Bøker i Princeton series on the Middle East-serien

A study of the Arabic discourse on beauty. The author searched for her evidence in a wide variety of sources, such as the Qur'an, legal, religious and Sufi texts, chronicles, biographies, belle-lettres, literary criticism, and scientific, geographic and philosophical literature.

An account of the 1929 uprising in Kabul. During the occupation Fayz Muhammad, a Kabul resident and historian, kept a detailed journal, which forms the basis of this book. It covers the occupiers' extortion, confiscation, and the resulting hardships, as well as the actions of those who resisted.

A study of the heritage of Central Asia. It brings together such distinct elements as the world of Zoroaster, the Achaemenid ecumene, the Sakas and later waves of nomadic invaders, the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road, the historic role of the Turks, and more.

A study of Islam. Using the Koran and other primary sources, Tilman Nagel delves into Islamic history as he traces the development of Islamic doctrine. He explores the centrality of the Koran in Islamic theology and examines its canonization process and the themes of its message.

The revolt of African slaves in Iraq from 869 to 883 C.E.* - the revolt of the Zanj - was one of the great rebellions of world history and the first major uprising in the history of the African diaspora. The Zanj were black slaves shipped overseas from East Africa to work in salt mines and plantations under the harshest conditions. Their fate resembled that of black slaves in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and their revolt triggered racism against blacks among Arabs. Like the Spartacus revolt, it threatened a world power, in this case the Abbasid empire. The revolt also inspired solidarity among Africans in the diaspora, when black soldiers of the Caliph deserted and joined the revolt.Popovic's book is the only full-length study in any major language on the revolt of the Zanj. Scholars on slavery, the African diaspora, and Middle Eastern studies have lauded and extensively quoted from Popovic's groundbreaking work.*The title refers to the two calendars commonly used to document history in Islamic nations - the Gregorian calendar as well as the Muslim Hijra calendar, which began in 622 C.E. during the migration of Muhammad and his followers to Medina (the Hijra). Thus the revolts from 869 to 883 C.E. took place in the third Hijra century but the ninth Gregorian century.