Clément Onimus is associate professor at Paris 8 University (Vincennes – Saint Denis). He has defended a PhD at Ghent University and the École Pratique des Hautes Études on the conflicts between the emirs under Sultans Barqūq and Faraj, published under the title Les Maîtres du jeu (Paris, 2019). His researches deal with the socio-economic and political history of the Cairo Sultanate such as the questions of wheat or money speculation or the questions of military careers, peace and warfare among the emirs. He is now undertaking a deepened study on the cadi Badr al-Dīn al-‘Aynī and the Egyptian 15th Century historiography.
Abstract: During the years 820’s, the judicial institution of the Cairene sultanate endured a turmoil related to the fast ascension of qāḍī Šams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Harawī (d. 829./1426). The quarrel between the judges as individuals and as madhhab leaders lead to a state crisis where the role of the sovereign in the administration of justice as well as the influence of factions were in question. The narratives of this episode diverge importantly between the chroniclers as they were themselves directly and personnally involved in the discussion about al-Harawī’s competency and honesty. Ibn Ḥaǧar al-‘Asqalānī deals at length with this situation and expresses more than his colleagues al-‘Aynī and al-Maqrīzī how it appears to him as a major event that questions, behind the interpersonal interactions, the nature of the judiciary as a state institution.
