The Power of Oratory in the Medieval Muslim World (Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization) - Hardcover

Jones, Linda G.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 110702305X ISBN 13: 9781107023055

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Oratory and sermons had a fixed place in the religious and civic rituals of pre-modern Muslim societies and were indispensible for transmitting religious knowledge, legitimizing or challenging rulers, and inculcating the moral values associated with being part of the Muslim community. While there has been abundant scholarship on medieval Christian and Jewish preaching, Linda G. Jones's book is the first to consider the significance of the tradition of pulpit oratory in the medieval Islamic world. Traversing Iberia and North Africa from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, the book analyzes the power of oratory, the ritual juridical and rhetorical features of pre-modern sermons, and the social profiles of the preachers and orators who delivered them. The biographical and historical sources, which form the basis of this remarkable study, offer abundant proof of cultural exchange between al-Andalus and the eastern regions of the Islamic empires, as preachers traveled back and forth between the great cities of Cordoba, Qayrawan, Baghdad, and Cairo. In this way, the book sheds light on different regional practices and the juridical debates between individual preachers around correct performance.

About this title

Book Description:

Oratory and sermons had a fixed place in the religious and civic rituals of pre-modern Muslim societies and were indispensible for transmitting religious knowledge, legitimizing rulers, and inculcating moral values. While there has been abundant scholarship on medieval Christian and Jewish preaching, this book is the first to consider the tradition of pulpit oratory in the medieval Islamic world. Traversing Iberia and North Africa from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, the book analyzes the power of oratory, the ritual juridical and rhetorical features of pre-modern sermons, and the social profiles of the preachers who delivered them. The biographical and historical sources, which form the basis of this remarkable study, offer abundant proof of cultural exchange between al-Andalus and the eastern regions of the Islamic empires, thus shedding light on different regional practices and the juridical debates between individual preachers around correct performance.

About the Author:

Linda G. Jones is Visiting Professor of History of Religions at the University of Barcelona. She is the co-author of the Handbook to Life in the Medieval World (with Madeline Pelner Cosman, 2007) and has been published in many journals, including The Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists, al-Qantara, Anuario de Estudios Medievales, Medieval Sermon Studies and Religion.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 110702305X
• ISBN 13: 9781107023055
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312