Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.799951
Melanie L. Sartore
abstract The establishment of the so-called “Norman World” is a debated phenomenon. The influence of the Normans can be found throughout Europe in matters of politics, warfare, and cultural interaction. The empire established by the Normans from the tenth through the thirteenth centuries was based upon the fighting prowess and military might of a people led by notable men such as William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard. The similarities and differences between the Norman conquests of the eleventh century reveal reciprocity in contact, influence, and exchange among Norman populations. Similarly, the autonomy and distinctness of Norman populations from England to the Mediterranean remained. This article explores the extent of Norman contact, areas of influence and methods of exchange during the most active Norman conquests of the Middle Ages.
{"title":"Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Similarities in the Norman Influence, Contact and “Conquests” of Sicily, Southern Italy and England","authors":"Melanie L. Sartore","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.799951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.799951","url":null,"abstract":"abstract The establishment of the so-called “Norman World” is a debated phenomenon. The influence of the Normans can be found throughout Europe in matters of politics, warfare, and cultural interaction. The empire established by the Normans from the tenth through the thirteenth centuries was based upon the fighting prowess and military might of a people led by notable men such as William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard. The similarities and differences between the Norman conquests of the eleventh century reveal reciprocity in contact, influence, and exchange among Norman populations. Similarly, the autonomy and distinctness of Norman populations from England to the Mediterranean remained. This article explores the extent of Norman contact, areas of influence and methods of exchange during the most active Norman conquests of the Middle Ages.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"31 1","pages":"184 - 203"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82960911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.799952
Savvas Neocleous
abstract This is the second of two articles by the same author arguing against the thesis that there was a conspiracy between the Byzantine emperors and Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, against the crusader states and the Third Crusade in the 1180s. While the focus of the first article was primarily on the Latin sources, the present study shifts the focus to the Arabic primary material, hitherto largely neglected or inadequately treated by modern historians. Through a critical re-examination and re-interpretation of the Arabic sources, backed by the introduction and discussion of new Latin material when necessary, this article presents expanded arguments on the relations between the Byzantine Empire, the Sultanate of Konya and Saladin in the 1180s. The conclusions lend further support to the view that the Byzantine rulers and Saladin never concluded an alliance against the Latin settlers of Outremer and the Third Crusade.
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Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.799953
K. Parker
Abstract In the late Fāṭimid and Ayyūbid periods of Egyptian history, Coptic Christians finally addressed the reality that most of their community no longer understood the Coptic language but were, in fact, losing their communal identity and “figures of memory” to Arabisation and even Islamisation. A Coptic-Arabic “Renaissance” ensued whereby Coptic liturgy, theology and history were translated into Arabic, the lingua franca by this time of the Coptic populace. This creative energy extended into the artistic realm – such as iconography and painting – and ultimately strengthened the identity of the Coptic community as their situation became increasingly more restricted.
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Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804324
Richard Martin
related developments of textualisation and popularisation thus profoundly transformed cultural practices linked to the production, transmission and reception of texts in Egypt and Syria over the Middle Period” (p. 197). Growing textualisation did not, however, mean the displacement of oral and aural modes of cultural transmission by writing; rather, when new cultural practices emerged they were increasingly likely to take place in written form. The main agents of popularisation were not scholars, but traders and craftsmen (“middle classes”, p. 198), who were more able to participate in cultural practices attached to or associated with the scholarly world, such as by taking part aurally in readings or by making use of new institutions such as children’s schools and libraries. Over time, increasing textualisation and popularisation began to affect the virtual monopoly that scholarly and administrative elites enjoyed over the written word. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that among such elites there developed parallel discourses about the role that the written word could play in the generation and dissemination of deviant ideas and about how writing could be used to limit and stamp out such ideas. The volume is illustrated by a number of high quality images, including three floor plans of endowments with attached schools and nineteen plates, mostly in colour, and manuscript illustrations. There is also a bibliography of works cited (pp. 202–27) and an index of names, places and subjects (pp. 228–34). As stated at the beginning of this review, Hirschler has produced a very good book. It is clearly written and argued and is well-grounded in the primary sources and secondary literature. It will be of particular interest to scholars of textual practices elsewhere in the medieval world, both Arab and beyond. Indeed, throughout the book the author demonstrates a sound grasp of important cognate literature, such as Michael Clanchy’s work on England after the Norman Conquest (From Memory to Written Record: England, 1066–1307, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), and in his conclusion, points to a number of avenues for further research. Such research will be greatly facilitated by the ground-breaking work done in this book.
{"title":"Neo-Muctazilismus?: Intention und Kontext im modernen arabischen Umgang mit dem rationalistischen Erbe des Islam","authors":"Richard Martin","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804324","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804324","url":null,"abstract":"related developments of textualisation and popularisation thus profoundly transformed cultural practices linked to the production, transmission and reception of texts in Egypt and Syria over the Middle Period” (p. 197). Growing textualisation did not, however, mean the displacement of oral and aural modes of cultural transmission by writing; rather, when new cultural practices emerged they were increasingly likely to take place in written form. The main agents of popularisation were not scholars, but traders and craftsmen (“middle classes”, p. 198), who were more able to participate in cultural practices attached to or associated with the scholarly world, such as by taking part aurally in readings or by making use of new institutions such as children’s schools and libraries. Over time, increasing textualisation and popularisation began to affect the virtual monopoly that scholarly and administrative elites enjoyed over the written word. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that among such elites there developed parallel discourses about the role that the written word could play in the generation and dissemination of deviant ideas and about how writing could be used to limit and stamp out such ideas. The volume is illustrated by a number of high quality images, including three floor plans of endowments with attached schools and nineteen plates, mostly in colour, and manuscript illustrations. There is also a bibliography of works cited (pp. 202–27) and an index of names, places and subjects (pp. 228–34). As stated at the beginning of this review, Hirschler has produced a very good book. It is clearly written and argued and is well-grounded in the primary sources and secondary literature. It will be of particular interest to scholars of textual practices elsewhere in the medieval world, both Arab and beyond. Indeed, throughout the book the author demonstrates a sound grasp of important cognate literature, such as Michael Clanchy’s work on England after the Norman Conquest (From Memory to Written Record: England, 1066–1307, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 1993), and in his conclusion, points to a number of avenues for further research. Such research will be greatly facilitated by the ground-breaking work done in this book.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"38 1","pages":"269 - 271"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79620132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804321
Yasmin Amin
and the Gazelle of the Kaʿba”, Rubin offers a new reading of the Qurʾān CXI and explores the historical account of hostility between Abū Lahab and the Prophet, highlighting the literary origins of the event. “Quraysh and Their Winter and Summer Journey” attempts to provide a different interpretation of Qurʾān CVI. Through an examination of various exegetical and historical sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the chapter, originally understood to be a Medina chapter, re-dating its religious monotheistic message to the Mecca period. The next article, “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam”, examines traditions and reports concerning the prayer times and their significance, also tracing their roots to pagan times. In the last article, “On the Arabian Origins of the Qur’an”, Rubin demonstrates that the word furqān has a purely Arabic origin and stands for the light of the dawn. The article also discusses the exegetical interpretations of the term as “redemption” and as “distinction between truth and falsehood”. This collection of Uri Rubin’s articles is a significant contribution to the study of the life of Muh ̇ ammad, pre-Islamic Arabia and its people’s rituals, and will be of great benefit to scholars interested in Islamic studies, Qurʾānic exegesis and the life of Muh ̇ ammad. While the articles on Muh ̇ ammad and the Qurʾān and the Qurʾānic idea of prophets and prophethood are less analytical, others, such as his review of Lüling’s work and his own “The Shrouded Messenger”, are much more critical and offer concrete textual analyses. By looking at preIslamic and post-Qurʾānic sources and in some cases juxtaposing Islamic and Jewish sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the Islamic material and makes a major contribution to the field of Islamic studies and the biography of Muh ̇ ammad.
{"title":"The Islamic Scholarly Tradition: Studies in History, Law, and Thought in Honor of Professor Michael Allan Cook","authors":"Yasmin Amin","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804321","url":null,"abstract":"and the Gazelle of the Kaʿba”, Rubin offers a new reading of the Qurʾān CXI and explores the historical account of hostility between Abū Lahab and the Prophet, highlighting the literary origins of the event. “Quraysh and Their Winter and Summer Journey” attempts to provide a different interpretation of Qurʾān CVI. Through an examination of various exegetical and historical sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the chapter, originally understood to be a Medina chapter, re-dating its religious monotheistic message to the Mecca period. The next article, “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam”, examines traditions and reports concerning the prayer times and their significance, also tracing their roots to pagan times. In the last article, “On the Arabian Origins of the Qur’an”, Rubin demonstrates that the word furqān has a purely Arabic origin and stands for the light of the dawn. The article also discusses the exegetical interpretations of the term as “redemption” and as “distinction between truth and falsehood”. This collection of Uri Rubin’s articles is a significant contribution to the study of the life of Muh ̇ ammad, pre-Islamic Arabia and its people’s rituals, and will be of great benefit to scholars interested in Islamic studies, Qurʾānic exegesis and the life of Muh ̇ ammad. While the articles on Muh ̇ ammad and the Qurʾān and the Qurʾānic idea of prophets and prophethood are less analytical, others, such as his review of Lüling’s work and his own “The Shrouded Messenger”, are much more critical and offer concrete textual analyses. By looking at preIslamic and post-Qurʾānic sources and in some cases juxtaposing Islamic and Jewish sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the Islamic material and makes a major contribution to the field of Islamic studies and the biography of Muh ̇ ammad.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"22 1","pages":"275 - 278"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82468849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.799956
Şevket Küçükhüseyin
Abstract Hagiographic sources are of particular value for the study of social life in historical societies. They reflect contemporary social discourses such as how to deal with members of different religious or ethnic groups or social classes. A prime Muslim example of this genre is the Persian Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (Feats of the Knowers of God) of the Mawlawī-Dervish Aḥmad-i Aflākī written in Konya in the eighth/fourteenth century. It is dedicated to the life and deeds of the masters of the emerging brotherhood of the Mawlawiyya. This community was of outstanding importance in urban central and western Asia Minor in the eighth/fourteenth century, both as an institution of the urban middle classes and as an effective missionary, and was thus an important protagonist in the process of Islamisation. After some methodological considerations on the genre of hagiography, the article will address the issue of missionary strategies of the early Mawlawiyya on the basis of the Manāqib al-ʿĀrifīn.
{"title":"Some Reflections on Hagiology with Reference to the Early Mawlawī-Christian Relations in the Light of the Manāqib al-cārifīn","authors":"Şevket Küçükhüseyin","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.799956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.799956","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Hagiographic sources are of particular value for the study of social life in historical societies. They reflect contemporary social discourses such as how to deal with members of different religious or ethnic groups or social classes. A prime Muslim example of this genre is the Persian Manāqib al-ʿārifīn (Feats of the Knowers of God) of the Mawlawī-Dervish Aḥmad-i Aflākī written in Konya in the eighth/fourteenth century. It is dedicated to the life and deeds of the masters of the emerging brotherhood of the Mawlawiyya. This community was of outstanding importance in urban central and western Asia Minor in the eighth/fourteenth century, both as an institution of the urban middle classes and as an effective missionary, and was thus an important protagonist in the process of Islamisation. After some methodological considerations on the genre of hagiography, the article will address the issue of missionary strategies of the early Mawlawiyya on the basis of the Manāqib al-ʿĀrifīn.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"15 1","pages":"240 - 251"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80610294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804325
Steve Tamari
̇ na) imposed by the Caliph al-Maʾmūn on civil servants to test their acceptance, and punish the lack thereof, of the doctrine of the created Qurʾān, which was also a Muʿtazilı̄ doctrine but opposed by popular Muslim piety – most notably by Ah ̇ mad ibn H ̇ anbal (d. 241/855). Some scholars of Islamic theology may not agree with all of Hildenbrandt’s analyses and conclusions. Nonetheless, he has presented intellectual historians and students of comparative theology with a tour de force that brings into sharper focus an intellectual debate in modern Islam, making a compelling case for modern Muslim engagement with the Muʿtazilite heritage.
{"title":"The Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs: An Introduction to the Religion, History, and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria","authors":"Steve Tamari","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804325","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804325","url":null,"abstract":"̇ na) imposed by the Caliph al-Maʾmūn on civil servants to test their acceptance, and punish the lack thereof, of the doctrine of the created Qurʾān, which was also a Muʿtazilı̄ doctrine but opposed by popular Muslim piety – most notably by Ah ̇ mad ibn H ̇ anbal (d. 241/855). Some scholars of Islamic theology may not agree with all of Hildenbrandt’s analyses and conclusions. Nonetheless, he has presented intellectual historians and students of comparative theology with a tour de force that brings into sharper focus an intellectual debate in modern Islam, making a compelling case for modern Muslim engagement with the Muʿtazilite heritage.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"97 1","pages":"271 - 273"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76199054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804327
J. Wood
̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a would contract marriages during his stay in a given place and divorce his wives once he decided to travel to his next destination. Waines illustrates how Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a revelled in the fact that marriage in the Maldives “is really a sort of temporary marriage” (p. 163). While acting as a judge on the islands, he tried to force women to wear Islamic dress, but without success. In another example of his flexible attitudes, Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a chastised others for the immoral act of buying Greek slave girls for prostitution, but continuously purchased slave girls throughout his travels when he could afford it. Waines also points out that Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a was scandalised by the fact that he came across matrilineal societies in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and men had platonic relationships. In the second half of the fifth chapter, Waines discusses Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s relationship with religious and racial “others”. He outlines a number of encounters between Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a and practitioners of Islamic legal schools other than his own Mālikı̄ school and also includes a section on Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s interaction with Shiʿite Muslims. Following the practice of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a, Waines uses the terms “dissidents” and “Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s” (lit. rejectionists) to describe Shiʿites. In all, Waines suggests that, although Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a detested the “extreme Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s”, he admired their piety and hospitality. The Odyssey is a must-read for Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a enthusiasts, especially those who happen to be foodies and enjoy fantastical stories. The discerning reader is left wondering, though, whether the tales presented by Waines are a true window on the medieval world or simply a product of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s imagination. Either way, Waines has written a fascinating study of one of history’s most renowned world travellers.
{"title":"The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands","authors":"J. Wood","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804327","url":null,"abstract":"̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a would contract marriages during his stay in a given place and divorce his wives once he decided to travel to his next destination. Waines illustrates how Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a revelled in the fact that marriage in the Maldives “is really a sort of temporary marriage” (p. 163). While acting as a judge on the islands, he tried to force women to wear Islamic dress, but without success. In another example of his flexible attitudes, Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a chastised others for the immoral act of buying Greek slave girls for prostitution, but continuously purchased slave girls throughout his travels when he could afford it. Waines also points out that Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a was scandalised by the fact that he came across matrilineal societies in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and men had platonic relationships. In the second half of the fifth chapter, Waines discusses Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s relationship with religious and racial “others”. He outlines a number of encounters between Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a and practitioners of Islamic legal schools other than his own Mālikı̄ school and also includes a section on Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s interaction with Shiʿite Muslims. Following the practice of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a, Waines uses the terms “dissidents” and “Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s” (lit. rejectionists) to describe Shiʿites. In all, Waines suggests that, although Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a detested the “extreme Rāfı̄d ̇ ı̄s”, he admired their piety and hospitality. The Odyssey is a must-read for Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a enthusiasts, especially those who happen to be foodies and enjoy fantastical stories. The discerning reader is left wondering, though, whether the tales presented by Waines are a true window on the medieval world or simply a product of Ibn Bat ̇ t ̇ ūt ̇ a’s imagination. Either way, Waines has written a fascinating study of one of history’s most renowned world travellers.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"171 1","pages":"267 - 269"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75109711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804322
M. Dhada
{"title":"Writing “True Stories”: Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East","authors":"M. Dhada","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804322","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804322","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"14 1","pages":"264 - 265"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87409083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2013-08-01DOI: 10.1080/09503110.2013.804323
Z. M. Heern
section of several disciplines” by exposing us to “exciting new avenues of approach”. Unfortunately, a number of shortcomings undermine this objective. There is no index, the inclusion of which would have increased the usability of the volume considerably for readers, reviewers and researchers seeking to dip into the text quickly, before engaging more deeply. Furthermore, no effort is made to outline how the volume fits in the overall series of which it is a part.How, therefore, shouldwe view its contribution to understanding cultural encounters in the Late Antique andMedieval Near East? The question is particularly relevant when considering texts on early Islam, since the debate over Islam’s origins has moved well beyond the symbolic, or analogically emblematic. There is no bibliography, nor is there a list of the sources that the twelve scholars have relied on for their chapters. Even a pithy bibliography broadly surveying the themes tackled here would have made this text useful for readers other than the specialist. Additionally, there is minimal information about the authors of the chapters, leaving readers and reviewers to guess who they are, their areas of research expertise, and how these bear upon their chapters. A page or two of one-paragraph long abstracts on each author would have enabled readers to better situate the chapters and their authors and to follow up more easily on points of interest or debate. If deeper consideration had been given to the reference apparatus within the volume, the portions of the book on martyrdom, sacrifice, and exemplary life of converts imitating the life of Christ would have been rendered that much more rewarding. Instead, what we have here is a good book that nearly falls apart, and that is in desperate need of a better show-and-tell, that is to say a broader meta-contextual setting within which to embed and understand the twelve narrative gems.
{"title":"The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer","authors":"Z. M. Heern","doi":"10.1080/09503110.2013.804323","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2013.804323","url":null,"abstract":"section of several disciplines” by exposing us to “exciting new avenues of approach”. Unfortunately, a number of shortcomings undermine this objective. There is no index, the inclusion of which would have increased the usability of the volume considerably for readers, reviewers and researchers seeking to dip into the text quickly, before engaging more deeply. Furthermore, no effort is made to outline how the volume fits in the overall series of which it is a part.How, therefore, shouldwe view its contribution to understanding cultural encounters in the Late Antique andMedieval Near East? The question is particularly relevant when considering texts on early Islam, since the debate over Islam’s origins has moved well beyond the symbolic, or analogically emblematic. There is no bibliography, nor is there a list of the sources that the twelve scholars have relied on for their chapters. Even a pithy bibliography broadly surveying the themes tackled here would have made this text useful for readers other than the specialist. Additionally, there is minimal information about the authors of the chapters, leaving readers and reviewers to guess who they are, their areas of research expertise, and how these bear upon their chapters. A page or two of one-paragraph long abstracts on each author would have enabled readers to better situate the chapters and their authors and to follow up more easily on points of interest or debate. If deeper consideration had been given to the reference apparatus within the volume, the portions of the book on martyrdom, sacrifice, and exemplary life of converts imitating the life of Christ would have been rendered that much more rewarding. Instead, what we have here is a good book that nearly falls apart, and that is in desperate need of a better show-and-tell, that is to say a broader meta-contextual setting within which to embed and understand the twelve narrative gems.","PeriodicalId":42974,"journal":{"name":"Al-Masaq-Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean","volume":"48 1","pages":"265 - 267"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2013-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79440568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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