George Makdisi
Ashgate Variorum
Hardback
318
1991
In the present collection of his articles George Makdisi is first of all concerned with the local history and the topography of Baghdad. This is of interest in itself as a study of one of the principal urban centres of the medieval world but it also has a broader significance. For Baghdad as the seat of the Abbasid caliphate was the focal point of much of the Islamic world at the time: the rivalries between rulers and their ministers and the conflicts between secular and religious authorities and between different religious factions all find their reflection in the physical structure of the city and in the writings of those who lived there. Of particular note are the studies on the only extant diary of the period that of Ibn al-Banna and its historical significance - both in terms of the literary genre and as a unique source for the affair of Ibn 'Aqil a cause c?l?bre that shook the world of Islam. The theme of authority and power is then developed in the second set of articles focusing on the relations between caliph and sultan after the coming of the Saljuks.
Ashgate Variorum
Hardback
318
1991
In the present collection of his articles George Makdisi is first of all concerned with the local history and the topography of Baghdad. This is of interest in itself as a study of one of the principal urban centres of the medieval world but it also has a broader significance. For Baghdad as the seat of the Abbasid caliphate was the focal point of much of the Islamic world at the time: the rivalries between rulers and their ministers and the conflicts between secular and religious authorities and between different religious factions all find their reflection in the physical structure of the city and in the writings of those who lived there. Of particular note are the studies on the only extant diary of the period that of Ibn al-Banna and its historical significance - both in terms of the literary genre and as a unique source for the affair of Ibn 'Aqil a cause c?l?bre that shook the world of Islam. The theme of authority and power is then developed in the second set of articles focusing on the relations between caliph and sultan after the coming of the Saljuks.