A Culmination in Traditionalism i47 time of the Prophet was acquired by practicing a personal ethic of ascetic piety and implementing the vision of ideal religious practice as advocated by the consensus of the ‘ulama ’ of the major schools of law. Rationalist theologies were generally shunned. However, it is important to emphasize here that I do not use “traditionalism” to signify only a dogmatic Hanbalism that rejected all rationalist theologies. Rather, as stated in the introduction, I intend to evoke the worldview that inclined toward allowing a diversity of theological and legal inclinations as acceptable expressions of Islamic ideals. Traditionalism’s success as the expression of mainstream Sunni Islam can be attributed in part to its ability to draw together diverse factions in the rapidly expanding and evolving Muslim empire. With its previously stated foci on the ideal past, ascetic individual piety, and submission to the consensual authority of the ‘ulama ’, traditionalism was a banner under which the caliph, regional dynasts, and the myriad local populations could find common cause. Different regions of the Islamic empire experienced the growth and eventual domination of Sunni traditionalism through disparate circumstances. In Baghdad, traditionalism prevailed in the maneuvering between the ‘Abbasid caliphs and the Sunni Seljuq dynasts, who ruled in the caliphs’ name after seizing power from the ShTI Buyids. Damascus and Cairo witnessed the establishment of traditionalism through the rule of the Ayyubids and the Mamluks, who espoused this ideology to counter ShI‘IFatimid propaganda and to legitimize their own rule as foreign dynasties. Irrespective of specific, disparate dynastic histories, the major vehicle for promoting traditionalism was hadlth. The study and dissemination of hadlth, unlike other religious sciences, was easily accessible to lay classes and lent itself to political purposes as well. Rulers garnered mass support through public displays of piety, which included frequenting hadlth assemblies, endowing mosques and madrasas that were in turn arenas for the study of hadlth, and financially supporting scholars who propagated traditionalist Islam. Participation in hadlth transmission provided 6 George Makdisi’s Ibn ‘Aqil: Religion and Culture in Classical Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991) provides a detailed analysis of conflicts between traditionalists and rationalists in fifth/eleventh-century Baghdad. The Seljuq, Ayyubid, and Mamluk periods, in particular, marked the dominance of Sunni traditionalism in Baghdad, Damascus, and Cairo, respectively, and are notable for the increase in the numbers of hadith schools ( dur al-hadith). Al-Nu‘aymTs work offers ample evidence of the prolific architectural activity of the Ayyubid, Seljuq, and Mamluk ruling elite, which in turn contributed to the entrenchment of traditionalist values in cities such as Damascus. See ‘Abd al-Qadir b. Muhammad al-Nu‘aymI (d. 927/1521), al-Daris ft