The book analyses all extant works by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 224/839-310/923), referring to their individual methodologies; their legacy as al- madhhab al-jariri; and their scholarly and socio- political context. Through the study of al- Tabari's works, the book addresses research debates over dating the legal and scholarly institutions and their disciplines; authorship and transmission of scholarly writings; political theory and administration; and 'origins' of the Qur'an and Islam. Al-Tabari defined the Qur'an in linguistic and legal terms. The linguistic terms refer to rhetoric and semiotics, and the legal to theories of social contract, 'natural law', and rule of law. Both sets of terms go into al-Tabari's theory of prophecy and administration, including of 'minorities'. By engaging current debates about the usefulness or not of the medieval Muslim scholars in research on the Qur'an and early Islam, this book argues that the - 2 - 20:59 contribution of each medieval scholar be assessed on an individual basis. Al-Tabari's philosophical, ethical, historical, linguistic, and legal education produced analysis of the Qur'an and 'origins' of Islam that stands up to some fronts in contemporary research. The book thus adds to research on al-Tabari; early Islamic disciplines and institutions; and the Qur'an and early Islam.

Read The Taiji Government and you will discover a bold and original revisionist interpretation of the formation of the Qing imperial constitution. Contrary to conventional wisdom, which portrays the Qing empire as a Chinese bureaucratic state that colonized Inner Asia, this book contends quite the reverse. It reveals the Qing as a Warrior State, a Manchu-Mongolian aristocratic union and a Buddhist caesaropapist monarchy. In painstaking detail, brushstroke by brushstroke, the author urges you to picture how the Mongolian aristocratic government, the Inner Asian military-oriented numerical divisional system, the technique of conquest rule, and the Mongolian doctrine of a universal Buddhist empire together created the last of the Inner Asian empires that conquered and ruled what is now China.

In The Arab Thieves, Peter Webb critically explores the classic tales of pre-Islamic Arabian outlaws in Arabic Literature. A group of Arabian camel-rustlers became celebrated figures in Muslim memories of pre-Islam, and much poetry ascribed to them and stories about their escapades grew into an outlaw tradition cited across Arabic literature. The ninth/fifteenth-century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi arranged biographies of ten outlaws into a chapter on 'Arab Thieves' in his wide-ranging history of the world before Muhammad. This volume presents the first critical edition of al-Maqrizi's text with a fully annotated English translation, alongside a detailed study that interrogates the outlaw lore to uncover the ways in which Arabic writers constructed outlaw identities and how al-Maqrizi used the tales to communicate his vision of pre-Islam. Via an exhaustive survey of early Arabic sources about the outlaws and comparative readings with outlaw traditions in other world literatures, The Arab Thieves reveals how Arabic literature crafted lurid narratives about criminality and employed them to tell ancient Arab history.

The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the III/IX Century is the only full-length study on the revolt o f the Zanj. Scholars of slavery, the African diaspora and th e Middle East have lauded Popovic''s work. '

This book compares the ways in which new powers arose in the shadows of the Roman Empire and its Byzantine and Carolingian successors, of Iran, the Caliphate and China in the first millennium CE. These new powers were often established by external military elites who had served the empire. They remained in an uneasy balance with the remaining empire, could eventually replace it, or be drawn into the imperial sphere again. Some relied on dynastic legitimacy, others on ethnic identification, while most of them sought imperial legitimation. Across Eurasia, their dynamic was similar in many respects; why were the outcomes so different? Contributors are Alexander Beihammer, Maaike van Berkel, Francesco Borri, Andrew Chittick, Michael R. Drompp, Stefan Esders, Ildar Garipzanov, Jurgen Paul, Walter Pohl, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Helmut Reimitz, Jonathan Shepard, Q. Edward Wang, Veronika Wieser, and Ian N. Wood.

Imperial Resilience tells the story of the enduring Ottoman landscape of the modern Middle East's formative years from the end of the First World War in 1918 to the conclusion of the peace settlement for the empire in 1923. Hasan Kayali moves beyond both the well-known role that the First World War's victors played in reshaping the region's map and institutions and the strains of ethnonationalism in the empire's "Long War." Instead, Kayali crucially uncovers local actors' searches for geopolitical solutions and concomitant collective identities based on Islamic commonality. Instead of the certainties of the nation-states that emerged in the wake of the belated peace treaty of 1923, we see how the Ottoman Empire remained central in the mindset of leaders and popular groups, with long-lasting consequences.

The Cairo Genizah is considered one of the world's greatest Hebrew manuscript treasures. Yet the story of how over a quarter of a million fragments hidden in Egypt were discovered and distributed around the world, before becoming collectively known as "The Cairo Genizah," is far more convoluted and compelling than previously told. The full story involves an international cast of scholars, librarians, archaeologists, excavators, collectors, dealers and agents, operating from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and all acting with varying motivations and intentions in a race for the spoils. Basing her research on a wealth of archival materials, Jefferson reconstructs how these protagonists used their various networks to create key alliances, or to blaze lone trails, each one on a quest to recover ancient manuscripts. Following in their footsteps, she takes the reader on a journey down into ancient caves and tombs, under medieval rubbish mounds, into hidden attic rooms, vaults, basements and wells, along labyrinthine souks, and behind the doors of private clubs and cloistered colleges. Along the way, the reader will also learn about the importance of establishing manuscript provenance and authenticity, and the impact to our understanding of the past when either factor is in doubt.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1980.

Using Inner Mongolian cases, this book explains the attenuation of inter-ethnic solidarity in the critical period of Chinese imperial transformation (1900-1930). It engages the key issues related to imperial organization, elite politics, and ethnic relationship. The book will attract a large audience in comparative sociology, empire and ethnic studies.

The Quest for Forbidden Lands: Nikolai Przhevalskii and his Followers on Inner Asian Tracks is a collection of biographical essays of outstanding Russian explorers of Inner Asia of the late nineteenth - early twentieth century, Nikolai Przhevalskii, Vsevolod Roborovskii, Mikhail Pevtsov, Petr Kozlov, Grigorii Grumm-Grzhimailo and Bronislav Grombchevskii, almost all senior army officers. Their expeditions were organized by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society with some assistance from the military department with a view of exploring and mapping the vast uncharted territories of Inner Asia, being the Western periphery of the Manchu-Chinese Empire. The journeys of these pioneers were a great success and gained world renown for their many discoveries and the valuable collections they brought from the region.

Economic and political relations with Iran were a primary concern for the German Democratic Republic leadership and dominated the GDR's press. This is the first book to analyse the representation of Iran in the media, from the GDR's formation in 1949 until 1989, the last complete year before its demise. Covering key events, such as the overthrow of the Mossadegh government in 1953, the White Revolution, the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and the Iran-Iraq war, the author reveals that only in periods where the two countries enjoyed less amicable or poor relations, was the press free to critically report events in Iran and openly support the cause of the country's communist party, the Tudeh. The book explores the use of the press as a tool for ideological education and propaganda. It also examines how the state's official Marxist-Leninist ideology, the GDR's international competition with West Germany, and cultural prejudices and stereotypes impacted reporting so powerfully.