This book presents a critical edition of the twelfth/eighteenth century ah/ce manuscript on the subject of legal maxims ʿUmdat al-Nāzir ʿalā al-Ashbāh wa'l-Naẓāʾir. It was composed by the distinguished Ḥanifite jurist Abū 'l-Suʿūd al-Ḥusaynī and is a commentary on an earlier seminal text Al-Ashbāh wa'l-Naẓāʾir', authored by Ibn Nujaym in the tenth/sixteenth century. The volume is divided into three main parts, the first of which provides an historical and theoretical introduction to the genre of al-qawāʿid al-fiqhiyyah (legal maxims). The second part introduces the two texts and their authors, discusses their literary legacy within the Ḥanafī School of law and covers issues of editing, authenticity and provenance. Finally, the third part of the book consists of seven edited chapters of the ʿUmdat al-Nāzir ʿalā al-Ashbāh wa'l-Naẓāʾir. The first of these is the author's introduction to his work followed by one for each of the first six qawāʿid. The work is important as a commentary on one of the most significant legal texts which revived interest in the subject within the Ḥanafī School of law after five centuries of stagnation. It is also the most copious of all the forty-four commentaries on Ibn Nujaym's book and it is a combination of the commentaries of at least three well known Ḥanafite scholars. Because Abū'l-Suʿūd synthesises the most authoritative opinions from these commentaries, ʿUmdat al-Nāẓir serves as a definitive summation of the discourse on legal maxims within the school.

Aron Zysow's 1984 Ph.D. dissertation, "The Economy of Certainty," remains the most important, compelling, and intellectually ambitious treatment of Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) in Western scholarship to date. It continues to be widely read and cited, and remains unsurpassed in its incisive analysis of the most fundamental assumptions of Islamic legal thought. Zysow argues that the great dividing line in Islamic legal thought is between those legal theories that require certainty in every detail of the law and those that will admit probability. The latter were historically dominant and include the leading legal schools that have survived to our own day. Zahirism and, for much of its history, Twelver Shi'ism, are examples of the former. The well-known dispute regarding the legitimacy of juridical analogy is only one feature of this fundamental epistemological division, since probability can enter the law in the process of authenticating prophetic traditions and in the interpretation of the revealed texts, as well as through analogy. The notion of consensus in Islamic legal theory functioned to reintroduce some measure of certainty into the law by identifying one of the competing probable solutions as correct. Consequently consensus has only a reduced role, if any, in those systems that reject probability. Another, more radical, means of regaining certainty was the doctrine that regarded the legal reasoning of all qualified jurists on matters of probability as infallible. The development of legal theories of both types, that of Zahirism no less than that of Hanafism, was to a large extent shaped by theology and, most significantly, by Mu'tazilism, and subsequently by Ash'arism and Maturidism. Zysow's important work is published here in full, for the first time, with updated references and some further reflections by the author.

This single volume contains the Arabic edition, English translation and notes by Dr. Gibril Fouad Haddad of 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar b.Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Baydawi's first hizb of Anwar al-Tanzil wa-Asrar al-Ta'wil (The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation). As a revised and improved version of al-Zamakhshari's landmark Tafsiral-Kashshaf, Anwar al-Tanzil contains the most concise analysis of the Quranic use of Arabic grammar and style to date and was viewed early on as a foremost demonstration of the Qur'an's essential and structural inimitability (i'jaz ma'nawi wa-lughawi) in Sunni literature. Anwar al-Tanzil is important and significant, because of its fame and influence. In Dr. Haddad's own estimation, this work "became and remained for seven centuries the most studied of all Tafsirs," and it is to be regarded as "the most important commentary on the Qur'an in the history of Islam."

Reprint of a classic text, this volume gives an insight into the rebirth of national literature in the national language and traces the course of its development and full maturity from the beginning of the ninth to the end of the fifteenth century.

The triple aim of Hamadhání in this work, first translated into English in 1915, appears to have been to amuse, to interest and to instruct; and this explains why, in spite of the inherent difficulty of a work of this kind composed primarily with a view to the rhetorical effect upon the learned and the great, there is scarcely a dull chapter in the fifty-one maqámát or discourses. The author essayed, throughout these dramatic discourses, to illustrate the life and language both of the denizens of the desert and the dwellers in towns, and to give examples of the jargon and slang of thieves and robbers as well as the lucubrations of the learned and the conversations of the cultured.

"This new Iraqi cookbook contains more than four hundred recipes covering all food categories. There is ample choice for both vegetarian and meat lovers, and many that will satisfy a sweet tooth. All recipes have been tested and are easy to follow. Introducing the recipes are thoroughly researched historical and cultural narratives that trace the development of the Iraqi cuisine from the times of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians, through the medieval era, and leading to its interaction with Mediterranean and world cuisines. Of particular interest are the book's numerous folkloric stories, anecdotes, songs, cultural explications of customs, and excerpts from narratives written by foreign visitors to the region."--Publisher's description

For centuries, the priest John Ball was one of the most infamous or famous figures in the history of English rebels, best known for his saying 'When Adam delved and Eve Span, Who was then the gentleman'. But over the past hundred years his memory has faded dramatically. Along with Wat Tyler, Ball was one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, a historically remarkable event in that leading figures of the realm were beheaded by the rebels. For a few days in June 1381, the rebels dominated London but soon met their demise, with Ball executed. Ball provided the theological justification for the uprising which he saw in apocalyptic terms. After the revolt, he was soon vilified and received an overwhelmingly hostile press for 400 years as an archetypal enemy of the state and a religious zealot. His reputation was rescued from the end of the eighteenth century onward and for over one hundred years he rivalled Robin Hood and Wat Tyler as a great English folk (and even abolitionist) hero. But his 640-year reception involves much more, of course, and is tied up with the story of what England is or could be.Overall, the book explains how we get from an apocalyptic priest who promoted a theocracy favouring the lower orders and the decapitation of the leading church and secular authorities to someone who promoted democracy and vague notions about love and tolerance. The book also explains why he has gone out of fashion and whether he can make another comeback.

Originally published in 1932. This volume is a comprehensive study of the historical development of Muslim dogmatics and consists of translations and commentaries on the creed in its various forms.