Medieval Arabic Historiography is concerned with social contexts and narrative structures of pre-modern Islamic historiography written in Arabic in seventh and thirteenth-century Syria and Eygpt. Taking up recent theoretical reflections on historical writing in the European Middle Ages, this extraordinary study combines approaches drawn from social sciences and literary studies, with a particular focus on two well-known texts: Abu Shama’s The Book of the Two Gardens, and Ibn Wasil’s The Dissipater of Anxieties. These texts describe events during the life of the sultans Nur-al-Din and Salah al-Din, who are primarily known in modern times as the champions of the anti-Crusade movement. Hirschler shows that these two authors were active interpreters of their society and has considerable room for manoeuvre in both their social environment and the shaping of their texts. Through the use of a fresh and original theoretical approach to pre-modern Arabic historiography, Hirschler presents a new understanding of these texts which have before been relatively neglected, thus providing a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of historiographical studies.

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION -- chapter 2 HISTORICAL AND HISTORIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND -- chapter 3 SOCIAL CONTEXTS -- chapter 4 INTELLECTUAL CONTEXTS -- chapter 5 TEXTUAL AGENCY I: Titles, final sections and historicization -- chapter 6 TEXTUAL AGENCY II: Micro-arrangement, motifs and political thought -- chapter 7 RECEPTION AFTER THE SEVENTH/THIRTEENTH CENTURY -- chapter 8 CONCLUSION.

Medieval Arabic Historiography is concerned with social contexts and narrative structures of pre-modern Islamic historiography written in Arabic in seventh and thirteenth-century Syria and Eygpt. Taking up recent theoretical reflections on historical writing in the European Middle Ages, this extraordinary study combines approaches drawn from social sciences and literary studies, with a particular focus on two well-known texts: Abu Shama's The Book of the Two Gardens, and Ibn Wasil's The Dissipater of Anxieties. These texts describe events during the life of the sultans Nur-al-Din and Salah al-Din, who are primarily known in modern times as the champions of the anti-Crusade movement. Hirschler shows that these two authors were active interpreters of their society and has considerable room for manoeuvre in both their social environment and the shaping of their texts. Through the use of a fresh and original theoretical approach to pre-modern Arabic historiography, Hirschler presents a new understanding of these texts which have before been relatively neglected, thus providing a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of historiographical studies.

Winner of the 2012 BRISMES book prize. How the written text became accessible to wider audiences in medieval Egypt and Syria. Medieval Islamic societies belonged to the most bookish cultures of their period. Using a wide variety of documentary, narrative and normative sources, Konrad Hirschler explores the growth of reading audiences in a pre-print culture.The uses of the written word grew significantly in Egypt and Syria between the 11th and the 15th centuries, and more groups within society started to participate in individual and communal reading acts. New audiences in reading sessions, school curricula, increasing numbers of endowed libraries and the appearance of popular written literature all bear witness to the profound transformation of cultural practices and their social contexts.

Historical Writings Have For Centuries Constituted An Important And Major Part Of Arab-Muslim Scholarship. This Volume Contains Important Information On: Medieval Arabic Historiography; The Concept Of History In The Modern Arab World; Notes On The Arab Calendar Before Islam; The Topography Of The Hijrah; The Earliest Persian Manuscripts; Arab Historiography; Shibli S Studies In Islamic History; A Valuable Historical Ms. Of Arabic Al-Iktifa; Arabic Historical And Literary Sources; Sayf B. Umar And The Battle Of The Camel; The Reign Of Mu Awiyah; The Tarikh-I-Bayhaq; Al-Beruni And The Bed Of Amu Darya; Ibn Khaldun And His History Of Islamic Civilization; Ibn Khaldun On The Origin, Growth And Decay Of Cities Etc.Students, Scholars And Academics In The Field Of History, Religion, Philosophy And Culture Will Find This Volume Most Useful And Informative.

The present volume contributes to research on historic Arabic texts from late medieval Egypt and Syria. Departing from dominant understandings of these texts through the prisms of authenticity and “literarization,” it engages with questions of textual constructedness and authorial agency. It consists of 13 contributions by a new generation of scholars in three parts. Each part represents a different aspect of their new readings of particular texts. Part one looks at concrete instances of textual interdependencies, part two at the creativity of authorial agencies, and part three at the relationship between texts and social practice. New Readings thus participates in the revaluation of late medieval Arabic historiography as a critical field of inquiry. Contributors: Rasmus Bech Olsen, Víctor de Castro León, Mohammad Gharaibeh, Kenneth A. Goudie, Christian Mauder, Evan Metzger, Zacharie Mochtari de Pierrepont, Clément Onimus, Tarek Sabraa, Iria Santás de Arcos, Gowaart Van Den Bossche, Koby Yosef.

A Handbook of Modern Arabic Historical Scholarship on the Ancient and Medieval Periods presents 16 studies about modern Arab academic scholarship on the Ancient and Medieval Worlds covering disciplines as diverse as Assyriology and Mamluk studies as well as historiographical schools in the Arab World. This unique work is the first of its kind in any language. It is an important resource for scholars and students of the Ancient Near East and North Africa, Classical and Byzantine studies, and medieval Islamic history who would like to learn more about the work done by their colleagues in the Arab World in these fields over the last 7 decades and to benefit from Arabic secondary sources in their research. دليل الدراسات العربية الحديثة حول العصور القديمة والوسيطة يحتوي هذا الكتاب على 61 بحثا حول الدراسات الأكاديمية المتعلّقة بتاريخ العصور القديمة والوسيطة في العالم العربي، وتغطي هذه الأبحاث تخصصات علمية متنوعة منها الدراسات المسمارية والدراسات المملوكية، إضافةً إلى بعض المدارس التاريخية العربية المعاصرة. الكتاب فريد من نوعه والأول في كافة اللغات، ويُشكّل مصدرا هاما للباحثين والطلبة في دراسات الشرق الأدنى القديم وشمال إفريقيا في العصور القديمة والدراسات الكلاسيكية والبيزنطية والتاريخ الإسلامي الوسيط، وكذلك للمهتمين بعلمي التاريخ والآثار في الدول العربية. Contributors Emad Abou-Ghazi, Al-Amin Abouseada, Youcef Aibeche, Sidi Mohammed Alaioud, Abdulhadi Alajmi, Allaoua Amara, Lotfi Ben Miled, Brahim El Kadiri Boutchich, Usama Gad, Azeddine Guessous, Fayza Haikal, Hani Hamza, Laith Hussein, Nasir al-Kaabi, Khaled Kchir, Mohammed Maraqten, Amr Omar, Abdelaziz Ramadan.