The sword of ambition : bureaucratic rivalry in medieval Egypt / Ab�u �Amr �Uthm�an ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi al-Mi�sr�i ; edited and translated by Luke B. Yarbrough.

By:

N�abulus�i, �Uthm�an ibn Ibr�ah�im, active 1235 [author.]

Contributor(s):

Yarbrough, Luke B [editor, translator.]

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English, Arabic Original language: Arabic Series: Library of Arabic literaturePublisher: New York : New York University Press, 2016Description: 1 online resourceContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9781479839087
1479839086
9781479842575
1479842575

Contained works:

N�abulus�i, �Uthm�an ibn Ibr�ah�im, active 1235. Luma� al-qaw�an�in al-mu�d�iyah f�i daw�aw�in al-diy�ar al-Mi�sr�iyah
N�abulus�i, �Uthm�an ibn Ibr�ah�im, active 1235. Tajr�id sayf al-himmah li-istikhr�aj m�a f�i dhimmat al-dhimmah. English

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Sword of ambition.DDC classification:

320.962/09022 23

LOC classification:

JQ3831 .N3313 2016eb

Other classification:

NM 3715

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

Introduction -- The reprehensibility of employing dhimmis -- The Copts and their deceits -- Of secretaries and their art -- Ignorant men who have donned the garments of the secretaries.

Summary: The Sword of Ambition belongs to a genre of religious polemic written for the rulers of Egypt and Syria between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries. Unlike most medieval Muslim polemic, the concerns of this genre were more social and political than theological. Leaving no rhetorical stone unturned, the book's author, an unemployed Egyptian scholar and former bureaucrat named 'Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi (d. 660/1262), poured his deep knowledge of history, law, and literature into the work. Now edited in full and translated for the first time, The Sword of Ambition opens a new window onto the fascinating culture of elite rivalry in the late-medieval Islamic Middle East. It contains a wealth of little-known historical anecdotes, unusual religious opinions, obscure and witty poetry, and humorous cultural satire. Above all, it reveals that much of the inter-communal animosity of the era was conditioned by fierce competition for scarce resources that were increasingly mediated by an ideologically committed Sunni Muslim state. This insight reminds us that seemingly timeless and inevitable "religious" conflict must be considered in its broader historical perspective.The Sword of Ambition is both the earliest and most eclectic of several independent works composed in medieval Egypt against the employment of Coptic and Jewish officials, and is vivid testimony to the gradual integration of Islamic scholarship and state administration that was well underway in its day.

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In Arabic with English translation.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- The reprehensibility of employing dhimmis -- The Copts and their deceits -- Of secretaries and their art -- Ignorant men who have donned the garments of the secretaries.

Print version record.

The Sword of Ambition belongs to a genre of religious polemic written for the rulers of Egypt and Syria between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries. Unlike most medieval Muslim polemic, the concerns of this genre were more social and political than theological. Leaving no rhetorical stone unturned, the book's author, an unemployed Egyptian scholar and former bureaucrat named 'Uthman ibn Ibrahim al-Nabulusi (d. 660/1262), poured his deep knowledge of history, law, and literature into the work. Now edited in full and translated for the first time, The Sword of Ambition opens a new window onto the fascinating culture of elite rivalry in the late-medieval Islamic Middle East. It contains a wealth of little-known historical anecdotes, unusual religious opinions, obscure and witty poetry, and humorous cultural satire. Above all, it reveals that much of the inter-communal animosity of the era was conditioned by fierce competition for scarce resources that were increasingly mediated by an ideologically committed Sunni Muslim state. This insight reminds us that seemingly timeless and inevitable "religious" conflict must be considered in its broader historical perspective.The Sword of Ambition is both the earliest and most eclectic of several independent works composed in medieval Egypt against the employment of Coptic and Jewish officials, and is vivid testimony to the gradual integration of Islamic scholarship and state administration that was well underway in its day.

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