The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History

The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History

Author: Touraj Daryaee

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2012-02-16

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0199732159

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This handbook is a guide to Iran's complex history. The book emphasizes the large-scale continuities of Iranian history while also describing the important patterns of transformation that have characterized Iran's past.


The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 32

The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 32

Author:

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0791497208

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The 20 years' caliphate of al-Maʾmūn began as a stormy period in Middle Eastern history; after the comparatively peaceful reign of his father Hārūn al-Rashīd, the caliphate was plunged into violent civil warfare in both Iraq and Arabia, involving the sons of al-Rashīd, rivals for the supreme authority, and various other sectarian rebels and aspirants for power. Yet once peace was secured and the caliphate lands united once more, al-Maʾmūn's reign settled down into one of the most exciting and innovative of the mediaeval caliphate. The Caliph himself was a highly cultivated man who possessed a keen intellectual curiosity and who interested himself in the practical sciences, astronomy and mathematics. He also encouraged the translating of Greek philosophical, scientific and medical works from Greek and Syriac into Arabic and involved himself in theological controversies in which the dialectical techniques of the Greek thinkers were to figure. Ṭabarī's history of this period constitutes a prime source for political and military history. His racy and vivid style, including many verbatim conversations and documents, brings the Caliphate of al-Maʾmūn very much alive. A discounted price is available when purchasing the entire 39-volume History of al-Ṭabarī set. Contact SUNY Press for more information.


Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World

Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World

Author: Lisa Nielson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-04-22

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 0755617908

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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.


Concubines and Courtesans

Concubines and Courtesans

Author: Matthew Gordon

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0190622180

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Concubines and Courtesans contains sixteen essays on enslaved and freed women across medieval and pre-modern Islamic social history. The essays consider questions of slavery, gender, social networking, cultural production, sexuality, Islamic family law, and religion in the shaping of Near Eastern and Islamic society over time.


The Penguin Dictionary of Islam

The Penguin Dictionary of Islam

Author: Azim Nanji

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2008-04-24

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0141920866

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Islam today is a truly global faith, yet it remains somewhat of an enigma to many of us. Each and every day our newspapers are saturated with references to Islam; Quran, Taliban, Hijab, Fatwa, Allah, Sunni, Jihad, Shia, the list goes on. But how much do we really understand? Are we, in fact, misunderstanding? The Penguin Dictionary of Islam provides complete, impartial answers. It includes extensive coverage of the historical formations of the worldwide Muslim community and highlights key modern Muslim figures and events. Understanding Islam is vital to understanding our world and this text is the definitive authority, designed for both general and academic readers.


The Forgotten Queens of Islam

The Forgotten Queens of Islam

Author: Fatima Mernissi

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780816624393

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Mernissi recounts the extraordinary stories of fifteen queen s and reflects on the implications for the ways in which politics is practiced in Islam today, a world in which women are largely excluded form the political domain.


The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 1

The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 1

Author:

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2015-06-10

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1438417837

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Volume I of the thirty-eight volume translation of Ṭabarī's great History begins with the creation of the world and ends with the time of Noah and the Flood. It not only brings a vast amount of speculation about the early history of mankind into sharp Muslim focus, but it also synchronizes ancient Iranian ideas about the prehistory of mankind with those inspired by the Qur'an and the Bible. The volume is thus an excellent guide to the cosmological views of many of Ṭabarī's contemporaries. The translator, Franz Rosenthal, one of the world's foremost scholars of Arabic, has also written an extensive introduction to the volume that presents all the facts known about Ṭabarī's personal and professional life. Professor Rosenthal's meticulous and original scholarship has yielded a valuable bibliography and chronology of Ṭabarī's writings, both those preserved in manuscript and those alluded to by other authors. The introduction and first volume of the translation of the History form a ground-breaking contribution to Islamic historiography in English and will prove to be an invaluable source of information for those who are interested in Middle Eastern history but are unable to read the basic works in Arabic.


Islamic Empires

Islamic Empires

Author: Justin Marozzi

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2019-08-29

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 0241199050

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'Outstanding, illuminating, compelling ... a riveting read' Peter Frankopan, Sunday Times Islamic civilization was once the envy of the world. From a succession of glittering, cosmopolitan capitals, Islamic empires lorded it over the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and swathes of the Indian subcontinent. For centuries the caliphate was both ascendant on the battlefield and triumphant in the battle of ideas, its cities unrivalled powerhouses of artistic grandeur, commercial power, spiritual sanctity and forward-looking thinking. Islamic Empires is a history of this rich and diverse civilization told through its greatest cities over fifteen centuries, from the beginnings of Islam in Mecca in the seventh century to the astonishing rise of Doha in the twenty-first. It dwells on the most remarkable dynasties ever to lead the Muslim world - the Abbasids of Baghdad, the Umayyads of Damascus and Cordoba, the Merinids of Fez, the Ottomans of Istanbul, the Mughals of India and the Safavids of Isfahan - and some of the most charismatic leaders in Muslim history, from Saladin in Cairo and mighty Tamerlane of Samarkand to the poet-prince Babur in his mountain kingdom of Kabul and the irrepressible Maktoum dynasty of Dubai. It focuses on these fifteen cities at some of the defining moments in Islamic history: from the Prophet Mohammed receiving his divine revelations in Mecca and the First Crusade of 1099 to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the phenomenal creation of the merchant republic of Beirut in the nineteenth century.