Consorts of the Caliphs : Women and the Court of Baghdad / Ibn al-Sa'i; Shawkat M. Toorawa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

al-Sa'i, Ibn, Author.

Contributor:

Bray, Julia.

Literature, The Editors of the Library of Arabic

Toorawa, Shawkat M., Editor.

Warner, Marina

Series:

Library of Arabic literature.

Library of Arabic Literature ; 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Abbasids--Early works to 1800.

Abbasids.

Queens--Islamic Empire--Anecdotes--Early works to 1800.

Queens.

Women--Islamic Empire--Anecdotes--Early works to 1800.

Women.

Islamic Empire--History--750-1258--Early works to 1800.

Islamic Empire.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : New York University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Consorts of the Caliphs is a seventh/thirteenth-century compilation of anecdotes about thirty-eight women who were, as the title suggests, consorts to those in power, most of them concubines of the early Abbasid caliphs and wives of latter-day caliphs and sultans. This slim but illuminating volume is one of the few surviving texts by Ibn al-Sa'i (d. 674 H/1276 AD). Ibn al-Sa'i was a prolific Baghdadi scholar who chronicled the academic and political elites of his city, and whose career straddled the final years of the Abbasid dynasty and the period following the cataclysmic Mongol invasion of 656 H/1258 AD.In this work, Ibn al-Sa'i is keen to forge a connection between the munificent wives of his time and the storied lovers of the so-called golden age of Baghdad. Thus, from the earlier period, we find Harun al-Rashid pining for his brother’s beautiful slave, Ghadir, and the artistry of such musical and literary celebrities as 'Arib and Fadl, who bested the male poets and singers of their day. From times closer to Ibn al-Sa'i’s own—when Abbasid authority was trying to reassert itself and Baghdad was again a major center of intellectual and religious activity—we meet women such as Banafsha, who endowed law colleges, had bridges built, and provisioned pilgrims bound for Mecca; slave women whose funeral services were led by caliphs; and noble Saljuq princesses from Afghanistan.Informed by the author’s own sources, his insider knowledge, and well-known literary materials, these singular biographical sketches, though delivered episodically, bring the belletristic culture of the Baghdad court to life, particularly in the personal narratives and poetry of culture heroines otherwise lost to history.

Contents:

Consorts of the Caliphs

Frontmatter

Letter from the General Editor

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Maps

Note on the Edition

Note on the Translation

Notes to the Front Matter

CONSORTS OF THE CALIPHS

1. Ḥammādah bint ʿĪsā

2. Ghādir

3. ʿInān, daughter of ʿAbd Allāh

4. Ghaḍīḍ

5. Haylānah

6. ʿArīb al-Maʾmūniyyah

7. Bidʿah al-Kabīrah

8. Būrān

9. Muʾnisah al-Maʾmūniyyah

10. Qurrat al-ʿAyn

11. Farīdah

12. Isḥāq al-Andalusiyyah

13. Faḍl al-Shāʿirah al-Yamāmiyyah

14. Bunān

15. Maḥbūbah

16. Nāshib al-Mutawakkiliyyah

17. Fāṭimah

18. Farīdah

19. Nabt

20. Khallāfah

21. Ḍirār

22. Qaṭr al-Nadā

23. Khamrah

24. ʿIṣmah Khātūn

25. Māh-i Mulk

26. Khātūn

27. Banafshā al-Rūmiyyah

28. Sharaf Khātūn al-Turkiyyah

29. Saljūqī Khātūn

30. Shāhān

31. Dawlah

32. Ḥayāt Khātūn

33. Bāb Jawhar

34. Qabīḥah

35. Sitt al-Nisāʾ

36. Sarīrah al-Rāʾiqiyyah

37. Khātūn al-Safariyyah

38. Khātūn

39. Zubaydah

Notes

The Abbasid Caliphs

The Early Saljūqs

Chronology of Women Featured in Consorts of the Caliphs

Glossary of Names

Glossary of Places

Glossary of Realia

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index of Qurʾanic Verses

Index of Arabic Verses

Index

About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute

About the Typefaces

About the Editor and Translators

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

1-4798-7904-5

1-4798-4236-2

OCLC:

932124821