In "Knowledge Triumphant," Franz Rosenthal observes that the Islamic civilization is one that is essentially characterized by knowledge ("'ilm"), for "ilm is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilization its distinctive shape and complexion." There is no branch of Muslim intellectual and daily life that remained untouched by the all-pervasive attitude towards 'knowledge' as something of supreme value for Muslim being. With a new foreword by Dimitri Gutas.

In Knowledge Triumphant, Franz Rosenthal observes that the Islamic civilization is one that is essentially characterized by knowledge ('ilm), for 'ilm is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilization its distinctive shape and complexion.' There is no branch of Muslim intellectual and daily life that remained untouched by the all-pervasive attitude towards 'knowledge' as something of supreme value for Muslim being. With a new foreword by Dimitri Gutas.

In Man versus Society in Medieval Islam, Franz Rosenthal (1914-2003) investigates the tensions and conflicts that existed between individuals and society as the focus of his study of Muslim social history. The book brings together works spanning fifty years: the monographs The Muslim Concept of Freedom, The Herb. Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society (Brill, 1971), Gambling in Islam (Brill, 1975), and Sweeter than Hope. Complaint and Hope in Medieval Islam (Brill,1983), along with all the articles on unsanctioned practices, sexuality, and institutional learning. Reprinted here together for the first time, they constitute the most extensive collection of source material on all these themes from all genres of Arabic writing, judiciously translated and analyzed. No other study to date presents the panorama of medieval Muslim societies in their manifold aspects in as detailed, comprehensive, and illuminating a manner.

This edited volume of chapters resulted from an international conference held at the University of Adelaide in July 2016 under the same title to explore the multifaceted concept of ¿ilm in Islam - its agency and manifestations in the connected realms of science, religion, and the arts. The aim is to explore the Islamic civilisational responses to major shifts in the concept of 'knowledge' that took place in the post-mediaeval period, and especially within the context of the 'early modern'.

The contributions in this volume offer the first comprehensive effort to describe and analyse the collection, classification, presentation and methodology of information in the knowledge society of medieval Islam in the disciplines of religious and legal learning, as well as the rational sciences of Hellenistic origin – philosophy, mathematical and medical sciences.The volume begins with a general discussion of the concept of encyclopædia. Successive chapters explore the bases of authority in the institutions of religion and law; biographical literature and handbooks of law; compendia of scientific and philosophical learning based on Iranian and Greek sources; and the more specialised expositions of mathematics and philosophy. The special character of Muslim institutions, their teaching traditions and syllabi is also put into perspective. This is a reference work for the principal genres of ‘enyclopædic’ outlines and manuals – biography, legal handbooks, historiography of knowledge transmission, cosmography, and the philosophical sciences – and a major contribution to the literary and intellectual history.

Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change offers fascinating new insights into key issues of learning and human development in classical Islam, including their shared characteristics, influence, and interdependence with historical, non-Muslim educational cultures.

This book investigates the intellectual currents among Ottoman and North African scholars of the early modern period.

Man versus Society in Medieval Islam brings together all the monographs and articles by Franz Rosenthal (1914-2003) in which he investigates the tensions and conflicts that existed between individuals and society as the focus of his study of Muslim social history.

A “well-organized and interesting” overview of science in the Muslim world in the seventh through seventeenth centuries, with over 100 illustrations (The Middle East Journal). During the Golden Age of Islam, in the seventh through seventeenth centuries A. D., Muslim philosophers and poets, artists and scientists, princes and laborers created a unique culture that has influenced societies on every continent. This book offers a fully illustrated, highly accessible introduction to an important aspect of that culture: the scientific achievements of medieval Islam. Howard Turner, who curated the subject for a major traveling exhibition, opens with a historical overview of the spread of Islamic civilization from the Arabian peninsula eastward to India and westward across northern Africa into Spain. He describes how a passion for knowledge led the Muslims during their centuries of empire-building to assimilate and expand the scientific knowledge of older cultures, including those of Greece, India, and China. He explores medieval Islamic accomplishments in cosmology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, medicine, natural sciences, alchemy, and optics. He also indicates the ways in which Muslim scientific achievement influenced the advance of science in the Western world from the Renaissance to the modern era. This survey of historic Muslim scientific achievements offers students and other readers a window into one of the world’s great cultures, one which is experiencing a remarkable resurgence as a religious, political, and social force in our own time.