Naqib al-ashraf

Naqib al-ashraf (plural: nuqaba or niqabat) was a governmental post in various Muslim empires denoting the head or supervisor of the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1] The descendants of Muhammad were known as ashraf and throughout Islamic history, the ashraf organized themselves into large groups, akin to corporations, throughout the various Muslim territories.^[1] This was done to ensure their special place in Muslim society and thus maintain their socio-political privileges.^[1]

The office dated back at least to the Mamluk era and was maintained by the Ottoman Empire.^[2] During the Ottoman era, there was an imperial naqib al-ashraf who appointed subordinate provincial nuqaba al-ashraf. The appointments were renewed or changed on an annual basis. The official role of the imperial naqib al-ashraf was to keep updated lists of the ashraf to distribute to the provincial nuqaba al-ashraf the goods and funds that they required to administer the affairs of the local ashraf under their respective jurisdictions.^[1] Ashraf in the Ottoman Empire were accorded special privileges, including personal inviolability, certain tax exemptions and immunity from regular prosecution. In event of a legal complaint against an ashraf member, the naqib al-ashraf would prosecute and judge the alleged offender.^[3]

The imperial naqib al-ashraf was typically a member of the ashraf based in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul.^[2] The naqib al-ashraf played a significant role in the sultanic court ceremonials in Istanbul.^[3]

Ottoman era

Aleppo

In Aleppo, the ashraf played a more significant role in that city's affairs than anywhere else in the Ottoman Empire, including Cairo and Damascus, where the nuqaba al-ashraf often were or grew wealthy. At one point during Ottoman rule, the ashraf in Aleppo constituted roughly 85% of the city's elite families, partially due to the large presence ashraf families traditionally had in the city, but also because of increasing intermarriage between ashraf and non-ashraf families. Because of their massive presence, there were typically a handful of ashraf families that formed the upper ranks of Aleppo's ashraf.^[3]

For much of the 17th century, the office of naqib al-ashraf was held by the Zuhrawi family, who were closely associated with the Shia Muslim community (Shia Muslim scholars identified them as Shia).^[4] The Taha family dominated the post for most of the 18th century, but at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, their control of the office was frequently interrupted by members of the al-Jabiri, al-Kawakibi, al-Trablusi, al-Qudsi, al-Adili and Shurayyif families.^[5]

Damascus

In Damascus, the office of naqib al-ashraf was the most socially prestigious post in the city among the various religious posts, including that of the Hanafi and Shafi'i muftis and the khatibs of major mosques, such as the Umayyad Mosque. However, this prestige did not necessarily translate into great political influence. Following the Tanzimat modernization reforms, the post of naqib al-ashraf lost considerable political influence, although a permanent seat for the Damascene naqib was reserved in the newly formed Administrative Council of Damascus Province, the highest political body in Damascus Vilayet.^[6]

Two local ashraf families, the al-Ajlani and Hamza, competed for the post in Damascus for much of the 18th and 19th centuries.^[7] Their service as nuqaba was occasionally interrupted by other ashraf families, namely the al-Kaylani and al-Hasibi.^[8] Shia or Shia-associated nuqaba in lesser cities in Damascus province included members of the Murtada family in Baalbek. The Murtada nuqaba were not explicitly followers of Shia Islam, although their suspected affiliation with Shia Islam was the likely reason that they were never given the post in Sunni Muslim-dominated Damascus.^[4]

Egypt

In Egypt, the Ottomans typically appointed a provincial naqib al-ashraf from Istanbul.^[2] This changed in the mid-18th century when Muhammad Abu Hadi, a member of Cairo-based al-Sadat al-Wafa'iyya ashraf family, was appointed to the post.^[1][2] Members of the al-Sadat family continued to consecutively serve as nuqaba al-ashraf in Egypt until being replaced in 1763 by another Cairene ashraf family, al-Bakri. The first member of the latter family to hold the post was Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bakri.^[1] Thereafter, the al-Sadat and al-Bakri families competed for the post,^[2] although the latter largely held it until the early 20th century.^[1]

Like other provincial nuqaba al-ashraf, the Egyptian naqib was required to pay a hefty sum to the authorities in Istanbul. The role of the naqib al-ashraf in Egypt, besides the traditional roles of the office, included participation in various ceremonies such as the procession of the kiswah before it left with the Hajj caravan procession to Mecca, and ensuring the ashraf families participation in the procession of the mahmal (decorated litter symbolizing authority of the sultan) to Mecca. The naqib al-ashraf often commenced building activity for religious institutions such as new mosques or Sufi lodges.^[9]

Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, the Husayni family served the post during early Ottoman rule. Their patrons were the Farrukh family whose members had often served as district governors of Jerusalem until the late 17th century. In 1703, a member of the al-Husayni family, Muhammad ibn Mustafa, led a two-year rebellion in Jerusalem,^[10] after which he fled and was later captured and executed.^[11] His death marked the demise of the al-Husayni family, and the beginning of the Ghudayya family's era. The first member of the latter to serve as Jerusalem's naqib al-ashraf was Abd al-Latif Ghudayya. At some point during the 18th century, the Ghudayyas adopted the name of their predecessors and were thenceforth known as the al-Husayni family. The new al-Husayni family dominated the post of naqib al-ashraf until the 20th century.^[12]

Iraq

The most important Sunni Muslim religious leader in Ottoman Iraq was the naqib al-ashraf of Baghdad. His influence was nominally limited to Baghdad, but often extended throughout Iraq. The principal ashraf family to provide the nuqaba of Baghdad were the Gaylani (Keilani) family, descendants of Abd al-Qadir al-Gaylani, the founder of the Qadiriyya Sufi order which was popular throughout the Islamic world.^[13] In Basra, the naqib al-ashraf was often also the hereditary chief of the Rifa'iyya Sufi order. The influence of Basra's nuqaba al-ashraf fluctuated depending on the personal wealth of the individual naqib or the Ottoman authorities' use of him in the region's political affairs.^[14]

References

Bibliography