Power, Justice and Degeneration
A Hierarchical Network of Corruption and its Actors in 13th-Century Damascus
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21679562 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bedrettin Basuğuy (0000-0001-7655-7559, Bingöl University), Hakan Can (0000-0002-8833-5694, BİNGÖL ÜNİVERSİTESİ, İLAHİYAT FAKÜLTESİ) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Issue | 42 |
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | İslami İlimler Dergisi (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1306-7044 |
| Publisher | Islami Ilimler Dergisi (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.34082/islamiilimler.1836392 |
| OpenAlex | W7142757850 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This article examines a systematic case of corruption in Damascus during the 13th century, a period characterized by the weakening of the Ayyubid State and intense internal dynastic power struggles. The study analyzes the hierarchical corruption network that permeated the highest levels of government and took shape under the shadow of a political legitimacy crisis during the second rule of ʿImād al-Dīn Ismāʿīl in Damascus (637-643/1240-1245). The main aim of the research is to examine the formation, operation, and collapse of this corruption network, which brought together political authority (ʿImād al-Dīn), bureaucratic power (Vizier al-Sāmirī), and judicial authority (Qādī al-Jīlī), within the context of the actors' biographies. The research method is based on a comparative analysis of primary sources of the period. A multidimensional reading of the events has been conducted by synthesizing the accounts of historians such as Ibn al-Jawzī and Ibn Wāṣil, who exhibited a critical and moral stance, with the testimony of the physician-historian Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa, who highlighted the scholarly profile of the perpetrators. The findings suggest that the institutionalized use of false witnesses lay at the center of the corruption. Through false testimonies organized by Qādī al-Jīlī, the properties of pre-determined wealthy individuals were confiscated, and the obtained revenues were shared through a hierarchical chain. The article further reveals that this network collapsed not because of external intervention, but as a result of internal conflicts of interest. Qādī al-Jīlī's attempt to expose the irregularities in treasury revenues and the vizier's involvement in this affair resulted in his own execution through the vizier's machinations; this process ultimately brought about the demise of the corruption system itself. This analysis of the corruption network and its actors that emerged in Ayyūbid Damascus, demonstrates that the instrumentalization of the judiciary for political and material interests inevitably produces corruption
Bureaucracy · Clientelism · Language change · Legitimacy · Politics · Islamic Studies and History · Medieval History and Crusades · Ottoman and Turkish Studies
| Highly cited | No |
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