The Profession of Degreasing (ʿaṣṣārī) in the Traditional Muslim World: A Social History Approach

The profession of degreasing used to be an important and regular profession in the various parts of the Muslim world. Degreasing was most importantly used in the following areas: food, industry, as flammable substance and for medical purposes. Examining a wide range of historical, literary and social sources, the paper draws the scheme of degreasing profession in the structure and context of the world of Islam. The method employed for this purpose is ‘thick description’. This task is undertaken by depicting the general scheme of the profession and investigating the phenomenal aspect of the profession, like its various functions, the instruments of the task, the workplace, professional ethics, monitoring and payment of the professional, his main and subsidiary income, professional base and social status. Due to the tremendous variety of production and the demands of various groups of society for their production, the profession was high-paying and practitioner of this guild was considered to be affluent in the Muslim world.