CONSORTS OF THE CALIPHS
LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE
EDITORIAL BOARD
GENERAL EDITOR
Philip F. Kennedy, New York University
EXECUTIVE EDITORS
James E. Montgomery, University of Cambridge
Shawkat M. Toorawa, Yale University
EDITORS
Sean Anthony, The Ohio State University
Julia Bray, University of Oxford
Michael Cooperson, University of California, Los Angeles
Joseph E. Lowry, University of Pennsylvania
Maurice Pomerantz, New York University Abu Dhabi
Tahera Qutbuddin, University of Chicago
Devin J. Stewart, Emory University
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Chip Rossetti
DIGITAL PRODUCTION MANAGER
Stuart Brown
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Amanda Yee
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Amani Al-Zoubi
LETTER FROM THE GENERAL EDITOR
The Library of Arabic Literature series offers Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the seventh to nineteenth centuries. The Library of Arabic Literature thus includes texts from the pre-Islamic era to the cusp of the modern period, and encompasses a wide range of genres, including poetry, poetics, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history, and historiography.
Books in the series are edited and translated by internationally recognized scholars and are published in parallel-text format with Arabic and English on facing pages, and are also made available as English-only paperbacks.
The Library encourages scholars to produce authoritative, though not necessarily critical, Arabic editions, accompanied by modern, lucid English translations. Its ultimate goal is to introduce the rich, largely untapped Arabic literary heritage to both a general audience of readers as well as to scholars and students.
The Library of Arabic Literature is supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute and is published by NYU Press.
Philip F. Kennedy
General Editor, Library of Arabic Literature
ABOUT THIS PAPERBACK
This paperback edition differs in a few respects from its dual-language hardcover predecessor. Because of the compact trim size the pagination has changed, but paragraph numbering has been retained to facilitate cross-referencing with the hardcover. Material that referred to the Arabic edition has been updated to reflect the English-only format, and other material has been corrected and updated where appropriate. For information about the Arabic edition on which this English translation is based and about how the LAL Arabic text was established, readers are referred to the hardcover.
CONSORTS OF THE CALIPHS
Women and the Court of Baghdad
BY
IBN AL-SĀʿĪ
TRANSLATED BY
SHAWKAT M. TOORAWA AND THE EDITORS OF THE LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION BY
JULIA BRAY
FOREWORD BY
MARINA WARNER
VOLUME EDITOR
JULIA BRAY
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York |
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Copyright © 2017 by New York University
All rights reserved
The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardback edition as follows:
Ibn al-Sa‘i, ‘Ali ibn Anjab, 1196 or 1197–1275.
Consorts of the caliphs : women and the court of Baghdad / Ibn al-Sa‘i ; edited by Shawkat M. Toorawa ; translated by the editors of the Library of Arabic Literature ; introduction by Julia Bray ; foreword by Marina Warner ; volume editor Julia Bray.
pages cm. — (Library of Arabic Literature)
Bilingual English and Arabic texts on facing pages.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-1-4798-5098-3 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4798-4236-0 (e-book) — ISBN 978-1-4798-7904-5 (e-book)
1. Women—Islamic Empire—Anecdotes—Early works to 1800. 2. Queens—Islamic Empire—Anecdotes—Early works to 1800. 3. Islamic Empire—History—750–1258 Early works to 1800. 4. Abbasids—Early works to 1800.
I. Toorawa, Shawkat M., editor. II. Bray, Julia, editor. III. Ibn al-Sa‘i, ‘Ali ibn Anjab, 1196 or 1197–1275. Nisa’ al-khulafa’. IV. Ibn al-Sa‘i, ‘Ali ibn Anjab, 1196 or 1197–1275. Nisa’ al-khulafa’. English. V. Title.
DS38.4.A2I25413 2015
909’.097670109252—dc23 2014044217
ISBN 978-1-4798-6679-3 (pb : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4798-3657-4 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-4798-0477-1 (e-book)
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Series design and composition by Nicole Hayward
Typeset in Adobe Text
Manufactured in the United States of America
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