CHAPTER EIGHT. “This Is a Very Filthy Question, and No One Should Discuss It”: The Messy World of Ibn Ḥanbal

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS vii
3. INTRODUCTION 1
4. CHAPTER ONE. “The Devil Spoke from Scripture”: Boundary Maintenance and Communal Integrity in Late Antiquity 21
5. CHAPTER TWO. “The Living Voice of Kindred Blood”: Narrative, Identity, and the Primordial Past 46
6. CHAPTER THREE. “What Has the Pious in Common with the Impious?” Ambrose, Libanius, and the Problem of Late Antique Religious Violence 81
7. CHAPTER FOUR. “Are You Christians?” Violence, Ascetics, and Knowing One’s Own 108
8. CHAPTER FIVE. “Horsemen by Day and Monks by Night”: Narrative and Community in Islamic Late Antiquity 144
9. CHAPTER SIX. “The Sword Scrapes Away Transgressions”: Ascetic Praxis and Communal Boundaries in Late Antique Islam 168
10. CHAPTER SEVEN. “Do You Not Fear God?” The Khāwarij in Early Islamic Society 196
11. CHAPTER EIGHT. “This Is a Very Filthy Question, and No One Should Discuss It”: The Messy World of Ibn Ḥanbal 231
12. CONCLUSION 272
13. ABBREVIATIONS 283
14. NOTES 285
15. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 367
16. INDEX 383
17. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 397