The Intensification and Reorientation of Sunni Jihad Ideology in the Crusader Period

Ibn ʿAsākir of Damascus (1105–1176) and His Age, with an Edition and Translation of Ibn ʿAsākir’s The Forty Hadiths for Inciting Jihad

Suleiman A. Mourad and James E. Lindsay

“This book describes how twelfth-century scholars were actively involved in legitimizing certain political actions through concepts that were crystallized in the Muslim tradition and shaped intra-Muslim relations well as the empire’s relationships with its neighbors… In introducing the historical setting, Mourad and Lindsay describe in impressively minute detail the politics involved in producing texts during the reign of Sultan Nūr al-Dīn at a time when the latter was rallying Muslim populations, and elites in particular, against the Crusaders.”

- Bashir Saade in Al-Abhath  60-61 (2012-2013), p. 202-204.

Through the Eyes of the Beholder

The Holy Land, 1517-1713

Edited by Judy A. Hayden and Nabil I. Matar

“Edited collections tend to lack both coherence in content and consistency in quality. Not this book. Under the able direction of Judy Hayden and Nabil Matar,…, nine original chapters in addition to a novel translation of a manuscript (with critical introduction), as well as a framing introduction and a short conclusion, hone in on the multiple connections between the two terms involved in the space called the Holy Land… Each contribution presents a fascinating facet of the question of sacred geographies, while the multiplicity of perspectives on the Holy Land offers a great added value of comparative assessment… The volume is capped by a brief though important conclusion by Nabil Matar that restates the notable difference between the European accounts and their Ottoman counterparts…”

- Alexis Wick in Al-Abhath  60-61 (2012-2013), p. 183-185.