This edited volume analyses the concepts of territory as conceived of and developed in Islamic history. In legal terms the world is divided into two parts, the dar al-Islam governed by the Islamic shari'a and the dar al-harb which is beyond the border of dar al-Islam. The work explores the central question of what the concepts of territory and border were like for those Muslims who were driven by their will to expand the dar al-Islam, those who experienced vicissitudes in the course of history, or who were inspired with mystical feelings.

This volume explores various aspects of human mobility - both spatial and social - in Muslim societies from the earliest Islamic period to present times.

First published in 2001

This book presents a new perspective on Islamic urban society: a dynamism of social networking and justice which caused both rapid development and sudden decay in the Ṣāliḥiyya quarter. Founded in the northern suburbs of Damascus by Hanbali ulama who migrated from Palestine to Syria in the mid-12th century, the quarter developed into a city through waqf endowments. It has attracted the attention of historians and travelers for its unique location, popular movements and religious features. Through the study of local chronicles, topographies and archival sources...

The Ottoman Empire's programme of recentralization and westernization in the first half of the 19th century required a new taxation system, which in turn required an investigation of taxpayers and their income. Drawing on these investigations, this book explores various socio-economic aspects in the period of change.

In Sugar in the Social Life of Medieval Islam Tsugitaka Sato explores the actual day-to-day life in medieval Muslim societies through different aspects of sugar. Drawing from a wealth of historical sources - chronicles, geographies, travel accounts, biographies, medical and pharmacological texts, and more - he describes sugarcane cultivation, sugar production, the sugar trade, and sugar's use as a sweetener, a medicine, and a symbol of power. He gives us a new perspective on the history of the Middle East, as well as the history of sugar across the world. This book is a posthumous work...

Rashda: The Birth and Growth of an Egyptian Oasis Village is an interdisciplinary study from a multi-perspective, using various kinds of data and information. It offers a comprehensive description of Rashda, a village in Dakhla Oasis in Egypt from its beginning to the present. Key concepts are the uncertainty of the water supply, the dependence on the political regime and the rational behaviour of individuals. The villagers of Rashda have dealt with the difficult natural circumstances by creating the local customs of irrigation and cultivation. The development of village recently...

In The Kazakh Khanates between the Russian and Qing Empires, Jin Noda examines the foreign relations of the Kazakh Chinggisid sultans and the Russian and Qing empires during the 18th and 19th centuries. Noda makes use of both Russian and Qing archival documents as well as local Islamic sources. Through analysis of each party's claims -mainly reflected in the Russian-Qing negotiations regarding Central Eurasia-, the book describes the role played by the Kazakh nomads in tying together the three regions of eastern Kazakh steppe, Western Siberia, and Xinjiang.

In The Qїrghїz Baatïr and the Russian Empire Tetsu Akiyama gives a vivid description of the dynamism and dilemmas of empire-building in nomadic Central Asia from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, through reconstructing the biography of Shabdan Jantay uulu (ca. 1839–1912), a chieftain from the northern Qїrghїz (Kirghiz, Kyrgyz) tribes. Based on the comprehensive study of primary sources stored in the archives of Central Asian countries and Russia, Akiyama explores Shabdan’s intermediary role in the Russian Empire’s military advance and rule in southern Semirech’e...