The study of sectarianism in Islam and the study of Muslim-Christian relations are both sub-specialities attracting growing numbers of scholars in Islamic studies. Rarely, though, are these two fields put into direct conversation with each other. In this work, Steven Gertz brings the two together to ask how the Sunni-Shi'a divide in Islam impacts Muslim relationships with Christians. Do tensions within Islam do more to help Muslim relationships with Christians, or harm them? Gertz goes about answering this through a historical study of the Fatimid caliphate in Palestine and Egypt during the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries. He specifically works to understand how Fatimid religious principles (ascertained through the study of law) and politics (ascertained through the study of history) impacted Christians in light of Fatimid-Abbasid rivalry. In the process of doing so, he makes a valuable contribution to the study of Islamic religious identity formation as it concerns sectarianism within Islam and inter-religious relations with non-Muslims.

The Qāḍī Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī was an Ašʿarite theologian, a Maliki jurist and an Andalusian traditionalist of the fifth-sixth / eleventh-twelfth century. His influence in the Muslim West is undeniable: he is one of the most important figures in the history of ašʿarism in al-Andalus, and introduced kalām books that quickly became references of local teaching, such as the Iršād of al-Ǧuwaynī. He also introduced treatises of uṣūl al-fiqh such as the Mustaṣfā and the Manḫūl of al-Ġazālī. Ibn al-ʿArabī is also the most famous disciple of the latter and one of the first to have transmitted his thought to Andalusian scholars, then to the rest of the Muslim West. Through a critical, introduced, translated and commented edition of his sum of legal theory entitled Nukat al-Maḥṣūl fī ʿilm uṣūl, this present work shows how the legal thought of the Qāḍī is articulated between language and theology.

The Futūḥ al-Shām (The Conquests of Greater Syria), usually attributed to Abū Ismāʿīl Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Azdī al-Baṣrī, is one of the primary sources used for historians studying the early Muslim expansion into Greater Syria. This study revaluates the Futūḥ al-Shām narrative and the question of its compiler-author, investigating the history of the narrative as text through an analysis of a new manuscript and important parallel texts, and revisiting the evidence and hypotheses previous scholars have put forward on both al-Azdī’s life and the Futūḥ al-Shām narrative’s text. It thus offers an overview of the history of Oriental and Islamic Studies on the basis of one work.

The book comprises an annotated critical edition and a detailed study of Kitāb al-Sawād al-a'ẓam by al-Ḥakīm al-Samarqandī (d. 342/953). Al-Ḥakīm al-Samarqandī attained fame not only as a scholar of religious sciences and law, but, moreover, as an ascetic and a sage, in the sense of possessing a “divine blessing” for calling to the way of God, knowledge of inner rightfulness, and wisdom about high spiritual truths. As one of the earliest formulations of dogmatics and practice among the Ḥanafī faction of Islam, this book is a 'manual of orthopraxy' that aims to regulate social behavior and forge community identity. The book offers a syncretic sense of obligations encompassing beliefs, rituals and practice. This is a work of great importance with a comprehensive critical study that provides a classification and a detailed comparative study of the author's positions. The book is a significant contribution that sheds light on early beliefs and practices that fashioned some Muslim communities in lower Central Asia, Medieval Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and other parts of the Muslim World. It is an accessible and meticulous resource for scholars, students of Islam, and the general public.

La Ṣaḥīfa de Médine a été préservée grâce à deux historiographes du 9ème siècle: Ibn Hishām et Abū ‘Ubayd. Elle illustre clairement, à travers ses variantes présentes dans le texte lui-même et dans sa chaîne de transmission, les aléas, forcément dommageables, du passage de l’oralité à l’écrit. Interpréter un texte pareil, appréhender ses contours et clarifier son contexte social et politique est une vraie gageure. --- The Ṣaḥīfa of Medina is preserved thanks to two 9th century historiographers: Ibn Hishām and Abū ‘Ubayd. It clearly illustrates, through variants present in both the text and its chain of transmission, the challenges posed by sources that reach us by way of oral tradition. The present study sheds fresh light on the text of one of Islam’s most important documents by investigating its nuances, as adding greater clarity to the social and political context of this challenging and important text.

The Kitāb al-Aghānī (the Book of Songs) is one of the most important sources for Arabic literature and Islamic history. It was compiled during the first half of the tenth century — a pivotal period for the formation of the Islamic sectarian identities, which is the subject of keen and ongoing scholarly debate and fundamental to understanding of the later Shīʿī Islam. While its compiler, Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (died after 356/967), is generally viewed as a “Zaydī Shīʿī”, no study has engaged in depth with the manifestation of his sectarian perspective in the Aghānī. This book addresses the question of whether al-Iṣfahānī’s sectarian perspective can be discerned in the Aghānī via analysis based primarily upon redaction criticism. By examining the compiler’s interventions, this book argues that al-Iṣfahānī to some extent presents past people and events central to the Shīʿī worldview in accordance with his sectarian affiliation. Furthermore, this work questions the label “Zaydī” that has been attached to al- Iṣfahānī. Based on textual analyses of the Aghānī, as well as on evidence from his Maqātil al-Ṭālibīyīn (“The Ṭālibid Martyrs”) and other evidence from the tenth- century context, this book suggests that al-Iṣfahānī’s religious thought can be construed as a “mild” form of Shīʿism ― in the sense that it entail neither belief in a specific lineage of imams nor repudiation of most of the Companions including the first three caliphs ― but cannot necessarily be identified with any sect, as set down in the heresiography. It is also suggested that this kind of Shīʿism may have been promoted by al-Iṣfahānī’s patron, the Būyid vizier, Abū Muḥammad al-Muhallabī (291–352/903–963), in the complex sectarian context of mid-tenth- century Iraq.

This book explores the mystical thought of Gregory Barhebraeus (1226–1286CE) and its contemporary relevance, to offer a reading of Barhebraeus’ mystical texts by bringing them into conversation with critical religious studies and the hermeneutical tradition of philosophy. Griggs emphasises the problem of conceptual categories for the academic study of mysticism, seeking to avoid traditional assumptions concerning ‘mysticism’ and attend to the particularity of ‘mystic’ traditions. Through this approach, she examines the mystical hermeneutics of the love of God developed by Barhebraeus, as a response to the elaboration of this theme by the Islamic theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazālī (1058–1111CE), and as a resolution of the tensions between scholastics and ascetics within his own Syriac tradition.

When, on an autumn Medina night in 61/680, the night that saw al-Ḥusayn killed, Umm Salama was torn from her sleep by an apparition of a long-dead Muḥammad, she slipped effortlessly into a progression of her co-religionists who, irrespective of status, gender or standing with God, were the recipients of dark and arresting visions. At the core of those Delphian dreams, peopled by angels or ğinn or esteemed forbears and textured with Iraqi dust and martyrs’ blood, was the Karbalāʾ event. Her dream would be recounted by an array of Muslim scholars, from al-Tirmiḏī, stellar pupil of al-Buḫārī, and Ibn ʿAsākir, untiring chronicler of Syrian history, to bibliophile theologian Ibn Ṭāʾūs and Egyptian polymath al-Suyūṭī. But this was not Umm Salama’s only otherworldly encounter and she was not the only one to have al-Ḥusayn’s fate disturb her nights. This is their story.

This book focuses on interactions between the Islamic world and other regions from the late eighth to the twenty-first centuries. Some chapters consider the complex relationship between Islam and the cultures of Late Antiquity in the Middle East and Mediterranean basin. The reprinted chapters in this volume have been revised and updated. Topics include relief-moulded pottery production in Raqqa, the construction of palaces in Samarra, portraiture in Arabic manuscript painting, written descriptions of patterned marble in medieval Islam, images of Muslim rulers in early Modern printed books, and the broadcast of the medical examination of Saddam Hussein. Also included are a critical introduction that considers the challenges involved in the study of cultural interactions between Islamic and non-Islamic regions, a cumulative bibliography, and a previously unpublished study of recently discovered photographs, drawings, and writings relating to the Middle East made by soldiers during and after World War I.

This study of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī’s (d. 631/1233) teachings on creation offers close analysis of all of his extant works of falsafa and kalām. Some of these were not known to previous scholars, yet they bear witness to key facets of the interaction between the historically inimical traditions of Hellenic philosophy and rational theology at this important intellectual moment. Al-Āmidī is seen to grapple with the encounter of two paradigms for the discussion of creation. On the one hand, Ibn Sīnā’s metaphysical concept of necessity of existence is the basis of his doctrine of the world’s pre-eternal emanation. On the other, for the mutakallimūn, the physical theory of atomism bolsters the view that God created the world from nothing. Though he begins with a posture of acceptance towards both the doctrines and methods of Ibn Sīnā, al-Āmidī gradually evolves to a position of hostility towards the entire philosophical tradition. Nevertheless, deep tensions are present in his thought; on the one hand, Ibn Sīnā’s notion of the sheer necessity of God’s existence is so compelling theologically that it becomes the mainstay of al-Āmidī’s understanding of the God-world relationship. Yet some of its more problematic implications are targets for al-Āmidī’s fierce opposition by the time of his mature works of kalām. Underlying all this is the often unstated, but all pervasive, influence of al-Āmidī’s highly successful peer, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210). This study is of interest to scholars of Ibn Sīnā and Ash‘arism alike, as it advances our understanding of the ongoing tradition of rational theology in the Islamic world, long past Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) famous attack on the philosophers.

Born in the late 9th century Baghdad, the ʿAbbāsid grammarian ‘Abū Bakr Muḥammad b. Saḥl Ibn al-Sarrāj (d. 929), came to be remembered as the Banisher of Madness and the virtuous scholar whose life has exemplified the culture of Arabs in its fullness. Lauded as the arch-enemy of Hellenistic sciences and, at the same time, as the main source of transmission of Aristotelian logic from the 10th century philosophers to the grammarians of Baghdad; Ibn al-Sarrāj nonetheless remains a shadowy figure in the history of Arabic grammar studies up until today. This book addresses this issue by examining the problematic relationship between language, logic and grammar in Ibn al-Sarrāj’s teachings. In addition, the present study offers an insight into the conflict between the medieval grammarians and logicians over the traditionally-established authority of ʿAbbāsid grammarians to analyse the intelligible realm and nature of a human soul. In order to come to terms with the controversial notion of grammarians as the guardians of the divine wisdom, the present study pivots on one of its greatest embodiment: Ibn al-Sarrāj’s concept of the Wisdom of Arabs.

Concealed behind his half-brother al-Husayn, elusive and enigmatic, as though reluctant to draw attention to himself, Abū al-Fadl al-ʿAbbās would eventually be propelled into pre-eminence by history, revered by millions as ‘the water bearer’, ‘the father of excellence’, and ‘the moon of the Hashemites’. A silently valiant man who rarely speaks although, when necessary, is the first to do so, Abū al-Fadl, named by ʿAlī his father for his lion-like ferocity, would be for al-Husayn a diplomat and negotiator, the carrier of the standard and an archetype of selflessness, the intrepid outrider for water, and the last man standing. His unflagging support for his half-brother is iconic, no less so than his stance as the anti-model for those who betrayed al-Husayn’s cause.

The book analyses the works of Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (224/839–310/923) as expressions of the theory of natural law and natural rights, and its corollary theories of politics and social contract, language and rhetoric, hermeneutics, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, and ethics. Through this approach, the author argues that al-Ṭabarī’s scholarship constitutes not only sources of information about the rise and early development of Islam and Islamic polities and disciplines, but theoretically informed analysis of sources and scripture as well. As such, al-Ṭabarī’s works offer important contributions to current research into early Islamic history, law, administration, and the Qur’an. A preliminary effort is also made to historically trace al-Ṭabarī’s theoretical paradigms to a continuum of translation and commentary on Aristotle’s works. The starting point is the mid-500s CE in the Sassanid empire and the Arab polities within its domain, i.e., the Lakhmid kingdom and its administrative links with Hijaz, and the end point is the mid-300s H/900s CE in the Abbasid Caliphate. Alongside this theoretical legacy, the author plots both the Qur’an and al-Ṭabarī’s works, including his famous Qur’an commentary. Special attention is also devoted to relations between theory and practice, concerning ownership of lands, the land tax, redistribution and the common good, conditions for agriculture, and peasants’ rights.

Along with the Qurʾān and ḥadīth, pragmatic documents negotiating land, taxes, and tribal relations are attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad (~570-632 CE) in early Islamic historiography. These are often viewed as relics reflecting the Prophet’s religio-political mission, or as anachronistic texts spuriously ascribed to him. Challenging both conclusions, this book argues that an indigenous Arabian legal and documentary tradition, distinct from classical Islamic law, can be traced in these documents. Laying out the formularies and formulae of around 200 such documents, these are compared to early Arabic papyri as well as older corpora including Aramaic conveyance documents, Sabaic letters, and Nabataean tomb inscriptions. The book also maps the variation found across medieval redactions of some of the documents; the case of one distinctive legal clause; and the tribal traditions of those who received the documents. The documents of the Prophet maintain a register of everyday transactions and customary law which survives compilation and redaction and is embedded in older local and transregional infrastructures which circulate the language, media, and forms for documents. These documents encourage a reconsideration of the concepts of authorship, literacy, and authenticity applied to medieval texts, as well as the presumed centrality of confessional identity in the legal infrastructures described by medieval Islamic genres such as sīra (biography), ḥadīth (traditions), and taʾrīkh (history). Rather than reflecting authorship as the creative acts of individuals, literacy as the decoding of written text, and authenticity as the faithful transmission of original texts over time, the documents of the Prophet are reflective of transregional communication technologies, customs that trace long-lived, geographically diffuse infrastructures of which formulae are the remnants.

A study of the life and background of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, putative founder of the Qādiriyya order, investigating the sources for his life and attributed works. The book seeks to elucidate the ideas of al-Jīlānī, and to formulate a picture of the most prominent trends of pious and mystical thought in Baghdad during the twelfth century, providing a cultural and geographical angle to the study of Islamic mysticism and piety.

This volume explores aspects of religious culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula across Late Antiquity – the period of dynamic and historically crucial developments, culminating in the emergence of Islam. While it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive examination of the topic in a single volume, it is the main aim of this book to further stimulate scholarly research on the Late Antique context of the origins of Islam and the history of early Arab-Muslim culture.

Die folgende Studie beschäftigt sich mit der Rezeption Konstantins in der arabischen Historiographie, sowoh christlicher- als auch muslimischerseits. Eine genauere Analyse der Texte wird zeigen, wie die Geschichte des ersten christlichen Kaisers eine Projektionsfläche für Identitätskonstrutkionen werden konnte, auch über Religionsgrenzen hinaus.

‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Marwān (d. 86/705) reigned as the amīr of Egypt and walī al-‘ahd (heir apparent) to the Islamic caliphate for over 20 years. This book intends to revive this largely forgotten amīr and demonstrate the critical role he played in the formation of the Marwānid dynasty. The founding thesis of this study is that ‘Abd al-‘Azīz was appointed the amīr of Egypt and second heir apparent due to the legitimacy his maternal lineage brought the nascent dynasty.

The only child of Muhammad to survive him, Fatima was from early times taken up by Shî’a Islam, for whose adherents she is the virgin mother, the heavenly intercessor with untold power before God’s throne, and the grieving mother of al-Husayn, the Shi’a's most important martyr. During her life she was impoverished and weak, neglected, marginalized, and divested of justice: but her reward in heaven comprises incalculable riches, all those in heaven will bow their heads to her, and her company will be the angels and the friends of God. Here, for the first time, her story is told.