Creation of Mamluk Social Identity Through Madrasas and Production of Texts

Abstract

The diversity of education in the madrasas contributed to different social groups’ feelings of belonging to the Mamluk community as well as to the formation of identity awareness. This study aims to examine the ranks the civil elite of the Mamluk period held in various scholarly and bureaucratic positions and the contribution of the texts they produced to the development of a Mamluk identity. Contrary to previous processes, the Mamluk ulama displayed a more conscious understanding of the Mamluk identity in their texts about the history of the Mamluk state and power. This study discusses how the ulama, who obtained scholarly or bureaucratic ranks because of various relationship networks they formed, constructed a Mamluk identity in their historical texts.