Yasmin Amin

The onion, and to some extent its cousin, garlic, play an important role in the cultural heritage. They are a part of almost all national dishes of the Arab (and Muslim) world today. These recipes have been handed down through generations and their forerunners are found in many medieval sourcebooks about food and recipes [such as Kitāb al-ghidhā’, Kitāb al-aghdhiya, Kitāb al-mu’ākala, Kitāb al-tabīkh etc], where onions and garlic feature prominently.
While both are mentioned in the Qur’ān (Q 2:61), the Prophet prohibited people who ate onion and garlic from going to the mosque immediately after eating them, to avoid annoying other worshipers with flatulence consequences and bad mouths’ odours. Hence, legal discussions about their consumption, raw or in cooked form, are part of the Islamic jurisprudence.
Pharmacology and medical books, for example by al-Kindī and al-Samarqandī, ascribed great value to both bulbs and encouraged people to eat them for their qualities. Physicians used them for their anti-bacterial values to fight infections; long before bacteria was even discovered. These bulbs even found their way into aphrodisiac recipe books such as Kitāb al-bāb al-bāhiya wa-l tarākīb al-sulṭāniya to treat dysfunctions and increase sexual appetite. Onions and garlic were also used to ward off Jinn and appeared as remedies for all sorts of perceived evil and superstitions.
The books of table and eating manners [such as Kanz al-fawāʾid fī tanwīʿ al-mawāʾid] mention the bulbs and the etiquette of the zurafā '(refined, elegant and witty) says a lot about their consumption [as found in Kitāb al-Muwashshā].
Loved and hated, sanctioned or condemned, recommended or rejected, both bulbs found their way not only into the pots or onto the tables, but also into proverbs, anecdotes and literary outputs of the Arab and Muslim world through the ages.
This paper will look at the various discussions, usages and conventions about onions and garlic in numerous Arabic classical texts, literary works, anecdotal collections, poems, medical and pharmacological books and treatises, as well as ḥadīth collections that all form a part of the cultural heritage of the Arab and Islamic world.

Ḥadīth compilations went through a complex evolution from ṣaḥīfa, juz‘,risāla, sunan, musannaf, jāmiʿ, musnad, muʿjam, mustadrak and mustakhraj, each reflecting choices and different methodologies of their compilers/collectors. To illustrate this evolution, this paper looks at the journey of one particular ḥadīth, narrated by Umm Salama, Mother of the Believers, tracing its 131 different versions found in Sunnī collections, from the oldest one, collected by Affān b. Muslim (d. 219AH/834AD)  to the last one collected by al-Haythamī (d. 807AH/1405AD), covering almost six centuries.
The different versions of the narration reveal seven distinct story lines or plots. Though the variations differ considerably in details, certain characteristics remain, namely a fairly constant frame story and a relatively variable enclosed content, with the main characters staying the same and some new characters being added. Furthermore, there are some noticeable common themes regarding the additions or omissions from the main body of the narration, the matn.
This study attempts to answer several question: why are there so many different versions of a narration by one person? Do these differences reflect the choices of the compilers/editors as well as their interference with the material? What do these differences reflect? Was the hadith manipulated to reflect sectarian ideologies, political developments, and theological frameworks or are the differences merely dramatic tools used for the benefit of the different audiences? Do compilers/editors of hadith collections have certain personal agendas?

Reading the individual authoritative accounts of the various biographies of the Prophet’s wives preserved in the original Islamic literature such as (al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Saʿd, al-Balādhurī, Ibn Ḥajar, Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Bukhārī and Muslim etc) leads to a few interesting observations. In spite of the individual biographies devoted to each of the Mothers of the Believers, there are frequent themes that are repeated within these individual biographies.  Some of these themes are replicated identically without any changes, while some offer slight or major differences in the details yet retain the original idea. Three such recurrent themes stand out:
a) Birra
The name ‘Birra’ was attributed to several of the Mothers of the Believers before their marriage to the Prophet and upon their marriage, the Prophet is recorded to have requested the name be changed for varying reasons.
b) Dream
The theme of having a dream which is later interpreted as meaning that the lady in question will eventually marry the Prophet.
c) Set Phrases
Statements like "Prophet Muh଼ammad married So-and-so and imposed the h଼ijab on her" or “Prophet Muh଼ammad wrapped her in his cloak” recur especially in biographical dictionaries such as Ibn Saʿd’s Kitāb al-Ṭabaqāt al-kabīr, however, they are with regard to only four of his wives.

This paper will look at these three themes in detail and attempt to explain their use and recurrence within the historiographical material of Islamic literature. The paper will also try to answer the question whether or not the details of the past were changed or manipulated during their recreation and recording in the name of preserving the past and setting examples and creating role-models or not.

A bedouin was praying in a mosque. The imām was reciting “Surely We sent Nūḥ to his people” Q [71.1] and seemed to have not been able to remember the rest of the verse. He kept repeating the verse over and over again. Finally the Bedouin interrupted him and said: “Send someone else, may God have mercy on you, so you can relieve yourself and us.”
This joke (taken from al-Ibshīh’sī, al-Mustaṭraf fī kull fann mustaẓraf) and many similar ones which are found in the popular and widely circulated nawadir collections make use of partial or full quotations from the Qur’an. Some of these quotations are acknowledged, while others are not identified as such. Medieval theorists recommended iqtibās from the Qurʾān to prose writers. Iqtibās - inserting a passage that is not an explicit quotation - was extensively used as a literary tool by khuttāb (orators), writers and the results also found in anecdote compilations.  However, some of these anecdotes and jokes were raunchy, sexually explicit or borderline blasphemous and exceeded the recommended limits set by the theorists.
This paper aims at analyzing the motives and explanations for the use/ abuse of the Qur’an in jocular literature, using the works of modern scholars as well as medieval writers such as Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī [350/961 – 429/1038] and Ibn al-Athīr [558/1163 – 637/1239], drawing on jokes from various medieval  adab collections.

Since the 1980s, Muslim women reformers have made great strides in critiquing and reinterpreting the Islamic tradition. Yet these achievements have not produced a significant shift in the lived experience of Islam, particularly with respect to equality and justice in Muslim families. A new approach is needed: one that examines the underlying instruments of tradition and explores avenues for effecting change. In Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice, leading intellectuals and emerging researchers grapple with the problem of entrenched positions within Islam that affect women, investigating the processes by which interpretations become authoritative, the theoretical foundations upon which they stand, and the ways they have been used to inscribe and enforce gender limitations. Together, they argue that the Islamic interpretive tradition displays all of the trappings of canonical texts, canonical figures, and canon law – despite the fact that Islam does not ordain religious authorities who could sanction processes of canonization. Through this lens, the essays in this collection offer insights into key issues in Islamic feminist scholarship, ranging from interreligious love, child marriage, polygamy, and divorce to stoning, segregation, seclusion, and gender hierarchies. Rooting their analysis in the primary texts and historical literature of Islam, contributors to Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice contest oppressive interpretative canons, subvert classical methodologies, and provide new directions in the ongoing project of revitalizing Islamic exegesis and its ethical and legal implications.

Narrations by notable Islamic personalities are a significant part of the Islamic religious edifice. However, these narrations are of variable quality and authenticity. To evaluate these narrations, standards and tools were developed and used. This study will look into ...

In the Sunni Ḥadith collections termed as ‘al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-sitta’ (The Authentic Six), namely Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukharī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan al-Nasāʾī, Sunan Abū Dawūd, Jāmi al-Tirmidhī and Sunan Ibn Mājah, a number of distinctive narrations describe the Prophet laughing, while telling his community about various instances when God himself laughs. The reasons for God’s laughter vary according to the different narrations, but are mostly used to reassure the believers that there is nothing to fear from a ‘Laughing God.’ Laughter is generally interpreted in the commentaries to mean mercy and benevolence.
Though one of these prophetic traditions is narrated on the authority of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, it is not preserved in the Shi’ite Ḥadīth corpus, except to challenge its veracity along with the authenticity of all the other traditions narrated by other companions mentioning a ‘Laughing God’.
This paper looks at the various traditions describing God's laughter, its reasons and why they were preserved in the Sunni corpus and considered Ṣaḥīḥ traditions. Drawing on the two Ḥadith corpora, books of ʿaqīda (creed) as well as ʿilm al-rijāl (biographical dictionaries of narrators), this paper also attempts to determine why they are rejected in the Shi’ite Ḥadīth corpus.

In the Sunni Ḥadith collections termed as ‘al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-sitta’ (The Authentic Six), namely Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukharī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan al-Nasāʾī, Sunan Abū Dawūd, Jāmi al-Tirmidhī and Sunan Ibn Mājah, a number of distinctive narrations describe the Prophet laughing, while telling his community about various instances when God himself laughs. The reasons for God’s laughter vary according to the different narrations, but are mostly used to reassure the believers that there is nothing to fear from a ‘Laughing God.’ Laughter is generally interpreted in the commentaries to mean mercy and benevolence. Though one of these prophetic traditions is narrated on the authority of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, it is not preserved in the Shi’ite Ḥadīth corpus, except to challenge its veracity along with the authenticity of all the other traditions narrated by other companions mentioning a ‘Laughing God’. This paper looks at the various traditions describing God's laughter, its reasons and why they were preserved in the Sunni corpus and considered Ṣaḥīḥ traditions. Drawing on the two Ḥadith corpora, books of ʿaqīda (creed) as well as ʿilm al-rijāl (biographical dictionaries of narrators), this paper also attempts to determine why they are rejected in the Shi’ite Ḥadīth corpus.

This chapter provides an outline for the book. It addresses the various reasons why the contemporary Muslim is sorrowful, caught between their pride in their historical Islamic civilisation and religion, and the realisation that their core beliefs have been weighed and have been found wanting. The contemporary Muslim also seeks a role in modern history and wants to contribute to global civilisation, yet misses the spiritual element to do so, which leads to this sorrowful state.

The onion, and to some extent its cousin, garlic, play an important role in the cultural heritage. They are a part of almost all national dishes of the Arab (and Muslim) world today. These recipes have been handed down through generations and their forerunners are found in many medieval sourcebooks about food and recipes [such as Kitāb al-ghidhā’, Kitāb al-aghdhiya, Kitāb al-mu’ākala, Kitāb al-tabīkh etc], where onions and garlic feature prominently. While both are mentioned in the Qur’ān (Q 2:61), the Prophet prohibited people who ate onion and garlic from going to the mosque immediately after eating them, to avoid annoying other worshipers with flatulence consequences and bad mouths’ odours. Hence, legal discussions about their consumption, raw or in cooked form, are part of the Islamic jurisprudence. Pharmacology and medical books, for example by al-Kindī and al-Samarqandī, ascribed great value to both bulbs and encouraged people to eat them for their qualities. Physicians used them for their anti-bacterial values to fight infections; long before bacteria was even discovered. These bulbs even found their way into aphrodisiac recipe books such as Kitāb al-bāb al-bāhiya wa-l tarākīb al-sulṭāniya to treat dysfunctions and increase sexual appetite. Onions and garlic were also used to ward off Jinn and appeared as remedies for all sorts of perceived evil and superstitions. The books of table and eating manners [such as Kanz al-fawāʾid fī tanwīʿ al-mawāʾid] mention the bulbs and the etiquette of the zurafā '(refined, elegant and witty) says a lot about their consumption [as found in Kitāb al-Muwashshā]. Loved and hated, sanctioned or condemned, recommended or rejected, both bulbs found their way not only into the pots or onto the tables, but also into proverbs, anecdotes and literary outputs of the Arab and Muslim world through the ages. This paper will look at the various discussions, usages and conventions about onions and garlic in numerous Arabic classical texts, literary works, anecdotal collections, poems, medical and pharmacological books and treatises, as well as ḥadīth collections that all form a part of the cultural heritage of the Arab and Islamic world.

who “brought the vague individual into the realm of angelic cognition” (p. 291). Bearing in mind the idea of the angelic applied to ancient categories of knowledge, it is fascinating to then approach Fumo’s analysis of late-medieval English work on Ovid for its own inquiry into medieval readers’ philosophies. As Black asks how Avicenna’s work – itself deeply concerned with angels’ cognitive power and their relations with people – meets with new arguments from Christian interlocutors, so Fumo asks how English writers used ekphrasis and manuscript illumination to introduce moralising dimensions into ancient texts. This gives the reader the opportunity to take a schematic long view: what theological and philosophical impulses were at play in medieval Europe and reveal themselves most distinctly when writers work directly with Classical texts to produce a new intellectual frame? In other words, what ideological work does medieval transformation perform? There are, of course, a great many other critical questions that readers from a range of disciplines might draw from the volume, an observation that speaks well of the project overall. If there is one revision to be suggested, it is for more argumentative work from the contributors, so that questions are met with answers, even if provisional. A group of accomplished scholars such as these might offer eighteen provocative studies, but in some cases the essays describe research without producing a set of analytical statements that coalesce into a thesis. Overall, however, the volume is a solid achievement, broad in scope and admirably reaching out across disciplines. It is encouraging to think that the research group at the helm of this project will continue its valuable work in organising workshops and publishing scholarship.

and the Gazelle of the Kaʿba”, Rubin offers a new reading of the Qurʾān CXI and explores the historical account of hostility between Abū Lahab and the Prophet, highlighting the literary origins of the event. “Quraysh and Their Winter and Summer Journey” attempts to provide a different interpretation of Qurʾān CVI. Through an examination of various exegetical and historical sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the chapter, originally understood to be a Medina chapter, re-dating its religious monotheistic message to the Mecca period. The next article, “Morning and Evening Prayers in Early Islam”, examines traditions and reports concerning the prayer times and their significance, also tracing their roots to pagan times. In the last article, “On the Arabian Origins of the Qur’an”, Rubin demonstrates that the word furqān has a purely Arabic origin and stands for the light of the dawn. The article also discusses the exegetical interpretations of the term as “redemption” and as “distinction between truth and falsehood”. This collection of Uri Rubin’s articles is a significant contribution to the study of the life of Muh ̇ ammad, pre-Islamic Arabia and its people’s rituals, and will be of great benefit to scholars interested in Islamic studies, Qurʾānic exegesis and the life of Muh ̇ ammad. While the articles on Muh ̇ ammad and the Qurʾān and the Qurʾānic idea of prophets and prophethood are less analytical, others, such as his review of Lüling’s work and his own “The Shrouded Messenger”, are much more critical and offer concrete textual analyses. By looking at preIslamic and post-Qurʾānic sources and in some cases juxtaposing Islamic and Jewish sources, Rubin offers a new reading of the Islamic material and makes a major contribution to the field of Islamic studies and the biography of Muh ̇ ammad.

Prayer in Islamic Thought and Practice, part of the “Themes in Islamic History”series, is divided into an introduction, five chapters, and a short conclusion.In the introduction, the author focuses on ṣalāt, the five canonical dailyprayers. The book offers a historical study based mainly on pre-modern Arabicsources from the ninth to the sixteenth century, which is supplemented by secondary and modern non-Arabic sources to cover major changes in the practiceor interpretation of ṣalāt (p. 2). Katz quotes the views of pre-modern and modernwestern observers, thereby showing their sympathy and admiration for theconcentration, devotion, seriousness, reverence, regularity, egalitarianism, andinclusiveness associated with it.In Chapter 1, “Canonical Prayer and Supplication, Development, andRules,” Katz traces the etymology of the term’s linguistic origin, historic significance,and pre-Islamic meaning. She quotes Q. 31:17 to show that it wasnot used exclusively in reference to monotheism or ...

The book under review, which is divided into five chapters, an introduction,and a conclusion, investigates how gender, sexuality, and concepts of womanhoodwere deployed to express cultural differences in order to formulateand articulate the Abbasid identity and legitimize the new dynasty’s authority.El Cheikh argues that Abbasid-era texts used gendered metaphors and conceptsof sexual difference to describe those groups they perceived as a threat.The “Introduction” opens with an overview of the book’s scope and isfollowed by the story of the “harlots of Hadramaut” rejoicing after theProphet’s death, how Abu Bakr dealt with it, and why this event was consideredsignificant. These women’s public celebration was contrasted withMuslim prescriptions for women as regards obedience, piety, and domesticity.The purpose here was to juxtapose the era of jāhilīyah, with its idolatry,tribal feuds, sexual immorality, burial of live infant girls, and theabsence of food taboos and rules of purity, to...

This collection of papers, presented at a Princeton University conference heldin May 2008, opens with an extensive bibliography of Abraham L. Udovitch’sworks and a preface detailing his scholarship on the medieval Islamic world’seconomic institutions, social structure, legal theory, and practices. The prefacealso highlights Udovitch’s role and scholarly contributions, prolific publicationsand international academic collaboration, his respect for interdisciplinaryexamination and combination of various methods, as well as the diversity ofhis intellectual pursuits and teachings. The editors praise his visionary approachof focusing on seemingly unconnected texts to uncover the past, suchas combining normative legal texts with narratives from diverse sources andgenres. His students, as demonstrated in this volume, have adopted these methods.Udovitch’s role in changing the writing of medieval Islamic history islauded, as is his encouragement to explore new techniques and methodologiesas w...

The book starts with “The Provenance of this Book” and states that the beginningof all manuscripts show a short text by al-Qadi al-Nu‘man to demonstratethat it was passed down from his father and grandfather. After this, it lists whothey are and their positions as judges and proclaims that the book was writtenfor the Fatimid caliph al Mu‘izz (r. 953-75).Book Reviews 137The “Introduction” acquaints the reader with al-Qadi al-Nu‘man and thiswork, providing a bibliography of his other books. The sources of his worksare mentioned as being mainly Zaydi and Imami (mostly Kufan) and suggesta compromise between Shi‘ism’s two traditions while refuting Sunni theoriesof legal interpretations. Al-Nu‘man wrote several treatises showing his engagementwith Sunni Islam. These polemical works refute the Maliki jurist Muhammadb. Ahmad al ‘Utaqi, Ibn Qutaybah, al-Shafi‘i, and Ibn Surayj al-Baghdadi.The author suggests that the words “a certain Baghdadi” may refer to IbnSurayj. This work, plus his Da‘ā...