appointed governor o f 'Adjlun and Karak-Shaubak, and comm ander o f the pilgrimage caravan, K änsüh Beg paid 5000 gold pieces directly to die Ottoman central administration; moreover, he prom ised to contribute 9000 gold pieces to the expenses o f the caravan.29 T hus die sale o f offices, familiar to the historian o f early m odem Europe, was practised in the Ottom an Empire as well. T he reasons in both cases were no doubt similar; governments were perm anently short o f cash and a bureaucracy regularly paid and rem unerated according to perform ance criteria would have been m uch too expensive. In both cases, the taxpayer was the ultim ate loser, as tax farm ers and governors changed frequently and thus did not show m uch interest in preserving die population’s ability to pay. In the regions close to die edge o f the Syrian desert, die appointm ent o f governors from locally prom inent families somewhat mitigated these consequences.30 In die sixteenth century, when the Ottomans were still in the process o f consolidating their hold on die Syrian provinces, the appointm ent o f governors with no local bases would have alienated a good many people and in most cases was therefore avoided. Känsüh Beg’s power in Syria thus rested upon his positions as governor, tax farm er and commander o f the pilgrimage, all o f which he owed to the Ottoman government. At the same tim e, however, he m aintained close relations with die Beduins. Känsüh Beg belonged to the large faction o f the Kizdlu (Reds), which was opposed to the

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faction o f the Aklu or Akili (W hites).31 Some m odem historians have surm ised that the two term s, Turkish in origin, hide two m uch more ancient groupings, namely the Kays and Yaman o f early Islamic history. Be that as it may, the conflict had practical repercussions as far as the pilgrims were concerned. If K änsüh Beg, as a Kizillu, commanded the caravan, the danger that pilgrims might be attacked at the stopping points under the control o f the Aklu was not to be denied. O ne o f K änsüh Beg’s opponents did, in fact, try to prevent the appointm ent by declaring that 35 stopping points were controlled by the Aklu, and only three by Känsüh Beg's own group. N eedless to say, the petitioner, a certain Saläma, belonged to the Aklu faction himself. Ever cautious, the Ottoman administration appointed neither o f the two com petitors. But the same year, K änsüh Beg was made a governor o f the province o f Karak-Shawbak, located directly on the pilgrimage road. T he newly appointed official was enjoined to protect the pilgrims, and, as an additional safeguard, the governor o f Damascus was ordered to reconcile K änsüh Beg and Saläma. Among the docum ents, quite considerable in num ber, which deal with Känsüh Beg’s tenure o f office, a text from the year 1570-1 is particularly rem arkable.32 It constitutes an abridged version o f an account o f K änsüh’s political career, which the governor him self m ust have presented to the central administration. K änsüh Beg declared that for a considerable time there had existed a state o f enmity between him self and the Nu'aym oghullan, shaykhs o f the M afaridja Beduins.33 T here may have been many reasons for this hostility, but Känsüh Beg chose to stress the fact that, in his 35 years' service to the pilgrims, he had always tried to keep camel rents low. We may thus conclude that the N u ' aymoghullan hired out camels and therefore were alienated by K änsüh’s policy. T h e governor claimed that camel rents had gone down by half, because he had managed to increase the num ber o f animals offered. T his he had achieved by inviting Beduin groups that had not furnished any animals in the past to begin supplying the pilgrimage caravans. But when the news spread that K änsüh would not be commanding the next pilgrimage caravan, the suppliers who had recently entered the m arket rapidly withdrew. Presumably these were small and weak groupings, who feared the wrath o f their com petitors once Känsüh Beg was no longer there to shield them . As a result, camel rents once again increased, and the long-tim e comm ander apparently felt that the Ottom an authorities would draw the consequences from this situation. K änsüh Beg’s career only ended with his death in Istanbul in 1591, where he had gone to protest his recent deposition.34 T his event probably had been occasioned by a m ajor Beduin rebellion. A governor o f Dam ascus had attacked two groups o f Beduins when they

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presum ed themselves in a safe place, and it was claimed that K ânsûh Beg was behind this attack. T he result was a m inor civil war, and 70 to 80 villages in the vicinity o f K ânsûh Beg's fortress o f 'Adjlun were burnt down. T he old governor did not succeed in regaining control o f die fortress which had been in his family’s hands for so many years, and this effectively ended his political career. H is successors temporarily regained control o f 'Adjlun; but rivalries among the sons, nephews and grandsons o f Kânsûh Beg perm itted die D ruze prince Fakhr al-EHh II to extend his control over die region previously dominated by K änsüh’s family. After about 1624, die descendants o f Ibn S ä'id were not even locally prom inent any more.

N EG O TIA TIO N S AND C O N FL IC T S W IT H T H E BEDUINS Negotiations to secure the safety o f die pilgrim s began in Dam ascus, shortly before the previous year’s caravan had returned to the city. It was im portant to appoint the caravan comm ander as soon as possible, for many arrangem ents with die Beduins were made by the com­ m ander as an individual and ceased to be binding if another person came to command the caravan. T he designated caravan comm ander in addition conferred with respected inhabitants o f ¡Damascus, among whom the m erchants accompanying every caravan certainly played an im portant role. Further negotiation became necessary after the caravan had started on its way. In order to influence die behaviour o f die Beduins die commander might manipulate die am ount o f surre paid to particular groups. In extreme cases, when the comm ander was particularly dissatisfied, he might refuse payment altogether, but then an armed conflict became likely.35 Sometimes payments for services rendered to the caravan were changed at the last m inute. At other times the commander took hostages from certain Beduin families, and, in the case o f open conflict, might order die m urder or execution o f a Beduin leader. Attacks on the pilgrimage caravan were a frequent occurrence, and as long as die num ber o f dead and wounded rem ained within limits, these events were not considered particularly remarkable. Only when relations broke down completely were there major attacks on die caravan which the chroniclers o f die time found worth reporting. Ewliyä Celebi m entions an attack which occurred in the early 1670s.36 Even more serious, but outside the period treated in this volume, was the attack on the Damascus caravan returning from M ecca in 1757, in which a large num ber o f pilgrims perished. In some cases Ottom an government officials engaged in bloody reprisals

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against the Beduins, which might be legitimized in religious term s because o f the threat the latter posed to the pilgrimage caravan.37 Some o f the negotiations between Ottoman governors and Beduins living close to the pilgrimage route have been documented in the Registers o f Im portant Affairs. We will discuss them here as examples o f negotiations that took a normal course. In one case we again encounter Nu'aym oghlu, the M afaridia shaykh, whom we already know as the opponent o f Känsüh Beg.38 T he latter had offered to accompany the Damascus caravan for a stretch o f the road, which m eant that he also intended to guarantee its safety. But his Beduin allies, for reasons that rem ain unclear, withdrew from die agreem ent, and now Nu'aym oghlu refused to take die risk upon himself. It also happened that the Beduins who had offered to guarantee the safety o f the caravan went back on their commitments, particularly if their sum was not paid out on time. Such events might result in a sharp reprim and o f the caravan comm ander by die Istanbul authorities.3’ Some Beduin leaders received Ottom an tides and other marks o f honour in addition to their sum and food subsidies. In the Ottom an realm, as in the medieval M iddle East, the grant o f robes as marks o f honour, comparable to m odem decorations, was common.40 Provin­ cial governors, and particularly the Sherifs o f M ecca, often received such honours, so that the grant o f a robe integrated Beduin leaders into the Ottom an cursus honorum. Mamluk tides such as the amir al'Arab were also awarded, probably with die same aim in m ind.41 T hus a docum ent dated 1576-7 reports that an assembly o f Damascene notables had testified that the personage to be awarded the tide o f amir al-'A rab had supplied the caravan in a satisfactory m anner and therefore was worthy o f the honour about to be conferred on him. Conflictual situations also tell us a good deal about die relationship o f the Beduins and the Ottom an central power. T he scholar 'Abd al-Rahm an H ibn, who lived in Edim e and wrote a history o f his town still used as a primary source, undertook die pilgrimage in 1632, a year in which there was a good bit o f unrest on the Arabian peninsula.42 At this time a local dynasty had reestablished itself in Yemen after several decades o f Ottom an rule, and attem pts to reconquer the rebellious province failed.43 Ottoman soldiers obliged to leave the country setded in M ecca and caused so m uch trouble that the central government entrusted the powerful Mamluk Ridwan Beg with the task o f dislodging die soldiers from the Holy City.44 One effect o f Ridwan Beg’s campaign, however, was to make the pilgrimage routes insecure. According to H ibri, things were made worse by the fact that Ibn Farrukh. long-tim e comm ander o f the Syrian pilgrimage caravan, happened to be out o f office in 1632: fear o f Ibn Farrukh supposedly had restrained many tribesm en up to this

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time.45 It does appear, however, as if die excesses committed by the soldiers returning from the Yemen, and the loss o f Ottom an authority which these events entailed, played the key role in triggering Beduin attacks. T here was fighting at almost every major stopping point that year, and near the setdem ent o f al-'U la, where the Syrian desert becomes the Arabian, the caravan very narrowly escaped catastrophe. T he Beduins attacked with muskets, and could only be kept under control by the firing o f cannon. Four pilgrims were killed that veiy night, and H ibri calculated that the caravan had lost 125 loaded camels along a stretch o f road that m easured less than half the distance from Damascus to M ecca.46 But, in spite o f everything, die caravan reached the Hejaz and returned in good order. T his success m ust have strengthened the Ottoman position at a critical tim e, when the young Sultan M urad IV was taking the reins o f government into his own hands and the Ottoman court was shaken by factional strife.47 T he second example o f a well-documented open conflict between pilgrims and Beduins occurred during the O ttom an-H absburg war o f 1683-99, when the central administration concentrated its attention upon events in the Balkan peninsula and pilgrims, Sherifs and Beduins were little protected or supervised. In this case, events were recorded by the Palestinian scholar and mystic 'Abd al-G hanl alNabulusI, who travelled to M ecca as a pilgrim in 1693-5.48 Before his pilgrimage to M ecca, al-N äbulusI had intended to visit the grave o f the Prophet in M edina. But the Sherif S a'd b. Zayd declared that die H arb Beduins had closed the road from Yanbu' to M edina, and that it was impossible to get through. T he Palestinian scholar thus had the opportunity to watch Sherif S a'd ’s m anner o f conducting a war, and the behaviour o f his Beduin troops. One village was found to be empty, because the inhabitants had joined the war on the side o f the H aib. Sherif S a'd not only burnt the houses down, but even des­ troyed the date palms, a measure o f unusual severity in desert war­ fare.49 But Sherif S a'd , who according to Ewliyi Celebi had tried to cut off die water supply o f M ecca during a previous dispute with the Ottom an administration, had no doubt that his actions were justi­ fied.50 After all, so he argued, the Prophet M uhammad had not treated the unbelievers any differendy. T he assumption that Beduins troubling the hajj caravan were to be treated as if they were unbelievers is found in other seventeenth-century Ottoman sources as well. T hus Ewliyä occasionally makes rem arks pointing in the same direction. Sherif S a'd’s violent measures were successful; after a short while, the caravan was able to continue on its way toward Mecca. Further evidence concerning violent repression o f Beduins can be found in an unexpected place, namely the biography o f M i'm är M ehm ed Agha, the architect o f the Blue M osque in Istanbul.51

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M i'm är M ehm ed Agha was one o f the few Ottoman artists to be honoured by a full-scale biography during his lifetime; it was composed by his adm irer D ia'fer Efendi, son o f Shaykh Behräm. In his varied career, M i'm är M ehm ed Agha had also been sent to Syria as second-in-com m and to the governor o f Damascus, Khusrew Pasha.52 L ater he was posted to the Hawran as a local adm inistrator. T his was a difficult assignment for, as we have seen in die biography o f Känsüh Beg, this area was quite rebellion-prone, and unrest in the Hawran was likely to affect the security o f the Damascus pilgrimage caravan. M i'm är M ehm ed Agha. on the other hand, as a product o f the levy o f boys (