Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam: Essays in Honour of Wilferd Madelung

by Farhad Daftary, Josef Meri

Overview

The relationship between the workings of memory and the formation of culture is intriguingly close in the world of medieval Islam. In this book, distinguished contributors explore broad-ranging themes relating to memory, memorisation, memorialising or commemorating in a variety of historical, legal, literary and architectural contexts. Abbas Amanat, Irene Bierman, Elton Daniel, George Makdisi, Andrew Newman, Roy Mottahedeh, Ismail K. Poonawala and Paul E. Walker examine lists and maps as memory aids, the transmission of knowledge and traditions from medieval to early-modern times, the application of medieval notions of law and statecraft and the commemoration of individuals, civilisations and dynasties in historical and literary works, on coinage and in monumental forms. This is a fascinatingly original perspective on a topic which will engage scholars of Islamic history and sociology, as well as cultural history and the history of ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781860648595
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/26/2003
Series:	Institute of Ismaili Studies
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.64(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.76(d)

About the Author

Farhad Daftary is Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. He is the author of The Ismailis: their History and Doctrines, The Assassin Legends and editor of Intellectual Traditions in Islam (both I.B.Tauris). Josef W. Meri is a specialist in medieval Middle Eastern and Islamic history and is currently Research Fellow in Near Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Introduction--Josef W. Meri
• Bibliography of the Works of Wilferd Madelung--Farhad Daftary
• Part I: The Transmission of Knowledge
• Universities: Past and Present--George Makdisi
• The ijaza from Abd Allah b. Iali al-Samahiji (d. 1135/1722) to Nabir al-Jarudi al-Qanifi (d. 1164/1750-51). A Source for the Twelver Shiite Scholarly Tradition of Ba’rayn--Sabine Schmidtke
• Between Qum and the West: The Occultation according to Early Islamic Sources--Andrew J. Newman
• Memory and Maps Emilie Savage-Smith
• Abu ayyan al-Taw idi: A Sunni Voice in the Shii Century--Wadad al-Qaai
• Part II: Memorializing, Remembering and Forgetting
• Bal’ami’s Account of Early Islamic History--Elton J. Daniel
• Say It Again and Make Me Your Slave: Notes on al-Daylam’s Seventh Sign of Man’s Love of God--Joseph Norment Bell
• Lists, Memory and Enquiry: Ibn Qutayba and Muhammad ibn Habib--Julia Bray
• Wa’iz Kashfi’s ‘Garden of the Martyrs’ and the Subtext to the Portrayal of the Iman Husain in the Shii Martyrdom Narrative of the Late Timurid Period Abbas Amanat
• Part III: Commemorating Rulers, Dynasties and Conquests
• The Legitimation of Power in Samanid and Buyid Iran--Luke Treadwell
• The Beginning of the Ismaili Dawa and the Establishment of the Fanimid Dynasty as Commemorated by al-Qaai al-Numan--Ismail K. Poonawala
• Religious Identity, Dissimulation and Collective Memory: The Ismaili Context--Farhad Daftary
• Purloined Symbols of the Past: The Theft of Souvenirs and Sacred Relics in the Rivalry Between the Abbasids and Fatimids--Paul E. Walker
• Conceptions of Authority and the Transition of Shiism from Sectarian to National Religion in Iran--Said Amir Arjomand
• Umara’s Poetical View of Shawar and Iirgham, Shirkuh and Iala al-Din, as Viziers under Fanimid Guidance--Pieter Smoor

Editorial Reviews

"The contributions are of high academic standing, and the volume is a must for any library collection on Islamic history." —Boekbesprekingen Islam

"The text as a whole is well produced, well organized, and user-friendly, certain to be of interest to both specialists and students alike." —Mela Notes

From the Publisher