Before it fell to Muslim armies in AD 635-6 Damascus had a long and prestigious history as a center of Christianity. How did this city, which became the capitol of the Islamic Empire and its people, negotiate the transition from a late antique or early Byzantine world to an Islamic culture? In Damascus after the Muslim Conquest, Nancy Khalek demonstrates that the changes that took place in Syria during this formative period of Islamic life were not simply a matter of the replacement of one civilization by another as a result of military conquest, but rather of shifting relationships and practices in a multifaceted social and cultural setting. Even as late antique forms of religion and culture persisted, the formation of Islamic identity was affected by the people who constructed, lived in, and narrated the history of their city. Khalek draws on the evidence of architecture and the testimony of pilgrims, biographers, geographers, and historians to shed light on this process of identity formation. Offering a fresh approach to the early Islamic period, she moves the study of Islamic origins beyond a focus on issues of authenticity and textual criticism, and initiates an interdisciplinary discourse on narrative, storytelling, and the interpretations of material culture.

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zlib/Society, Politics & Philosophy/Anthropology/Nancy Khalek/Damascus after the Muslim Conquest: Text and Image in Early Islam_1198296.pdf

IRL Press at Oxford University Press

Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

German Historical Institute London

Oxford, New York, NY

Oxford University Press, New York State, 2011

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Illustrated, 2011-09-16

2011 12 30

lg760333

{"isbns":["0199736510","9780199736515"],"last_page":217,"publisher":"Oxford University Press"}

Unlike other histories of the early Islamic period, which focus on the political and military aspects of the conquests, this book is about narrative history and the constitution of identity in the changing and dynamic landscape of the early Islamic world.--provided by publisher.
Before it fell to Muslim armies in AD 635-6 Damascus had a long and prestigious history as a center of Christianity. How did the city, which became capital of the Islamic Empire, and its people, negotiate the transition from a late antique, or early Byzantine world to an Islamic culture? In this innovative study, Nancy Khalek demonstrates that the changes that took place in Syria during the formative period of Islamic life were not a matter of the replacement of one civilization by another as a result of military conquest, but rather of shifting relationships and practices in a multi-faceted social and cultural setting. Even as late antique forms of religion and culture persisted, the formation of Islamic identity was effected by the people who constructed, lived in, and narrated the history of their city. Khalek draws on the evidence of architecture, and the testimony of pilgrims, biographers, geographers, and historians to shed light on this process of identity formation. Offering a fresh approach to the early Islamic period, she moves the study of Islamic origins beyond a focus on issues of authenticity and textual criticism, and initiates an interdisciplinary discourse on narrative, story-telling, and the interpretations of material culture.--book jacket.

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 10
Dates and Abbreviations......Page 12
1. Narrative and Early Islamic History......Page 16
2. Telling Stories: Historical Texts in Early Islamic Syria......Page 52
3. Icons: John the Baptist and Sanctified Spaces in Early Islamic Syria......Page 98
4. Iconic Texts: Damascus in the Medieval Imagination......Page 148
Afterword......Page 188
Selected Bibliography......Page 194
B......Page 208
C......Page 209
F......Page 210
H......Page 211
I......Page 212
M......Page 213
N......Page 214
S......Page 215
T......Page 216
Z......Page 217

Cover 1
Contents 10
Dates and Abbreviations 12
1. Narrative and Early Islamic History 16
2. Telling Stories: Historical Texts in Early Islamic Syria 52
3. Icons: John the Baptist and Sanctified Spaces in Early Islamic Syria 98
4. Iconic Texts: Damascus in the Medieval Imagination 148
Afterword 188
Selected Bibliography 194
Index 208
A 208
B 208
C 209
D 210
E 210
F 210
G 211
H 211
I 212
J 213
K 213
L 213
M 213
N 214
O 215
P 215
Q 215
R 215
S 215
T 216
U 217
V 217
W 217
Y 217
Z 217
9780199736515
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In Damascus after the Muslim Conquest, Nancy Khalek demonstrates that the changes that took place in Syria during the formative period of Islamic life were not a matter of the replacement of one civilization by another as a result of military conquest, but rather of shifting relationships and practices in a multi-faceted social and cultural setting.

2012-02-04