Schedule

Week 1 February 20              Induction; al-Silafī’s Muʿjam

Week 2 February 27              al-Qifṭī (Quiz)

Week 3 March 5           al-Muʿāfā (Quiz)

Week 4 March 12                  al-Dhahabī (Quiz)

Week 5 March 19                  al-Tanūkhī (Quiz)

Week 6 March 26                  al-Ṣābī (Quiz)

Week 7 April 2          Holiday

Week 8 April 9             Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī (Quiz)

Week 9 April 16                 Midterm Examination

Week 10 April 23                  Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ

Week 11 April 30                  Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (Tutorial)

Week 12 May 7           Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ

Week 13 May 14                   Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ (Tutorial)

Week 14 May 21                   Ibn Qutayba      

Week 15 May 28                   Ibn Qutayba (Tutorial)

Week 16 June 4            Ibn Qutayba

Week 17 June 11          Ibn Qutayba (Tutorial)

Week 18 June 18                Essay Submission Deadline

NA

Evaluation

Tutorials: 30%

Midterm: 30%

Quizzes: 20%

Essay: 20%

* Please note that cheating in quizzes and exams is unacceptable under any circumstance. If you cheat in a quiz or exam, you will be failed.

* ‘Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition.’[1] If you are caught plagiarising, you will be failed.

Week 1 (Feb 20) al-Silafī

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 12–19.

Al-Silafī, Muʿjam al-safar. Edited by ʿAbdallah ʿU al-Bārūdī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1993, 69–70, 129.

Further

Al-Bārūdī, ʿA.ʿU. Muqaddima of Muʿjam al-safar, by al-Silafī. Edited by ʿAbdallah ʿU al-Bārūdī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1993, 3–4.

Gilliot, Cl. EI², s.v. “al-Silafī.”

Zaman, S.M. “Silafī’s Biography: His Birth and Family Background.” Islamic Studies 25, no. 1 (1986): 1–10.

———. “Sources for Silafī’s Biography.” Islamic Studies 24, no. 4 (1985): 493–502.

W2 (Feb 27) al-Qifṭī

*Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 20–39.

Al-Qifṭī, ʿAlī b. Yūsuf. Inbāh Al-Ruwā ʿalā Anbāh Al-Nuḥā. Edited by Muḥammad A. Ibrāhīm. Cairo: Dār al-Fikr al-ʿArabī, 1986, vl.1, 359–362.

Further

Al-Ṣafadī, Khalīl b. Aybak. Al-Wāfī bi-l-wafayāt. Edited by Aḥmad al-Arnāʾūṭ and Turkī Muṣṭafā. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 2000, vl.22, 210.

Al-Kutubī, Muḥammad b. Shākir. Fawāt al-wafayāt wa-l-dhayl ʿalayhā. Edited by Iḥsān ʿAbbās. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1974, vl.3, 117–118.

Robinson, Chase F. Islamic Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

W3 (March 5) al-Muʿāfā

         *Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 40–66.

Further

Chejne, A.G. “The Boon-Companion in Early ’Abbāsid Times.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 85, no. 3 (1965): 327–335.

Ibn Nadim. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Riḍā Tajaddud. Tehran: Dār al-Masīra, 1988, 292–293.

Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī. Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām. Edited by Bashshār ʿAwwār Maʿrūf. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2001, vl.15, 308.

W4 (March 12) al-Dhahabī

*Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M.  A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 67–76.

Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī. Tārīkh Madīnat al-Salām. Edited by Bashshār ʿAwwār Maʿrūf. Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2001, vl.15, 308–310.

Ibn Nadim. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Riḍā Tajaddud. Tehran: Dār al-Masīra, 1988, 292–293.

Further

Ben Cheneb, M. and Somogyi, J. EI², s.v. “al-Dhahabī.”

Bori, C. EI³, s.v. “al-Dhahabī.”

Cooperson, M. Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of Al-Maʿmūn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 1-23.

W5 (March 19) al-Tanūkhī

*Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 77–93.

Al-Iṣfahānī, Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn. Kitāb Adab al-ghurabāʾ. Edited by Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadīd, 1972, 20–22.

Further

Fähndrich H. EI², s.v. “al-Tanūk̲h̲ī.”

Khalifa, N. Hardship and Deliverance in the Islamic Tradition: Theology and Spirituality in the Works of Al-Tanūkhī. London: Tauris, 2010.

Alshaar, N.A. Ethics in Islam: Friendship in the Political Thought of al-Tawḥīdī and his Contemporaries. London: Routledge, 2015.

Naaman, E. Literature and the Islamic Court: Cultural Life under al-Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād. London: Routledge, 2016.

W6 (March 26) al-Ṣābī

*Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 94–116.

Further

Sourdel D. EI², s.v. “Balāṭ.”

Sourdel D. EI², s.v. “Hilāl b. al-Muḥassin b. Ibrāhīm al-Ṣābiʾ.”

van Berkel, Maaike, et al.. Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir (295–320/908–32). Leiden: Brill, 2013.

Kraemer, J.L. Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam: The Cultural Revival During the Buyid Age. Leiden: Brill, 1986.

Mottahedeh, R. Loyalty and Leadership in an Early Islamic Society. London: Tauris, 2001.

W8 (April 19) al-Iṣfahānī

*Quiz

Set Reading

Bonebakker, S.A., and Fishbein, M. A Reader of Classical Arabic Literature. Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2012, 127–142.

Yāqūt. Muʿjam al-udabāʾ, ed. Aḥmad F. Rifāʿī (Cairo: Maṭbūʿāt al-Maʾmūn, 1922), vl.13, 94–130.

Further

Kilpatrick, H. Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilations and the Author’s Craft in Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣbahānī’s Kitāb al-Aghānī. London: Routledge, 2003.

Günther, G. EI³, s.v. “Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī.”

W10–14 (April 23, 30, May 7, 14) Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ

Set Reading

Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ. Āthār Ibn Al-Muqaffaʿ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1989, 3–54, 309–323.

Ibn Nadim. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Riḍā Tajaddud. Tehran: Dār al-Masīra, 1988, 129–155.

Ibn al-Qifṭī. Ikhbār Al-ʿulamāʾ Bi-Akhbār Al-Ḥukamāʾ. Edited by Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2005, 170.

Al-Ziriklī, Khayr al-Dīn. Al-Aʿlām. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāyīn, 2002, vl.4, 140.

Further (for tutorials)

Shaked, S. and Safa, Z. Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. ‘Andarz.’

Crone, P. Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, 148–164.

Latham, J. D. “Ibn Al-Muqaffaʿ and Early ʿAbbasid Prose.” Chapter. Dans Abbasid Belles Lettres. Sous la direction de Julia Ashtiany, T. M. Johnstone, J. D. Latham and R. B. Serjeant, 48–77. The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521240161.005.

Kennedy, Hugh. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. London: Longman, 1986, 124–157.

Marsham, Andrew. Rituals of Islamic Monarchy : Accession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013, 183–198.

Berkey, J. P. The Formation of Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 102–129.

Bennison, Amira K. The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the ’Abbasid Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009, 24–36.

I. Abbas, “ABĀN B. ʿABD-AL-ḤAMĪD,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, I/1, p. 58, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aban-b-abd-al-hamid.

I. Abbas, “ADAB AL-ṢAḠĪR,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/4, pp. 446-447; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/adab-al-sagir (accessed on 7 February 2014).

J. Derek Latham, “EBN AL-MOQAFFAʿ, ABŪ MOḤAMMAD ʿABD-ALLĀH RŌZBEH,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, VIII/1, pp. 39-43, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ebn-al-moqaffa (accessed on 30 December 2012).

Riedel, Dagmar, “KALILA WA DEMNA i. Redactions and circulation,” ,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XV, Fasc. 4, pp. 386-395, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kalila-demna-i

Gabrieli, F., “Ibn al-Muḳaffaʿ”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Consulted online on 09 December 2019 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3304>

Zaman, Muhammad Q. “The Caliphs, the ʿUlamāʾ, and the Law: Defining the Role and Function of the Caliph in the Early ʿAbbāsid Period.” Islamic Law and Society 4, no. 1 (1997): 1–36.

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kalila-demna-ii

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/anwar-e-sohayli

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kalila-wa-demna-iii

W14–17 (May 21, 28, June 4, June 11) Ibn Qutayba

Set Reading

Ibn Khallikān. Wafayāt al-aʿyān wa-anbāʾ abnāʾ al-zamān. Edited by Iḥsān ʿAbbās. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 1972, vol.3, 42-44.

Ibn Qutayba. Al-Maʿārif. Edited by Tharwat ʿUkāsha. 4th ed. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, n.d., 1–7, 572–621, et passim.

Ibn Qutayba, ʿAbdallah b. Muslim. Al-Shiʿr wa-l-shuʿarāʾ. Edited by Aḥmad M. Shākir. 2nd ed. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif, 1958, 59-79.

Ibn Qutayba. Kitāb ʿUyūn al-akhbār. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyya, 1996, vol.1, 19–34, vol. 4, 53–69.

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī. Lisān al-mīzān. Edited by ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghadda and Sulaymān ʿA. Abū Ghadda. Beirut: Maktabat al-Muṭbūʿāt al-Islāmiyya, 2002, vol. 5, 8-11.

Ibn al-Nadīm. Al-Fihrist. Edited by Riḍā Tajaddud. Tehran: Dār al-Masīra, 1988, 85-86.

Lecomte, G. Encyclopaedia of Islam, the second edition, s.v. ‘Ibn Ḳutayba.’

Rosenthal, F. Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. ‘Ebn Qotayba, Abū Moḥammad ʿAbd Allāḥ.’

Further (for tutorials)

Cook, M. ‘Ibn Qutayba and Monkeys.’ Studia Islamica 89(1999): 43–74.

Norris, H. T. “Shuʿūbiyyah in Arabic Literature.” In Abbasid Belles Lettres.  Edited by Julia Ashtiany, T. M. Johnstone, J. D. Latham, and R. B. Serjeant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990, 31–47.

Rippin, A. Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. 3^rd edition. London: Routledge, 2005, 61–87.

Crone, P. Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, 125–141.

Brown, J.A. Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. Oxford: One World, 2009, 15–66, 150–172.

Lowry, J.E. ‘The Legal Hermeneutics of al-Shāfiʿī and Ibn Qutayba: a Reconsideration.’ Islamic Law and Society 11-1(2004): 1–41.

Lecomte, G. Ibn Qutayba (M. 276/889): L’homme, son œuvre, ses idées. Damascus: Études arabes, médiévales et modernes, 1965, 27-43, 85-92.

Malti-Douglas, F. ‘Structure and Organization in a Monographic Adab Work: Al-Taṭfīl of Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī.’ Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40 (1981): 227–245.

Chejne, A.G. “The Boon-Companion in Early ’Abbāsid Times.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 85, no. 3 (1965): 327–335.

Gelder, Geert J. H. van. “Mixtures of Jest and Earnest in Classical Arabic Literature.” Journal of Arabic Literature 23, no. 2 (1992): part I, 83–108; part II 169–190.

Bray, J. ‘Lists and Memory: Ibn Qutayba and Muḥammad b. Ḥabīb.’ In Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam: Essays in Honour of Wilferd Madelung. Edited by F. Daftary and J.W. Meri (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003), 210–231.

For the wider historical context of the Abbasid period:

Cooperson, M. Classical Arabic Biography: The Heirs of the Prophets in the Age of Al-Maʿmūn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 24–40.

Crone, P. Medieval Islamic Political Thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005, 87–98.

Kennedy, H. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates. London: Longman, 1986, 82–249, 267–284, 309–344 (Chapters 4–8, 10, and 12).

Lapidus, I.M., Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 134–152 (Graphs and Chapter 9).

Rippin, A. Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. 3^rd edition. London: Routledge, 2005.