Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus provides a panoramic view of the Shi‘ite presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This first volume surveys the seminal role played by the Shi‘ite Imams, their companions, and their followers in North Africa and Islamic Spain. It highlights the fact that several of the Shi‘ite Imams had Berber wives and mothers, and studies the settlement of sharifian families in the Western part of the Muslim world. It examines the role of the Shi‘ite Imams in the Sufi orders of the region, and scrutinizes the Berber and Arab Shi‘ites in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, the Shi‘ite sects that surfaced there, and Shi‘ite dynasties that they established. The work investigates the Shi‘ite revolts that took place in both the Maghrib and al-Andalus, and provides profiles of the Shi‘ite scholars who hailed from there. The Maliki Sunni inquisition and the mystery of the Shi‘ite Moriscos are also addressed, as are the vestiges of Shi‘ism and the current Shi‘ite revival in the region. By re-examining, re-assessing, and rewriting the religious and political history of the region, Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus makes a revolutionary contribution to scholarship in the field.

Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus provides a panoramic view of the Shi‘ite presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This second volume provides a sweeping study of Aljamiado literature. It features Morisco traditions that are translated into English for the very first time. Not only were Moriscos producing original works of Shi‘ite inspiration, they were also citing classical Shi‘ite sources that were produced by Zaydis, Isma‘ilis, Twelvers, and even Nusayris. As this book’s comprehensive coverage reveals, some Moriscos were drawing from the works of Imam ‘Ali, Kulayni, Bahrani, Saduq, Rawandi, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ibn Tawus, Mufid, Bakri, Tusi, Kaf‘ami, and even Majlisi. They were studying Shi‘ite traditions, reciting Shi‘ite prayers, marking the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, and reading about the lives of the twelve Imams. By re-examining, re-assessing, and rewriting the religious and political history of the region, Shi‘ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus makes a revolutionary contribution to scholarship in the field.

Nahj al-Balāghah, the celebrated compendium of orations, letters, and sayings of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661) compiled by al-Sharīf al-Raḍī (d. 406/1015), is a masterpiece of Arabic literature and Islamic wisdom studied and memorized avidly and continually for over a thousand years. Showcasing ʿAlī’s life and travails in his own words, it also transcribes his profound reflections on piety and virtue, and on just and compassionate governance. Tahera Qutbuddin’s meticulously researched critical edition based on the earliest 5th/11th-century manuscripts, with a lucid, annotated facing-page translation, brings to the modern reader the power and beauty of this influential text, and confirms the aptness of Raḍī’s title, “The Way of Eloquence.”

The Sound Traditions: Studies in Ismaili Texts and Thought is a collection of Ismail K. Poonawala’s articles that examine the origins and development of Ismaili thought.

A comprehensive account of two of the most important empires in medieval North AfricaThis is the first book in English to provide a comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the Almoravids and the Almohads, the two most important Berber dynasties of the medieval Islamic west, an area that encompassed southern Spain and Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The a'anhAja Almoravids emerged from the Sahara in the 1050s to conquer vast territories and halt the Christian advance in Iberia. They were replaced a century later by their rivals, the Almohads, supported by the Maa'GBPmAda Berbers of the High Atlas. Although both have often been seen as uncouth, religiously intolerant tribesmen who undermined the high culture of al-Andalus, this book argues that the eleventh to thirteenth centuries were crucial to the Islamisation of the Maghrib, its integration into the Islamic cultural sphere, and its emergence as a key player in the western Mediterranean, and that much of this was due to these oft-neglected Berber empires.Key featuresThe first work in English to give a full account of the Almoravids and AlmohadsFeatures numerous translated quotes and anecdotes from Arabic primary sourcesProvides an intimate portrait of the daily lives and material culture of people living within the empires, as well as delivering a clear dynastic historyUses maps, genealogical tables, illustrations and a chronology

Islamic civilization flourished in the Middle Ages across a vast geographical area that spans today's Middle and Near East. First published in 2006, Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the 7th and 16th centuries. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. Entries also explore the importance of interfaith relations and the permeation of persons, ideas, and objects across geographical and intellectual boundaries between Europe and the Islamic world. This reference work provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization and brings together in one authoritative text all aspects of Islamic civilization during the Middle Ages. Accessible to scholars, students and non-specialists, this resource will be of great use in research and understanding of the roots of today's Islamic society as well as the rich and vivid culture of medieval Islamic civilization.

In this original study, Elizabeth R. Alexandrin examines the complex relationships that can be inscribed between medieval Ismā'īlī thought as an intellectual tradition with a devotional practice of reliance on the imām, and as a politico-esoteric system that redefined governance during the Fāṭimid caliphate in the eleventh century. Alexandrin's work is a departure from recent Western scholarship that focuses on similarities among early Islamic traditions. She argues instead that, under the guidance of the Fāṭimid Ismā'īlī chief missionary al-Mu'ayyad fī al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī (d. 1078 CE), the concept of walāyah (divine guidance) became closely associated with religio-political authority, on the one hand, and the perfection of the individual human being, on the other. By signaling and affirming how the Fāṭimid caliph-imāms were the heirs of walāyah and by proposing new definitions of the "seal of God's friends" (khātim al-awliyā' Allāh), al- Mu'ayyad broadened the contexts of making esoteric knowledge public and shifted the apocalyptic frameworks of Islamic messianism.

Provides a detailed overview of the place of the natural sciences in the scholarly and educational landscape of Early Modern Morocco, this study challenges previous negative depictions of the natural sciences in the Muslim world to demonstrate the vibrancy of an Early Modern Muslim society in seventeenth-century Morocco.

Shi'ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus provides a panoramic view of the Shi'ite presence in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. This first volume surveys the seminal role played by the Shi'ite Imams, their companions, and their followers in North Africa and Islamic Spain. It highlights the fact that several of the Shi'ite Imams had Berber wives and mothers, and studies the settlement of sharifian families in the Western part of the Muslim world. It examines the role of the Shi'ite Imams in the Sufi orders of the region, and scrutinizes the Berber and Arab Shi'ites in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, the Shi'ite sects that surfaced there, and Shi'ite dynasties that they established. The work investigates the Shi'ite revolts that took place in both the Maghrib and al-Andalus, and provides profiles of the Shi'ite scholars who hailed from there. The Maliki Sunni inquisition and the mystery of the Shi'ite Moriscos are also addressed, as are the vestiges of Shi'ism and the current Shi'ite revival in the region. By re-examining, re-assessing, and rewriting the religious and political history of the region, Shi'ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus makes a revolutionary contribution to scholarship in the field.

Medieval Islamic Civilization examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the seventh and sixteenth century. This important two-volume work contains over 700 alphabetically arranged entries, contributed and signed by international scholars and experts in fields such as Arabic languages, Arabic literature, architecture, art history, history, history of science, Islamic arts, Islamic studies, Middle Eastern studies, Near Eastern studies, politics, religion, Semitic studies, theology, and more. This reference provides an exhaustive and vivid portrait of Islamic civilization including the many scientific, artistic, and religious developments as well as all aspects of daily life and culture. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit www.routledge-ny.com/middleages/Islamic.