Page 163 - Arabian Studies (I)

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The Pilgrimage to Mecca in Mamliik Times 147

which seems rather unusual.4 In 849/1446 and 858/1454 the caravan
of the Magharibah arrived at Cairo on the 12th of Shawwal, about
seven days before the date of the Egyptian caravan’s departure5, and
this seems to have been the most appropriate and regular date of
their arrival.
Upon its arrival in Cairo the caravan of the Magharibah encamped
in the Maydan, the great square beyond the citadel of Cairo. During
their few days’ rest before leaving Cairo, the North African pilgrims
would equip themselves with whatever they thought necessary for
their second journey and in the meantime would carry on trade with
the Egyptians. In 858/1454, for example, the goods conveyed with
the caravan and sold to the Egyptians included, among other things,
slaves, horses and fabrics.6
The Rakb al-Takrur, or the pilgrim caravan from the Muslim
regions of West Africa, arrived in Cairo on about the same date as
that of the Magharibah. In 835/1432 the caravan of the Takrur
arrived with that of the Magharibah on the 13th of Shawwal.7 In
724/1324 when Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, made his famous
pilgrimage, he arrived in Cairo with his country’s caravan on the 25th
of Rajab.8 According to Ibn Khaldun, the king had travelled across
the desert, probably to the north north-east, entering the city at the
Pyramids.9
During its halt at Cairo the Rakb al-Takrur supplied itself in the
same way as the Magharibah and likewise took part in trade. Slaves,
raw gold (tibr), cloth and horses were carried with the caravan and
were sold or exchanged for the rare goods of Egypt and the Hijaz. 1 0
By the middle of Shawwal the Egyptian caravan, the official
pilgrim caravan of the Mamluks, was ready to depart from Cairo. All
the Egyptian pilgrims journeyed with it under the protection of the
flag and Mahmil or decorated litter of the sultan. During the reign of
the BahrT Mamluks all the Egyptian pilgrims seem to have been
combined into one convoy which travelled under the title of ATRakb
ajrMisri or Rakb al-Hdjj. When, as happened in some years, the
number of pilgrims was too great, they were divided into several
convoys travelling at short intervals from one another. In 704/1305
the Egyptian pilgrimage was divided into three caravans.1 1 In
1 2
720/1320 seven caravans set out from Cairo for the Holy Cities.
The first was the caravan known as ATRakb aTRajabi, which almost
annually departed in the month of Rajab. It consisted of pilgrims
who wished to stay in the Holy Cities for a longer period than they
would have been allowed had they travelled with the official Hajj
caravans. With the succession of the BuijT Mamluks to the sultanate a
different order seems to have been introduced in the organisation of