Late Antique World of Early Islam

Muslims Among Christians and Jews in the East Mediterranean

Edited by Robert G. Hoyland

Book cover: Late Antique World of Early Islam

Extent: 478 pages

Publisher: Gerlach Press

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2021)

ISBN: 9783959941280

Price: $168.00

In stock

This book offers a number of innovative studies on the three main communities of the East Mediterranean lands-Muslims, Jews and Christians-in the aftermath of the seventh-century Arab conquests. It focuses principally on how the Christian majority were affected by and adapted to their loss of political power.


This book offers a number of innovative studies on the three main communities of the East Mediterranean lands–Muslims, Jews and Christians–in the aftermath of the seventh-century Arab conquests. It focuses principally on how the Christian majority were affected by and adapted to their loss of political power in such arenas as language use, identity construction, church building, pilgrimage, and the role of women. Attention is also paid to how the Muslim community defined itself, administered justice, and regulated relations with non-Muslims. This book will be important for anyone interested in the ways in which the cultures and traditions of the late antique Mediterranean world were transformed in the course of the seventh to tenth centuries by the establishment of the new Muslim political elite and the gradual emergence of an Islamic Empire.

List of Figures List of Contributors Foreword Preface 1 Baghdad: Political Metropolis and Intellectual Center Jens Scheiner & Damien Janos 2 Talking about Arab Origins: The Transmission of the ayyam al-'arab in al-Kufa, al-Basra and Baghdad Isabel Toral-Niehof 3 The Language of the Arabs in Early Ninth Century Philology: An Investigation of the Term mathal in Abu 'Ubayda's Majaz al-Qur-an Nora Schmidt 4 'Earnest and Jest (al-jidd wa-l-hazl)' as an Educational Concept? Some Considerations on Selected Works of al-Jahiz (d. 255/869) Hans-Peter Pokel 5 Abu l-'Atahiya and the Versification of Disenchantment Nora K. Schmid 6 Teachers and Hadith Transmitters: The Qussas in Ibn Hanbal's Musnad Jens Scheiner 7 'We shall neither learn the Qur'an nor teach it to our children': The Covenant of 'Umar on Learning Clare Wilde 8 Christian Learning about Islam in the Early 'Abbasid Caliphate: The Muslim Sources of the Disputation of the Monk Abraham of Tiberias Krisztina Szilagyi 9 Muhammad b. Khalaf b. al-Marzban (d. 309/921) and His Role in Translations from the Middle Persian Mohsen Zakeri 10 Why Did Hunayn, the Master Translator into Arabic, Make Translations into Syriac? On the Purpose of the Syriac Translations of Hunayn and his Circle John Watt 11 Al-Ma'mun's Patronage of Astrology: Some Biographical and Institutional Considerations Damien Janos 12 Court Astrologers and Historical Writing in Early 'Abbasid Baghdad: An Appraisal Antoine Borrut 13 From Lyrics by al-Fazari to Lectures by al-Farabi: Teaching Astronomy in Baghdad (750-1000 C.E.) Johannes Thomann 14 'Until his eyes light up': Talmud Teaching in Babylonian Geonic Yeshivot Elisabetta Abate 15 Safeguarding Lords Word: The Work of the Masoretes in Palestine and Babylon Elvira Martin Contreras Sketches for Further Research 16 'Baghdad for lovers lies not far away': Baghdad and other Imaginary Places in a 7th/13th cent. Manuscript of the Hundred and One Nights Claudia Ott 17 Historical Writing in Baghdad: The Case of the Futuh al-Sham ascribed to al-Waqidi (d. 207/822) Yoones Dehghani Farsani 18 Teaching Qur'anic Exegesis: Some Initial Insights Luise Ossenbach Index

  • Edited by Robert G. Hoyland