Consorts of the Caliphs : : Women and the Court of Baghdad / / Ibn al-Sāʿī; ed. by Shawkat M. Toorawa.

• VerfasserIn: al-Sāʿī, Ibn,
• MitwirkendeR: Bray, Julia,; Literature, The Editors of the Library of Arabic,; Toorawa, Shawkat M.,; Warner, Marina,
• HerausgeberIn: Toorawa, Shawkat M.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2015]; ©2015
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Library of Arabic Literature ; 2
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Consorts of the Caliphs is a seventh/thirteenth-century compilation of anecdotes about thirty-eight women who were, as the title suggests, consorts to those in power, most of them concubines of the early Abbasid caliphs and wives of latter-day caliphs and sultans. This slim but illuminating volume is one of the few surviving texts by Ibn al-Sa'i (d. 674/1276). Ibn al-Sa'i was a prolific Baghdadi scholar who chronicled the academic and political elites of his city, and whose career straddled the final years of the Abbasid dynasty and the period following the cataclysmic Mongol invasion of 656/1258.In this work, Ibn al-Sa'i is keen to forge a connection between the munificent wives of his time and the storied lovers of the so-called golden age of Baghdad. Thus, from the earlier period, we find Harun al-Rashid pining for his brother’s beautiful slave, Ghadir, and the artistry of such musical and literary celebrities as 'Arib and Fadl, who bested the male poets and singers of their day. From times closer to Ibn al-Sa'i’s own—when Abbasid authority was trying to reassert itself and Baghdad was again a major center of intellectual and religious activity—we meet women such as Banafsha, who endowed law colleges, had bridges built, and provisioned pilgrims bound for Mecca; slave women whose funeral services were led by caliphs; and noble Saljuq princesses from Afghanistan.Informed by the author’s own sources, his insider knowledge, and well-known literary materials, these singular biographical sketches, though delivered episodically, bring the belletristic culture of the Baghdad court to life, particularly in the personal narratives and poetry of culture heroines otherwise lost to history.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Maps -- Note on the Edition -- Note on the Translation -- Notes to the Front Matter -- Consorts of the Caliphs -- 1 Ḥammādah bint ʿĪsā -- 2 Ghādir -- 3 ʿInān, daughter of ʿAbd Allāh -- 4 Ghaḍīḍ -- 5 Haylānah -- 6 ʿArīb al-Maʾmūniyyah -- 7 Bidʿah al-Kabīrah -- 8 Būrān -- 9 Muʾnisah al-Maʾmūniyyah -- 10 Qurrat al-ʿAyn -- 11 Farīdah -- 12 Isḥāq al-Andalusiyyah -- 13 Faḍl al-Shāʿirah al-Yamāmiyyah -- 14 Bunān -- 15 Maḥbūbah -- 16 Nāshib al-Mutawakkiliyyah -- 17 Fāṭimah -- 18 Farīdah -- 19 Nabt -- 20 Khallāfah -- 21 Ḍirār -- 22 Qaṭr al-Nadā -- 23 Khamrah -- 24 ʿIṣmah Khātūn -- 25 Māh-i Mulk -- 26 Khātūn -- 27 Banafshā al-Rūmiyyah -- 28 Sharaf Khātūn al-Turkiyyah -- 29 Saljūqī Khātūn -- 30 Shāhān -- 31 Dawlah -- 32 Ḥayāt Khātūn -- 33 Bāb Jawhar -- 34 Qabīḥah -- 35 Sitt al-Nisāʾ -- 36 Sarīrah al-Rāʾiqiyyah -- 37 Khātūn al-Safariyyah -- 38 Khātūn -- 39 Zubaydah -- Notes -- The Abbasid Caliphs -- The Early Saljūqs -- Chronology of Women Featured in Consorts of the Caliphs -- Glossary of Names -- Glossary of Places -- Glossary of Realia -- Bibliography -- Further Reading -- Index of Qurʾanic Verses -- Index of Arabic Verses -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Typefaces -- About the Editor and Translators