Mecca reoriented: alms, rice, and the marketplace

This article examines the chronicles composed by Meccan authors ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn Fahd and his son Jār Allāh ibn Fahd in order to trace continuities and transformations across the turn of the sixteenth century. Mecca’s reliance on donations of voluntary alms, especially the donations that were sent on a regular basis from the Mamluk and Ottoman sultans to sustain the population of the city, is well known. The Meccan chroniclers provide sufficient detail about these donations to show the growing impact of alms sent from Indian rulers—rice in particular is noted—starting at the end of the fifteenth century, which may also signal the more widespread consumption of rice in local cuisine. This development indicates a broadening of the scope of the Indian commerce in non-luxury goods and the reorientation of Mecca and the Hijaz within global commercial connections.