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Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections byGeoffrey KhanReview by: Lawrence I. ConradJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 116, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1996), pp. 153-154Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606403 .
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Reviews of Books Reviews of Books
al-Mubarrad are included, and these also represent several fourth-
century authors, e.g., a copy of al-Sirfifi's Akhbar al-nahwiyin al-basriyin, copied in 376/986, only eight years after his death. A film of Aya Sofya 4832 provides fifth-century texts of over 60
philosophical and scientific essays, primarily by al-Kindi. Other films cover MSS recognized for their crucial textual importance- for example, the Diamad 949 MS of the Rasadil of al-Jahiz and the Kopriilii MSS of his Kitab al-hayawan. This list could be contin- ued at considerable length.
The foregoing having been said, however, it must be ob- served that this book is a handlist rather than a proper cata-
logue. There are no divisions according to subject, and titles are instead simply strung together in alphabetical order; one can therefore only guess at what al-CAskari, for example, discussed in his Risala ild bacd ashdbihi that was sufficiently significant to draw Ritter's attention to the essay. Entries provide the au- thor's name and death date, the title, MS number and number of folios, specified or approximate date of copying, and references to Brockelmann, Sezgin, and other secondary literature. But in-
cipits and explicits are not included, and it is often difficult to discern whether or not a given text is complete. Various indices
help one find authors or specific Mss, but again, never particular subjects.
But it is certainly not an unprofitable exercise simply to read through this work to discover the treasures it reveals. The col- lection itself is a fitting memorial to the erudition of Hellmut Ritter, and all who use it will be grateful to those whose labors have made it accessible to a broader scholarly audience.
LAWRENCE I. CONRAD WELLCOME INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. By GEOFFREY KHAN. Cambridge Uni- versity Library Genizah Series, 10. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1993. Pp. xviii + 567, 24 plates. ?100, $175.
The importance of documentary evidence to the study of me- dieval Islamic law, administration, fiscal policy, and chancery practice has been acknowledged on all sides for decades, but the integration of this material into moder scholarship has long been impeded by the lack of proper catalogues and editions. The pioneering efforts of Adolf Grohmann and S. M. Stern have more recently been pursued in valuable research by such schol- ars as Werner Diem, Heinz Halm, Raif-Georges Khoury, Donald Little, D. S. Richards, and perhaps most important, Geoffrey Khan, whose work has covered several collections of papyri and various parts of the Cambridge Genizah collections.
al-Mubarrad are included, and these also represent several fourth-
century authors, e.g., a copy of al-Sirfifi's Akhbar al-nahwiyin al-basriyin, copied in 376/986, only eight years after his death. A film of Aya Sofya 4832 provides fifth-century texts of over 60
philosophical and scientific essays, primarily by al-Kindi. Other films cover MSS recognized for their crucial textual importance- for example, the Diamad 949 MS of the Rasadil of al-Jahiz and the Kopriilii MSS of his Kitab al-hayawan. This list could be contin- ued at considerable length.
The foregoing having been said, however, it must be ob- served that this book is a handlist rather than a proper cata-
logue. There are no divisions according to subject, and titles are instead simply strung together in alphabetical order; one can therefore only guess at what al-CAskari, for example, discussed in his Risala ild bacd ashdbihi that was sufficiently significant to draw Ritter's attention to the essay. Entries provide the au- thor's name and death date, the title, MS number and number of folios, specified or approximate date of copying, and references to Brockelmann, Sezgin, and other secondary literature. But in-
cipits and explicits are not included, and it is often difficult to discern whether or not a given text is complete. Various indices
help one find authors or specific Mss, but again, never particular subjects.
But it is certainly not an unprofitable exercise simply to read through this work to discover the treasures it reveals. The col- lection itself is a fitting memorial to the erudition of Hellmut Ritter, and all who use it will be grateful to those whose labors have made it accessible to a broader scholarly audience.
LAWRENCE I. CONRAD WELLCOME INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections. By GEOFFREY KHAN. Cambridge Uni- versity Library Genizah Series, 10. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1993. Pp. xviii + 567, 24 plates. ?100, $175.
The importance of documentary evidence to the study of me- dieval Islamic law, administration, fiscal policy, and chancery practice has been acknowledged on all sides for decades, but the integration of this material into moder scholarship has long been impeded by the lack of proper catalogues and editions. The pioneering efforts of Adolf Grohmann and S. M. Stern have more recently been pursued in valuable research by such schol- ars as Werner Diem, Heinz Halm, Raif-Georges Khoury, Donald Little, D. S. Richards, and perhaps most important, Geoffrey Khan, whose work has covered several collections of papyri and various parts of the Cambridge Genizah collections.
The book under review here publishes the Arabic legal and administrative documents in the Genizah collections at Cam-
bridge University Library. A total of 159 texts are included: 69 legal documents and 90 administrative, all but one in Arabic
script.1 For each document Khan provides a physical descrip- tion, an edition of the text, textual notes on questions of ortho-
graphy, syntax, and various mistakes and anomalies, an English translation, and a commentary dealing with matters of historical
interpretation. There are twenty-four plates illustrating some of the documents, and access to the material is facilitated by indices of Genizah documents, subjects, Arabic, Hebrew, and Coptic personal names, place names (not only of countries, pro- vinces, and towns, but also including streets, offices, and build-
ings), titles and professions, and miscellaneous Arabic words. The briefest glance at the plates and the corresponding edi-
tions will suffice to confirm the scale of Khan's achievement in this book. The standard of the editions and translation is very high, and the notes and commentaries are clear and extremely in- formative. In the eleven cases (nos. 50, 52, 65, 73-74, 77, 85, 88, 103-4, and 109) where documents have previously been edited by other scholars, variant readings are always clearly stated; Khan's readings almost invariably seem preferable, though the fact that none of these documents is included in the plates means that the reader cannot check this for himself. A formidable array of parallel textual evidence and secondary literature is brought to bear throughout, and serves to resolve many questions of reading and interpretation. Of particular significance are the detailed in- troductions provided for the most important types of material. A long discussion of sales contracts (pp. 7-55), for example, es- tablishes that the structure of the Fatimid Genizah documents can be traced to the direct influence of al-Tahawi (d. 321/933), whose formulary was taken up in the fourth century A.H. and then expanded in the fifth.2
The range of the corpus is quite broad. The legal materials include documents of sale, lease, and endowment (31), mar- riage contracts (3), iqrar texts (13), testimonies, declarations, and depositions (9), court records and powers of attorney (6), one tax-farmer's contract, and questions put to fuqaha' (6). In the administrative sphere, there are petitions to officials and dig- nitaries and documents relating to their processing (38), a vari- ety of dispositions (10) and reports of death (7), and documents on fiscal affairs (29). Especially rich is the data that these texts
1 The exception is no. 79, which consists of two Judaeo- Arabic drafts of a petition to a wazir concerning impounded property.
2 This valuable essay serves to confirm and expand upon the work of Jeanette Wakin, which is cited frequently in this book. See her Function of Documents in Islamic Law: The Chapters on Sales from al-Tahawi's Kitab al-Shuruit al-Kabir (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1971), 1-70.
The book under review here publishes the Arabic legal and administrative documents in the Genizah collections at Cam-
bridge University Library. A total of 159 texts are included: 69 legal documents and 90 administrative, all but one in Arabic
script.1 For each document Khan provides a physical descrip- tion, an edition of the text, textual notes on questions of ortho-
graphy, syntax, and various mistakes and anomalies, an English translation, and a commentary dealing with matters of historical
interpretation. There are twenty-four plates illustrating some of the documents, and access to the material is facilitated by indices of Genizah documents, subjects, Arabic, Hebrew, and Coptic personal names, place names (not only of countries, pro- vinces, and towns, but also including streets, offices, and build-
ings), titles and professions, and miscellaneous Arabic words. The briefest glance at the plates and the corresponding edi-
tions will suffice to confirm the scale of Khan's achievement in this book. The standard of the editions and translation is very high, and the notes and commentaries are clear and extremely in- formative. In the eleven cases (nos. 50, 52, 65, 73-74, 77, 85, 88, 103-4, and 109) where documents have previously been edited by other scholars, variant readings are always clearly stated; Khan's readings almost invariably seem preferable, though the fact that none of these documents is included in the plates means that the reader cannot check this for himself. A formidable array of parallel textual evidence and secondary literature is brought to bear throughout, and serves to resolve many questions of reading and interpretation. Of particular significance are the detailed in- troductions provided for the most important types of material. A long discussion of sales contracts (pp. 7-55), for example, es- tablishes that the structure of the Fatimid Genizah documents can be traced to the direct influence of al-Tahawi (d. 321/933), whose formulary was taken up in the fourth century A.H. and then expanded in the fifth.2
The range of the corpus is quite broad. The legal materials include documents of sale, lease, and endowment (31), mar- riage contracts (3), iqrar texts (13), testimonies, declarations, and depositions (9), court records and powers of attorney (6), one tax-farmer's contract, and questions put to fuqaha' (6). In the administrative sphere, there are petitions to officials and dig- nitaries and documents relating to their processing (38), a vari- ety of dispositions (10) and reports of death (7), and documents on fiscal affairs (29). Especially rich is the data that these texts
1 The exception is no. 79, which consists of two Judaeo- Arabic drafts of a petition to a wazir concerning impounded property.
2 This valuable essay serves to confirm and expand upon the work of Jeanette Wakin, which is cited frequently in this book. See her Function of Documents in Islamic Law: The Chapters on Sales from al-Tahawi's Kitab al-Shuruit al-Kabir (Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1971), 1-70.
153 153
This content downloaded from 91.229.229.89 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:25:04 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Journal of the American Oriental Society 116.1 (1996) Journal of the American Oriental Society 116.1 (1996)
provide on matters beyond the strictly legal and administrative domains: for example, details on the organization and arrange- ment of households and shops, and on relations among the vari- ous confessional communities of medieval Islamic Egypt. Medical practice and affairs concerning doctors frequently arise
(nos. 40, 44, 50-51, 60, 62, 67-68, 90 and 116), and one cluster of documents (nos. 140-59) comprises a corpus of receipts from the tax farm of a certain Abt 1-Hasan ibn Wahb in the Fayyum for the period extending from 402/1012 to 405/1015.
For a work of this size and importance, a few areas might well have been expanded. Non-classical or specialized usages of Ar- abic terms or phrases often fail to appear in the index of Arabic
words, and while a number of Greek loan-words are identified, there is no index to cover them. It would also have been worth- while to publish photographs of at least some of the documents in which Khan challenges the readings of previous editors, and, for example, of documents (nos. 117, 135) bearing scribal
checking marks that can be (and in the past have been) misread as Arabic words.
This volume is a fine addition to the Genizah Series of Cam-
bridge University Library, which has been at work publishing editions and catalogues of various parts of the University's priceless Genizah holdings for nearly twenty years now. One can only hope that the Judaeo-Arabic materials, which provided the foundations for S. D. Goitein's magisterial Mediterranean
Society, will be made available to scholarship in publications of the same high standard that Khan has achieved in publishing the Arabic documents.
LAWRENCE I. CONRAD WELLCOME INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
The Poetry of Ibn Khafajah: A Literary Analysis. By MAGDA M. AL-NOWAIHI. Studies in Arabic Literature, Supplements to the Journal of Arabic Literature, 16. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1993. Pp. 176. HF1 110, $63.
Ibn Khafajah (1058-1139), the famous poet of al-Andalus, lived an apparently uneventful life, uninvolved in the politics of his time. Around the age of 64, he decided to collect his Diwan, with his own preface in which he explains by whom his poetry is influenced. The present book by Magda M. Al-Nowaihi
(originally a thesis at Harvard) focusses on the main elements of Ibn Khafajah's style: imagery, rhetorical devices, and syntax and structure.
The first chapter deals with imagery, its content and formula- tion. The subject-matter of Ibn Khafajah's imagery is divided between Arabian or Bedouin subjects, on the one hand (taken over from the world of poetry), and Andalusian subjects, on the
provide on matters beyond the strictly legal and administrative domains: for example, details on the organization and arrange- ment of households and shops, and on relations among the vari- ous confessional communities of medieval Islamic Egypt. Medical practice and affairs concerning doctors frequently arise
(nos. 40, 44, 50-51, 60, 62, 67-68, 90 and 116), and one cluster of documents (nos. 140-59) comprises a corpus of receipts from the tax farm of a certain Abt 1-Hasan ibn Wahb in the Fayyum for the period extending from 402/1012 to 405/1015.
For a work of this size and importance, a few areas might well have been expanded. Non-classical or specialized usages of Ar- abic terms or phrases often fail to appear in the index of Arabic
words, and while a number of Greek loan-words are identified, there is no index to cover them. It would also have been worth- while to publish photographs of at least some of the documents in which Khan challenges the readings of previous editors, and, for example, of documents (nos. 117, 135) bearing scribal
checking marks that can be (and in the past have been) misread as Arabic words.
This volume is a fine addition to the Genizah Series of Cam-
bridge University Library, which has been at work publishing editions and catalogues of various parts of the University's priceless Genizah holdings for nearly twenty years now. One can only hope that the Judaeo-Arabic materials, which provided the foundations for S. D. Goitein's magisterial Mediterranean
Society, will be made available to scholarship in publications of the same high standard that Khan has achieved in publishing the Arabic documents.
LAWRENCE I. CONRAD WELLCOME INSTITUTE FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
The Poetry of Ibn Khafajah: A Literary Analysis. By MAGDA M. AL-NOWAIHI. Studies in Arabic Literature, Supplements to the Journal of Arabic Literature, 16. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1993. Pp. 176. HF1 110, $63.
Ibn Khafajah (1058-1139), the famous poet of al-Andalus, lived an apparently uneventful life, uninvolved in the politics of his time. Around the age of 64, he decided to collect his Diwan, with his own preface in which he explains by whom his poetry is influenced. The present book by Magda M. Al-Nowaihi
(originally a thesis at Harvard) focusses on the main elements of Ibn Khafajah's style: imagery, rhetorical devices, and syntax and structure.
The first chapter deals with imagery, its content and formula- tion. The subject-matter of Ibn Khafajah's imagery is divided between Arabian or Bedouin subjects, on the one hand (taken over from the world of poetry), and Andalusian subjects, on the
other (nature and gardens experienced by the poet himself). Here two main trends are seen: the humanization of nature and the interprojection of microcosm and macrocosm (both notions coined by Birgel). Al-Nowaihi illustrates the above-mentioned
subjects with numerous examples from Ibn Khafajah's poetry. As far as the formulation of the image is concerned, the au-
thor recognizes four types: 1. explicit images (with ka- "like"; kada "almost"; or layta "if only"); 2. genitive metaphors, that
closely associate the subject with the analogue; 3. images that create a confusion between the worlds of imagination and re-
ality; 4. implied and hinted-at images. Just as Henrichs did ear-
lier, the author identifies two different techniques of generating imagery: the ancient poet starts from an analogy and projects the analogue on the topic, creating a natural image; the modem
(muhdath) poet constructs an imaginary element by taking an
already existing metaphor, extracting new, often imaginary, metaphors from existing ones. Al-Nowaihi also goes into the function of imagery: the interprojection of microcosms and macrocosms brings the world of man and the universe closer to-
gether, and makes the remote and incomprehensible more im- mediate and comprehensible. Imagery also plays an important role as an element of structure or as a unifying device (cf. the water imagery in poem no. 150 [ed. Ghazi, pp. 198-202]; or the departure and travel images in the elegiac poem no. 165
[pp. 217-21]). Al-Nowaihi concludes that most of Ibn Khafa-
jah's images are not fantastic in the sense meant by von Grune- baum and Heinrichs. In spite of some that are far-fetched, "the
majority of his images are meaningful and have a purpose within his poetic universe."
The second chapter deals with rhetorical devices in Ibn
Khafajah's poetry. The author mentions different theories about the difference between rhetorical figures in the poetry of the Ancient ("a mere instrument") and the poetry of the Moder
("a principle of art" [Heinrichs]). Al-Nowaihi dwells briefly on Ibn Khafajah's early imitative period, when he imitated the eastern poet CAbd al-Muhsin al-Suri, using a high density of
stylistic figures such as antithesis and paronomasia. Then she deals with the characteristics of Ibn Khafajah's rhetorical style, how frequently the figures of speech are used, and how they are combined with each other. Special sections go into paronoma- sia, antithesis, and double-entendre.
The third chapter deals with syntax and larger structures, of- ten neglected by traditional criticism of both Eastern and mod- ern Western scholars. Recently however, there has been a trend toward the analyses of structural patterns "beyond the line." Al- Nowaihi concentrates upon syntax as a structuring element- one or several sentences with identical grammatica and structure or repetition. Sometimes there is a clearly noticeable linear de-
velopment within the poem. A rhymed prose section by Ibn
Khafajah is adduced to give an impression of the poet's ideas
about thematic sequence (poem no. 150 [ed. Ghazi, pp. 203-
4]). Sometimes also a certain motif recurs several times through
other (nature and gardens experienced by the poet himself). Here two main trends are seen: the humanization of nature and the interprojection of microcosm and macrocosm (both notions coined by Birgel). Al-Nowaihi illustrates the above-mentioned
subjects with numerous examples from Ibn Khafajah's poetry. As far as the formulation of the image is concerned, the au-
thor recognizes four types: 1. explicit images (with ka- "like"; kada "almost"; or layta "if only"); 2. genitive metaphors, that
closely associate the subject with the analogue; 3. images that create a confusion between the worlds of imagination and re-
ality; 4. implied and hinted-at images. Just as Henrichs did ear-
lier, the author identifies two different techniques of generating imagery: the ancient poet starts from an analogy and projects the analogue on the topic, creating a natural image; the modem
(muhdath) poet constructs an imaginary element by taking an
already existing metaphor, extracting new, often imaginary, metaphors from existing ones. Al-Nowaihi also goes into the function of imagery: the interprojection of microcosms and macrocosms brings the world of man and the universe closer to-
gether, and makes the remote and incomprehensible more im- mediate and comprehensible. Imagery also plays an important role as an element of structure or as a unifying device (cf. the water imagery in poem no. 150 [ed. Ghazi, pp. 198-202]; or the departure and travel images in the elegiac poem no. 165
[pp. 217-21]). Al-Nowaihi concludes that most of Ibn Khafa-
jah's images are not fantastic in the sense meant by von Grune- baum and Heinrichs. In spite of some that are far-fetched, "the
majority of his images are meaningful and have a purpose within his poetic universe."
The second chapter deals with rhetorical devices in Ibn
Khafajah's poetry. The author mentions different theories about the difference between rhetorical figures in the poetry of the Ancient ("a mere instrument") and the poetry of the Moder
("a principle of art" [Heinrichs]). Al-Nowaihi dwells briefly on Ibn Khafajah's early imitative period, when he imitated the eastern poet CAbd al-Muhsin al-Suri, using a high density of
stylistic figures such as antithesis and paronomasia. Then she deals with the characteristics of Ibn Khafajah's rhetorical style, how frequently the figures of speech are used, and how they are combined with each other. Special sections go into paronoma- sia, antithesis, and double-entendre.
The third chapter deals with syntax and larger structures, of- ten neglected by traditional criticism of both Eastern and mod- ern Western scholars. Recently however, there has been a trend toward the analyses of structural patterns "beyond the line." Al- Nowaihi concentrates upon syntax as a structuring element- one or several sentences with identical grammatica and structure or repetition. Sometimes there is a clearly noticeable linear de-
velopment within the poem. A rhymed prose section by Ibn
Khafajah is adduced to give an impression of the poet's ideas
about thematic sequence (poem no. 150 [ed. Ghazi, pp. 203-
4]). Sometimes also a certain motif recurs several times through
154 154
This content downloaded from 91.229.229.89 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:25:04 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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