Anthropomorphism in Islam

Anthropomorphism in Islam PDF

Author: Livnat Holtzman

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2018-03-07

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0748689575

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Through a close, contextualized, and interdisciplinary reading in Hadith compilations, theological treatises, and historical sources, this book offers an evaluation and understanding of the traditionalistic endeavours to define anthropomorphism in the most crucial and indeed most formative period of Islamic thought.

Conquered Populations in Early Islam

Conquered Populations in Early Islam PDF

Author: Elizabeth Urban

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-01-10

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1474423221

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This book traces the journey of new Muslims as they joined the early Islamic community and articulated their identities within it. It focuses on Muslims of slave origins, who belonged to the society in which they lived but whose slave background rendered them somehow alien. How did these Muslims at the crossroads of insider and outsider find their place in early Islamic society? How did Islamic society itself change to accommodate these new members? By analysing how these liminal Muslims resolved the tension between belonging and otherness, Conquered Populations in Early Islam reveals the shifting boundaries of the early Islamic community and celebrates the dynamism of Islamic history.

Art, Allegory and the Rise of Shi'ism in Iran, 1487-1565

Art, Allegory and the Rise of Shi'ism in Iran, 1487-1565 PDF

Author: Kia Chad Kia

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2019-06-03

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 1474450407

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Transforming our understanding of Persian art, this impressive interdisciplinary book decodes some of the world's most exquisite medieval paintings. It reveals the hidden meaning behind enigmatic figures and scenes that have puzzled modern scholars, focusing on five 'miniature' paintings. Chad Kia shows how the cryptic elements in these works of art from Timurid Persia conveyed the mystical teachings of Sufi poets like Rumi, Attar and Jami, and heralded one of the most significant events in the history of Islam: the takeover by the Safavids in 1501 and the conversion of Iran to Shiism.

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East PDF

Author: Talmon-Heller Daniella Talmon-Heller

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-03-18

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1474460992

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This book offers a fresh perspective on religious culture in the medieval Middle East. It investigates the ways Muslims thought about and practiced at sacred spaces and in sacred times through two detailed case studies: the shrines in honour of the head of al-Husayn (the martyred grandson of the Prophet), and the holy month of Rajab. The changing expressions of the veneration of the shrine and month are followed from the formative period of Islam until the late Mamluk period, paying attention to historical contexts and power relations. Readers will find interest in the attempt to integrate the two perspectives synchronically and diachronically, in a discussion of the relationship between the sanctification of space and time in individual and communal piety, and in the religious literature of the period.

Administration of Justice in Medieval Egypt

Administration of Justice in Medieval Egypt PDF

Author: Yaacov Lev

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2020-03-02

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1474459269

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This book shows how political and administrative forces shaped the way justice was applied in medieval Egypt. It introduces the model that evolved during the 7th to the 9th centuries, which involved four judicial institutions: the cadi, the court of complaint (mazalim), the police/shurta (responsible for criminal justice) and the Islamized market law (hisba) administrated by the market supervisor/muhtasib. Literary and non-literary sources are used to highlight how these institutions worked in real-time situations such as the famine of 1024-1025, which posed tremendous challenges to the market supervisors in Cairo. The inner workings of the court of complaint during the 11th-12th century Fatimid state are revealed through array of documentary sources. Further, non-Muslim communities, their courts and their sphere of responsibilities are treated as integral to how justice was dispensed in medieval Islam. Documentary sources offers significant insights into these issues and illuminate the scope and limits of non-Muslims self-rule/judicial autonomy.In sum, the book shows that the administrative and political history of the judiciary in medieval Egypt implicitly and explicitly illuminates broader questions about religious and social forces that shaped the lives of medieval people in the Middle East, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Arabian Drugs in Medieval Mediterranean Medicine

Arabian Drugs in Medieval Mediterranean Medicine PDF

Author: Zohar Amar

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1474413188

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Explores the impact of drugs introduced by the Arabs on medieval Mediterranean medicineFor more than one thousand years Arab medicine held sway in the ancient world, from the shores of Spain in the West to China, India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in the East. This book explores the impact of Greek (as well as Indian and Persian) medical heritage on the evolution of Arab medicine and pharmacology, investigating it from the perspective of materia medica a reliable indication of the contribution of this medical legacy.Focusing on the main substances introduced and traded by the Arabs in the medieval Mediterranean including Ambergris, camphor, musk, myrobalan, nutmeg, sandalwood and turmeric the authors show how they enriched the existing inventory of drugs influenced by Galenic-Arab pharmacology. Further, they look at how these substances merged with the development and distribution of new technologies and industries that evolved in the Middle Ages such as textiles, paper, dyeing and tanning, and with the new trends, demands and fashions regarding spices, perfumes, ornaments (gemstones) and foodstuffs some of which can be found in our modern-day food basket.Key FeaturesAssesses the assimilation of theoretical and practical Greek, Indian and Persian medicine into Arabic medical cultureReconstructs and presents a list of medicinal substances distributed by the Arabs as a result of their conquestsTells the stories of 33 new Arabic drugs within the context of their natural historyDescribes the contribution of the Arabs to the daily medieval cultural material (medicine, cosmetics, perfumery, dyeing of materials, industrial products and precious stones)Includes 35 colour illustrations

Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257

Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257 PDF

Author: Taef El-Azhari

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2019-06-24

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1474423191

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Drawing on specific historical case studies and events, this book looks at the role of women, mothers, wives, eunuchs, concubines, qahramans and atabegs in the dynamics and manipulation of medieval Islamic politics.

Making Mongol History

Making Mongol History PDF

Author: Stefan Kamola

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2019-08-05

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1474421431

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This book examines the life and work of Rashid al-Din Tabib (d. 1318), the most powerful statesman working for the Mongol Ilkhans in the Middle East. It begins with an overview of administrative history and historiography in the early Ilkhanate, culminating with Rashid al-Din's Blessed History of Ghazan, the indispensable source for Mongol and Ilkhanid history. Later chapters lay out the results of the most comprehensive study to date of the manuscripts of Rashid al-Din's historical writing. The complicated relationship between Rashid al-Din's historical and theological writings is also explored, as well as his appropriation of the work of his contemporary historian, `Abd Allah Qashani.

Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies

Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies PDF

Author: Frédéric Bauden

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-01-07

Total Pages: 909

ISBN-13: 9004384634

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Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies gathers twenty-eight essays that offer the most up-to-date insight into the diplomacy and diplomatics of the Mamluk sultanate with Muslim and non-Muslim powers.