Robe of honour

A robe of honour (Arabic: خلعة, romanized: khilʿa, plural khilaʿ, or Arabic: تشريف, romanized: tashrīf, pl. tashārif or tashrīfāt) were rich garments given by medieval and early modern Islamic rulers to subjects as tokens of honour, often as part of a ceremony of appointment to a public post, or as a token of confirmation or acceptance of vassalage of a subordinate ruler. They were usually produced in government factories and decorated with the inscribed bands known as ṭirāz. Were made of either (indigenous or foreign) high quality silks, gold-interwoven, figured, or plain silk cloth, circulation of the garments were in limited quantities.

The endowment of garments as a mark of favor is an ancient Middle Eastern tradition, recorded in sources such as the Hebrew Bible and Herodotus.

In the Islamic world, Muhammad himself set a precedent when he removed his cloak (burda) and gave it to Ka'b ibn Zuhayr in recognition of a poem praising him. Indeed, the term khilʿa "denotes the action of removing one's garment in order to give it to someone".

Neither the Rashidun caliphs or the Damascene Umayyad caliphs are known to have given robes of honor. It is only with the Abbasids of Baghdad that robes of honor were of great importance in the Islamic world. As a custom, the presentation of robes of honor was likely inspired by Byzantine and Sassanian Persian robes of honor.

The practice of awarding robes of honour appears in the Abbasid Caliphate, where it became such a regular feature of government that ceremonies of bestowal occurred almost every day, and the members of the caliph's court became known as 'those who wear the khilʿa' (aṣḥāb al-khilʿa). The bestowal of garments became a fixed part of any investment into office, from that of a governor to the heir-apparent to the throne. As important court occasions, these events were often commemorated by poets and recorded by historians.

Manufacturing tiraz robes could only be done by the Abbasid caliph. Much as coins were a symbol of caliphal authority, robes of honor were also a powerful symbol as well that could only be bestowed by royalty. The workshops to weave tiraz were located at the city of Bishapur in Iran, but with the weakening of Abbasid power and diffusion of weaving technologies, they were later woven in Baghdad, where they continued to be presented by the caliph until the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258.

In Egypt, during the Fatimid Caliphate, the practice spread to the wealthy upper middle classes, who began conferring robes of honor on friends and relatives, in emulation of the aristocracy. Later, under the Mamluk Sultanate, the system was standardized into a system of classes reflecting the divisions of Mameluke society, each with its own ranks: the military (arbāb al-suyūf), the civilian bureaucracy (arbāb al-aqlām), and the religious scholars (al-ʿulamāʾ).

Militaristic values in daily life under the Mamluk Sultanate offered a new perspective on the ceremonial importance of robes of honor. It became the sultan's duty to provide and host lavish events for his subjects. Specifically, robes of honour were given as rewards for military rituals of everyday life, such as tournaments in horseback archery. The aforementioned military rituals could also reward a slave their freedom, so earning a robe of honour can be seen equivalent to a slave becoming a freedman. This established not only how robes of honor were rewarded to those upholding these militaristic values, but also shows how one’s freedom was earned by upholding these principles, however, it meant a whole new set of responsibilities for those who received a robe of honor. Those receiving a robe of honor were expected to begin a new career pursuing administrative, military, or courtly duties in subservience of the sultan. The color of the robes of honour dictated one’s position in society, red over a yellow atlas for senior amirs, white silk chenille for bureaucracy, and white wool for judges. The Sultan would often host hunting trips, providing robes of honour for any fiefdom he stopped at along his journey.