ʿUthmān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nābulusī - The Sword of Ambition

THE SWORD OF AMBITION

LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE

EDITORIAL BOARD

GENERAL EDITOR

Philip F. Kennedy, New York University

EXECUTIVE EDITORS

James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University

EDITORS

Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University

Julia Bray, University of Oxford

Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles

Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania

Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi

Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago

Devin J. Stewart, Emory University

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Chip Rossetti

DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER

Stuart Brown

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Lucie Taylor

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Amani Al-Zoubi

LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR

The Library of Arabic Literature makes available Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, travel writing, history, and historiography.

Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars. They are published as hardcovers in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, as English-only paperbacks, and as downloadable Arabic editions. For some texts, the series also publishes separate scholarly editions with full critical apparatus.

The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations, with the ultimate goal of introducing Arabics rich literary heritage to a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.

The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.

Philip F. Kennedy

General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature

ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK

This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to the hardcover.

THE SWORD OF AMBITION

Bureaucratic Rivalry in Medieval Egypt

BY

AB AMR UTHMN IBN IBRHM AL-NBULUS AL-MIR

TRANSLATED BY

LUKE B. YARBROUGH

FOREWORD BY

SHERMAN ABD AL-AKM JACKSON

VOLUME EDITOR

DEVIN J. STEWART

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York

Copyright 2018 by New York University

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nabulusi, Uthman ibn Ibrahim, active 1235, author. | Yarbrough, Luke B., editor translator.

Title: The sword of ambition : bureaucratic rivalry in medieval Egypt / by Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi ; translated by Luke Yarbrough ; foreword by Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson.

Other titles: Tajrid sayf al-himmah li-istikhraj ma fi dhimmat al-dhimmah. English

Description: New York, NY : New York University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Translated from Arabic.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018052783 (print) | LCCN 2018056655 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479801022 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479839766 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479824786 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Administrative agenciesEgyptEarly works to 1800. | EgyptPolitics and government640-1882Early works to 1800.

Classification: LCC JQ3831 (ebook) | LCC JQ3831 .N3313 2019 (print) | DDC320.96209/02--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052783 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward
Typeset in Adobe Text

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

D.B.G.

CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

See the Bibliography for full information.

In the endnotes to the translation:

FOREWORD

SHERMAN ABD AL-AKM JACKSON

A prominent scholar of Islamic history once wrote, Ulamalogy is a noble scienceat least we have to think so, because it is almost all the Islamic social history we will ever have. This sentiment about ulamareligious scholars and juristsunderscores a perduring tension in the study of premodern Islam, between the ideal theories and prescriptions laid down by those writers on the one hand and quotidian reality on the other. Even the descriptive efforts of premodern Muslim historians afford scant insight into social trends, attitudes, actors, or movements. And it is in this context that the value of the present work is thrown into bold relief.

The Sword of Ambition (Tajrd sayf al-himmah li-stikhrj m f dhimmat al-dhimmah) might be described as a social polemic packaged in the language of Islamic law. Its author, Uthmn ibn Ibrhm al-Nbulus (d. 660/1262), a noted official in the Ayyubid state, sets out to undermine the legitimacy of non-Muslims serving in positions of political authority. Not only are non-Muslims untrustworthy in Ibn al-Nbuluss view, for him the very fact of their functioning in any official capacity in a Muslim state violates the ideal Islamic social order, which, he intimates, is supposed to reflect the absolute supremacy of Islam and the subordination of all other religions. Thus, Ibn al-Nbulus is relentless in adducing Quranic verses, Prophetic hadiths, statements and actions of the prophet Muhammads Companions, the early caliphs, governors, scholars, and even poets, to substantiate both the impermissibility and the impropriety of non-Muslims serving in Muslim government.

We must be careful, however, as we negotiate the ferocity of Ibn al-Nbuluss invective, not to be seduced into overestimating or underestimating its value or meaning. Ibn al-Nbulus clearly casts his arguments in explicitly legal terms, as he wants to convey the sense that he is motivated not by personal bias but by piety and an assiduous commitment to the ideals and interests of Islam. Yet, by de-contextualizing scripture, conflating its general descriptions with specific identities, by suppressing countervailing texts and historical examples, and by imputing to early generations the authority to hand down permanently binding findings of fact, Ibn al-Nbulus ultimately tips his hand. To take just a couple of examples, he completely suppresses Quranic statements that speak to the trustworthiness of Jews and Christians, for example: And among the People of the Book are those whom if you entrust them with an entire treasure, they will promptly return it to you. (Q l Imrn 3:75). Meanwhile, he leaves us to assume that a Jews or a Christians commission of this or that indiscretion as a matter of