Emunds, Laura (26 May 2022). Investigating a Premodern Form of Islamicate Slavery: the Labour Aspect of the kitāba (Unpublished). In: WORCK Training School 1 (Rewriting Labour History. Perspectives from the Globe). Warschau. 23.-27.05.2022.
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Taking a closer look on premodern Islamic legal sources suggests that the often-presumed binary between freedom and slavery was perceived by Muslim jurists in a more complex fashion. Indeed, they conceptualised various forms of unfreedom. Some are defined by questions of ownership; others can be perceived as ‘hybrid’ forms of slavery situated on a continuum of dependency. One of those latter manifestations is the kitāba, a contract inducing a manumission process under the condition that the contracted slave pays the respective owner for it in instalments. This paper firstly introduces the kitāba and, secondly, investigates the corresponding chapter in al-Asyūṭī’s notarial manual written at the end of the 9th/15th century with a specific focus on the labour necessary to earn the means to fulfil the contractual obligations. With this, I aim at obtaining a glimpse into the legal practice at the end of the Mamluk period after the doctrines of the four predominant Sunnī schools of law have been consolidated. In the analysis of this source, emphasis is given to the author’s general outline of the kitāba, his discussion of the differences of opinion amongst the four schools, and to the model contracts designed to serve the manual’s audience: scribes, notaries, and judges. Finally, I conclude the chapter with some remarks regarding possibilities to conduct further research on this topic.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
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Division/Institute: |
06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institut für Studien zum Nahen Osten und zu muslimischen Gesellschaften |
Graduate School: |
Graduate School of the Humanities (GSH) |
UniBE Contributor: |
Emunds, Laura |
Subjects: |
200 Religion 200 Religion > 290 Other religions 900 History > 950 History of Asia 900 History > 960 History of Africa |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Laura Emunds |
Date Deposited: |
23 Jan 2023 15:47 |
Last Modified: |
23 Jan 2023 23:28 |
Related URLs: |
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URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/176736 |
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