Consorts of the Caliphs. Ibn al-Sa'i

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      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

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

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      CONTENTS

       Letter from the General Editor

       Abbreviations

       Foreword

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction

       Maps

       Note on the Translation

       Notes to the Front Matter

       CONSORTS OF THE CALIPHS

       1.