The Sword of Ambition. 'Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi

      

      THE SWORD OF AMBITION

      LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE

      EDITORIAL BOARD

      GENERAL EDITOR

      Philip F. Kennedy, New York University

      EXECUTIVE EDITORS

      James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge

      Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University

      EDITORS

      Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University

      Julia Bray, University of Oxford

      Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles

      Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania

      Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi

      Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago

      Devin J. Stewart, Emory University

      EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

      Chip Rossetti

      DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER

      Stuart Brown

      ASSISTANT EDITOR

      Lucie Taylor

      FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR

      Amani Al-Zoubi

      LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR

      The Library of Arabic Literature makes available Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, travel writing, history, and historiography.

      Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars. They are published as hardcovers in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, as English-only paperbacks, and as downloadable Arabic editions. For some texts, the series also publishes separate scholarly editions with full critical apparatus.

      The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations, with the ultimate goal of introducing Arabic’s rich literary heritage to a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.

      The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.

      Philip F. Kennedy

       General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature

      ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK

      This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to the hardcover.

      THE SWORD OF AMBITION

       Bureaucratic Rivalry in Medieval Egypt

      BY

      ABŪ ʿAMR ʿUTHMĀN IBN IBRĀHĪM AL-NĀBULUSĪ AL-MIṢRĪ

      TRANSLATED BY

      LUKE B. YARBROUGH

      FOREWORD BY

      SHERMAN ʿABD AL-ḤAKĪM JACKSON

      VOLUME EDITOR

      DEVIN J. STEWART

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York

      NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

       New York

      Copyright © 2018 by New York University

      All rights reserved

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Nabulusi, Uthman ibn Ibrahim, active 1235, author. | Yarbrough, Luke B., editor translator.

      Title: The sword of ambition : bureaucratic rivalry in medieval Egypt / by ‘Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi ; translated by Luke Yarbrough ; foreword by Sherman ‘Abd al-Hakim Jackson.

      Other titles: Tajrid sayf al-himmah li-istikhraj ma fi dhimmat al-dhimmah. English

      Description: New York, NY : New York University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Translated from Arabic.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2018052783 (print) | LCCN 2018056655 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479801022 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479839766 (ebook) | ISBN 9781479824786 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      Subjects: LCSH: Administrative agencies—Egypt—Early works to 1800. | Egypt—Politics and government—640-1882—Early works to 1800.

      Classification: LCC JQ3831 (ebook) | LCC JQ3831 .N3313 2019 (print) | DDC320.96209/02--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052783 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.

      Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward

      Typeset in Adobe Text

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      D.B.G.

      CONTENTS

       Letter from the General Editor

       Abbreviations

       Foreword

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction

       A Note on the Text

       Notes to the Introduction

       THE SWORD OF AMBITION

       The First Chapter, On the Reprehensibility of Employing Dhimmis for the Muslims’ Jobs, in Fifteen Sections

       The First Section: The Testimony of the Illustrious Book

       The Second Section: The Example of the Messenger of God