Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Charles Tieszen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786731584
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
One of the most common religious practices among medieval Eastern Christian communities was their devotion to venerating crosses and crucifixes. Yet many of these communities existed in predominantly Islamic contexts, where the practice was subject to much criticism and often resulted in accusations of idolatry. How did Christians respond to these allegations? Why did they advocate the preservation of a practice that was often met with confusion or even contempt? To shed light onto these questions, Charles Tieszen looks at every known apologetic or polemical text written between the eighth and fourteenth centuries to include a relevant discussion. With sources taken from across the Mediterranean basin, Egypt, Syria and Palestine, the result is the first in-depth look at a key theological debate which lay at the heart of these communities' religious identities. By considering the perspectives of both Muslim and Christian authors, Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World also raises important questions concerning cross-cultural debate and exchange, and the development of Christianity and Islam in the medieval period. This is an important book that will shine much needed light onto Christian-Muslim relations, the nature of inter-faith debates and the wider issues facing the communities living across the Middle East during the medieval period.

Roma in the Medieval Islamic World

Roma in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Kristina Richardson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0755635787
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Winner of the 2022 Dan David Prize for outstanding scholarship that illuminates the past and seeks to anchor public discourse in a deeper understanding of history In Middle Eastern cities as early as the mid-8th century, the Sons of Sasan begged, trained animals, sold medicinal plants and potions, and told fortunes. They captivated the imagination of Arab writers and playwrights, who immortalized their strange ways in poems, plays, and the Thousand and One Nights. Using a wide range of sources, Richardson investigates the lived experiences of these Sons of Sasan, who changed their name to Ghuraba' (Strangers) by the late 1200s. This name became the Arabic word for the Roma and Roma-affiliated groups also known under the pejorative term 'Gypsies'. This book uses mostly Ghuraba'-authored works to understand their tribal organization and professional niches as well as providing a glossary of their language Sin. It also examines the urban homes, neighborhoods, and cemeteries that they constructed. Within these isolated communities they developed and nurtured a deep literary culture and astrological tradition, broadening our appreciation of the cultural contributions of medieval minority communities. Remarkably, the Ghuraba' began blockprinting textual amulets by the 10th century, centuries before printing on paper arrived in central Europe. When Roma tribes migrated from Ottoman territories into Bavaria and Bohemia in the 1410s, they may have carried this printing technology into the Holy Roman Empire.

Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World

Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Pernilla Myrne
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838605029
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In the early Islamic world, Arabic erotic compendia and sex manuals were a popular literary genre. Although primarily written by male authors, the erotic publications from this era often emphasised the sexual needs of women and the importance of female romantic fulfilment. Pernilla Myrne here explores this phenomenon, examining a range of Arabic literature to shed fresh light onto the complexities of female sexuality under the Abbasids and the Buyids. Based on an impressive array of neglected medical, religious-legal, literary and entertainment sources, Myrne elucidates the tension between depictions of women's strong sexual agency and their subordinated social role in various contexts. In the process she uncovers a great diversity of approaches from the 9th to the 11th century, including the sexual handbook the Encyclopedia of Pleasure (Jawami' al-ladhdha), which portrayed the diversity of female desires, asserting the importance of mutual satisfaction through lively poems and stories. This is the first in-depth, comprehensive analysis of female sexuality in the early Islamic world and is essential reading for all scholars of Middle Eastern history and Arabic literature.

Writing History in the Medieval Islamic World

Writing History in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Fozia Bora
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178673611X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In the 'encyclopaedic' fourteenth century, Arabic chronicles produced in Mamluk cities bore textual witness to both recent and bygone history, including that of the Fatimids (969–1171CE). For in two centuries of rule over Egypt and North Africa, the Isma'ili Fatimids had left few self-generated historiographical records. Instead, it fell to Ayyubid and Mamluk historians to represent the dynasty to posterity. This monograph sets out to explain how later historians preserved, interpreted and re-organised earlier textual sources. Mamluk historians engaged in a sophisticated archival practice within historiography, rather than uncritically reproducing earlier reports. In a new diplomatic edition, translation and analysis of Mamluk historian Ibn al-Furat's account of late Fatimid rule in The History of Dynasties and Kings, a widely known but barely copied universal chronicle of Islamic history, Fozia Bora traces the survival of historiographical narratives from Fatimid Egypt. Through Ibn al-Furat's text, Bora demonstrates archivality as the heuristic key to Mamluk historical writing. This book is essential for all scholars working on the written culture and history of the medieval Islamic world, and paves the way for a more nuanced reading of pre-modern Arabic chronicles and of the epistemic environment in which they were produced.

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Charles Tieszen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786721589
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
One of the most common religious practices among medieval Eastern Christian communities was their devotion to venerating crosses and crucifixes. Yet many of these communities existed in predominantly Islamic contexts, where the practice was subject to much criticism and often resulted in accusations of idolatry. How did Christians respond to these allegations? Why did they advocate the preservation of a practice that was often met with confusion or even contempt?

Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam

Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam PDF Author: Alyssa Gabbay
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838602348
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
In Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam: Bilateral Descent and the Legacy of Fatima, Alyssa Gabbay examines episodes in pre-modern Islamic history in which individuals or societies recognized descent from both men and women. Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, features prominently in this study, for her example constituted a striking precedent for acknowledging bilateral descent in both Sunni and Shi'i societies, with all of its ramifications for female inheritance, succession and identity. Covering a broad geographical and chronological swath, Gender and Succession in Medieval and Early Modern Islam presents alternative perspectives to patriarchal narratives, and breaks new ground in its focus upon how people conceived of family structures and bloodlines. In so doing, it builds upon a tradition of studies seeking to dispel monolithic understandings of Islam and Gender.

Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History Volume 15 Thematic Essays (600-1600)

Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History Volume 15 Thematic Essays (600-1600) PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004423702
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
Christian-Muslim Relations, Volume 15, Thematic Essays (600-1600) is a further volume in a general history of relations between the two faiths from the 7th century to the early 20th century. The chapters within it illustrate the range, complexity, and dynamics of interaction between the two faiths during the first thousand years of encounter. All chapters primarily draw upon entries found in volumes 1-7 of Christian-Muslim Relations. They explore tropes of perception, image and judgement that each religious community held in respect to the other through these centuries, and discuss issues and topics that occupied Christians and Muslims in their interaction. The first millennium sets the scene for the modern era and our understandings of contemporary relations and issues. Contributors are Mark Beaumont, Clinton Bennett, David Bertaina, Ulisse Ceceni, David Bryan Cook, Martha Frederiks, Ayşe İçöz, Sandra Keating, James Harry Morris, Nicholas Morton, Gordon Nickel, Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala, Tom Papademetriou, Gabriel Said Reynolds, Christian Sahner, Mark N. Swanson, Mourad Takawi, Luke Yarbrough.

Arab Conquests and Early Islamic Historiography

Arab Conquests and Early Islamic Historiography PDF Author: Ryan J. Lynch
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1838604413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Winner of the 2021 Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society Book Prize Of the available sources for Islamic history between the seventh and eighth centuries CE, few are of greater importance than al-Baladhuri's Kitab Futuh al-buldan (The Book of the Conquest of Lands). Written in Arabic by a ninth-century Muslim scholar working at the court of the 'Abbasid caliphs, the Futuh's content covers many important matters at the beginning of Islamic history. It informs its audience of the major events of the early Islamic conquests, the settlement of Muslims in the conquered territories and their experiences therein, and the origins and development of the early Islamic state. Questions over the text's construction, purpose, and reception, however, have largely been ignored in current scholarship. This is despite both the text's important historical material and its crucial early date of creation. It has become commonplace for researchers to turn to the Futuh for information on a specific location or topic, but to ignore the grander – and, in many ways, more straightforward – questions over the text's creation and limitations. This book looks to correct these gaps in knowledge by investigating the context, form, construction, content, and early reception history of al-Baladhuri's text.

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World

Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World PDF Author: Charles Lowell Tieszen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350985964
Category : Christian art and symbolism
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
"One of the most common religious practices among medieval Eastern Christian communities was their devotion to venerating crosses and crucifixes. Yet many of these communities existed in predominantly Islamic contexts, where the practice was subject to much criticism and often resulted in accusations of idolatry. How did Christians respond to these allegations? Why did they advocate the preservation of a practice that was often met with confusion or even contempt? To shed light onto these questions, Charles Tieszen looks at every known apologetic or polemical text written between the eighth and fourteenth centuries to include a relevant discussion. With sources taken from across the Mediterranean basin, Egypt, Syria and Palestine, the result is the first in-depth look at a key theological debate which lay at the heart of these communities' religious identities. By considering the perspectives of both Muslim and Christian authors, Cross Veneration in the Medieval Islamic World also raises important questions concerning cross-cultural debate and exchange, and the development of Christianity and Islam in the medieval period".

Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World

Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World PDF Author: Lisa Nielson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0755617908
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
During the early medieval Islamicate period (800–1400 CE), discourses concerned with music and musicians were wide-ranging and contentious, and expressed in works on music theory and philosophy as well as literature and poetry. But in spite of attempts by influential scholars and political leaders to limit or control musical expression, music and sound permeated all layers of the social structure. Lisa Nielson here presents a rich social history of music, musicianship and the role of musicians in the early Islamicate era. Focusing primarily on Damascus, Baghdad and Jerusalem, Lisa Nielson draws on a wide variety of textual sources written for and about musicians and their professional/private environments – including chronicles, literary sources, memoirs and musical treatises – as well as the disciplinary approaches of musicology to offer insights into musical performances and the lives of musicians. In the process, the book sheds light onto the dynamics of medieval Islamicate courts, as well as how slavery, gender, status and religion intersected with music in courtly life. It will appeal to scholars of the Islamicate world and historical musicologists.