Panegyric poetry, in both Arabic and Persian, was one of the most important genres of literature in the medieval Middle East and Central Asia. Jocelyn Sharlet argues that panegyric poetry is important not only because it provides a commentary on society and culture in the medieval Middle East, but also because panegyric writing was one of the key means for individuals to gain social mobility and standing during this period. This is particularly so within the context of patronage, a central feature of social order during these times. Sharlet places the medieval Arabic and Persian panegyric firmly within its cultural context, and identifies it as a crucial way of gaining entry to and movement within this patronage network. This is an important contribution to the fields of pre-modern Middle Eastern and Central Asian literature and culture.

This book deals with patronate and patronage ("wal?'") of early and classical Islam. Though "Webster's Third" has the term "mawla," the concept remains very difficult to come to grips with. Fourteen contributions by renowned scholars analyze the social and cultural phenomenon of "wal?'" from various angles. As a whole, the book conveys what we presently know about patronate and patronage during the first four centuries of Islam. Inasmuch as the contributors have used different methods - from a close rereading of primary sources to the application of social theory and quantitative analysis - the book additionally offers an overview of methodologies current in the field of Islamic Studies.

Part of the rich legacy of the Middle East is a poetic record stretching back five millennia. This unparalleled repository of knowledge - across different languages, cultures and religions - allows us to examine continuity and change in human expression from the beginnings of writing to the present day. In Warfare and Poetry in the Middle East leading scholars draw upon this legacy to explore the ways in which poets, from the third millennium bc to the present day, have responded to effects of war. The contributors deal with material in a wide variety of languages - including Sumerian, Hittite, Akkadian, biblical and modern Hebrew, and classical and contemporary Arabic - and range from the Sumerian lament on the destruction of Ur and the Assyrian conquest of Jerusalem to the al-R?miyy?t of the poet and warrior prince Ab? Fir?s al-?amd?n?, the popular Arabic epics and romances that form the siyar, to the contemporary poetry of Hamas and Hezbollah. Some of the poems are heroic in tone celebrating victory and the prowess of warriors and soldiers; others reflect keenly on the pity and destruction of warfare, on the grief and suffering that war causes.The result is a work that provides a unique reflection upon the ways in which this most violent and pervasive of human activities has been reflected in different cultures. The history of war begins in the Middle East - the earliest reported conflict in human history was fought between the neighbouring city states of Lagash and Umma in ancient Iraq. At a time when the Middle East seems to be permanently at war and wracked by violence, it is salutary to look back at the ancient roots of modern attitudes and to see that in the past, as in the present, these attitudes are much more varied, and the emotions more subtle, than often realised.

A constant feature of Jewish culture in the medieval Mediterranean was the dedication of panegyric texts in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and other languages to men of several ranks: scholars, communal leaders, courtiers, merchants, patrons, and poets. Although the imagery of nature and eroticism in the preludes to these poems is often studied, the substance of what follows is generally neglected, as it is perceived to be repetitive, obsequious, and less aesthetically interesting than other types of poetry from the period. In Dominion Built of Praise, Jonathan Decter demurs. As is the case with visual portraits, panegyrics operate according to a code of cultural norms that tell us at least as much about the society that produced them as the individuals they portray. Looking at the phenomenon of panegyric in Mediterranean Jewish culture from several overlapping perspectives—social, historical, ethical, poetic, political, and theological—he finds that they offer representations of Jewish political leadership as it varied across geographic area and evolved over time. Decter focuses his analysis primarily on Jewish centers in the Islamic Mediterranean between the tenth and thirteenth centuries and also includes a chapter on Jews in the Christian Mediterranean through the fifteenth century. He examines the hundreds of panegyrics that have survived: some copied repeatedly in luxurious anthologies, others discarded haphazardly in the Cairo Geniza. According to Decter, the poems extolled conventional character traits ascribed to leaders not only diachronically within the Jewish political tradition but also synchronically within Islamic and, to a lesser extent, Christian civilization and political culture. Dominion Built of Praise reveals more than a superficial and functional parallel between Muslim and Jewish forms of statecraft and demonstrates how ideas of Islamic political legitimacy profoundly shaped the ways in which Jews conceptualized and portrayed their own leadership.

Examines the socio-cultural history of the regions where Islam took hold between the 7th and 16th century. This two-volume work contains 700 alphabetically arranged entries, and provides a portrait of Islamic civilization. It is of use in understanding the roots of Islamic society as well to explore the culture of medieval civilization.

When the Umayyads, the first Islamic dynasty, rose to power shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), the polity of which they assumed control had only recently expanded out of Arabia into the Roman eastern Mediterranean, Iraq and Iran. A century later, by the time of their downfall in 750, the last Umayyad caliphs governed the largest empire that the world had seen, stretching from Spain in the West to the Indus valley and Central Asia in the East. By then, their dynasty and the ruling circles around it had articulated with increasing clarity the public face of the new monotheistic religion of Islam, created major masterpieces of world art and architecture, some of which still stand today, and built a state apparatus that was crucial to ensuring the continuity of the Islamic polity. Within the vast lands under their control, the Umayyads and their allies ruled over a mosaic of peoples, languages and faiths, first among them Christianity, Judaism and the Ancient religion of Iran, Zoroastrianism. The Umayyad period is profoundly different from ours, yet it also resonates with modern concerns, from the origins of Islam to dynamics of cultural exchange. Editors Alain George and Andrew Marsham bring together a collection of essays that shed new light on this crucial period. Power, Patronage, and Memory in Early Islam elucidates the ways in which Umayyad lites fashioned and projected their self-image, and how these articulations, in turn, mirrored their own times. The authors, combining perspectives from different disciplines, present new material evidence, introduce fresh perspectives about key themes and monuments, and revisit the nature of the historical writing that shaped our knowledge of this period.

A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option under the Islamic Republic tells the story of the lives and works of Iranian poets whose personal and literary career were shaped by the Iranian revolution in 1979. By drawing on similar examples, such as Soviet Russia, the book tries to tackle some key questions: how did these poets come to be known in the literary scene? What did they write about, and what were their ideas, styles, and literary techniques? And, last but not least, what kind of relationship have they established with the ruling power on the course of the past four decades? In a detailed study, Shams tackles the life and work of ten Iranian poets whose personal and literary lives transformed and were transformed by the 1979 Revolution and the rise of the Islamic Republic, shedding light on ways in which the current ruling state in Iran uses literature and particularly poetry as a tool for ideological dissemination.