Studies on Arabia in Honour of G. Rex Smith

by Healey, John F.; Porter, Venetia

• ISBN13: 9780198510642
• ISBN10: 0198510640
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A collection of essays written in honour of Professor G. Rex Smith, arabist, historian, and scholar of the medieval history of the Yemen, on aspects of the pre-Islamic and Islamic history of Arabia and the Yemen written by a group of international scholars.

Author Biography

Venetia Porter is currently a Curator of the Islamic collections in the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. She studied Arabic and Islamic Art at Oxford and did her Ph.D on 'The history and monuments of the Taharid dynasty of Yemen' with Professor G. Rex Smith at the University of Durham. She is also Chairman of the Seminar of Arabian Studies. John Healey is Professor of Semitic Studies in the University of Manchester. His research has been concentrated on Ugaritc and Aramaic studies, especially epigraphy and religion.

Table of Contents

Professor G. Rex Smith	vii
Published Works of Professor G. Rex Smith	x
Muhammad (al-Badr) b. Ahmad b. Yahya Hamid al-Din (1347--1417/1929--1996): Last of the Imams of Yemen	1	(6)
Husayn b. `Abdallah al-`Amri
Al-Gerrha, the Port of `Qaryat' al-Fau	7	(12)
Abdul Rahman T. al-Ansary
The South Arabian Coast and the Ancient Trade Routes in the Light of Recent Exploration and a Discussion of Written Sources	19	(10)
Paolo M. Costa
Building Design in Wadi Hajr, Hadramawt	29	(18)
Salma Samar Damluji
Customary Law, Islamic Law and Yemeni Sharecropping	47	(20)
William J. Donaldson
Al-Say'ar: A Social Anthropological Sketch of a South Arabian Tribe from 1960 with some additional observations collected in 1995	67	(14)
Walter Dostal
Nabataeo-Arabic: Jaussen-Savignac nab. 17 and 18	81	(10)
John F. Healey
The Prophet Muhammad and the Breaking of the Jahiliyyah Idols	91	(32)
G.R.D. King
A New Perspective on the Phenomenon of Mirror-Image Writing in Arabic Calligraphy	123	(12)
Moshalleh al-Moraekhi
The Selection, Instruction and Examination of the Student Interpreters of the Levant Consular Service 1877--1916	135	(22)
David Morray
Pre-Islamic Arabic Inscriptions from Sakaka, Saudi Arabia	157	(14)
Khaleel al-Muaikel
The Ports of Yemen and the Indian Ocean Trade during the Tahirid Period (1454--1517)	171	(20)
Venetia Porter
Vers une meilleure connaissance de l'histoire politique et religieuse de Kaminahu (Jawf du Yemen)	191	(24)
Christian Julien Robin
Zabid: the Round City of Yemen	215	(12)
Noha Sadek
Une version soqotri de la legende de Abu Sawarib	227	(16)
Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle
Suleyman Pasha's Lost Opportunity in India (an annotated translation of Qutb al-Din Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Nahrawali al-Makki, al-Baraq al-yamani fi al-fath al-'uthmani, chapters 1--8)	243	(30)
Clive Smith
Bayan as a Principle of Taxonomy: Linguistic Elements in Jahiz's Thinking	273	(24)
Yasir Suleiman
New Nabataean inscriptions from Qa' al-Mu'atadel	297	(10)
Solaiman al-Theeb
Two Rock-Inscriptions Relating to the Yu'firid Dynasty of the Yemen	307	(16)
Muhammed A.R. al-Thenayian
Agriculture in Rasulid Zabid	323	(30)
Daniel Martin Varisco
The City of Upper Jizan in the Light of a Tombstone Inscription Dated 868/1416	353
Ahmad `Umar al-Zayla'i