Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Who revolted in the late medieval Islamic world, and how? Did popular riots and rebels have the power to influence political decisions? Was violence their only means? This talk examines several cases of popular revolts in Mamluk Syria and Egypt (1250-1517) with a focus on the cities of Damascus and Cairo. By focusing on the interactions between three social groups (the common people, the Sultan, and the religious scholars or ‘ulama’), this talk highlights the dialectic processes between protestors and power structures. Indeed, the protestors carefully chose how they defined and framed the elites against whom they protested. The jurists (‘ulama’) and political authorities considered and framed each revolt differently depending on a variety of factors and with a view to maintain a degree of peace and stability. More than uncompromised acts of violence against state authority, revolts allowed for adjustments to be made on the part of political and religious structures. In that sense, they testify to the bargaining power of the masses (al-‘amma) often wrongly labelled as powerless.