Tales of Reverence and Powers: Ibn Ḥajar's Narratives of Religious Charismatic Authority

This article examines the ways in which Shihāb al-Dīn Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī, the well-known ninth/fifteenth-century muḥaddith and chief Shafiʿi qadi of Cairo, organized the writing of his main historiographical work, the Inbāʾ al-ghumr bi-abnāʾ al-ʿumr, an annalistic chronicle covering a period between the years 773/1372 and 850/1446. It considers the Inbāʾ al-ghumr as a deliberately constructed set of narratives displaying various layers of meaning, going well beyond the mere description and documentation of Ibn Ḥajar's own times. I will particularly focus here on the crafting of what will be called the religious and charismatic layer of the socio-political order that is presented in the Inbāʾ al-ghumr, anchored in the display of religious charismatic authority and leadership, namely—following Katherine Jansen and Miri Rubin—a layer which demonstrates authority by "preaching, creating and demanding new obligations, while at the same time evoking and associating with the sacred symbols of the shared religious culture."