Kitāb al-Shawāhid wa-l-amthāl written by Abū Naṣr al‑Qushayrī (d. 514/1120) represents a pivotal work in the intellectual and spiritual legacy of Sufism, particularly in its integration of poetic discourse. This manuscript, specifically Ayasofya 4128, serves as a tangible testament to the rich heritage of the Qushayrī family, blending spiritual teachings with literary elegance. It offers profound insights into the pedagogical methods of Sufi masters, using poetry not only as a didactic tool but also as a means to express the ineffable aspects of mystical experience. The interplay between prose and poetry in this work highlights the unique approach of the Qushayrī tradition in embedding spiritual wisdom within poetic narratives, making it a significant contribution to the study of Sufi literature and Islamic heritage.

​This volume explores the life and contributions of Abū Naṣr al‑Qushayrī, meticulously emphasizing his role in preserving and expanding his father Abū l‑Qāsim al‑Qushayrī’s spiritual teachings. Through a detailed examination of the content and structure of the original manuscript, the editors illuminate the intricate relationship between Sufi doctrines and their poetic expressions.

The critical introduction provides context, analyzing the manuscript’s themes, its historical significance, and its place within the broader spectrum of Islamic studies. This scholarly work not only enriches our understanding of early Sufi thought but also underscores the enduring influence of the Qushayrī family in the development of Islamic spirituality and literature.​

For forty years, Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn’s work at the American University of Beirut revised how we understand the relations of power between the Ottoman center and its​ Arab peripheries. His ambitious research brought material from the imperial archives into conversation with local chronicles to shed light on the past while simultaneously challenging its misplaced mythologies. However, despite his imposing professions credentials, Abu-Husayn was just as renowned for his sparkling charm and magnanimous personality, which made “the Sultan” beloved by those who know him. 

In the Steps of the Sultan seeks to pay tribute to both Abu-Husayn the historian and Abed the man. Chapters by colleagues, friends, and former protégées offer new perspectives on themes that intersect with Abu-Husayn’s own varied interests, ranging from Lebanese histography to views from Istanbul, from Syrian provincial political to the Syriac heritage of Qatar, and from conceptualizations of the caliphate to depictions of divine beauty. 

K.  al-Anwār al-bahiyya fī taʿrīf maqāmāt fuṣaḥāʾ al-bariyya is a work of adab attributed to the renowned littérateur and historian of literature Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī. The work consists of an introduction and four chapters. The first three chapters are concerned with knowledge (ʿilm): Chapter One discusses the merit and application of knowledge, Chapter Two the definition of knowledge and its true meaning, and Chapter Three the conditions of knowledge. The fourth chapter, which constitutes the bulk of the book, is concerned with occasions on which scholars and sages made speeches in the presence of rulers. It is divided into two parts: Part One presents pre-Islamic (jāhiliyya) speeches, incorporating Arab, Greek, Byzantine, Persian, and Indian traditions, and Part Two presents Islamic speeches. The work is introduced by an analytical study discussing the attribution of the work, its relation to the Maqāmāt genre, and the manuscripts used.

The Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī

Authorship, Texts, and Contexts

Through investigations of manuscripts, this book explores important aspects of the life of Badîʿ al-Zamân al-Hamadhânî’s Maqâmât. The broad concerns of the book are divided into three sections: authorship, texts, and contexts. Each chapter in this volume investigates hitherto unstudied textual materials related to al-Hamadhânî’s Maqâmât that adds to our understanding of the text, its history, and the literary culture that created it.

Approaches to the Study of Pre-Modern Arabic Anthologies

Editors: Bilal Orfali and Nadia Maria El Cheikh

Literary anthology is a general category of adab that encompasses a range of compilations which has enjoyed tremendous popularity in Arabic literature, probably like no other literature of the world. The aim of this volume is to raise and discuss questions about the different approaches to the study of pre-modern Arabic anthologies from the perspectives of philology, religion, history, geography, and literature.

Contributors: Lyall Armstrong, Carl Davila, Matthew L. Keegan, Boutheina Khaldi, Enass Khansa, Jeremy Kurzyniec, David Larsen, Nathaniel A. Miller, Suleiman A. Mourad, Hans-Peter Pökel, Isabel Toral

The relationship between Sufism or Islamic mysticism and ethics is largely untilled land. Mysticism and Ethics in Islam attempts to survey this fertile area of investigation by attempting to come to a clearer idea of precisely what is meant by the terms “ethics” and “mysticism” vis-à-vis Islam and vis-à-vis each other. The articles in this volume do not have an eye so much on defining what mysticism and ethics in Islamic civilization are per se, but more on coming to terms with the parameters and boundaries within which they have historically fallen and been conceptualized. As such, the book falls into four clearly demarcated time periods and foci: early, classical, late pre-modern, and modern and contemporary. Taken as a whole, these papers in these sections give us rich insights into some of the most important Sufi ideas and expressions which have animated the tradition from past to present, and in such geographically diverse regions as Egypt, India, West Africa, Russia, Central Asia, and China.

عندما أسقط العبّاسيّون الحكمَ الأمويّ سنة 750 للميلاد، شكّل تعريفهم بأنفسهم لرعاياهم المسلمين عنصرًا مهمًّا في إضفاء الشرعيّة على السلطة التي فازوا بها حديثًا. وتُظهر ناديا ماريّا الشيخ في هذا الكتاب أنّ الأفكار المتعلّقة بالنساء كانت أساسيّة في عمليّة التعريف بالذات تلك، وقد توسّلتها الخلافة العبّاسيّة مبشّرةً ببدء عصرٍ ذهبيّ.

   عارض الإسلامُ العربيّ الجهلَ في معظم ثقافات العصور الإسلاميّة الوسطى، ووقف في وجه حالات الدنس والفساد التي كانت موجودةً قُبيل تأسيس الإسلام. وتطوّر مفهومُ الجهل عبر الزمن ليصبح مصطلحًا أكثر عمومًا يصفُ حالةً من الجهالة والهمجيّة علاوةً على حالة متعلّقة بالخطاب العبّاسيّ مع النساء تحديدًا. فأصبحت مفاهيمُ الأنوثة والجنوسة(gender)  مبدءًا تنظيميًّا ورئيسًا لتحديد الهُويّة الإسلاميّة، وباتت المجموعات - التي عَدَّ العبّاسيّون معتقداتِها وسلوكَها تهديدًا - تُصوَّر في النصوص العبّاسيّة عن طريق المجازات القائمة على الجنوسة، وعن طريق مفاهيم الاختلاف الجنسيّ. ولا تنحصر هذه المجموعات في الجاهليّين الذين عاشوا قبل النبيّ محمّد (ص)، ولكنّها تشمل الشعوب خارج حدود إمبراطوريّتهم، مثل البيزنطيّين، والهراطقة الذين تحدّوا قيودَ حُكمهم كالقرامطة. وقد أثّر هذا بدوره في الطريقة التي نُظر بها إلى النساء، وأسهم بالتالي في البناء التاريخيّ لهُويّة النساء المسلمات.

   ويبيّن كتابُ النساء والإسلام والهويّة العبّاسيّة أهمّيّة النساء في كتابة التاريخ الإسلاميّ المبكّر وذلك عن طريق البحث الذي يقدّمه، فهو يدور حول كيفيّة استعمال الجنوسة والجنسانيّة (sexuality) لإظهار الاختلافات الثقافيّة وصياغة الهُويّات في منظومتَي السلطة والفكر العبّاسيَّين. 

القرآنَ نصٌّ مقدّسٌ ويعدُّ مرجعاً دينيًّا ومصدرًا للفصاحة والبلاغة المعجِزة، ولذا عمد الأدباء إلى زخرفة خطاباتهم بالإشارات القرآنيّة لإثبات براعتهم في التعامل مع ألفاظ القرآن ومعانيه. والقرآن كتابٌ محفوظٌ في الصّدور قبل السّطور، الأمر الذي يسهّل على القارئ أو المستمع التّنبّهَ إلى أيّ إشارةٍ قرآنيّةٍ وبالتّالي تقدير براعة المؤلّف عند استعمالها. وقد غدا توظيف القرآن والأشعار والأمثال تدريجيًّا مهارةً فنّيّةً ومعيارًا يعكس كفاءة الأديب ومكانته.

يتضمّن هذا الكتاب دراسة وتحقيقًا لكتاب انتزاعات القرآن العظيم المنسوب لابن الصيرفي عليّ بن مُنجِب (توفّي في 19 صفر 542/20 تمّوز 1147)، وهو من أشهر الكتّاب الذين ترأّسوا ديوان الإنشاء الفاطميّ، تميّز بأسلوبه الأنيق بكتابة الرسائل والإنشاء. يقدّم الكتاب آياتٍ قرآنيّةً يمكن لكتّاب الدولة استعمالها عند خوضهم في مواضيعَ مختلفة، رتّبها المصنّف في 117 فصلًا.

كتاب مكارم الأخلاق ومحاسن الآداب وبدائع الأوصاف وغرائب التشبيهات هو كتابٌ في الأدب، يشتمل على مقدّمةٍ قصيرة وثلاثة أبواب يتفرّع كلّ منها إلى فصول. الباب الأوّل بعنوان: "التحلّي بمكارم الأخلاق ومحاسن الآداب" ويتضمّن اثني عشر فصلًا؛ والباب الثاني بعنوان: "التزكّي عن مساوئ الأخلاق ومقابح الشيم" وفيه أحد عشر فصلًا؛ أمّا الباب الثالث فعنوانه: "بدائع الأوصاف وغرائب التشبيهات" وينقسم بدوره إلى أربعة فصول. ويرد في نهاية الكتاب ملحقٌ طويلٌ بالأمثال السائرة.  هذه الأبواب الثلاثة والملحق تندرج ضمن مظلة «الأدب» بتعريفه القديم الذي يتضمن عناصر المحاضرة والتأديب والأخلاق والمنهج الفكري.

Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Thaʿālibī was an adīb, poet, critic, lexicographer, historian of literature, prolific scholar, and one of the most important literary figures in the fourth-fifth/tenth-eleventh centuries. This work of his entitled Khāṣṣ al-khāṣṣ fī l-amthāl is edited for the first time based on MS Aya Sofya 6824. The 51 folios of this unique manuscript were copied by a certain Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. Aḥmad in 523/1128. The work is divided into three parts: (1) Quranic proverbs and their equivalents in a number of cultures, (2) proverbs related to various professions, and (3) select proverbs following the pattern of af ʿal and not included in the book of Abū ʿAbdallāh Ḥamza b. al-Ḥasan al-Iṣbahānī dedicated to this subject.

This work presents an edition and study of a new manuscript document, the Amālī in hadith (dictation sessions) of the prominent theologian and Sufi master ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī (376-465/986- 1072). Discussing both the text and the history of its transmission between the 11th and the 13th centuries C.E., in a geographical area covering the regions of Khorasan and Great Syria, the authors contribute to the understanding of the connection between Sufism and hadith culture. One of the most contributing factors to the consolidation of Sufism’s role in Medieval Islamic societies was its connection with hadith culture, both in terms of its networks and methods of transmission. The sources currently available – and to a lesser extent the studies produced to date – all attest to the idea that Sufism formed, notwithstanding, a solid binomial with hadith. In this building process, and despite some severe criticism, Sufism emerged as an important agent. Nevertheless, if we want to gain a deeper understanding of this relationship, the edition of new sources remains a pressing desideratum. Accordingly, the present work provides the scholarly community with a new document that may prove to be a significant contribution to the field.

Questions and answers from two great philosophers

Why is laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the past, even if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the philological to the scientific, The Philosopher Responds is the record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi to the philosopher and historian Abu 'Ali Miskawayh. Both figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth century.

The correspondence between al-Tawhidi and Miskawayh holds a mirror to many of the debates and preoccupations of the time and reflects the spirit of rationalistic inquiry that animated their era. It also provides insight into the intellectual outlooks of two thinkers who were divided as much by their distinctive temperaments as by the very different trajectories of their professional careers.

Alternately whimsical and tragic, wondering and brooding, trivial and profound, al-Tawhidi’s questions provoke an interaction as interesting in its spiritedness as in its content. This new edition of The Philosopher Responds is accompanied by the first full-length English translation of this important text, bringing this interaction to life for the English reader.

A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Questions and answers from two great philosophers

Why is laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the past, even if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the philological to the scientific, The Philosopher Responds is the record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi to the philosopher and historian Abu 'Ali Miskawayh. Both figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth century.

The correspondence between al-Tawhidi and Miskawayh holds a mirror to many of the debates and preoccupations of the time and reflects the spirit of rationalistic inquiry that animated their era. It also provides insight into the intellectual outlooks of two thinkers who were divided as much by their distinctive temperaments as by the very different trajectories of their professional careers.

Alternately whimsical and tragic, wondering and brooding, trivial and profound, al-Tawhidi’s questions provoke an interaction as interesting in its spiritedness as in its content. This new edition of The Philosopher Responds is accompanied by the first full-length English translation of this important text, bringing this interaction to life for the English reader.

A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Insatiable Appetite: Food as Cultural Signifier in the Middle East and Beyond explores the cultural ramifications of food and foodways in the Mediterranean, and Arab-Muslim countries in particular. The volume addresses the cultural meanings of food from a wider chronological scope, from antiquity to present, adopting approaches from various disciplines, including classical Greek philology, Arabic literature, Islamic studies, anthropology, and history. The contributions to the book are structured around six thematic parts, ranging in focus from social status to religious prohibitions, gender issues, intoxicants, vegetarianism, and management of scarcity. 

Insatiable Appetite: Food as Cultural Signifier in the Middle East and Beyond. Edited by Kirill Dmitriev, Julia Hauser, and Bilal Orfali. Leiden: Brill, 2019.

Light upon Light: Essays in Islamic Thought and History in Honor of Gerhard Bowering brings together studies that explore the richness of Islamic intellectual life in the pre-modern period. Leading scholars around the world present nineteen studies that explore diverse areas of Islamic Studies, in honor of a renowned scholar and teacher: Professor Dr. Gerhard Bowering (Yale University). The volume includes contributions in four main areas: (1) Quran and Early Islam; (2) Sufism, Shiʿism, and Esotericism; (3) Philosophy; (4) Literature and Culture. These areas reflect the enormous breadth of Professor Bowering’s contributions to the field over a lifetime of scholarship, teaching, and mentoring.

يستعرض كتاب «نحو إعادة بناء الدراسات الإسلامية» أوراق عمل المؤتمر الأكاديمي الذي جرى بدعوةٍ من كرسيّ الشيخ زايد بن سلطان آل نهيان للدراسات العربية والإسلامية في الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت المنعقد في مايو/أيّار عام 2018 والذي شارك فيه دارسون من مختلف التوجهات الفكرية والثقافية وخلاله تناولوا أربعة موضوعات: إجراء مراجعات شاملة للتخصص خلال الأربعة عقود الماضية، ومناقشة الأوضاع الحالية للتخصّص في شتى مجالاته، ودراسة إمكانية التطوير والتغيير من خلال علائق جديدة بالدراسات التاريخية والسوسيولوجية والفلسفية، وتقييم التوجّهات الجديدة في مسائل النصّ، والقراءات الجديدة للحضارة الإسلامية، والتيّارات الإسلامية المعاصرة.

Rafʿ al-iltibās ʿan munkir al-iqtibās li-Ibn Abī l-Luṭf. Edited by Bilal Orfali. Beirut: Dār al-Machreq, 2018

"يقدّم هذا الكتيّب طرحًا جديدًا للعلاقة بين الحديث النبويّ والتصوّف، وذلك من خلال دراسة مصدرٍ جديد، وهو مخطوط موجود في مكتبة جامعة لايبزغ في ألمانيا بعنوان: جزء فيه قصّة العبّاس بن حمزة مع ذي النون المصريّ رحمة الله عليه. وكما يظهر من العنوان، يرصد المخطوط زيارة أبي الفضل العبّاس بن حمزة بن أشوش النيسابوريّ لذي النّون المصريّ المتصوّف المشهور. وتبيّنُ هذه القصّة الفرق بين الطريقة السائدة في رواية الحديث وبين رواية ما يُسمّى «حديث الرقاق»، الأمر الّذي يُساهم في دحض الاتهامات الّتي تُضعف من رواية الزهّاد والمتصوّفة للحديث النبويّ."

Al-Ghazal wa-l-naḥw: taḍmīn al-fiyyat Ibn Mālik fī al-ghazal li-l-bāʿūnī. Edited by Bilal Orfali. Beirut: Dār al-Machreq, 2018. الغزل والنحو: تضمين ألفيّة ابن مالك في الغزل

Al-ʿArabiyya hādhihi al-lugha al-sharīfa: dirāsāt fī al-lugha wa-l-naḥw wa-l-muʿjam wa-l-sāmiyyāt by Ramzi Baalbaki. Edited by Bilal Orfali. Riyad: Markaz al-Malik Fayṣal, 2017.

العربيّة هذه اللغة الشريفة: دراسات في اللغة والنحو والمعجم والساميّات

​Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut (AUB) has had a positive and transformative impact on Lebanon, the Middle East, and the world. Published on the occasion of AUB's 150th anniversary, this commemorative volume serves as a lasting testimony to the extraordinary influence of AUB in its first 150 years and sets the stage for its future. 

This volume examines AUB's history from diverse perspectives and points of view. It deals with key moments in the early history of the University, and with its current position as a local agent with global concerns, also focusing on its complex relations with the USA and the rest of the world. Some of the chapters highlight salient personalities and important constituencies who have contributed to the legacy of AUB. Parts of the book also focus on the campus and its location within Ras Beirut, as well as their resulting interaction and mutual impact over years of growth and transformation. The book is organized according to five themes:

Early History offers different views on the changing role of the University, the efforts of its faculty and staff during World War I, and its leading role in advancing the education of women in the region.

AUB, the USA, and the World examines the founding of AUB's Arab Studies program, the development and decline of the Economic Research Institute, struggles for academic freedom, the Thomas Aquinas Affair of 1966, and the soft power wielded by AUB and other transnational universities.

Space describes the influences of New England educational institutions on the early construction of the University, the evolution of the landscape of AUB, a history of the founders of AUB in relation to that of the Anglo-American Cemetery, and changes in the Ras-Beirut neighborhood since the Lebanese Civil War.

Academic/Scientific Contributions looks at the critical work of Cornelius Van Dyck, Mansur Jurdaq, and Edward Stewart Kennedy in promoting Arabic and Islamic sciences. The work of AUB archaeologists is highlighted, as are the contributions of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences to the region and the wider world. 

Lastly, Salient Personalities pays tribute to several distinguished individuals: Bulus Khauli, Jurji Zaydan, Anis Frayha, Kamal Salibi, Constantine Zurayk, and Wadad Kadi. The last chapter celebrates three artists with an intimate connection to AUB; namely John Carswell, Helen Khal, and Huguette Caland. ​

Why did premodern authors in the Arabic-Islamic culture compile literary anthologies, and why were these works remarkably popular? How can an anthology that consists of reproduced material be original and creative, and serve various literary and political ends? How did anthologists select their material, then record and arrange it? 

This book examines the life and works of Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī (350–429/961–1039), an eminent anthologist from Nīshāpūr, paying special attention to his magnum opus, Yatīmat al-dahr ( The Unique Pearl), and its sequel, Tatimmat al-Yatīma ( The Completion of the Yatīma). This book is a direct window on to an anthologist’s workshop in the second half of the fourth/tenth century. It examines the methodological consciousness expressed in Thaʿālibī’s selection and arrangement, and his sophisticated system of internal references and cross-references to other works; how he selected from his contemporaries’ oeuvres; how he sought, recorded, memorized, misplaced, and sometimes lost or forgot his selections; how he scrutinized the authenticity of material, accepting, questioning, or rejecting its attribution; and the errors and inconsistencies that resulted from this process. 

This critical Arabic text edition of K. Makārim al-akhlāq wa-maḥāsin al-ādāb wa-badāʾiʿ al-awṣāf wa-gharāʾib al-tashbīhāt( Book of Noble Character, Excellent Conduct, Admirable Descriptions, and Curious Similes) is a substantial work of adab attributed to the prominent littérateur Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1039) that consists of a short introduction and three chapters. The first chapter addresses acquiring noble character and excellent conduct ( al-taḥallī bi-makārim al-akhlāq wa-maḥāsin al-ādāb); the second addresses shunning away from base character and ugly traits ( al-tazakkī ʿan masāwiʾ al-akhlāq wa-maqābiḥ al-shiyam); and the third addresses admirable descriptions and curious similes ( badāʾiʿ al-awṣāf wa-gharāʾib al-tashbīhāt). At the end of the text one finds a relatively large collection of widely circulating proverbs ( amthāl sāʾira) that are alphabetically arranged. Makārim al-akhlāq is in essence an anthology of “good conduct” and of quotations suitable for social and literary discourse. It reflects the three ingredients of adab: behavior, literary culture, and learning. The work is introduced by an analytical study discussing the attribution of the work, the related genres, and the unique manuscript of the text.

• Al-Ruʾyā wa-l-ʿibāra: dirāsāt fī l-adab wa-l-fikr wa-l-tārīkh li Wadād al-Qāḍī. Edited by Bilal Orfali. Beirut: Dār al-Machreq, 2015. الرؤيا والعبارة: دراسات في الأدب والفكر والتاريخ 

• [Reviewed in Al-Sharq al-Awsaṭ, 4 August 2015, issue 13398]

Seeking Solitude, A short Sufi Guidebook: Khalwat al-ʿākifīn (Selections from Salwat al-ʿārifīn).

This critical Arabic text edition of Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa-uns al-mushtāqīn, a manual of early Sufism by Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. ca. 470/1077), is based on a very old manuscript preserved in Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīya of Cairo, Egypt and copied in 459/1067. It is introduced by a detailed analytical study of the author and his work. Salwat al-ʿārifīn forms an integral part of Sufi literature and reflects Islamic developments in Nishapur in northeastern Iran. This crucial Arabic text, published for the first time, is especially valuable because of its great philological accuracy and sound textual tradition. It represents an essential source for the intellectual history of Islam during the middle of the 4th/10th to the middle of the 5th/11th century.

مختارات من الكتاب: "هذه أوراق من كتاب سلوة العارفين تأليف الإمام أبي خلف محمّد بن عبد الملك الطبريّ رحمه الله تعالى جمعتها تبصرةً للمريد وتذكرة لمن كان له قلب أو ألقى السمع وهو شهيد، والله المسؤول أن ينفع بها بمنّه وكرمه".

This critical Arabic text edition of K. al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād min khaṣāʾiṣ ḥikam al-ʿibād fī naʿt al-murīd wa-l-murād ("The Black and White in the Words of Wisdom by Bondsmen Describing the Seeker and the Mystic Quest"), a substantial handbook of early Sufism by Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. ca. 470/1077), is based on three manuscripts and is introduced by a detailed analytical study of the author and his work. The work is written in the tone of a guiding Sufi master and collects the mystical tradition of early Sufis in the form of anecdotes and concise aphorisms to instill guiding wisdom into the hearts of aspiring Sufi adepts. K. al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād forms an integral part of Sufi literature and is an essential source for the intellectual history of Islam until the middle of the 5th/11th century.

This volume represents the editio princeps of a text that presents historians with interesting challenges related to the history of the Coptic patriarchate and the production of theological literature in Arabic.  Framed as a disputation, this work adds significantly to our knowledge regarding medieval Christian apologetics in encounter with Jews, with Christians from other christological confessions, and with Muslims. In particular, it provides valuable evidence for the way that Copto-Arabic writers adopted the language and rhetoric of the Islamic jadal tradition to address concerns within their own community. In so doing, such writers were seeking to forge a particular kind of Arab Christian identity for the Coptic church in Egypt in the face of both intra- and inter-religious disagreements.

• Zād safar al-mulūk of Abū Manṣūr al-Thaʿālibī [Critical edition with introduction, study, and notes]. Ramzi Baalbaki and Bilal Orfali. Beirut: Orient-Institut (Bibliotheca Islamica 52), 2011.

كتاب زاد سفر الملوك في السفر ومدحه وذمّه ومحاسن الأخلاق فيه

Zād safar al-mulūk is an adab work that consists of fifty chapters on the advantages and disadvantages of all types of journeys, by land or sea; the etiquette of departure, bidding farewell, arrival, and receiving travelers; the hardships encountered while traveling such as food poisoning, snow, frost, excessive cold, thirst, homesickness (al-ḥanīn ilā l-awṭān), alienation (al-ghurba), extreme fatigue, and their appropriate cures. For cures, the book offers lengthy medical recipes. A short chapter on fiqh al-safar even discusses legal issues connected with travel, such as performing ablutions, prayer and fasting while traveling.

The author of the work is Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Malik b. Muḥammad b. Ismāʿīl al-Thaʿālibī al-Nīsābūrī (d. 429/1038), a well-known writer of anthologies and collector of epigrams. He is famous for his anthology of biographies of poets, called Kitāb Yatīmat al-dahr, his lexigraphical dictionary Kitāb Fiqh al-lugha, and an anthology entitled Laṭāʾif al-maʿārif.

Zād safar al-mulūk is edited by Ramzi Baalbaki and Bilal Orfali. Ramzi Baalbaki is Professor for Arabic language and Bilal Orfali Associate Professor of Arabic Studies, both at the American University of Beirut

The collection of articles in this volume is dedicated to Ramzi Baalbaki of the American University of Beirut on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The volume reflects the central themes of Ramzi Baalbaki’s scholarly work: history of Arabic grammar, Arabic lexicography, Arabic linguistics, comparative Semitics, Arabic epigraphy, and textual editing of classical texts. It provides intellectual, literary, and social historians, as well as Arabists, philologists, and linguists with an interesting glimpse into the early medieval and modern traditions related to the Arabic language, its grammar, historical development, and demonstrates its centrality to other fields of study such as Qur’ānic studies, adab, folk literature, sufism, and poetry. 

Sufi Inquiries and Interpretations of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021) and a Treatise of Traditions by Ismāʿīl b. Nujayd al-Naysābūrī (d. 366/976-7) [Critical edition with introduction and study]. Bilal Orfali and Gerhard Böwering. Beirut: Dar al-Machreq, 2010, study 25p, 134p. مسائل وتأويلات صوفيّة لأبي عبد الرحمن السلمي

• • [Reviewed in Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 27 (2011)]

    عن مقدّمة المُحقّقين: "هذا الكتاب، وهو نشرة محقّقة مع مقدّمة تحليليّة لعدّة رسائل مهمّة في موضوع التصوّف الإسلاميّ المبكّر. حاولنا في هذا العمل المحافظة على نصّ المخطوطتين، سواء في الأسانيد أو المتن. قسّمنا النصّ إلى فقرات رُقّمت بشكلٍ متتابع لتيسير القراءة والعودة إلى الفهارس. أنشأنا فهرسين مستقلّين للأعلام لتيسير دراسة القسمين المكوّنين لهذا الكتاب على نحوٍ مستقلّ، وتسهيل تعيين هويّة الأعلام فيها."

    ويليه جزء من أحاديث إسماعيل بن نُجيد النيسابوريّ (ت366/7-976)
    حقّقها وقدّم لها: بلال الأرفة لي وجرهارد بوورينغ

Sufi Treatises of Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī [Critical edition with introduction and study]. Gerhard Böwering and Bilal Orfali. Beirut: Dar al-Machreq, Recherches, 2009, study 30p, text 176p. رسائل صوفية لأبي عبد الرحمن السلمي

This edition of five important Sufi treatises, entitled Rasāʾil al-ṣūfyīa and written by Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021), is based on a very old manuscript that was copied in 474/1081, about sixty years after the author’s death. The treatises deal with the Sufi hermeneutics of the letters (Maʿānī al-ḥurūf), the mystical vision of the Prophet's ascension (Laṭāʾif al-miʿrāj), the mystical terminology of early Sufism (Tafsīr alfāẓ al-ṣūfīya), the stories of Sufis describing their mystical experiences and miraculous events (Ḥikāyāt al-ṣūfīya), and the poetical verses used by early Sufis to illustrate their mystical experiences of ecstasy and union with God (al-Amthāl wa l-istishhādāt).

This is the first critical edition of these Sufi treatises and it is introduced by a detailed analytical study of Sulamī’s writings as a whole. Detailed indexes include a wealth of information. These treatises provide crucial insight into the world of early Sufism and the most intimate recesses of Sufi experience, thought and doctrine

يضمّ كتاب رسائل صوفيّة لأبي عبد الرحمن السلميّ (م 412/1021) خمس رسائل، وتستند طبعته هذه إلى مخطوطة قديمة نسخت سنة 474/1080، أي حوالَى ستّين سنة بعد وفاة المؤلّف. تتطرّق هذه الرسائل إلى التأويلات الصوفيّة للحروف (معاني الحروف)، والرؤيا الصوفيّة في معراج النبيّ (لطائف المعراج)، ومصطلحات التصوّف في فترته المبكّرة (تفسير ألفاظ الصوفيّة)، وحكايات الصوفيّة في تجاربهم الصوفيّة وكراماتهم (حكايات الصوفيّة)، والأشعار التي تَمثّل بها المتصوّفة في تجاربهم الصوفيّة في حالات الجذب والاتحاد بالله (الأمثال والاستشهادات).

تُنشر هذه الرسائل للمرّة الأولى نشرةً محقّقة ويُقدَّم لها بدراسة تحليليّة مفصّلة لكامل أعمال أبي عبد الرحمن السُّلَميّ مع فهارس مفيدة. وموضوع الكتاب جوهريّ لفهم التصوّف المبكّر، لأنّه يسلّط الضوء على أعماق التجربة والفكر والعقيدة الصوفيّة.

تَعاون على تحليل هذه الرسائل وتحقيقها جرهارد بورينغ، أستاذ الدراسات الإسلاميّة في جامعة ييل، نيوهيفن، الولايات المتّحدة، وَبلال الأرفه لي، أستاذ الدراسات العربيّة في الجامعة الأميركيّة في بيروت، لبنان. وقد تعاون الباحثان على تحقيق الرسائل، وتخريج النصوص في المصادر، وإثبات مئات المتصوّفة في كتب الطبقات العربيّة، وتوثيق نسبة الأشعار إلى قائليها. هذا الكتاب من نوادر المنشورات المعنيّة بالتصوّف المبكّر، والتي تقدّم معلومات مفصّلة وغنيّة حول هويّة المتصوّفة الأوائل وخصوصيّة نثرهم وشعرهم.

• • [Reviewed in al-Machreq 84 (2010)]
  • [Reviewed in Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques 27 (2011)]