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Functions of discourses on heresy: The invention of zandaqah in the early Islamic period (2025)
Thesis
Tanaka, Y. Functions of discourses on heresy: The invention of zandaqah in the early Islamic period. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

This dissertation attempts to demonstrate that the Arabic word zindīq, an ambiguous appellation to discredit various targets characterized with heretical tendencies (zandaqah), functioned as a rhetorical device through which Muslim authors displayed... Read More about Functions of discourses on heresy: The invention of zandaqah in the early Islamic period.

The Evolution of the Term Sulṭān in Early Islam (2024)
Journal Article
Kennedy, H. The Evolution of the Term Sulṭān in Early Islam. Journal of Abbasid studies, 11(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1163/22142371-00802024

This article discusses the use of the word sulṭān in Arabic political and historical discourse in the period before the term is regularly used as a title of rulership attached to an individual in the middle of the fifth/eleventh century. It describes... Read More about The Evolution of the Term Sulṭān in Early Islam.

Maʿrūf al-Karkhī: a renunciant saint in early ʿAbbāsid Baghdad (2024)
Thesis
Ye, Z. Maʿrūf al-Karkhī: a renunciant saint in early ʿAbbāsid Baghdad. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

The academic discussions on the Islamic renunciation traditions and the formation of Islamic Mysticism have been progressing since scholars started to apply modern critical research methods by comparing and studying various Medieval Muslim accounts o... Read More about Maʿrūf al-Karkhī: a renunciant saint in early ʿAbbāsid Baghdad.

The Work of the American Protestant Missionaries on Muslim Evangelization and Their Perceptions and Interactions with Muslim Turks during the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Period in Turkey (1878-1929) (2023)
Thesis
Liu, L. The Work of the American Protestant Missionaries on Muslim Evangelization and Their Perceptions and Interactions with Muslim Turks during the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Period in Turkey (1878-1929). (Thesis). SOAS University of London

The American missionary activities in late Ottoman society profoundly changed the Middle East landscape. At the American Historical Association’s Conference in 1968, the American missionaries were addressed as “the invisible men of American history”,... Read More about The Work of the American Protestant Missionaries on Muslim Evangelization and Their Perceptions and Interactions with Muslim Turks during the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Period in Turkey (1878-1929).

History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands: A New Translation of al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan (2022)
Book
Kennedy, H. (2022). History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands: A New Translation of al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan. Bloomsbury. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755637430

Ahmad bin Yahuya al-Baladhuri's History of the Arab Invasions is perhaps the most important single source for the history of the great Arab conquests of the Middle East in the sixth and early seventh centuries. The author, who died in 892, was a hist... Read More about History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands: A New Translation of al-Baladhuri's Futuh al-Buldan.

Spices and perfumes in early medieval globalism and their socio-political effects, 80-494 A.H. /700-1100 A.D. (2022)
Thesis
Khatun, T. Spices and perfumes in early medieval globalism and their socio-political effects, 80-494 A.H. /700-1100 A.D. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

The aim of this research is to identify and examine the role of perfumes and spices that came from the Indian Ocean trade into the Caliphate, and through there into the Mediterranean trade. This study is a direct challenge to history writing that sug... Read More about Spices and perfumes in early medieval globalism and their socio-political effects, 80-494 A.H. /700-1100 A.D..

The Emergence of New Polities in the Breakup of the Abbasid Caliphate (2021)
Book Chapter
Kennedy, H. (2021). The Emergence of New Polities in the Breakup of the Abbasid Caliphate. In W. Pohl (Ed.), Empires and Communities in the Post-Roman and Islamic World, C. 400-1000 CE. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190067946.003.0002

In this chapter, a general overview is given of the role of ethnic groups and tribes in the early Islamic world. Looking at the available source material, it appears that tribal identities and genealogies, as well as the ethnic differences that follo... Read More about The Emergence of New Polities in the Breakup of the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Rise and Fall of the early ʿAbbasid Political and Military Elite (2020)
Book Chapter
Kennedy, H. (2020). The Rise and Fall of the early ʿAbbasid Political and Military Elite. In H.-L. Hagemann, & S. Heidemann (Eds.), Transregional and Regional Elites - Connecting the Early Islamic Empire (100-113). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110669800-005

This paper explores the composition and role of the military and political elite of the early ʿAbbāsid caliphate (750 –809) whose support enabled the caliphs to maintain sovereignty over their far-flung domains. It considers the importance of differe... Read More about The Rise and Fall of the early ʿAbbasid Political and Military Elite.

From Polis to Madina: some reflections thirty years on (2018)
Book Chapter
Kennedy, H. (2018). From Polis to Madina: some reflections thirty years on. In S. Panzram, & L. Callegarin (Eds.), Entre Civitas y Madina : el mundo de las ciudades en la Península ibérica y en el Norte de África (siglos IV-IX) (13-22). Casa de Velazquez

Ibn ʿAsākir’s History of Damascus and the Institutionalisation of Education in the Medieval Islamic World (2018)
Thesis
Manstetten, P. C. Ibn ʿAsākir’s History of Damascus and the Institutionalisation of Education in the Medieval Islamic World. (Thesis). SOAS, University of London

From the tenth century onwards, the Middle East saw the rise of specialised educational institutions, most importantly the madrasa. Before, Muslim scholars had for centuries convened in study circles in mosques, houses, and other multi-functional ven... Read More about Ibn ʿAsākir’s History of Damascus and the Institutionalisation of Education in the Medieval Islamic World.

Baghdad as a Center of Learning and Book Production (2017)
Book Chapter
Kennedy, H. (2017). Baghdad as a Center of Learning and Book Production. In S. Blair, & J. Bloom (Eds.), By the Pen and What They Write: Writing in Islamic Art and Culture (91-103). Yale University Press

Muʾnis al-Muẓaffar: An exceptional eunuch (2017)
Book Chapter
Kennedy, H. (2017). Muʾnis al-Muẓaffar: An exceptional eunuch. In A. Höfert, M. M. Mesley, & S. Tolino (Eds.), Celibate and Childless Men in Power Ruling Eunuchs and Bishops in the Pre-Modern World (79-91). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315566658-4

The emergence of eunuchs as a major political and social presence in Islamic courts is a development of the third/ninth century. 1 For the first two centuries of Muslim political life, they were almost unknown, and their role, if they had one, would... Read More about Muʾnis al-Muẓaffar: An exceptional eunuch.