Encyclopedia of Islam

funerary rituals

  

251  J

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Further reading: Ahmed Abd al-Hayy Arifi, Death 

and Inheritance: The Islamic Way; A Handbook of Rules 

Pertaining to the Deceased. Translated by Muhammad 

Shameem (New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 1995); Laleh 

Bakhtiar, Encyclopedia of Islamic Law: A Compendium of 

the Major Schools (Chicago: ABC International Group, 

1996), 40–53; Juan Eduardo Campo, “Muslim Ways 

of Death: Between the Prescribed and the Performed.” 

In  Death and Religion in a Changing World, edited 

by Kathleen Garces-Foley, 147–177 (New York: M.E. 

Sharpe, 2005); Timothy Insoll, The Archaeology of Islam

(Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999), 166–200.

Funj Sultanate

The Funj Sultanate was an Islamic dynasty that 

ruled the Upper Nile region of the s

Udan

 for 300 

years, from 1504 to 1821. Originally a pastoral 

people, the Funj established a state based in Sin-

nar under the leadership of Amara Dunqas after 

the latter defeated the Christian kingdom of 

Alwa in 1504. Although Muslim monarchs ruled 

the sultanate, the Funj developed a hierarchical 

society headed by a semidivine king and a caste-

like ruling elite. The kings prided themselves on 

their Islamic credentials, encouraged the presence 

of Muslim scholars and holy men within their 

kingdom, and provided support for pilgrims to go 

to m

ecca

. However, in order to heighten a sense 

of their separation from the common man, these 

monarchs withdrew from public view, leaving the 

high court officials to take functional leadership 

of the kingdom.

The Funj were active in the caravan trade, 

establishing business relationships with e

gypt

and the wider Ottoman Empire. Maliki law and 

Sufi orders both expanded considerably under 

Funj rule. However, the Funj system broke down 

during the late 18th century, when the 

sUltan

s 

lost political control to regional warlords, eco-

nomic control to a new merchant class, and spiri-

tual authority to the local holy men. Muhammad 

Ali of Egypt finally brought the kingdom to an 

end, conquering the region in 1820–21.

See also e

ast

 a

Frica

; m

aliki

 l

egal

 s

chool

.

Stephen Cory