A Tale of Two Factions: Myth, Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen

11. Faqari Genesis?: 'Ali Bey’s Mosque and the Ottoman Dhu’l-Faqar Sword

11 Faqari Genesis? ˜Ali Bey’s Mosque and the Ottoman Dhu’l-Faqar Sword In the mid-seventeenth century, at roughly the same time that the Qasimi faction was apparently beginning to coalesce around Qasim Bey and his followers, the germ of what would later be known as the Faqari faction becomes vaguely discernible. This faction’s genesis was, however, not at all parallel to that of its eventual rival. Most obviously , no one named Dhu’l-Faqar Bey played anything like the “founding father” role taken by Qasim Bey in the formation of the Qasimi faction. Instead, the label “Zülfikari” attached to ˜Ali Bey, the powerful governor of the Upper Egyptian superprovince of Jirja, because he carried a facsimile of the early Islamic hero ˜Ali b. Abi Talib’s magical sword Dhu’l-Faqar. Accordingly, this chapter consists of an examination of ˜Ali Bey in connection with the probable first conflict between the nascent Faqari and Qasimi factions, followed by an examination of this extraordinary sword and the importance of its image to Ottoman military formations. Zülfikari ˜Ali Bey With one exception, which we shall encounter at the end of this chapter , the only mention Evliya Çelebi makes of either Qasimis or Faqaris is a reference to the Turkish inscription on a mosque in Jirja by the endower, ˜Ali Bey, who governed Jirja from the early 1630s through 1653. To the left of the mosque’s mi÷råb—that is, the niche indicating the direction of Mecca—Evliya read: 165 166 A Tale of Two Factions Now the governor of Jirja, lion of God, of the people of beneficence, Zülfikari Mir ˜Ali, master of drum [i.e., a military band] and standard, With the divine order, with divine blessing as a guide, Has constructed this noble mosque, together with two fountains. His scribe said, “Know its date, o great prince. It was built in 1061 [1651].” The End. —Seyahatname, vol. 10:522.1 Shortly thereafter, Evliya refers to the mosque as the “Circeli ˜Ali Bey mosque,” that is, the mosque of ˜Ali Bey of Jirja.2 This ˜Ali Bey was the collaborator of Ridvan Bey al-Faqari, the Georgian mamluk who held the post of pilgrimage commander for an extraordinary twenty-five years, from 1631 until his death in 1656. ˜Ali Bey, meanwhile, established himself in Jirja, which during the seventeenth century, as noted in chapter 9, rivaled Cairo as a center of political and economic influence. ˜Ali Bey seems to have established his own demesne in Jirja, although he never rebelled against the governor in Cairo, as did his successor Mehmed Bey in 1659 (see chapters 6 and 9). He did, however, amass a formidable military force consisting largely of Rumi, or Balkan and western Anatolian, mercenaries.3 With Ridvan Bey, ˜Ali formed a formidable, if unofficial, partnership: ˜Ali controlled the supply of Upper Egyptian grain that the pilgrimage caravan, directed by Ridvan, transported each year to the Holy Cities. Ridvan, in turn, had access to the considerable commercial traffic that accompanied the pilgrimage. In the 1640s, Ridvan’s and ˜Ali’s political and economic dominance came under attack from a rival partnership of two Circassian beys, Qansuh and Memi (or Mamay). Qansuh was another mamluk of Qasim Bey, although he was evidently a different Qansuh from the final governor of Yemen. With the backing of the governor of Egypt, the Ottoman central authority appointed Qansuh pilgrimage commander , replacing Ridvan, and Memi governor of Jirja, replacing ˜Ali. Ridvan, meanwhile, was “rewarded” for his long years of service with the governorship of Abyssinia—a standard tactic designed to remove him from any center of political influence. Ridvan steadfastly refused the appointment while ˜Ali marched toward Cairo from Jirja with an enormous army. In the face of these developments, the governor, none other than Haydar Aghazade Mehmed Pasha, withdrew his support from Qansuh and Memi, and ultimately had them executed.4 This 167 Faqari Genesis? confrontation between the two rival pairs of beys is the “event” of which al-Hallaq speaks with regard to Mehmed Pasha’s tenure (see chapter 4). This confrontation is, I believe, the first glimpse we have of what would become the insistent rivalry between the Qasimis and the Faqaris. Qansuh and, perhaps, Memi belonged to the formidable household of Qasim Bey furthered by the elder Qansuh Bey, although there is no evidence of their taking the sobriquet Qasimi. On...