A comprehensive overview of Hajj, one of the central pillars of Islam. Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage consists of twenty-seven essays addressing objects in the remarkable collection of Nasser David Khalili. The collection features more than five thousand objects relating to the arts of pilgrimage, from the eighth century to today, and includes Qur'ans, illustrated manuscripts, rare books, scientific instruments, textiles, coins, paintings, prints, and photo-postcards, as well as archival material, unique historical documents, and examples of the work of some of the earliest Muslim photographers of Hajj. Together the essays collected in Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage provide a comprehensive overview of Hajj, illustrating the religious, spiritual, cultural, and artistic aspects of pilgrimage to the Holy Sanctuaries of Islam and the cosmopolitan nature of Hajj itself. Each essay is written by a prominent specialist in the field and beautifully illustrated with full-color images of objects from the collection, some of which have never been seen in print before. Taking readers from the early history of Islam to the fascinating story of the Western view of Muslim pilgrimage, these essays will transform our perception of Hajj.

This is the first book-length study of the emergence of Medina, in modern Saudi Arabia, as a widely venerated sacred space and holy city over the course of the first three Islamic centuries (the seventh to ninth centuries CE). This was a dynamic period that witnessed the evolution of many Islamic political, religious and legal doctrines, and the book situates Medina's emerging sanctity within the appropriate historical contexts. The book focuses on the roles played by the Prophet Mu ammad, by the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs and by Muslim legal scholars. It shows that Medina's emergence as a holy city, alongside Mecca and Jerusalem, as well as the development of many of the doctrines associated with its sanctity, was the result of gradual and contested processes and was intimately linked with important contemporary developments concerning the legitimation of political, religious and legal authority in the Islamic world."

The Seminar for Arabian Studies has come a long way since 1968 when it was first convened, yet it remains the principal international academic forum for research on the Arabian Peninsula. This is clearly reflected in the ever-increasing number of researchers from all over the world who come each year to the three-day Seminar to present and discuss their latest research and fieldwork. The Seminar has covered, and continues to cover, an extensive range of diverse subjects that include anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art, epigraphy, ethnography, history, language, linguistics, literature, numismatics, theology, and more, from the earliest times to the present day or, in the fields of political and social history, to around the end of the Ottoman Empire (1922/1923). Papers presented at the Seminar have all been subjected to an intensive review process before they are accepted for publication in the Proceedings. The rigorous nature of the reviews undertaken by a range of specialists ensures that the highest academic standards are maintained. A supplementary volume, 'Languages, scripts and their uses in ancient North Arabia' edited by M.C.A. Macdonald (ISBN 9781784918996, Archaeopress, 2018), is also available containing the proceedings from the special session held during the seminar on 5 August 2017.