This series studies the Middle East through the twin foci of its diverse cultures and civilizations. Comprising original monographs as well as scholarly surveys, it covers topics in the fields of Middle Eastern literature, archaeology, law, history, philosophy, science, folklore, art, architecture and language. While there is a plurality of views, the series presents serious scholarship in a lucid and stimulating fashion.
By Dr Alexander Metcalfe
January 13, 2011
The social and linguistic history of medieval Sicily is both intriguing and complex. Before the Muslim invasion of 827, the islanders spoke dialects of either Greek or Latin or both. On the arrival of the Normans around 1060 Arabic was the dominant language, but by 1250 Sicily was an almost ...
By Sayyid Hamid Hurriez
March 08, 2011
A unique description and analysis of the domains and genres of UAE folklore, including folk customs and beliefs, traditional arts and crafts, folk dances, folk narratives and proverbs. Challenging the established meaning of folklife, this volume also deals with folklore in public life, in the mass ...
By Hussein Abdul-Raof
March 15, 2013
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 ...
By Shari Lowin
December 09, 2013
Arabic and Hebrew Love Poems in al-Andalus investigates a largely overlooked subset of Muslim and Jewish love poetry in medieval Spain: hetero- and homo-erotic love poems written by Muslim and Jewish religious scholars, in which the lover and his sensual experience of the beloved are compared to ...
By Paul L. Heck
December 04, 2013
The first major treatment of skepticism in Islam, this book explores the critical role of skeptical thinking in the development of theology in Islam. It examines the way key thinkers in classical Islam faced perplexing questions about the nature of God and his relation to the world, all the while ...
By Andrew J. Newman
December 21, 2010
Shows how the frictions and disparities between the different pockets of believers scattered throughout the Eastern Islamic world in the late ninth and tenth centuries, the relations between each of these and the Abbasid political institution favoured the narration of different bodies of the Imams'...
By Youssef Choueiri
March 07, 2003
Inclusing a new introduction and conclusion, this revised second edition deals with a vital yet neglected ingredient in modern Arab culture. It is the only scholarly study of Arab historiography. It covers the periods 1820-1920 (Pioneers and Amateurs) and 1920 to today (Professional Historians...
By Corrie Block
September 26, 2013
Offering an analysis of Christian-Muslim dialogue across four centuries, this book highlights those voices of ecumenical tone which have more often used the Qur’an for drawing the two faiths together rather than pushing them apart, and amplifies the voice of the Qur’an itself. Finding that there ...
By Steven Judd
September 10, 2013
Religious Scholars and the Umayyads analyzes legal and theological developments during the Marwānid period (64/684--132/750), focusing on religious scholars who supported the Umayyads. Their scholarly network extended across several generations and significantly influenced the development of the ...
By Hussein Abdul-Raof
December 21, 2010
The Qur'an is read by millions of Muslims on a daily basis, yet there is no book available to the reader, Arab or non-Arab, which provides a linguistic and rhetorical insight into Qur'anic discourse. This book explains Qur'an translational problems and provides a thorough account of the unique ...
By Yasin Dutton
August 30, 2002
If the Qur'an is the first written formulation of Islam in general, Malik's Muwatta' is arguably the first written formulation of the Islam-in-practice that becomes Islamic law. This book considers the methods used by Malik in the Muwatta' to derive the judgements of the law from the Qur'an and is ...
By Nicola Clarke
August 14, 2013
Medieval Islamic society set great store by the transmission of history: to edify, argue legal points, explain present conditions, offer political and religious legitimacy, and entertain. Modern scholars, too, have had much to say about the usefulness of early Islamic history-writing, although this...