Introduction

In the previous chapter I argued that the Ayyubid and early Mamluk sultans’ interests in sponsoring Sufism at the Saʿīd al-Su ʿadāʾ were primarily two-fold: to support juridical Sufis in order to legitimise their own authority, and to accrue blessing and merit for themselves and their families. While the interests of the Sufis who lived at the khānqāh were certainly not synonymous with those of the military elites who sponsored them, they were nevertheless complementary. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine the sultans supporting and subsidising Sufis who did not in some way promote the interests of the state. Conversely, it would be highly unlikely that Sufis would agree to participate in the ideological programme of the khānqāh if doing so did not further their own goals or align with their conception of Sufi authority and duty. In fact, there are quite salient examples of Sufis from this period who completely rejected state support for precisely these reasons.1 Those who chose to live at the khānqāh did so for their own reasons. While some came looking for temporary housing or a quiet place to perform their devotions, others came to study with famous scholars or establish themselves as instructors at madrasas. Whatever their reasons, those who lived at the khānqāh all contributed to its organisational form and ends. It was the pursuit of these interests, organised by the state and enabled and constrained by the institutions of Sufism, that brought them together, forming the collectivity I call state-sponsored Sufism. While the collectivity was never static– individuals moved in and out of the khānqāh quite regularly– the organisational structure of the khānqāh insured the collectivity's persistence over time. Perhaps most important for the purposes of this book, the organisation and its attendant relational structures facilitated the production of this form of Sufism on a mass scale. By performing Sufism in very public and visible ways, these Sufis directly contributed to the popularisation of Sufism in medieval Egyptian society.

Here I describe two ideal types of state-sponsored Sufis for whom the Saʿīd al-Su ʿadāʾ was home. The first type I call professional Sufis. These were the Chief Sufis selected to oversee the running of the khānqāh and to direct the other Sufis who lived there.