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Internet Medieval Sourcebook

Selected Sources: Islam

Contents

• General
• Pre-Islamic Arabia
• Muhammad and Foundations - to 632 CE
• Islamic Expansion and Empire - to 750 CE
• The Abbasid Caliphate - after 750 CE
  • Politics
  • Philosophy
  • Science
  • Literature
  • Crusades
• Al-Andalus: Muslim Spain
• Muslim Persia
• Egypt and North Africa
• Muslim Religious Development
  • Sufism
  • The Sunni Tradition
  • The Shia Tradition
  • Relations with Other Religions
• The Turks

• WEB Islamic History Sourcebook
• WEB Bibliography for Medieval Islam [At Geocities]

• Ancient Accounts of Arabia
  Accounts from Herodotus, Strabo, Dio Cassius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Procopius.
• Pre-Islamic Arabia: The Hanged Poems, before 622 CE
  The Pre-Islamic poems of Imru-Ul-Quais, Antar, and Zuhair which Muhammad allowed to remain hanging in the Ka'aba.

• Ibn Ishaq (d. c. 773 CE): Selections from the Life of Muhammad
• [Tierney 23] The Qu'ran: Surahs 1 and 47. For full text, see full texts page. See also Catholic Encyclopedia: Koran and Catholic Encyclopedia: Islam (Concept)
• The Qu'ran: Al-Fatiha (The Opening), text with RealAudio chanting. [At Islam.org]
  The entire Qu'ran is available in audio at this site.
• The Qur'an: The Women: From Surah's 2 and 4, [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
• Muhammad: Last Sermon.
• The Sunnah, (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad), excerpts.
• Hadith Selections.
• Sahih Bukhari: Hadith. [At USC-MSA]
• Hadith on fasting, collected by al-Bukhari (d. 870 CE)
• WEB Companions of The Prophet [At Witness Pioneer]
  A sort of Muslim hagiography. Unfortunately, with no sources cited.

• Al-Baladhuri: The Battle of The Yarmuk and After, 636 CE
• Accounts of the Arab Conquest of Egypt, 642 CE
  The Coptic account from The History of The Patriarchs of Alexandria and an Arab account - Al-Baladhuri: The Conquest of Alexandria
• The Pact of Umar, 7th-9th Century?
• Pact of Umar (another version), 7th-9th century CE?
• Ibn Abd-el-Hakem: The Islamic Conquest of Spain .
• Al Maggari: Tarik's Address to His Soldiers, 711 CE, from The Breath of Perfumes
• Anonymous Arab Chronicler: The Battle of Poitiers (Tours), 732 CE
• Arabs, Franks, and the Battle of Poitiers (Tours): Three Accounts, 732 CE
• Abû Ûthmân al-Jâhiz: From The Essays, c. 860 CE
  Arab Muslim views on the Zanj (Black Africans)
• Ibn Fadlan: Risala 921 CE [At VikingAnswerLady]
  Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler. In 921 C.E., the Caliph sent Ibn Fadlan with an embassy to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journeys with the embassy, called a Risala. This Risala is of great value as a history, although it is clear in some places that inaccuracies and Ibn Fadlan's own prejudices have slanted the account to some extent.
• Nasir-i-Khusraw (1046-1052): Book of Travels (Safarnama) [At Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
• Benjamin of Tudela (1160-1173): The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela Critical Text, Translation and Commentary by Marcus Nathan Adler. [At Traveling to Jerusalem/U Sth Colorado]
• Ibn Battuta (1307-1377 CE): Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354
• Ibn Battuta (1307-1377 CE): Travels, selections.

• Politics
  • An Arab Ambassador in Constantinople, (late 10th Century CE).
  • Al-Tanûkhî: Ruminations and Reminiscences, c. 980 CE 
    "The Table Talk of a Mesopotamian Judge"
  • Abul Hasan Ali Al-Masu'di (Masoudi) (ca. 895?-957 CE): The Book of Golden Meadows, c. 940 CE
    Masu'di  - "the Arab Suetonius" or "the Arab Herodotus"  - specialized in a history which went beyond chronology to look at themes and individual anecdotes.
  • Ibn-Miskawaih: The Experiences of the Nations, c. 980 CE
    Powerplays in the Abbasid court.
  • Yakut: Baghdad Under the Abbasids, c. 1000 CE
  • The Nizámu'l Mulk (?-1092 CE) : On the Courtiers and Familars of Kings
  • Al Biruni (973-1048 CE): The Existing Monuments or Chronology, c. 1030 CE
    One of the earlist Arabic historians.
• Philosophy
  • Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (1126-1198 CE): Religion & Philosophy, c. 1190 CE. The text is On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy, or in Arabic Kitab fasl al-maqal, with its appendix (Damina). Appended is an extract from Kitab al-kashf`an manahij al-adilla.
• Science
  • Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (973-1037): On Medicine, c. 1020 CE
• Literature
  • The Poets of Arabia, extensive selections
  • Al Hariri of Basrah (446-516 A.H./1054-1122 CE): Maqamat, (The Assemblies), c. 1100 CE, 12 of the 50 "assemblies".
  • Story from the Thousand and One Nights [caution: very rude!].
  • The Tale of Two Hashish-Easters (Traditional),  and another Hashish Tale, from Arabian Nights [At Drug Library]
• Crusades
  • See Crusades section

• The Poetry of the Spanish Moors, Selections

• See Ancient History Sourcebook: Near East for pre-Islamic Persian texts.
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (first edition), trans. by Edward FitzGerald (page images [At Virginia]
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE):: The Rubiayat, c. 1120 CE, or another version, both editions translated by Edward Fitzgerald.
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Rubaiyat, c. 1120
  This is not the famous translation by Edward Fitgerald, but a more complete version by   E. H. Whinfield.
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): In Praise of Wine, c. 1100
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Vanity of Regret, c. 1100
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Cup, c. 1110
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): Profession of Faith, c. 1120
• Omar Khayyam (d. 1123 CE): The Wisdom of the Supreme, c. 1120
• Nizami  (1140-1203 CE): Khosru & Shireen, c. 1190
  Nizami, Rumi and Jami (belowt) are the great classical poets of Muslim Persia.
• Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): Gulistan, 1258 CE, Full text, in short sections. [At MIT]
• Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): Gulistan, 1258 CE, Full text of Persian prose/poetry text with significant homoerotic content.
• Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): The Gulistan, c. 1256 CE. translation by James Ross (1890)
• Sa'di (1184-1292 CE): The Bustan
• Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273 CE): The Masnavi, excerpts, c. 1250 CE
• Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273 CE): The Fairest Land, c. 1250 CE
• Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207-1273 CE): Poems from the Divan-I Shams-I Tabriz, c. 1270 CE
• Hafiz (1325-1389 CE): Verses in Praise of God, c. 1370 CE
• Jami (114-1492 CE): Joseph and Zuleika, c. 1470 CE
• Ibn al-Athir: On The Tatars, 1220-1221CE
  The effects of the Mongols in Persia

• Al-Makrisi: Arab Account of the Crusade of St. Louis.
• Ibn Said: Book of the Maghrib, 13th Century.
• Sheikh Nefzaoui: The Perfumed Garden, 11th century CE/c. A.H 925, translated by Sir Richard Burton , in chapter files, full text, [At Bibliomania]
  A guide to sex by a Tunisian writer of the 16th century. Does not discuss male homosexuality, but does discuss Lesbianism (in chap. 20).

• The Sunni Tradition
  • Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (Algazel)(1058-1111 CE): The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife
  • Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (Algazel)(1058-1111 CE): Munkidh min al-Dalal (Confessions, or  Deliverance from Error), c. 1100 CE, full text.
  • Zamakhshari (1070-1143 CE): The Discoverer of Truth, c. 1130 CE
• The Shia Tradition
• Sufism
  • Rabia: Life in His Own Words, a Sufi Mystic.
  • Al-Hallaj: Sayings, a Sufi Mystic.
• Relations With Other Religions
  • A Christian-Muslim Debate, 12th Century.

• Alpamysh, a Central Asian, Turkic epic, [At ukc.ac.uk]
  Full text of H.B. Paksoy, ALPAMYSH Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule (Hartford, Connecticut: AACAR, 1989), including translation
• The Legends & Poetry of The Turks, selections
• Old Turkish Tales: The Queen of Night
• Sidi Ali Reis (16th Century CE): Mirat ul Memalik (The Mirror of Countries), 1557 CE
  A Turkish traveler's account of the world of India and the Middle East.
• The Status of Jews and Christians in Muslim Lands, 1772
  A question on the position of Jews in Islam, and the answer of the Shaikh Hasan Al Kafrawi, The Shafiite [Professor of canon law in Cairo, d. 1788]