THE POLITICAL
AND ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS
OF THE 'ULAMA' IN THE 18TH CENTURY
BY
AFAF LUTFI AL-SAYYID MARSOT (Los Angeles)
The late 1 8th century in Egypt was a turbulent and unsettled period which witnessed the rapid rise and fall of various mamluk beys. One of the noteworthy features of that age was the rise in the political and economic importance of the
Cairene high "ulamal, notably those with some degree of influence in the city, for they were the ones to be mentioned in the chronicles, the biographies, and in the archives of the Cairo Nlabkama Sbar`iyya 1), our three main sources of information pertaining to these periods. The high "ulamd' comprised the rector of al-Azhar, the muftis of the schools, and other prominent scholars as well as the occupants of three positions which do not really pertain to the scholarly tradition but which form part of the religious hierarchy, namely the Marshal of the Notables, naqib al-asbrif, and the incumbent Shaikh al-Bakri and Shaikh the heads of two sufi orders, about whom we shall have more to add below. Since this is one of the first studies to be carried out with such an approach, the conclusions will necessarily have to be of a tentative nature, and hopefully they will stimulate interest in the subject, and further studies. The multiple roles the 'ulamd' played in muslim society varied with time and the conditions of government, but they were fairly consistent so that one can regard them as intrinsic to their functions and every bit as valuable as their primary roles of acting as educators, judges, muftis and the purveyors of religion in general. Their secondary roles, which were byproducts of their religious function within a muslim framework were politically those of advisors, confidantes, official messengers and negotiators, and public opinion makers and manipul- ators. Socially they served the whole population in as many different roles as were possible and necessary, from acting as guardians and bankers, to comforting the bereaved and entertaining the high and the mighty. Economically they also played a role which has not yet been fully explored, but which we shall sketch out here. a) Political Role Having already treated that aspect of the functions at greater length in other articles 2), I shall briefly summarize the s
1) The archives of the Mahkama Sharliyya in Cairo are an inexhaustible source of information for the social history of Egypt that has yet to be tapped. 2) See my articles in footnote 1 p. 130 and also "The Beginnings of Modernization