Medieval & Early Modern Islam Archives | The Marginalia Review of Books

Cultural Creativity in the Cosmopolitan Caliphate: Philosophy and Theology in 3rd-Century Islam

August 9, 2019August 9, 2019

David Bennett on Racha el Omari A confluence of unusual circumstances allowed for an explosion of original thought in the 9th Century—the 3rd ... [Read More]

Before Europe: The Christian West in the Annals of Medieval Islam

April 27, 2018May 1, 2018

Arafat Razzaque reviews Daniel König’s Arabic-Islamic Views of the Latin West: Tracing the Emergence of Medieval Europe In 1961, nearly two decades before ... [Read More]

An Androcentric Discipline? The Gender Troubles of Qur’anic Exegesis – by Ali Altaf Mian

September 10, 2016September 13, 2016

Ali Altaf Mian on Karen Bauer’s Gender Hierarchy in the Qur’an Gender is a widely debated topic in contemporary Islam. Many Muslims, and ... [Read More]

A Christian-Muslim Mosaic of Accommodation and Partition – By David Bertaina

August 16, 2016August 18, 2016

David Bertaina on on Michael Penn’s Envisioning Islam At the beginning of his reign (705-715), the caliph al-Walid inaugurated the creation of a ... [Read More]

On the Origin of Caliphates – By Hamza M. Zafer

September 15, 2015September 26, 2015

Hamza M. Zafer on Steven Judd’s Religious Scholars and the Umayyads In the late spring of 680 CE, Yazid bin Mu‘awiya from the ... [Read More]

The Sound of Meaning – By Vanessa De Gifis

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015

Vanessa De Gifis on Karen Bauer’s edited volume, Aims, Methods, and Contexts of Qur’anic Exegesis We have all heard the philosophical question: If ... [Read More]

Hagiography and Hanbalism – By Tasi Perkins

August 18, 2015August 31, 2015

Tasi Perkins on Ibn al-Jawzi’s Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal “All day long I hope for death. I’m afraid of being ... [Read More]

Turning King to Messiah: The Islamic King in Central Asia and India – By Roy S. Fischel

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

Roy S. Fischel on A. Azfar Moin’s The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam Tales of kings have always ignited the ... [Read More]

Traveling to Acquire Knowledge – By Daniel Majchrowicz

May 27, 2014May 27, 2014

Daniel Majchrowicz on Houari Touati’s Islam and Travel in the Middle Ages Travel was always desirable to them And they visited every continent ... [Read More]

Islam’s Compatibility with Science – By Robert Morrison