What was the nature of ‘‘interfaith’’ relations in the Islamic world, and what roles did Jews and Christians play in medieval Islamic societies? As a number of the entries highlight, Jews and Christians attained prominent government posts under various Islamic dynasties from Andalusia and Egypt to Iraq and contributed to the preservation and translation of philosophical and theological texts from Greek, Syriac, and Hebrew into Arabic and other Islamic languages, as well as to the creation of new literary and cultural syntheses borne of a common Islamic cultural milieu. Such fundamental questions as to what Islamic civilization is and what Muslims did to contribute to European understanding of the sciences, mathematics, arts, literature, philosophy, and government remain largely unanswered. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia represents a collaborative effort at bridging the gap between that which we perceive Islam and Islamic civilization to be about and what it really is by providing the reader with an easily accessible reference work presented in a concise language. Medieval Islamic civilization left an indelible mark on Europe in the transmission of knowledge and ideas in such diverse fields as science, medicine, mathematics, literature, and philosophy. Despite increased and indeed, highly successful efforts in the academy to teach about Islam as a religion and the Arabic language, the larger civilizational contextual framework of which both are a part is often ignored and marginalized. By contrast, the scholar is able to communicate the defining characteristics of a civilization and is moreover, able to critically understand and engage the Islamic world on its own terms-as heir to one of the world’s greatest civilizations, not simply as heir to a world religion whose adherents have historically been in conflict with adherents of other faiths. Lamentably, until now the paucity of easily accessible English language reference sources about the medieval Islamic world has led to a situation in which some discourses concerning the clash of civilizations, current affairs, and modern ideologies and nationalisms have become synonymous with the whole of Islamic civilization.
The historian of any civilization or historical epoch is keenly aware that no premodern (medieval) society was left unscathed by warfare and political conflicts. On the contrary, the origin of violent acts lies not in the ontology of any given religion whether Islam, Judaism, or Christianity, in any given Scripture whether the Qur’an, Torah, or Bible, or in any given civilization whether Islamic, Greek, or Roman, but rather in a number of factors, including the psychology of human behavior and the often desperate and trying human conditions that compel humans to carry out desperate acts in times of war and peace, sometimes in the name of religion. In the West, a common misperception exists that there is something intrinsic in Islam as a religion that engenders acts of violence and terrorism and that Islamics history is replete with instances of pogroms against non-Muslims. INTRODUCTION The study of Islam as a religion and the languages of the Middle East, especially Arabic and Persian, has gained in prominence. Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at Taylor & Francis Group is the Academic Division of T&F Informa plc. Islamic Empire-Civilization-Encyclopedias. Includes bibliographical references and index. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Medieval Islamic civilization : an encyclopedia / Josef W.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. © 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number-10: 1-4 (Vol 1), 2-2 (Vol 2), 0-6 (Set) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-7 (Vol 1), 978-2-4 (Vol 2), 978-0-0 (Set) Library of Congress Card Number 2005044229 No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Published in Great Britain by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN Published in 2006 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION AN E N C Y C L O P E D I A
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