Ilex Foundation

This volume explores the context of theological speculations and political aspirations through the medium of dreams to present fascinating insights into the social history of the pre-modern Islamic world in all its cultural diversity.

This book is a study of heroic femininity as it appears in the epic Mahābhārata, and focuses particularly on the roles of wife, daughter-in-law, and mother, on how these women speak, and on the kinship groups and varying marital systems that surround them.

S. S. Soroudi’s research concentrated on modern Persian poetry, particularly of the constitutional era; Judeo-Persian literature and folk culture; and the history and culture of Iranian Jewry, which she situated in the larger context of Iranian history. This collection includes one previously unpublished piece and one newly translated into English.

Within a growing scholarly literature devoted to the topics of biography and autobiography, especially in the Arabic literary tradition, the essays in this volume explore the forms and meanings of these genres with particular reference to Persian writings, as well as to writings in Arabic and Turkish that were also composed in Persianate societies.

Jaya is a study of how the four poets of the Indian epic Mahābhārata fuse their separate performances of the poem into a single and seamless work of art. The subtle poetics of preliteracy and literacy which are compounded in one performance are demonstrated and made distinct in both a literary and a conceptual light.

This is the first complete translation, with detailed commentary, of the surviving volumes of Beyhaqi’s massive project. The historian’s writings, dealing with the years 1030–1041, combine astute criticism and wry humor with an unobtrusive display of mastery of the learned literature of the time, both in Arabic and Persian.

This is the first complete translation, with detailed commentary, of the surviving volumes of Beyhaqi’s massive project. The historian’s writings, dealing with the years 1030–1041, combine astute criticism and wry humor with an unobtrusive display of mastery of the learned literature of the time, both in Arabic and Persian.

This is the first complete translation, with detailed commentary, of the surviving volumes of Beyhaqi’s massive project. The historian’s writings, dealing with the years 1030–1041, combine astute criticism and wry humor with an unobtrusive display of mastery of the learned literature of the time, both in Arabic and Persian.

These essays examine a millennium of humorous and satirical writing in the Islamic world. Humor in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish narrative emerges here as a culturally modulated phenomenon that demands examination with reference to its historical framework and that, in turn, communicates as much about its producers as it does about its audience.

Doak explores how the giants of the Hebrew Bible—which represent a connection to primeval chaos—offer insight into central aspects of Israel’s symbolic universe. By placing biblical traditions within a broader Mediterranean context regarding giants and the end of the heroic age, Doak sheds new light on monotheism and monarchy in ancient Israel.

Heroic Kṛṣṇa depicts a pre-Hindu superhuman hero who became the divinity Krsna. Drawn from the epic Mahābhārata, Kevin McGrath’s account of the warrior-charioteer and his friendship with Arjuna explores cultural continuities from the Bronze Age Vedic world and illustrates the pre-divine life of one of the most popular Indian deities of today.

On the Wonders of Land and Sea is a comparative study of travel writers in the eastern Islamic world from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Situating texts in their socio-historical contexts, the essays study works by male and female Muslim and Parsi/Zoroastrian travelers in the Hijaz, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Europe.

Olga M. Davidson’s major reassessment of the classical Persian epic the Shāhnāma argues that its poet is actually a character in the work who coexists with the heroes and kings celebrated in the poem. Documenting the text’s oral performance tradition, Davidson shows that the heroic style of the Shāhnāma stems from ancient Indo-European traditions.

Olga M. Davidson applies comparative literary approaches to classical Persian traditions of composing and performing poetry and song. She focuses on the eleventh-century CE epic Shāhnāma and its relationship to other genres embedded in it, including forms of verbal art originally composed without the aid of writing, such as women’s laments.

The Shāhnāma or Book of Kings glorifies the spectacular achievements of Iranian civilization from its mythologized beginnings to the time of the Arab Conquest. Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāma: Millennial Perspectives takes a fresh look at the reception of Ferdowsi’s poetry, especially in the twelfth through fifteenth centuries.

One of Iran’s leading female poets, Zhāle Qā’em-Maqāmi (1883–1946) witnessed pivotal social and political changes in Iran during its transition to modernity. Mirror of Dew is the first English translation of her poems. Deeply personal but including social critique, they offer a rare view of the impact of a modern awareness on private lives.

Global Medieval compares mirrors for princes from varied historical contexts and lineages of political thought in order to determine whether a genuine history of political thought in the premodern period is possible. These texts become a lens for exploring ideals and manners of good rule across political, religious, and cultural divides.

In Erin and Iran, North American and European scholars consider parallel themes in and interactions between Irish and Iranian cultures from ancient times to the twentieth century. These studies of mythology, literature, and travelogues constitute the first-ever volume dealing with cultural encounters between the Irish and the Iranians.

How does performing affect those who perform? Starting from observation of the intergenerational tradition of performing the Song of Moses, Keith A. Stone provides a close reading of the text of the Song and explores ways in which the Song contributes to Deuteronomy’s educational program through the dynamics of reenactment.

The roster of Muslim superheroes in the comic book medium has grown over the years, as has the complexity of their depictions. Muslim Superheroes tracks the initial absence, reluctant inclusion, tokenistic employment, and then nuanced scripting of Islamic protagonists in the American superhero comic book market and beyond.

The Study of al-Andalus explores the many ways in which James T. Monroe’s scholarship has inspired further study in topics including Hispano-Arabic, Hebrew, and Romance literatures, Persian epic poetry, the impact of Andalusi literature in Egypt and the Arab East, and the lasting legacy of the expulsion of Spain’s last Muslims.

Through engaging characters—China-bound missionaries, an Indo-Persian diplomat, a Turkish exile in India, a French teacher in America, Arab students in Moscow, a Japanese woman writer in Europe—Illusion and Disillusionment examines travel writing beyond colonialism, imperialism, and Orientalism, focusing on the experience of travel itself.

Cyrus the Great re-contextualizes Cyrus’s epoch in light of recent scholarship. Themes include: Mesopotamian antecedents of his religious policy, the idiosyncratic genesis of Persian imperial art; Babylonian exile and the Bible; Hellenistic and Arsacid genealogical constructs; and his enigmatic evanescence in Sasanian and Muslim traditions.

Much medieval Persianate artwork—including books illustrated with exquisite miniature paintings—was disassembled and dispersed as isolated art objects. In The Arts of Iran in Istanbul and Anatolia, a literary historian and six art historians trace the journey from the destructive dispersal of fragments to the joys of restoration.

After fifty years of posing and answering daring historical questions, Richard Bulliet tackles an array of topics as diverse as the origin of civilization, the Big Bang–Big Crunch theory of Islamic history, the “Muslim South,” counterfactual history, future political events, and future interpretations of the 20th century in his imaginative essays.

The 21st century has been a volatile period for American Muslims. Yet despite anti-Muslim bias, American Muslims now have unprecedented avenues of influence in U.S. politics. In this critically-timed volume, Mohammad Hassan Khalil has drawn on leading scholars to provide a deep look at the rich political history and future of American Muslims.

Both memoir and critique, Methodists and Muslims follows Richard Bulliet’s expansive career, starting with his beginnings in Illinois to his entrée into the then-arcane field of Islamic Studies and culminating in the controversial visit to New York City by President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

This volume deconstructs the ways in which classical Muslim scholarship has structured and continues to structure the modern study of Islam. It explores how classical subjects have been approached traditionally, theologically, and secularly, in addition to examining some of the tensions inherent in these approaches.

In the mid-1920s, Iran abolished honorary titles and honorifics and required people to adopt family names. H. E. Chehabi describes the public debates surrounding what was an important state-building effort. He traces the legislative measures and decrees that constituted the reform and explores the surnames Iranians chose or invented for themselves.

Muslims in the Movies provides an introduction to the subject of Muslims and film for new readers while also serving as new works of critical analysis for scholars of cinema. This collection explores issues of identity, cultural production, and representation through the depiction of Muslims on screen and how audiences respond to these images.

A reissue of James T. Monroe’s classic study on the cultural history of al-Andalus that establishes Spanish scholars on the forefront of European scholars confronting the Orientalism and colonialism at the heart of their national projects. A new foreword by Michelle M. Hamilton and David A. Wacks examines the impact of Monroe’s pathbreaking study.

Worlds of Knowledge rediscovers the works of authors from the eighteenth to the twentieth century and challenges the frequent focus in travel studies on English-language texts. Written by experts in a wide range of fields, this interdisciplinary volume sheds new light on the range, innovation, and erudition of travel narratives by women.

Widely regarded as the Shakespeare of Persia, Bahram Beyzaie remains largely unknown to the English-speaking world. Naqqali Trilogy blends traditional Iranian storytelling with contemporary philosophy and technique in a cycle of mythological revisionism. This volume presents a pinnacle of world drama for the first time in English translation.

The Uses of Oppression follows the development of the Ottoman Greek press in the nineteenth century. It employs the vivid reflections of editors, correspondents, advertisers, commentators, and readers to view the everyday lives of a generation caught up in radical social and political changes, including the period of reforms known as Tanzimat.