Aubakyrova K.K.

PhD student of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan

THE MAMLUK SULTANATE AND IT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

Reign of the Mamluks in Egypt can be evaluated in different ways - from bright to dark. However, it is undoubted that Mamluks gave a new impulse to the development of Islamic civilization.

The Mamuks ruled Egypt, Syria and neighboring areas for two and a half centuries, from 1250 (648) until 1517 (923). The Mamluks first appeared in the Abbasid caliphate in the ninth century. Their dynasty was extinguished by the Ottomans and even after their overthrow by the Ottomans they continued to form an important part of Egyptian Islamic society and existed as an influential group until the nineteenth century. They destroyed the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer, and saved Syria, Egypt and the holy places of the Islam from the Mongols. They made Cairo the dominant city of the Islamic world in the later Middle Ages, and under these apparently unlettered soldier-statesmen’s rule, craftsmanship, architecture and scholarship flourished [1]. The Mamluks under the command of Sultan Baybars defeated the Mongol-Tatars in the Battle of Ain Jalut . In 1268 they were defeated by the Crusaders. During the period of the mamluks social and cultural life in sultanate was raised [2]. Mamluks reorganized management system to improve the economy and the dominant form of land tenure became iqta - land grants for state and military service. Increased the number of waqf land,. bequeathed for religious and charitable purposes. Actively developed domestic and foreign trade with Eastern countries and with the European states (Genoa, Venice, France, Byzantium).

And today the period of the Mamluk Sultanate is a very interesting area of the history and it is widely studding by many scholars. Mamluk or Mameluke (مملوك) in Arabic means “white slave”. But scholars of the Mamluk Sultanate generally give different interpretations of the meaning of the term Mamluk in different sources. In the history the Mamluks became famous as warriors. History is full of mysteries. Even the time of appearance of the Mamluks does not converge. Authors of books on history mention different dates. There is evidence that in the army of the Seljuk Turks at Mantsikertskom battle that took place in 1070, attended by the Mamluks. In this battle with the Byzantines in the army of Sultan Alp Arslan was 4000 Mamelukes.

It is here argued that these assertions are based on a misconception of the term mamluk as used in Mamluk sources. The term mamluk has a double meaning: slave and servant, and it frequently expresses subordination, obedience and servitude. In the free encyclopedia Wikipedia it is written that Mamluk (Arabic: مملوك mamlūk (singular), مماليك mamālīk (plural), meaning "property" or "owned slave" of the king; also transliterated as mamlouk, mamluq, mamluke, mameluk, mameluke,mamaluke or marmeluke) is an Arabic designation for slaves [3].

James Waterson defined in his article that the word Mamluk means 'owned’ and the Mamluks were not native to Egypt but were always slave soldiers, mainly Qipchak Turks from Central Asia. In principle (though not always in practice) a Mamluk could not pass his property or title to his son, indeed sons were in theory denied the opportunity to serve in Mamluk regiments, so the group had to be constantly replenished from outside sources. In looklex encyclopedia "Mamluk" is Arabic for white slave, and the word is related to the word for king, malik indicating that a Mamluk was a slave owned by the ruler of a state. Mamluks were slaves that were meant to form a solid foundation for the ruler of country. Tribal frictions and a weak state, had resulted in numerous revolutions in many sates [4]. The definition of Mamluks as slaves was never changed, not even when the Mamluks became sultan. But the ownership definition was changed and the Mamluk organization was understood as the real owner of the slaves.

We define that the mamluk is white slave-warriors, trained to professional military service. The backbone of the Guard of the Sultan. You can say - it's the forerunner of today's professional armies composed of mercenaries. Services of mercenaries used army of the Persian king Darius, the emperors of Rome and Byzantium. From the ninth till the twelfth century the words Mamluk and Gulyam were synonymous with the concept of "white slave." From the thirteenth century slave-soldiers who served in special units of the army, became known as the Mamluks. In those days it was educated people, many of them achieved high ranks. A temporal ruler, a Mamluk sultan typically began life as a young slave purchased outside the realm. Trained by a Mamluk amir (or emir, commander) as a highly skilled warrior, he formed an enduring alliance with fellow Mamluks in his patron's household, was converted to Islam and manumitted, and any of them had the opportunity to impose himself as the next sultan.

Mamluk history is divided into two periods based on different dynastic lines: the Bahri Mamluks (1250–1382) of Qipchaq Turkic origin named after the location of their barracks on the Nile (al-bahr, literally "the sea," a name given to this great river), and the Burji Mamluks (1382–1517) of Caucasian Circassian origin, who were quartered in the citadel (al-burj, literally "the tower").

Name of the first one due to the fact that the sultans of this dynasty originally belonged to the Turkic peoples wandering in the Black Sea steppes, while entering into the Golden Horde , the Mongols conquered them captive and sold into slavery by Italian merchants and they took out their sea (Arabic bahr) and sold the Egyptian sultans.

The Bahri reign defined the culture, science, art and architecture of the entire Mamluk period. In this period mamluks of Egypt spoke in the Kipchak language, which is confirmed by historical facts. This is primarily a language dictionaries and glossaries Mamluk compiled in XI-XV century in Cairo. In the Mamluk era Turkic languages were virtually identical, except for slight variations of dialect, which is confirmed by data of dictionary Mahmud of Kashgar. This linguistic unity was preserved until the XX century. For many centuries in the steppes of Eurasia dominated various associations of the Turkic peoples: The Attila, the Avar Khanate, Turk Empire (first and second), the Great Bulgaria, Khazars, Cumans, the Golden Horde. As noted above with the change of the ethnonym, (name of tribal associations) language is not changed. In the Guard Mamelukes included representatives of various Turkic peoples, it is clearly seen in the personal names of the Mamluks.

Turkic languages in Egypt have been the subject of many manuscripts. Known for such works as "Mukaddimat al-adab» (XII c.), An anonymous Arab-Persian and Turkic-Mongolian dictionary, "Al-al-kavanin kulliya lidapt al-lugat-it-Turk" Dzhemaldina al-Turki, "Bulgatul Mushtag" (XIVvek), al-shuzur az Zahabiyava al gat yl Ahmadiyah "Phil lugat-it-Turk" (XV century), and others. http://buday.narod.ru/gl4.htm

During the reign of the Mamluk sultans were created many artistic and literary works in the Kipchak language, but unfortunately, only a few copies of them were reached us. For example, the poem "Khosrow and Shirin", written in the Kipchak language is a single copy which is kept in the National Library of Paris. The author of this work was from Dashti Kipchak. In 1391 Saif Sarai completed his famous work "Gulistan bit-Turki" which was dedicated to the Egyptian Emir Tayhasu Turkic origin. The most important work which was written in the Kipchak language in Egypt is the poem "Iskandername". It describes the events of the XIV century.

Many representatives of Turkish literature of the Golden Horde for one reason or another moved to Egypt and continued their creative and social activities there. For example, Mahmoud Ibn Fatshah Sarai (1374 ), Ruk ad-Din al -Krymi (1377 ), Saif Sarai ( 139b ), Ibn Muhammad Al -Crymi (1377 ), Shikhabeddin Sarash (known as Maulana Zadeh Al- Ajami 1398), Mahmud Sarai Gulistani (1398), Mahmoud Sarai Al-Kahiri (1399), Berke Fakih and many others. From this list it should be noted that most of the poets and writers of that time in Egypt came from the Central Asia.

Thus, the Turkish Mamluks in Egypt were not notable only for the battlefield, as skilled warriors, but also made a huge contribution to world literature, poetry, medicine and architecture. Despite periods of internal struggle there was huge artistic and architectural activity which developed artistic techniques that established by the Ayyubids and deeply influenced different parts of the Islamic world. Mamluk decorative arts, especially enameled and gilded glass, inlaid metalwork, woodwork, and textiles were prized around the Mediterranean as well as in Europe. The influence of Mamluk glassware on the Venetian glass industry is one of many examples. Mamluks, had great achivements for both Islamic world and entire human’s history and astronomy. Eminent astronomers such İbnü’şŞatir and İbnü’s-Sarrac were brought up in this period. Also Yusuf İbn Tuğhan, Ahmed İbn Timurbay, Baylak el-Kıpçaki, Taybuga el-Baklamşi and his son Ali İbn Taybuga and Seyfeddin Satılmış who we decided when glancıng their names were Turkic origin and contributors of astronomy science in that period .

The reign of mamluks initiated the patronage of public and religious foundations that included madrasas, mausoleas, minarets and hospitals. Such endowed complexes not only ensured the survival of the patron's wealth but also perpetuated his name in the history. Besides the immense and splendid complex of Hasan and Qala’un, there were other important commissions by Bahri Mamluk sultans including al-Nasir Muhammad (1295–1304). These structures were emulated by high-ranking officials and influential emirs who built similar foundations, such as the complex of Salar and Sanjar al-Jawli (begun 1303) and the emir Shaykhu (1350–55). An example of architecture is one of the most beautiful mosques in Egypt Fustat, which was built by the governor of Egypt Ahmad ibn Tulun in Cairo in 879. Also, there were magnificent monuments Mamluk architecture which gave the impression of a medieval Cairo, including dozens of mosques.

One of these achievements is the creation of the first Arab-Kipchak dictionary. There were other dictionaries created in Egypt, one of which was devoted to four languages: Arabic, Persian, Turkic and Mongolian. It was written in Arabic script in 1245 in Egypt. There were about 2.5 thousand words in this dictionary. Purely practical work "Explanatory book on Turkic language" was written by Athir ad-Din Abu al-Haya Garnati. He wrote several books on grammar, phonetics and vocabulary of the Kipchak language. But only one of his work "The book, written for those who want to study Kipchak languages" written in 1312 is reached us. A feature of this work is that in a brief preface to the dictionary was used a list of references by the author, which are not reached us. Among them mentioned the book "Light Shine" of Ala al-Din Al- Beylik Kipchaki, written in XIV century [5].

As we know the cultural environment does affect people, and Islamic civilization , had and still has great potential for the development of peoples, as exemplified by the former steel and mercenaries to help the Muslims not only stopped the Mongol invasion and expelled the Crusaders, but revived former glory of the Caliphate in various fields, including culture and science [6].

Though the Mamluk realm was soon incorporated into the Ottoman empire (1517), Mamluk culture continued to inspire Ottoman and other Islamic artistic traditions [7].

REFERENCES

1. Koby Yosef. El tеrmino mamluk y la condiciуn de esclavo durante el sultanato mameluco. Al-Qantara XXXIV 1, 2013, pp. 7-34.

2. James Waterson. The mamluks. History today. March 2006. Pp. 21-27.

3. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamluk

4. http://i-cias.com/e.o/mamluk.htm

5. Anvar Agaev. Zaslugi mamlukov pered musulmanskoi sivilizasiei. http://www.islam.ru/content/history/1685

6. Yalman, Suzan. "The Art of the Mamluk Period (1250–1517)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/maml/hd_maml.htm (October 2001)

7. Abdollah Kahill. The sultan Complex in Cairo, 1357-1364: a case study in the formation of mamluk style. Wûrzburg: Ergon in Kommission; Beirut: Orient-Institut Beirut, 2008. 436 pp.