Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo, 1261-1517

Mustafa Banister is a post-doctoral researcher in Arabic Historiography at Ghent University, Belgium. He obtained a Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations from the University of Toronto in 2015 and then spent several years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bonn and Ghent University. Banister has published articles in the Mamlūk Studies Review and a chapter in Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam edited by Sebastian Günther (Brill, 2020). His current research focuses on the historiographical writing of the Syro-Egyptian litterateur Aḥmad ibn ‘Arabshāh (d. 1450).

• List of Figures, Maps and Genealogical TablesIntroductionPart I: A History of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo1. The Origins and Establishment of the Abbasid Caliphs in Cairo (659–701/1261–1302)2. The Qalawunids and the Caliphate (701–63/1301–63)3. Flirtations with Power and Political Intrigue (763–815/1362–1412)4. Containing and Maintaining the Caliphate (815–903/1412–1497)5. The Last Abbasids of Cairo (903–22/1497–1517)Part II: Legal, Historiographical, and Chancery Dimensions of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo6. Normative Perspectives on the Caliphate of Cairo: Jurisprudential, Advice, and Courtly Literature7. The Cairo Caliphate in Medieval Arabic Historiographical Literature8. Caliphal Investiture Documents and the Ideality of a Cairo Caliphate9. Beyond the Throne of the Caliphate: Analyzing Caliphal DocumentsConclusion10. Re-constructing a Nuanced CaliphateWorks CitedIndex

The book is the most detailed and comprehensive historical study of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo to date.