This book explores a millennium of literary exchanges among the peoples of the Maghrib, or westernmost strongholds of medieval Islam. In the seventh century, Muslim expansion into the western Mediterranean initiated a new phase in the layering of heterogeneous peoples and languages in this contact zone: Arabs and Berbers, Christians and Jews, Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims, Greeks and Latins all helped shape identities, hybrid genealogies of knowledge, and political alliances. These essays excavate the literary artefacts produced in these times of turmoil, offering new perspectives on the intellectual networks and traditions that proved instrumental in overcoming the often traumatic transitions among political and/or religious regimes.
- Front Cover
- Front matter
- Half-title
- Series information
- Title Page
- copyright page
- Table of contents
- Body
- Introduction
- Maghribī Societies: Between Convergence and Clash
- Writing the Twilight: History, Travel, and Romance
- Bibliography
- The Indiculus luminosus and the Creation of a Ninth-Century Prophetic Conflict between Christianity and Islam
- Prophetic Discourse in the Latin West
- Alvarus and the Indiculus luminosus
- Alvarus as Prophet
- Defamiliarizing Islam with the “Evidence of Our Eyes”
- Prophetic Resistance and Apostolic Preaching
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Empire and Caliphate in the Life of John of Gorze
- The Writing of Munāẓarāt in Times of Turmoil: Disputations In Fatimid Ifrīqiya
- Munāẓara and the Traditionalists of Qayrawān
- The Authors of Disputations and Their Audiences
- Ibn al-Ḥaddad’s munāẓarāt with the Fatimid dā'i Abū-l-'Abbās
- Munāẓara and the Politics of Writing a Biographic Entry
- The Writing of the Kitāb al-Munāẓarat in the Context of Controversies over Philosophical Doctrines in Fatimid Qayrawān
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Messaging and Memory: Notes From Medieval Ifrīqiya And Sicily
- Notes from the Life of Jawdhar
- Lost Histories and Lost Messages
- Messengers and Messaging in the Norman Conquest Sources
- Interpreters, Translators, and Intermediaries
- Treaties with the Conquered Peoples
- Some Concluding Thoughts
- Bibliography
- “And God Dispersed Their Unity”: Historiographical Patterns in Recounting the End of Muslim Rule in Sicily and Al-Andalus
- The Precedents for Describing Defeat
- The Theme of Defeat in the Sources for Sicily and al-Andalus
- Cherchez la femme: Some Observations on a Flexible Motif
- Preliminary Conclusions
- Bibliography
- A Wondrous Past, a Dangerous Present: The Egyptian Temple of Akhmīm and the Martorana Church in Palermo, as Seen ...
- The Division between Mashriq and Maghrib: From Eastern Tenth-Century Geographers to Ibn Jubayr’s Riḥla
- Almohads, Fatimids, and the Role of Saladin in Ibn Jubayr’s Riḥla
- Comparing Ibn Jubayr’s Descriptions of Muslim Religious Buildings and That of the Egyptian Temple of Akhmīm
- Describing the Church of St. Mary of the Admiral in Palermo
- Some Concluding Remarks
- Bibliography
- How Does a Moorish Prince Become a Roman Caesar? Fictions and Forgeries, Emperors and others from the Spanish “Flores” ...
- Territorial Settings and Ethno-Linguistic Origins
- Religious Conversion and Political Destiny
- Emperor Flores and His Legacy: Roman Hispania Answers the Morisco Question
- Bibliography
- Back matter