Mussulman Culture - Hardcover

Bartold, Vasily Vladimirovich; Suhrawardy, Shahid.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195476700 ISBN 13: 9780195476705

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

The greatest impact of Islam on history has been cultural; however this aspect of Islamic history has been neglected in comparison to political and judicial history. Russian historian V.V. Bartold, was one of the first scholars to project Muslim culture, and in his work gave primacy to clarity and the organization of knowledge. He posits the position of Islam in world history to the position of Christianity as a cultural force in both the Roman and the eastern worlds. Bartold's Russian vantage helped to make him a unique specialist on Islam in Central Asia, as he encouraged the Abbasid and post-Abbasid Mulsim cultures to fine their proper place in history. The Mongol invasion is not treated merely as destruction and disruption of Muslim culture, but also as a factor which affected late medieval culture. Most of the great exponents of Muslim culture such as Ibn Khaldun and Avicenna are covered. Bartold concludes with remarking on the effect the passing of cultural leadership from the East to the West had on his own native Russia. This monograph is remarkable for retaining its relevance and validity after almost a whole century and a host of intervening specialized works in the intervening period. This work was translated four years after the author's death by Shahid Suhrawardy, an eminent scholar in his own right, and the foreword has been written by Sir Hassan Suhrawady, then Vice-Chancellor of the Calcutta University.

About this title

About the Author

Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold (1869-1930) also known as Wilhelm Barthold, was a Russian and Soviet historian who succeeded Wilhelm Radloff as the greatest authority in the field of Turcology. His contributions to the understanding of the medieval culture of Central Asia are particularly valuable, earning him the moniker of the "Gibbon of Turkestan". In the two volumes of his dissertation (Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion, 1898-1900), Barthold was the first to publish obscure information from the early Arab historians on Kievan Rus. He also edited several scholarly journals of Muslim studies, and contributed extensively to the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. In 1913, he was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences. Between 1918 and 1921, he was the director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.After the Russian Revolution, Barthold wrote three authoritative monographs on the history of Islam, namely Islam (1918), Muslim Culture (1918), and The Muslim World (1922). He also contributed to the development of Cyrillic writing for the Muslim countries of Central Asia. Most of his writings were translated in English, Arabic, and Persian. Barthold's collected works were reprinted in 9 volumes between 1963 and 1977, and whilst Soviet editors added footnotes deploring his "bourgeois" attitudes, his prestige was such that the text was left uncensored, despite not conforming to a Marxist interpretation of history. Some of his works have been reprinted more recently in Moscow.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195476700
• ISBN 13: 9780195476705
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 95