This study investigates the term, and the poetry of, the Rearguard Poets (saqat al-shuʿaraʾ). It demonstrates through the investigation of both literary and non-literary texts of the Abbasid era that socio-political circumstances were major factors in forming the critical thinki…
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In this dissertation I demonstrate that the accounts of Christian martyrs under Islam are a significant and neglected source for the study of early Christian apologetics against Islam. I show that these texts are primarily apologetic and that the arguments taken by the texts inc…
This dissertation examines the poetic contribution of the extremely prolific and versatile 'Abbâsid poet, Ibn al-Rûmî (d. 283/896). Part I re-constructs the poet's life and times. It provides a glimpse into a rather fluid period of Arabic literary history, in which the boundary …
This dissertation examines modern scholarship on Bashshār ibn Burd and the ideological motivations behind the construction of his image in modern rewritings as a "Persian," or "anti-Arab" or "Shu'ubī" poet. It identifies a basic "modern" approach in dealing with the Arabic liter…
Although the mihrab is one of the most important features of Islamic architecture, its origins, functions, and early significance are unknown. Scholars generally agree that the mihrab, as a concave niche in the qibla wall of a mosque, first appeared in Medina in 707-709 and was …
Remarks have often been made, with regard to shakwa (complaint) as a poetic theme, in modem studies concerning literature during the Abbisid period.
This dissertation examines the genre of literary anthology as a type of adab by focusing on two works, Yatimat al-dahr fi mah[dotbelow]asin ahl al-'as[dotbelow]r [The Unique Pearl Concerning the Merits of Contemporary People] and its sequel, Tatimmat al-Yatima [Completion of the…
Abbasid society in ninth-century Iraq faced the challenge of reconciling the role of its many non-Muslim citizens with Islamic norms and governance, as seen in ¿The Refutation of Christians¿ by al-Jahiz (d. 868/869 [255 A.H.]). Al-Jahiz moved in circles only one step removed fro…
This thesis establishes a link between conceptions of female virtue and the practice of veiling by women from ancient to medieval times in the Mediterranean region. This is evidenced by the consistent advocacy and prescription of veiling in ancient and medieval theological texts…
This dissertation explores the ways in which the group of people identified as the Azd adapted to and exploited the changes of the seventh and eighth centuries associated with the rise of an ever more imperial caliphate occurring simultaneously with the massive and widespread se…