- Arabic Prose Literature, Classical Arabic Prose Literature, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Middle East Studies, Middle East History, Arabic Literature, and 9 moreMedieval History, Data Mining, Medieval Studies, Digital Humanities, Islam, Text Mining, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, and Arabic Studiesedit
Copyright © Bursa İlahiyat Foundation Volume 8 Number 2 Summer / Fall 2017 p-ISSN: 1309-1786 / e-ISSN: 1309-1719 DOI: 10.12730/13091719.2017.82.169 Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate... more
Copyright © Bursa İlahiyat Foundation Volume 8 Number 2 Summer / Fall 2017 p-ISSN: 1309-1786 / e-ISSN: 1309-1719 DOI: 10.12730/13091719.2017.82.169 Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir (295320/908-32), ed. Maaike van Berkel, Nadia Maria El Cheikh, Hugh Kennedy, and Letizia Osti (Islamic History and Civilization, Studies and Texts, 102) (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2013), i-xiii + 262 pp., ISBN 978-90-04-25271-4, €123.00 / $144.00
Abu Bakr al-Suli was an Abbasid polymath and table companion, as well as a legendary chess player. He was perhaps best known for his work on poetry and chancery, which would have a long-lasting influence on Arabic literature. His decades... more
Abu Bakr al-Suli was an Abbasid polymath and table companion, as well as a legendary chess player. He was perhaps best known for his work on poetry and chancery, which would have a long-lasting influence on Arabic literature. His decades of service at the court of at least three caliphs give him a unique perspective as an historian of his own time, although he is often valued as an observer rather than an interpreter of events for posterity. Letizia Osti here provides the first full-length English-language study devoted to al-Suli, illustrating how investigating the life, times and works of such a complex individual can serve as a fil rouge for tackling broader, contested concepts, such as biography, autobiography, court culture, and written culture. The result is an exploration of the ways in which the Abbasid court made sense of the past and, in general, of what ‘historiography’ means in a medieval Arabic context.
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Il libro vuole mettere a fuoco la pluralità che sostanzia il concetto di «autorità» mel mondo islamico. Le direttrici sottese dalla riflessione sono due: quella dell’eterogeneità, sia essa intesa in senso cronologico o geografico; e... more
Il libro vuole mettere a fuoco la pluralità che sostanzia il concetto di «autorità» mel mondo islamico. Le direttrici sottese dalla riflessione sono due: quella dell’eterogeneità, sia essa intesa in senso cronologico o geografico; e quella della continuità, che ha permesso la persistenza di categorie di pensiero, istituzioni e strutture sociali che hanno dato forme per certi versi simili alle civiltà del Vicino e Medio Oriente, al subcontinente indiano, ma anche, al di là di queste, a parte dell’Africa subsahariana e alle isole del sud-est asiatico
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This paper discusses the relation between love, wealth, and social standing as it is described in two fourth/tenth century sources, the Kitāb al-Muwashshā (The Book of Brocade) by al-Washshāʾ (d. 325/937), a manual for refined... more
This paper discusses the relation between love, wealth, and social standing as it is described in two fourth/tenth century sources, the Kitāb al-Muwashshā (The Book of Brocade) by al-Washshāʾ (d. 325/937), a manual for refined litterateurs, and the Jawāmiʿ al-ladhdha by ʿAlī b. Nasr al-Kātib (d. perhaps 377/987), a compendium of sexual knowledge containing medical and legal as well as literary material. Through the analytical framework of the history of emotions, the paper argues that, despite their different outlooks, both al-Washshāʾ and ʿAlī b. Nasr connect love with practical circumstances which influence the ability, or opportunity, to nurture it. However, this does not mean that they describe specific social groups.
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This paper introduces the volume's rationale, problematising the concept of fourth/tenth-century 'Arab encyclopaedism' and suggesting a new framework for the analysis of a wide range of activities connected with organization, inventory... more
This paper introduces the volume's rationale, problematising the concept of fourth/tenth-century 'Arab encyclopaedism' and suggesting a new framework for the analysis of a wide range of activities connected with organization, inventory and classification.
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This paper looks at the interplay of personal and political history in Ab\u16b Bakr al-\u1e62\u16bl\u12b\u2019s Kit\u101b al-Awr\u101q, a composite chronicle of the Abbasid Caliphate. The central is whether the parts of the Awr\u101q... more
This paper looks at the interplay of personal and political history in Ab\u16b Bakr al-\u1e62\u16bl\u12b\u2019s Kit\u101b al-Awr\u101q, a composite chronicle of the Abbasid Caliphate. The central is whether the parts of the Awr\u101q covering the years when al-\u1e62\u16bl\u12b was alive (and working at the caliphal court) are to be considered a chronicle or rather an autobiography and whether, in this context, there is a recognisable authorial voice evaluating events and persons from a distinct point of view. The material is contrasted internally, with parts of the Awr\u101q covering periods before al-\u1e62\u16bl\u12b\u2019s life, and externally, with the work of historians chronicling the same period, such as \u2bfAr\u12bb and Miskawayh
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Questo contributo propone l\u2019applicazione di strumenti di analisi propri della pragmatica a testi arabi classici, e in particolare alla prosa storiografica. Scopo dello studio \ue8 identificare possibili vie e modalit\ue0 esplorative... more
Questo contributo propone l\u2019applicazione di strumenti di analisi propri della pragmatica a testi arabi classici, e in particolare alla prosa storiografica. Scopo dello studio \ue8 identificare possibili vie e modalit\ue0 esplorative e formulare le domande di ricerca a cui questo tipo di analisi pu\uf2 offrire una risposta. Ci si concentrer\ue0 su un autore, al-Suli, e su un elemento specifico dei testi, la conversazione
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This paper outlines the rationale behind this Special Issue, problematizing the concept of fourth/tenth-century “Arab encyclopaedism” and advancing new frameworks and points of focus for the analysis of a wide range of activities so far... more
This paper outlines the rationale behind this Special Issue, problematizing the concept of fourth/tenth-century “Arab encyclopaedism” and advancing new frameworks and points of focus for the analysis of a wide range of activities so far examined under this rubric. In particular, we suggest that, in accordance with the conclusions of several contributors to this volume, greater attention should be paid to developments in the Arabic book that were designed to make texts navigable, such as division into topical chapters, hierarchical chapter-structures and tables of contents. These would more helpfully be understood as part of a longer history whereby books became more easily accessible, and thus useable, for the independent reader. As other contributors stress, it is also more profitable to examine the local, institutional and political circumstances that produced certain kinds of organization, inventory and classification.
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Studies on medieval Arabic bibliophilia have mainly focussed on public and semi-public institutions, for some of which we have detailed information. Less is known about private libraries and their physical arrangement. This paper looks at... more
Studies on medieval Arabic bibliophilia have mainly focussed on public and semi-public institutions, for some of which we have detailed information. Less is known about private libraries and their physical arrangement. This paper looks at the library of Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (d. 335/947), which is described by the sources in unique terms, contextualising it with al-Ṣūlī’s own words on collecting and organizing books.
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This study follows the financial adventures of Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (d. 335/947) as he served at the court of three Abbasid caliphs in various capacities over thirty-eight years. In hisKitāb al-Awrāq, chronicles covering this period, al-Ṣūlī... more
This study follows the financial adventures of Abū Bakr al-Ṣūlī (d. 335/947) as he served at the court of three Abbasid caliphs in various capacities over thirty-eight years. In hisKitāb al-Awrāq, chronicles covering this period, al-Ṣūlī frequently refers to payments he himself or his colleagues had received as regular salaries, occasional presents, or inheritances, and he describes in some detail the physical appearance of material gifts and the circumstances in which they were given. Al-Ṣūlī wrote the last part of his chronicles at the end of his life, residing in Basra, living in reduced circumstances after he had left the court. Especially in the part of the book which records the reign of al-Rāḍī (r. 322/934-329/940), al-Ṣūlī recollects his prosperity as court companion at the time and contrasts it with his present worries. Based on the information provided by al-Ṣūlī, different components of a courtier’s income and the sources they are extracted from are identified and discuss...
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[One day, the famous grammarian] al-Farrā’ made several mistakes while speaking in the presence of Hārūn al-Rašīd. [The vizier] Ja‘far b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī pointed this out to the caliph, who said: “Al-Farrā’, are you speaking... more
[One day, the famous grammarian] al-Farrā’ made several mistakes while speaking in the presence of Hārūn al-Rašīd. [The vizier] Ja‘far b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī pointed this out to the caliph, who said: “Al-Farrā’, are you speaking incorrectly?”. “Commander of the Faithful”, replied al-Farrā’, “while it is natural for the Beduins to inflect words correctly, for citydwellers [like me] it is not. When I prepare, I speak correctly; when I speak off the cuff, I make mistakes”. Al-Rašīd appreciated al-Farrā’’s words. (Ibn Ḫallikān, 1968-72, vol. 6, 147)
This note examines one cluster of accounts on the trial of al-Ḥallāǧ (d. 309/922) in two near-contemporary and one later historian, looking at how each author uses the material and how such material functions within their specific work.
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This paper suggests an approach to the study of the Kitab al-fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim (d. 386/995), which takes into account his criteria of priority and order within the book's structure, when analysing the information the author... more
This paper suggests an approach to the study of the Kitab al-fihrist by Ibn al-Nadim (d. 386/995), which takes into account his criteria of priority and order within the book's structure, when analysing the information the author provides about a scholar or group of scholars. The case studies for the present paper are Abu Bakr alSūlī (d. 335/947) and Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310/923), two prominent scholars who lived one generation before Ibn al-Nadim, and whose biographical information he treats in contrasting ways.
This paper explores various uses of the khabar, the basic constituent unit of classical Arabic prose, illustrating how authors and compilers across different disciplines are able to collect, mix and edit the same material in
Through the analysis of a long cluster of khabars and various versions of a single short one, this article aims at illustrating the utility of poetry for modern historical investigation. Examples are taken from biographical material on... more
Through the analysis of a long cluster of khabars and various versions of a single short one, this article aims at illustrating the utility of poetry for modern historical investigation. Examples are taken from biographical material on Ibn Bassām al-'Abartā'ī (d. 302/916), a kātib, adīb ...
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Through the analysis of a long cluster of khabars and various versions of a single short one, this article aims at illustrating the utility of poetry for modern historical investigation. Examples are taken from biographical material on... more
Through the analysis of a long cluster of khabars and various versions of a single short one, this article aims at illustrating the utility of poetry for modern historical investigation. Examples are taken from biographical material on Ibn Bassām al-'Abartā'ī (d. 302/916), a kātib, adīb ...
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This paper investigates a characteristic of classical Arabic narratives, the frequent accounts of conversations, applying to it key concepts borrowed from pragmatics, with a view to identifying new ways of analysing the material,... more
This paper investigates a characteristic of classical Arabic narratives, the frequent accounts of conversations, applying to it key concepts borrowed from pragmatics, with a view to identifying new ways of analysing the material, addressing previously debated questions and formulating new ones.
EI3 entry for Abū ʿAbdallāh Yaʿqūb b. Dāʾūd (d. 187/803, but some sources have 182/798–9), an early ʿAbbāsid bureaucrat. He belonged to a family of provincial kuttāb (secretaries), his father and uncles having worked for the last Umayyad... more
EI3 entry for Abū ʿAbdallāh Yaʿqūb b. Dāʾūd (d. 187/803, but some sources have 182/798–9), an early ʿAbbāsid bureaucrat. He belonged to a family of provincial kuttāb (secretaries), his father and uncles having worked for the last Umayyad governor of Khurāsān, Naṣr b. Sayyār (d. 131/748). Of his early life, the sources say only that he and his elder brother ʿAlī, having failed to find employment after the fall of the Umayyads, joined the unsuccessful ʿAlid rebellion led by Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbdallāh.
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EI3 entry for Hilāl Al-Ṣābiʾ (359–448/970–1056), a Baghdādī bureaucrat and historian. He belonged to a family of learned men, originally from the Sabian city of Ḥarrān, who had served at the court in Baghdad in various capacities since... more
EI3 entry for Hilāl Al-Ṣābiʾ (359–448/970–1056), a Baghdādī bureaucrat and historian. He belonged to a family of learned men, originally from the Sabian city of Ḥarrān, who had served at the court in Baghdad in various capacities since the reign of al-Muʿtaḍid (279–89/892–902). In his writings (al-Wuzarāʾ, ed. Farrāj, 170), Hilāl mentions working directly under his grandfather Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (d. 384/994), who had headed the palace chancery since 349/960. Given Hilāl’s date of birth, this must have happened after the death…
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L'Arte di narrare : vecchio e nuovo a confronto / L. Osti, F. Caiani - In: Le eredità del 20. secolo in Medio Oriente : atti del Convegno di Taormina, settembre 2000 / [a cura di] Giuseppe Restifo. - Milano : Selene, 2002. - ISBN... more
L'Arte di narrare : vecchio e nuovo a confronto / L. Osti, F. Caiani - In: Le eredità del 20. secolo in Medio Oriente : atti del Convegno di Taormina, settembre 2000 / [a cura di] Giuseppe Restifo. - Milano : Selene, 2002. - ISBN 88-86267-60-6. - pp. 207-225 (( convegno Le ...
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The mid-eighth through to the late ninth century witnessed an important shift in the status and role of the written word in Arabic-language scholarship. A situation in which texts were largely produced out of, and intended for use in, an... more
The mid-eighth through to the late ninth century witnessed an important shift in the status and role of the written word in Arabic-language scholarship. A situation in which texts were largely produced out of, and intended for use in, an oral, pedagogical setting gradually gave way to one in which they were increasingly composed to be read independently. For this purpose, they had to communicate in such a way that they were comprehensible to the reader without the presence of the composer or a student who had read the text with the composer. Gregor Schoeler describes this process as a move from a 'literature of the school for the school' to a 'literature for a reading public'. Of course, the transformation did not stop at the end of the ninth century: from the tenth century onwards, ever more books contain elements such as contextualizing introductions, presentations of key technical terms, a more systematic organization of material and the deployment of tools to aid the reader in navigating the text, such as cross-references, section headings, and tables of contents. Building on the results of our Zurich meeting (Putting the House of Wisdom in order, 19-20 February 2016) and the forthcoming publication stemming from it (Asiatischen Studien – Études Asiatiques 71, 2017), this workshop aims to consider the textual culture of the Abbasid period from the point of view of how its texts were designed to be read and what ideals of composition were in play. We shall attempt a cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary perspective, seeking ideas and tools for analysis from specialists of other areas and periods and with a particular focus on non-European cultures. In particular, we wish to take seriously Anne Blair's idea of " too much to know: " it seems to us that the challenges posed to medieval Arab writers, and the strategies they employed to overcome these, may be helpfully compared (in quality, if not quantity) to the situation of information overload which intellectual enterprise has often faced, and is perceived acutely again today following the advent of the internet. As in the medieval Arabic case, parallel to the production of a higher amount of material, technological progress also makes it possible to process ever larger amounts of information. This in turn also allows material to be utilised in ways hitherto impossible or unthought, and to ask new questions of it. The perspective of the " information age " may also be used another way, which is more specific to pre-modern Arabic texts: due to its size and character, this corpus is both attractive and challenging for newly developed digital analytical tools, and the methods that employ them. The process of " distance-reading " the corpus can itself provide insight into previously obscured working strategies of pre-modern authors who were facing information overload.
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A. Arazi, J. Sadan, DJ Wasserstein (eds.), Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa. Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948-1997), (Israel Oriental Studies, 19.), Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999 [Recensione] / L. Osti. - In:... more
A. Arazi, J. Sadan, DJ Wasserstein (eds.), Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luġa. Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948-1997), (Israel Oriental Studies, 19.), Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1999 [Recensione] / L. Osti. - In: Bibliotheca Orientalis. - ISSN 0006-1913. - ...
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Terri DeYoung and Mary St. Germain, eds., Essays in Arabic Literary Bibliography, 925–1350. (Mizan 17/1.) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011. Pp. 371. $105. ISBN: 9783447065986.Joseph E. Lowry and Devin J. Stewart, eds., Essays in Arabic Literary Bibliography, 1350–1850. (Mizan 17/2.) Wiesbaden: Harra...more
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Review: Terri DeYoung and Mary St. Germain, eds., Essays in Arabic Literary Bibliography, 925–1350 . Joseph E. Lowry and Devin J. Stewart, eds., Essays in Arabic Literary Bibliography.
1350–1850
1350–1850
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Chapter Four, by Bettina Mottura, contains a genre-based analysis of Xinhua news agency dispatches on Chinese politics. Mottura argues that Xinhua news agency news production of Chinese internal politics in different languages is... more
Chapter Four, by Bettina Mottura, contains a genre-based analysis of Xinhua news agency dispatches on Chinese politics. Mottura argues that
Xinhua news agency news production of Chinese internal politics in different languages is influenced by the agency’s multifaceted
organizational identity, which can be described as both ideologically driven and consumer oriented, as well as by the targeted audiences’ culture and language. Her contribution draws on a corpus of Xinhua news agency press releases (in Chinese, English and French) regarding the 2015 Premier report on the work of government to the Chinese National People’s Congress, shedding light on the basic characteristics of the Chinese official media’s multilingual news production on Chinese politics. In order to better discuss the peculiarities of the news agency’s discourse, the textual findings are interpreted through the lens of keywords concerning the relations between the media and the political system in China, with a focus on the leading role of Xinhua news agency in representing the country to world audiences.
Xinhua news agency news production of Chinese internal politics in different languages is influenced by the agency’s multifaceted
organizational identity, which can be described as both ideologically driven and consumer oriented, as well as by the targeted audiences’ culture and language. Her contribution draws on a corpus of Xinhua news agency press releases (in Chinese, English and French) regarding the 2015 Premier report on the work of government to the Chinese National People’s Congress, shedding light on the basic characteristics of the Chinese official media’s multilingual news production on Chinese politics. In order to better discuss the peculiarities of the news agency’s discourse, the textual findings are interpreted through the lens of keywords concerning the relations between the media and the political system in China, with a focus on the leading role of Xinhua news agency in representing the country to world audiences.