Breaking Free of the Harem: Understanding the Relation of Power and Space in the Narrative of the Ustādh Jūdhar

The study of eunuchs and their role and function within premodern Muslim societies is often understood through their proximity to the nucleus of power and their function as guardians of the royal harem. This dominant perspective somewhat confines eunuchs to one single location in premodern palaces, the royal harem and/or the loci belonging to the caliph or ruler. Although the eunuch-harem relation is historically undeniable, the scholarly emphasis of this relationship neglects the fact that many other eunuchs existed and thrived in several other important spaces within premodern palaces and cities, such as the treasury and royal textile factories. As a result, the individual agency of eunuchs in relation to their successful roles in other spatial topographies and geographies which resulted in their own rise to power has also been overlooked. This paper seeks to fill this gap in scholarship to date through a case study of the tenth-century Fatimid eunuch, Jūdhar, combined with an analysis of his successful function within spatial topographies and geographies mentioned in his biography, the Sīrat Ustādh Jūdhar.

Jūdhar is the most renowned slave-eunuch and statesman mentioned in early Fatimid history. He served his Fatimid masters between 909-973, starting his career as a palace page and eventually becoming the third highest official of the Fatimid state. His life story was recorded in a late tenth-century Fatimid Sīra (biography) written after his death by his secretary, al-Manṣūr al-Kātib al-Jūdharī, in memory of his former master. The research presented in this paper focuses on selected readings from the narrative of the Sīra in relation to the topographical and geographical spatialities of the Fatimid royal cities of al-Mahdiyya and al-Manṣuriya. Through the close reading of these textual and material cultural sources, it is evident that Jūdhar’s authority, power, and influence reached far beyond the harem and Fatimid palace.