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Islamic History and Thought

Gorgias’s series for premodern Islamicate history and thought covers the chronological period of the seventh through seventeenth centuries (with perhaps an outlier into the eighteenth, depending on how extensive the manuscript’s treatment of developments leading to the terminus ad quem is) and a disciplinary focus that is primarily textual in nature, although accepting of studies of material culture insofar as they interrogate how Muslims lived, interacted with one another and with other religionists, and were shaped by their experiences. Monographs, collected studies, edited volumes, critical editions, and translations are all welcome; dissertations must be thoroughly revised before submission. The preferred language of the series is English; French or German manuscripts can be accommodated on the rare occasion.

Series Editors

Nancy Khalek and Manolis Ulbricht

Advisory Board

Asad Q. Ahmed                         Adam Sabra

Arezou Azad                              Walid A. Saleh

Amira K. Bennison                    Jens Scheiner

Godefroid de Callataÿ               Delfina Serrano

Tijana Krstic                               Adam Talib

Marcus Milwright                      Georges Tamer

Gabriel Said Reynolds               Jack Tannous

To submit a book proposal to the series, please contact submissions@gorgiaspress.com

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Picture of Women in Shiʿism

Women in Shiʿism

Ancient Stories, Modern Ideologies
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0726-7
What is the nature and social role of women? In today’s Shi‘ism, these questions are often answered through the “separate-but- equal” ideology which emphasizes the role of women as wives and mothers, and places men in authority. But is this the only ideology which can be derived from Shi‘i scriptural sources? This book takes a more nuanced approach to that question by exploring how women are portrayed in hadith on ancient sacred narrative – the stories of the prophets. It shows far more diverse views on what it means to be a woman (and, by extension, a man) – and that early Shi‘is held competing views about ideals for women.
$114.95 (USD) $68.97 (USD)
Picture of Zwischen Māturīdīya und Ašʿarīya

Zwischen Māturīdīya und Ašʿarīya

Abū Šakūr as-Sālimi und sein Tamhīd fī bayān at-tauḥīd
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3941-1
The present work provides a new edition and substantial German commentary of the important theological Arabic work Al-Tamhīd fī bayān al-tauḥīd (“Introduction to the explanation of monotheism”) by the 5th/11th century scholar Abū Shakūr al-Sālimī. The work and its author belong to the theological school that succeeded Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (died 333/944) and still serve as important markers of Sunnī theology into the nineteenth century.
$151.25 (USD)
Picture of The Naval Commanders of Early Islam

The Naval Commanders of Early Islam

A Prosopographical Approach
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0645-1
Translated from Hebrew, this groundbreaking study sets out to answer one simple question: who were the commanders of the early Islamic navy? Using the prosopographical method, Elmakias unearths fresh information about early Islam's inexperienced and pioneering naval commanders. Through their fascinating biographies, we learn about the people who led the Islamic navy during the first conquests of the Islamic empire and helped to realise the spread and expansion of Islamic influence.
$114.95 (USD) $68.97 (USD)
Picture of Half of my Heart

Half of my Heart

The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of ʿAlî
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3937-4
As Abû ʿAbd Allâh al-Ḥusayn, son of ʿAlî and Fâṭima and grandson of Muḥammad, moved inexorably towards death on the field of Karbalâʾ, his sister Zaynab was drawn ever closer to the centre of the family of Muḥammad, the ‘people of the house’ (ahl al-bayt). There she would remain for a few historic days, challenging the wickedness of the Islamic leadership, defending the actions of her brother, initiating the commemorative rituals, protecting and nurturing the new Imâm, al-Ḥusayn’s son ʿAlî b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlî b. Abî Ṭâlib, until he could take his rightful place. This is her story.
$114.95 (USD) $68.97 (USD)
Picture of Umayyad Christianity

Umayyad Christianity

John of Damascus as a contextual example of identity formation in Early Islam
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0757-1
A study of the identity-formation process that the Christians of Syria-Palestine experienced during the Umayyad Caliphate. It approaches this subject by using John of Damascus and his writings on Islam as a case-study. This provides an exhaustive study of the available historical data in order to stimulate some further thought on John of Damascus’s theology and legacy from a contextual and intercultural methodology. Such an examination has not yet been pursued in the scholarship of Byzantine Christianity during that era. Proceeding from a centralizing ‘context’, the monograph revisits John of Damascus’s legacy (and the Umayyad Christians’ identity-formation of that era) from the perspective of his historical, Islamic-Arabic context, and not from any assumed, metanarrative, common to contemporary pro-Byzantine theology scholars.
$114.95 (USD) $68.97 (USD)
Picture of Early Philosophical Ṣūfism

Early Philosophical Ṣūfism

The Neoplatonic Thought of Ḥusayn Ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāğ
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3917-6
This study challenges the conventional image of the tenth-century Sufi mystic Al-Husayn Ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāğ (d. 929) as an anti-philosophical mystic. Unlike the predominantly theological or text-historical studies which constitute much of the scholarly literature on Ḥallāğ, this study is completely philosophical in nature, placing Ḥallāğ within the tradition of Graeco-Arabic philosophy and emphasizing, in a positive light, his continuity with the pagan Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Proclus.
$141.00 (USD) $84.60 (USD)
Picture of The Arts and Crafts of Syria and Egypt from the Ayyubids to World War I

The Arts and Crafts of Syria and Egypt from the Ayyubids to World War I

Collected Essays
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3900-8
This book focuses on the production, sale, and consumption of portable arts in regions covered today by the modern polities of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestine Authority. The reprinted chapters in this volume have been revised and updated. They offer interdisciplinary approaches to the material culture of the region from the twelfth to the early twentieth centuries, combining evidence from primary written sources, archaeology, and objects in museums and private collections. Topics include the production and distribution of pottery, importation of glazed wares into the Middle East, shadow puppetry, economic activity associated with the Syrian hajj, the manufacturing practices of the crafts operating in Damascus during the last decades of Ottoman rule, and the decoration of artillery shell cases during and after World War I. Also included are an introduction containing a critical evaluation of the main sources of information, a cumulative bibliography, and a previously unpublished study of leatherworking in the late Ottoman period.
$162.00 (USD) $97.20 (USD)
Picture of Fâṭima, Daughter of Muhammad (second edition - hardback)

Fâṭima, Daughter of Muhammad (second edition - hardback)

Second Edition
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3933-6
The only child of Muhammad to survive him, Fâṭima was from early times taken up by Shî’a Islam, for whose adherents she is the virgin mother, the heavenly intercessor with untold power before God’s throne, and the grieving mother of al-Husayn, the Shî’a's most important martyr. During her life she was impoverished and weak, neglected, marginalized, and divested of justice: but her reward in heaven comprises incalculable riches, all those in heaven will bow their heads to her, and her company will be the angels and the friends of God. Here, for the first time, her story is told.
$95.00 (USD) $57.00 (USD)
Picture of The Jurist and the Theologian

The Jurist and the Theologian

Speculative Theology in Shāfiʿī Legal Theory
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0618-5
This in-depth study examines the relation between legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) and speculative theology (ʿīlm al-kalām). It compares the legal theory of four classical jurists who belonged to the same school of law, the Shāfiʿī school, yet followed three different theological traditions. The aim of this comparison is to understand to what extent, and in what way, the theology of each jurist shaped his choices in legal theory.
$176.00 (USD) $105.60 (USD)
Picture of Religious Culture in Late Antique Arabia

Religious Culture in Late Antique Arabia

Selected Studies on the Late Antique Religious Mind
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0630-7
This volume explores aspects of religious culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula across Late Antiquity – the period of dynamic and historically crucial developments, culminating in the emergence of Islam. While it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive examination of the topic in a single volume, it is the main aim of this book to further stimulate scholarly research on the Late Antique context of the origins of Islam and the history of early Arab-Muslim culture.
$176.00 (USD) $105.60 (USD)
Picture of Constantinus Arabicus

Constantinus Arabicus

Die arabische Geschichtsschreibung und das christliche Rom
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0652-9
Die folgende Studie beschäftigt sich mit der Rezeption Konstantins in der arabischen Historiographie, sowoh christlicher- als auch muslimischerseits. Eine genauere Analyse der Texte wird zeigen, wie die Geschichte des ersten christlichen Kaisers eine Projektionsfläche für Identitätskonstrutkionen werden konnte, auch über Religionsgrenzen hinaus.
$178.00 (USD) $106.80 (USD)
Picture of Princely Authority in the Early Marwānid State

Princely Authority in the Early Marwānid State

The Life of ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0632-1
‘Abd al-‘Azīz b. Marwān (d. 86/705) reigned as the amīr of Egypt and walī al-‘ahd (heir apparent) to the Islamic caliphate for over 20 years. This book intends to revive this largely forgotten amīr and demonstrate the critical role he played in the formation of the Marwānid dynasty. The founding thesis of this study is that ‘Abd al-‘Azīz was appointed the amīr of Egypt and second heir apparent due to the legitimacy his maternal lineage brought the nascent dynasty.
$140.00 (USD) $84.00 (USD)
Picture of Reconstruction of a Source of Ibn Isḥāq’s Life of the Prophet and Early Qurʾān Exegesis

Reconstruction of a Source of Ibn Isḥāq’s Life of the Prophet and Early Qurʾān Exegesis

A Study of Early Ibn ʿAbbās Traditions
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0659-8
This important work is a source-critical study of a group of traditions (aḥādīth) found in Ibn Isḥāq's Biography (Sīra) of the prophet Muḥammad, widely considered one of the most important early historical texts on the Prophet's life. Through a meticulous isnād-cum-matn analysis, the author reveals that Ibn Isḥāq relied on Muḥammad b. Abī Muḥammad, a hitherto undocumented source of his. Important new light is also shed on problems with Ibn Hishām’s recension of Ibn Isḥāq’s Sīra.
$47.00 (USD) $28.20 (USD)
Picture of A Place Between Two Places

A Place Between Two Places

The Quranic Barzakh
ISBN: 978-1-4632-0612-3
For believers in a resurrection of the body, there arises the question of what happens after death but before the Last Day: the intermediate state. For most Muslims, the intermediate state is the barzakh. It is a fantastical and frightening time in the grave. The present study will examine where the belief in the barzakh comes from through a study of the Qur'an.
$129.00 (USD) $77.40 (USD)