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The medieval world, in all its piety, passion, romance, superstition and bloody barbarity, comes to vivid life through the eyes of an ambitious court jester to tell the true story of Edward Longshanks, who literally battled his way to his rightful inheritance, the throne of England. This is the purportedly long-lost account of Hamo Pauncefoot, a crafty and ambitious jester who daringly insinuates himself into the service of the future King Edward I, known as Longshanks. He reveals his story of clever scheming but also courageous loyalty as he rises, through war and battle, to a high rank and becoming indispensable to Edward's cause. As Pauncefoot plots and connives his way further into Edwar...
This volume of al-Ṭabarī’s History provides the most complete and detailed historical source for the Persian empire of the Sāsānids, whose four centuries of rule were one of the most glorious periods in Persia’s long history. This volume of al-Ṭabarī's History has a particularly wide sweep and interest. It provides the most complete and detailed historical source for the Persian empire of the Sāsānids, whose four centuries of rule were one of the most glorious periods in Persia's long history. It also gives information on the history of pre-Islamic Arabs of the Mesopotamian desert fringes and eastern Arabia (in al-Hira and the Ghassanid kingdom), and on the quite separate civil...
The fifteen hagiographies about holy women of the Syrian Orient collected here include stories of martyrs' passions and saints' lives, pious romances and personal reminiscences. Dating from the fourth to seventh centuries A.D., they are translated from Syriac into accessible and vivid prose. Annotations and source notes by the translators help clarify elements that may be unfamiliar to some readers. This collection bears witness to the profound contributions women made to early Chistianity: their various roles, their leadership inside and outside the church structure, and their power to influence others. A new preface discusses recent developments in the field and updates the bibliography.
In The Formation of the Islamic Understanding of kalāla in the Second Century AH (718-816 CE), Pavel Pavlovitch studies traditions (ḥadīth) about the lexical and terminological meaning of the Quranic vocable kalāla. Attempts to understand kalāla began with acknowledging its unintelligibility but ultimately brought into existence a capacious body of interpretative ḥadīth, associated with early Islamic authorities. The analysis of these traditions affords insights into the changing conception of scripture during the first two Islamic centuries, the early history of Islamic exegesis and jurisprudence, and varying scholarly attitudes towards constituent sources of Islamic law. The book highlights the importance of coherent methodology of dating and reconstructing Muslim traditions according to their lines of transmission (isnāds) and their narrative content (matns).
For all Muslims the QurE3/4an is the word of God. In the first centuries of Islam, however, many individuals and groups, and some ShiEis, believed that the generally accepted text of the QurE3/4an is corrupt. The ShiEis asserted that redactors had altered or deleted among other things all passages that supported the rights of EAli and his successors or that condemned his enemies. One of the fullest lists of these alleged changes and of other variant readings is to be found in the work of al-SayyArA (3rd/9th century), which is indeed among the earliest ShiEi books to have survived. In many cases the alternative readings that al-SayyArA presents substantially contribute to our understanding of early ShiEi doctrine and of the early and numerous debates about the QurE3/4an in general.
Qur’anic exegesis has become the battleground of political Islam and theological conflict among various Muslim schools of thought. Using comparative and contrastive methodology, examples from the Qur'an are investigated in the light of various theological views to delineate the birth, development and growth of Qur'anic exegesis. The political status quo, in the past and at present, has impinged upon Qur’anic exegesis more than on any other discipline in Islamic studies. This book illustrates the dichotomy between mainstream and non-mainstream Islam, showing how Qur’anic exegesis reflects the subtle dogmatic differences and political cleavages in Islamic thought. Chapters explore in dep...
The problem confronting theology in the black community is not simply proving that God exists but, rather, that God cares. For the Muslim, it is essential that such a theology be grounded in the Quran and Islam's theological tradition. The Blackamerican Muslim, meanwhile, must also vindicate the protest-oriented agenda of black religion. These are the tasks Sherman Jackson undertakes in this path-breaking work.
Since its first publication in 1960, this famous work by Yusuf al-Qaradawi has enjoyed a huge readership in the Muslim world, and has been translated into many languages. It dispels the ambiguities surrounding the Sharī‘ah to fulfil the essential needs of the Muslims in this age. It clarifies the ḥalāl (lawful) and why it is ḥalāl, and the ḥarām (prohibited) and why it is ḥarām, referring to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet. It answers questions which may face the Muslims today, and refutes the ambiguities and lies about Islam. Dr al-Qaradawi delves into the authentic references in Islamic jurisprudence, extracting judgements of interest to contemporary Muslims in the areas of worship, business dealings, family life, food and drink, dress and ornaments, patterns of behaviour, individual and group relations, family and social ethics, habits and social customs.