アミール・キトブガーへの覺え書

Abstract

The Sultan Qala'un (678/A.D. 1280-689/A.D. 1290), who raised the expedition army to Markab in the month Dhu al-Hijja of 679 23 march 1281) appointed as his vice-sultan amir Zayn al-Din Kitbugha al-Mansuri, and left a 'memorandum' (tadhkira) to him, in which he pointed out the policy for ruling Egypt. This is the so-called 'memorandum to amir Kitbugha'. This memorandum has been handed down in total in the annals of Ibn al-Furat (d. 1405), and furthermore in part in a wanting form in the encyclopedia (subh) of Qalqashandi (d. 1418). This paper tries to make clear the factual situation of Egyptian society under the Mamluk regime by first translating the complete text of the memorandum and subsequently annotating in as much detail as possible every paragraph. In total 28 paragraphs are provided for, starting with problems of law and justice, the public peace and customs in Cairo and Fustat, the digging of canals and the founding of irrigation dikes (jisr), water maintenance policies such as repairance, the duties of regional governor-generals (wali), the protection and control of commercial activities, problems of the muqta' and their representatives wakil, policies against the Arab nomads ('Urban) etc., thus many problems connected with state and society are dealt with. 0f course, one cannot presume that the provisions written in the memorandum have all been implemented, as it was only pointing out the policy bases. But it is also true that in the provisions the reality of Egypt during the early Mamluk Dynasty is reflected in various ways. For instance, the wali did not only control and preserve the irrigation system, but he also wrote certificates (hujja) on the acquisitions of the muqta and had the duty of putting these in the custody of the diwan. Further, there was a distinction among the muqta between the al-muqta' al-asli and the muqta' al-jihaa, whereby the latter was given land or in other cases the income of taxes. These are both facts which were not known previously in the study of the iqta' system.