The Poetics of Devotion in ʿĀʾisha al‐Bāʿūniyya's Praise of God and Muḥammad

Recently, there has been an effort within Islamic Studies to reassess the common belief that the so‐called ‘post‐classical’ era of Islamic history was characterized by intellectual stagnation and decline. The Mamluk era is one such period that has suffered from a dearth of scholarly attention resulting from outdated stereotypes. This article contributes to scholarship on this era through examining some poems by a late Mamluk poet, ?ā?isha al‐Bā?ūniyya (d. 1517). While much scholarship on al‐Bā?ūniyya focuses on her lyrical mystical verse, the poems studied here incorporate selective allusions to key Islamic sources in order to narrate a history of divine favor as the speaker imagines it. This innovative history expresses a poetics of devotion that focalizes Mu?ammad and the poet's own peers. The poems intertextually anchor this narrative in key Islamic sources, reflecting al‐Bā?ūniyya's extensive scholarly training. They constitute an unusual example of a female poet writing beyond the genres with which women's premodern poetry is conventionally associated. This poetry also represents a post‐classical contribution to Islamic literary and religious history. However, the criterion of originality should ultimately be reconsidered in evaluations of scholarly merit, and scholarship should pay more attention to continuities and intertextuality in texts.     

The Influence of Ibn Sīnā on al‐Ghazzālī in Qur'anic Hermeneutics

Al‐Ghazzālī criticized Muslim philosophers in general and Ibn Sīnā in particular in a number of matters notwithstanding, he was deeply influenced by philosophy and Ibn Sīnā's views as to some issues. Of the contexts in which al‐Ghazzālī is under the clear influence of Ibn Sīnā are the interpretations of some Qur'ānīc chapters and verses which are related to the demonstration of the existence of God and the explanation of some divine attributes and names. In many of his works, al‐Ghazzālī reproduces Ibn Sīnā's interpretation of the verses in harmony with the ontological proof. One can observe Ibn Sīnā's influence on al‐Ghazzālī in relation with the hierarchy of beings, too. However, the context in which Ibn Sīnā's influence is most obvious is the interpretation of the 35^th verse of the Sūrah Nūr. Ibn Sīnā's interpretation of the terms occurring in this verse as symbols of the human faculties exercised a profound impact on the thought of al‐Ghazzālī, which manifests itself in his interpretation of the verse in Mishkāt al‐Anwār. Another of such contexts is the topic of human psychology and the interpretations of the verses related wherewith. Immensely influenced by the psychological views of Ibn Sīnā, al‐Ghazzālī adopted Ibn Sīnā's notion of the simultaneous creation of soul and body, interpreting some Qur'ānic verses in harmony with this notion. This article is intended to illustrate that al‐Ghazzālī, who is opposed to the blind imitation of any school of thought, did not make a wholesale denouncement of the views of philosophers; on the contrary, he made an extensive use of Ibn Sīnā's ideas in conformity with his general attitude of benefiting from all schools of thought.     

Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra in Translation: A Century of Interpretation of a Sanskrit Mahāyāna Text

Many translations of ?āntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra, a Sanskrit Mahāyāna Buddhist text of seventh/eighth‐century India, have been published since 1892. ?āntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra is one of the few Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist texts available in Sanskrit and it was influential in Tibetan Buddhist schools. This article explores how translation of the Bodhicaryāvatāra is no longer the preserve of scholars but has moved to being carried out by Buddhist practitioners influenced by Tibetan schools of Buddhism. It shows how translators’ motives for translating the text have reflected changing attitudes to Buddhism and its texts. ?āntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra has been translated as a source of information, a literary work, an inspirational work and, with the rise of Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism in the late twentieth century, as a vehicle for the transmission of Buddhist teachings. Nevertheless, further scholarly investigation of the Sanskrit text of the Bodhicaryāvatāra remains to be done.     

Between rocks and a hard place: prehistoric funerary practices at Wādī Ḍebayʿān,northern Qatar

Archaeological survey by the Qatar National Historic Environment Record Project (QNHER) in 2009, led to the discovery of a Neolithic flint scatter, a settlement and an ancient, raised shoreline associated with higher, mid‐Holocene sea levels at Wādī ?ebay?ān, north‐western Qatar (Al‐Naimi et al. 2010, 2011; Cuttler, Tetlow & Al‐Naimi 2011). The QNHER project is a collaboration between Qatar Museums and the University of Birmingham, which over the past five years has developed a national geospatial database for the recording of archaeological sites and historic monuments in Qatar. A significant aspect of the project involved archaeological survey and excavation in advance of major construction projects. Between 2012 and 2014 excavations at Wādī ?ebay?ān revealed a burial of a typology previously unknown in Qatar, the unmarked graves (Cuttler, Al‐Naimi & Tetlow 2013).     

The struggle for reform: contested conceptualizations of iṣlāḥ in the Maghreb*

This contribution draws an historical and conceptual analysis of the concept of i?lā?, which is traditionally understood as “reform” in general terms, and tries to stress the origins and the main conceptual paradigms of the two main ideological and political lines in which this concept has been developed and is still used in the Arab Maghreb by main political actors and thinkers.     

“SEEING” THE PAST: TEXT AND QUESTIONS OF HISTORY IN THE RĀJATARAṄGIṆĪ

Traditional scholarly opinion has regarded Kalha?a's Rājatara?gi?ī, the twelfth‐century Sanskrit chronicle of Kashmiri kings, as a work of history. This essay proposes a reinvestigation of the nature of the iconic text from outside the shadow of that label. It first closely critiques the positivist “history hypothesis,” exposing its internal contradictions over questions of chronology, causality, and objectivity as attributed to the text. It then argues that more than an empiricist historical account that modern historians like to believe it is—in the process bracketing out integral rhetorical, mythic, and didactic parts of the text—the Rājatara?gi?ī should be viewed in totality for the kāvya (epic poem) that it is, which is to say, as representing a specific language practice that sought to produce meaning and articulated the poet's vision of the land and its lineages. The essay thus urges momentarily reclaiming the text from the hegemonic but troubled understanding of it as history—only to restore it ultimately to a more cohesive notion of historicality that is consistent with its contents. Toward this end, it highlights the concrete claim to epistemic authority that is asserted both by the genre of Sanskrit kāvya generally and by the Rājatara?gi?ī in particular, and their conception of the poetic “production” of the past that bears a striking resonance with constructivist historiography. It then traces the intensely intertextual and value‐laden nature of the epistemology that frames the Rājatara?gi?ī into a narrative discourse on power and ethical governance. It is in its narrativity and discursivity—its meaningful representation of what constitutes “true” knowledge of time and human action—that the salience of the Rājatara?gi?ī may lie.     

Behçet Kemal Çağlar's Kur’ân‐ı Kerîm'den İlhamlar (Inspirations from the Holy Qur’ān): A Kemalist's Personal,Poetic Response to the Qur’ān

Behçet Kemal Ça?lar, 1908–1969, is the author of a commentary of the Qur’ān, Kur’ân‐? Kerîm'den ?lhamlar (‘Inspirations from the Holy Qur’ān’), published in 1966. This work can be described as a poetic reflection on the Qur’ān. It does not adhere to rendering every line or verse, but instead insists on maintaining a rhythmic cadence and end‐rhyme. Although it resembles a translation in some ways, Ça?lar refuses to call his work a translation. This paper begins by introducing Ça?lar and his text, a brief history of Turkish translations of the Qur’ān, then Ça?lar's approach is contrasted with the aims of translators of the Qur’ān. Ça?lar's text is studied in more detail, providing a sample of the Turkish text and a translation of it into English, focusing on Ça?lar's reflection on Sūrat ?aha. Through this study, it becomes clear that as a result of his prioritizing the literary aspects of the Qur’ān in his reflection, Ça?lar's book has an advantage over literal translations of the Qur'an and it can be useful for Qur’ān translation. At the same time, Ça?lar's book is a reflection of a desire to develop a Turkish Islam—a manifestation of Islam that came from Turkey, that reflected its language and culture and that was intelligible to its people.     

Silver phiale said to be from al‐Juba (al‐Wusṭa Governorate) — an archaeological puzzle

In March 2014, while recording finds in the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in al‐Khuwair, artefacts unexpectedly came to light reportedly from al‐Juba in Oman's Bar al‐?ikmān, in al‐Wus?a Governorate, until recently an archaeologically little‐researched part of the Sultanate. Some of the pieces could be attributed to the Samad LIA or perhaps the PIR, both from the centuries at the turning point of the ages from BCE to CE. Such finds have never before come to light in this part of Oman. Samad LIA sites are generally located some 220 km to the north on the southern flank of the al‐?ajjar mountains in a zone c.160 x 105 km in area. Diagnostic pottery finds spread from Wadi Bānī Ruwāhah (UTM 40Q 620570 m E, 2561848 m N) eastwards to the coast, a smaller area than previously believed.     

The Ḥanbalī Emigration of 551–569 AH/1156–1173 AD in the Context of the Legal Discourse on Muslims under Non‐Muslim Rule

In 551 AH/1156 AD the ?anbalī shaykh A?mad ibn Qudāma (491–558/1098–1163) emigrated from the Frankish‐ruled region of Samaria. He reached Damascus and advised his relatives to follow suit, thus initiating the two‐decade exodus of the Banū Qudāma from the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The migration story survives in a tenth/sixteenth century chronicle and is attributed to A?mad's grandson, ?iyā’ al‐Dīn (569–643/1173–1245). According to ?iyā’ al‐Dīn, the cause of the emigration was the extreme oppression of the local Frankish lord, Baldwin of Ibelin (d. c. 582/1186), and A?mad ibn Qudāma's inability to practice his religion. But scholars have also attributed the emigration to wider ideological and political developments under the reign of Nūr al‐Dīn ibn Zengi (541–569/1146–1174), namely the counter‐crusade and the institutionalization of jihad propaganda. Here I explore the context of the emigration in greater detail while focusing primarily on legal theory. In most cases, a historian can determine the circumstances that led to the issuance of certain legal opinions but in the case of the ?anbalī emigration we have an event without an accompanying legal opinion. Accordingly, the emigration must be analyzed in light of developments in ?anbalī legal thought prior to and during the crusades and in consideration of how members of the Banū Qudāma perceived their role prior to and during the emigration. A?mad's role as a charismatic shaykh and spiritual leader became ever more critical and contentious at a time when political tensions between Franks and Muslims were escalating. Furthermore, the heightened religiosity of the Muslims of Greater Syria inspired other members of the Qudāma family to leave the Frankish domains even though their lives were not in danger. This chapter thus aims to complement Steven Gertz's analysis of legal opinions on the obligation to emigrate (The Muslim World , vol. 103) by providing a grounded example of how such opinions could be enacted.     

Ṭūsī Reloaded: Ismāʿīlī Paths of Sufi Wayfaring and Sufi Paths of Ismāʿīlī Apophaticism

Much ink has been spilled on the tumultuous life and works of Na?īr al-Dīn ?ūsī. This paper re-evaluates his connections with Sufism and Ismā?īlism, and challenges the reduction of the former to a late interest, and the latter to an early affiliation abandoned in the wake of the Mongol invasion. The paper argues that Sufi and Ismā?īlī themes, sources, and ideas are in an organic interpenetration in ?ūsī’s works throughout his career. While his early Ismā?īlī eschatology has a fundamentally Sufi nature, his late Sufi treatise adopts the key components of Ismā?īlī negative theology of the divine nature. The case of ?ūsī illustrates that the Ismā?īlī double negation was preserved in Iran and Central Asia, and put into creative interactions with Sufism in the thirteenth century.     

The Perpetually Wedded Wife of God: A Study of Shaykh Musa “Sadā Suhāg” as the Founder of Sadā Suhāgiyya Silsilah

Some of the sufis have conceptualised the relationship of human beings with God in gendered terms, and identified themselves with the feminine while imagining God in masculine terms. Such a characterisation can be found in sufi poetry, but it also finds manifestation in certain sufi practices as well, such as the male sufis dressing up as women. A fifteenth‐century South Asian sufi, Shaykh Musa “Sadā Suhāg” of Gujarat — the founder of Sadā Suhāgiyya Silsilah — dressed up like a married woman or a bride. His androgynous appearance, soubriquet, and the name of the sufi silsilah he founded, indicate that he ingeniously indigenised the sufi idea of God's bride keeping in view the Indian cultural ethos and social conventions.     

When the Subject is the Object: Islamic Advice Literature Modes and the Treatment of Slavery in The Qābūs Nāmih and The Nasirean Ethics

This paper investigates the difference of perspective which informs The Qābūs Nāmih's and The Nasirean Ethics’ respective treatments of the topic of slavery. While in various parts of their discussions both works show an engagement with each side of the hybrid status of a slave's existence as both subject and object, The Qābūs Nāmih deals with the issue almost entirely in terms of the slave's status as an object, while The Nasirean Ethics engages this issue with clear acknowledgments to his/her status as a subject. It is possible that the divergent approaches of these two works are a reflection of the two distinct modes of the genre of Islamic advice literature in which they were respectively written.     

“Modernizing” Māori Marriage in New Zealand

In 1952, Māori forms of customary marriage were made legally invalid. This article investigates the application of a state marriage registration system to Māori in the early decades of the twentieth century that was designed to encourage Māori to conform to European marital models. It focuses, in particular, on how Christianity and English law were deployed as modernising forces by a new generation of Māori intellectuals who emerged in the 1890s under the banner of the Te Aute College Students' Association (TACSA), later known as the Young Māori Party. United by their Anglican faith, TACSA favoured a process of adaptive acculturation in certain areas of social life, where select customs were to be retained and protected, so as to secure demographic and cultural survival. Marriage was highly valued because it was linked to the collective interests of whānau (family) and iwi (tribe) in matters of land and inheritance. As marriage was linked to collective futures, the article argues that maintaining and protecting marriage customs was one strategy for holding on to culture, land and autonomy in the face of increasing state efforts to require Māori to conform to European norms and traditions.     

Dwelling(s) in a north‐west Arabian oasis: decoding residential architecture at Taymāʾ

The definition of an ancient, autochthonous north‐west Arabian residential architecture is still a major void in the archaeology of the region. This preliminary case study is intended to shed some light on this “blind spot” by presenting and analysing the architectural complex E‐b9 from Taymā? (c. fourth/third century BCE until the first/early second century CE). A meticulous study of the architecture identified a modular concept as a key to understanding the complex. Furthermore, underlying patterns of household organisation can be deduced from the architectural remains resulting in the definition of potential household units. Those are indicated by a set of activity areas which are congruent with patterns of accessibility and the use of specific wall types. These findings provide insights into the organisation of households and daily life in the oasis of Taymā?, and may help to define local or regional traditions in the future.