28.11.2025 “Mamluk Scholars on the Hajj. Claiming Religious Authority for the Sultan in Mecca”

We are pleased to share that Prof. Dr. Albrecht Fuess will be participating in the upcoming international seminar: Knowledge, Authority & Practice in the Mamluk Period (1250–1517)

🗓 6 December 2025
📍 Waseda University, Tokyo – Toyama Campus, Building 33, 16th Floor, Meeting Room No. 10
🧭 Hosted by the Research Institute for Letters, Arts & Sciences

Prof. Fuess will deliver a paper during Panel 2 – Normativity and Religious Authority titled:

 “Mamluk Scholars on the Hajj. Claiming Religious Authority for the Sultan in Mecca”

This presentation will explore how the pilgrimage was used as a means to negotiate and legitimize political and religious authority during the Mamluk era — a crucial aspect of current historiographical re-evaluations of the period.

The seminar gathers leading scholars to reassess the intellectual and scholarly dynamics of Syria and Egypt in the 13th–16th centuries, engaging with themes such as:

▪️ Knowledge production & methodological transformation
▪️ Authority, legitimacy, and orthodoxy in scholarly debates
▪️ Manuscript culture & transmission networks
▪️ Intellectual innovation beyond traditional paradigms