EUR  â¬182.40EUR  â¬152.00 excl. VAT
Rulers as Authors in the Islamic World
Knowledge, Authority and Legitimacy
Series: - Islamic History and Civilization, Volume: 213
How widespread was authorship among rulers in the premodern Islamic world? The writings of different types of rulers in different regions and periods are analyzed in this book, from the early centuries in the central lands of Islam to 19th century Sudan. The composition of poetry appears as the most fertile area for authorship among rulers. Prose writings show a wide variety, from astrology to bookmaking, from autobiography to creeds. Some of the rulers made claims to special knowledge, but in all cases authorship played a special role in the construction of the rulers' authority and legitimacy.
Contributors: Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk, Sean W. Anthony, MarÃa Luisa Ãvilaâ , Teresa Bernheimer, Philip Bockholt, Sonja Brentjes, Christiane Czygan, David Durand-Guédy, Anne-Marie Eddé, Sinem Eryılmaz, Maribel Fierro, Adam Gaiser, Angelika Hartmannâ , Livnat Holtzman, Maher Jarrar, Robert S. Kramer, Christian Mauder, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Letizia Osti, Jürgen Paul, Petra Schmidl, Tilman Seidensticker.
Contributors: Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk, Sean W. Anthony, MarÃa Luisa Ãvilaâ , Teresa Bernheimer, Philip Bockholt, Sonja Brentjes, Christiane Czygan, David Durand-Guédy, Anne-Marie Eddé, Sinem Eryılmaz, Maribel Fierro, Adam Gaiser, Angelika Hartmannâ , Livnat Holtzman, Maher Jarrar, Robert S. Kramer, Christian Mauder, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Letizia Osti, Jürgen Paul, Petra Schmidl, Tilman Seidensticker.
Maribel Fierro, Ph.F. (1985), Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo, is Research Professor at the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). She has published on the political and intellectual history of the Medieval Islamic West, including co-editing Ibn Hazm of Cordoba. The Life and Works of a Controversial Thinker (Brill, 2012).
Sonja Brentjes, Ph.D. (1977), Visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), is a historian of science who has published on mathematical sciences at courts and in madrasas; cross-cultural exchange of knowledge, mapmaking and historiography. She is the author of Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800â1700) (Brepols, 2018).
Tilman Seidensticker, Ph.D. (1983), is Professor at Hamburg University, Cluster of Excellence 'Understanding Written Artefacts'. He has published on Ancient Arabic poetry and Arabic manuscripts and is author of Islamismus - Geschichte, Vordenker, Organisationen (Munich, 5th ed. 2023).
Sonja Brentjes, Ph.D. (1977), Visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), is a historian of science who has published on mathematical sciences at courts and in madrasas; cross-cultural exchange of knowledge, mapmaking and historiography. She is the author of Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800â1700) (Brepols, 2018).
Tilman Seidensticker, Ph.D. (1983), is Professor at Hamburg University, Cluster of Excellence 'Understanding Written Artefacts'. He has published on Ancient Arabic poetry and Arabic manuscripts and is author of Islamismus - Geschichte, Vordenker, Organisationen (Munich, 5th ed. 2023).
List of Figures
List of Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âMaribel Fierro, Sonja Brentjes and Tilman Seidensticker
1 Rulers as Authors: Ê¿AlÄ« b. AbÄ« ṬÄlib and the Other Twelver Imams
âTeresa Bernheimer
2 Eloquent Exchange: Asceticism and ShirÄʾ in the Poetry of Qaá¹arÄ« b. al-FujÄʾa
âAdam Gaiser
3 A âRediscoveredâ Letter of the Umayyad Caliph Ê¿Umar b. Ê¿Abd al-Ê¿AzÄ«z (r. 99â101/717â720)
Caliphal Authorship and Legal Authority in al-RisÄla fÄ« l-fayʾ
âSean W. Anthony
4 Abbasid Rulers and Their Standing as Authors
âLetizia Osti
5 Zaydī Rulers as Authors: A Quest for Legitimacy
âMaher Jarrar
6 The Caliph al-QÄdir bi-llÄh and the QÄdirÄ« Creed
âLivnat Holtzman
7 Do Caliphs Write? The View from the Islamic West
âMarÃa Luisa Ãvilaâ¯â and Maribel Fierro
8 Authority, ijÄzÄt and Politics: Caliph al-NÄá¹£ir li-DÄ«n AllÄhâs KitÄb Rūḥ al-Ê¿ÄrifÄ«n (7Th/13th Century, Baghdad)
âAngelika Hartmannâ¯â
9 The Pen and the Sword: The Case of the Sudanese Mahdi (1844â1885)
âAhmed Ibrahim Abushouk and Robert S. Kramer
10 Entre lâépée et le calameâ¯: AbÅ« l-FidÄʾ, prince et savant ayyoubide
âAnne-Marie Eddé
11 The Quatrains of Toghrïl III. Some Reflections about the Literacy and Culture of the Saljuqs
âDavid Durand-Guédy
12 Royal Quatrains: Rulers of the AnÅ«shteginid Line of KhwÄrazmshÄhs as Poets
âJürgen Paul
13 Rulers as Authors in 13th-Century Yemen: the Oeuvre of al-Ashraf Ê¿Umar
âPetra Schmidl
14 Non-caliphal Rulers and Their Writings in the Islamic West (2ndâ9th/8thâ15th Centuries)
âMaribel Fierro
15 Legitimating Sultanic Rule in Arabic, Turkish and PersianâLate Mamluk Rulers as Authors of Religious Poetry
âChristian Mauder
16 The Ottoman Ruler Poet Sultan Süleyman I, His Third Divan, and His Reception beyond the Palace Walls
âChristiane Czygan
17 The Power of Poetry in the Ottoman Context
âFatma Sinem Eryılmaz
18 Timurid-Mughal Philosopher-Kings as Sultan-Scientists
âMatthew Melvin-Koushki
19 Shah ṬahmÄsp and the Taáºkira: A Sixteenth-Century Rulerâs Justification of His Policies
âPhilip Bockholt
Index
List of Tables
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
âMaribel Fierro, Sonja Brentjes and Tilman Seidensticker
Part 1 The Early Period
1 Rulers as Authors: Ê¿AlÄ« b. AbÄ« ṬÄlib and the Other Twelver Imams
âTeresa Bernheimer
2 Eloquent Exchange: Asceticism and ShirÄʾ in the Poetry of Qaá¹arÄ« b. al-FujÄʾa
âAdam Gaiser
3 A âRediscoveredâ Letter of the Umayyad Caliph Ê¿Umar b. Ê¿Abd al-Ê¿AzÄ«z (r. 99â101/717â720)
Caliphal Authorship and Legal Authority in al-RisÄla fÄ« l-fayʾ
âSean W. Anthony
4 Abbasid Rulers and Their Standing as Authors
âLetizia Osti
Part 2 Caliphs and Messianic Figures
5 Zaydī Rulers as Authors: A Quest for Legitimacy
âMaher Jarrar
6 The Caliph al-QÄdir bi-llÄh and the QÄdirÄ« Creed
âLivnat Holtzman
7 Do Caliphs Write? The View from the Islamic West
âMarÃa Luisa Ãvilaâ¯â and Maribel Fierro
8 Authority, ijÄzÄt and Politics: Caliph al-NÄá¹£ir li-DÄ«n AllÄhâs KitÄb Rūḥ al-Ê¿ÄrifÄ«n (7Th/13th Century, Baghdad)
âAngelika Hartmannâ¯â
9 The Pen and the Sword: The Case of the Sudanese Mahdi (1844â1885)
âAhmed Ibrahim Abushouk and Robert S. Kramer
Part 3 Emirs and Sultans
10 Entre lâépée et le calameâ¯: AbÅ« l-FidÄʾ, prince et savant ayyoubide
âAnne-Marie Eddé
11 The Quatrains of Toghrïl III. Some Reflections about the Literacy and Culture of the Saljuqs
âDavid Durand-Guédy
12 Royal Quatrains: Rulers of the AnÅ«shteginid Line of KhwÄrazmshÄhs as Poets
âJürgen Paul
13 Rulers as Authors in 13th-Century Yemen: the Oeuvre of al-Ashraf Ê¿Umar
âPetra Schmidl
14 Non-caliphal Rulers and Their Writings in the Islamic West (2ndâ9th/8thâ15th Centuries)
âMaribel Fierro
15 Legitimating Sultanic Rule in Arabic, Turkish and PersianâLate Mamluk Rulers as Authors of Religious Poetry
âChristian Mauder
Part 4 The Great Empires: Timurids-Mughals, Ottomans, Safavids
16 The Ottoman Ruler Poet Sultan Süleyman I, His Third Divan, and His Reception beyond the Palace Walls
âChristiane Czygan
17 The Power of Poetry in the Ottoman Context
âFatma Sinem Eryılmaz
18 Timurid-Mughal Philosopher-Kings as Sultan-Scientists
âMatthew Melvin-Koushki
19 Shah ṬahmÄsp and the Taáºkira: A Sixteenth-Century Rulerâs Justification of His Policies
âPhilip Bockholt
Index
Those interested in the study of Islamic political and intellectual history (scholars, students). Given its comprehensive character it will be of interest for university libraries and of use for those scholars working on the periods and dynasties covered.