SIMEON EVSTATIEV Living Islamic History: Studies in Honour of Professor Carole Hillenbrand, ed. Yasir Suleiman Edinburgh University Press, 2010 Review Der Islam, Vol. 93 (1), 2016 DE GRUYTER Der Islam: Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur des Islamischen Orients :
326 - Reviews DE GRUYTER Yasir Suleiman (ed.): Living Islamic History: Studies in Honour of Professor Carole Hillenbrand, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010, xvii + 318 pp., ISBN 978 0 7486 3738 6 (hardback). Reviewed by Simeon Evstatiev: Sofia, University St. Kliment Ohridski, s.evstatiev@uni-sofia.bg DOI 10.1515/islam-2016-0029 THE BOOK UNDER REVIEW IS A FESTSCHRIFT HONORING THE OUTSTANDING BRITISH ARABIS AND ISLAMICIST CAROLE HILLENBRAND. IT CONSISTS OF A PREFACE AND 16 CHAPTERS ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND CULTURE. THE EDITOR OPENS THE VOLUME WITH A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF CAROLE HILLENBRAND'S SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING FOU MONOGRAPHS, TWO EDITED BOOKS, FIFTY-TWO ARTICLES, CHAPTERS, ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES TWO REVIEW ARTICLES AND TWO CHAPTERS THEN IN PRESS. IN HIS SHORT BUT INFORMATIVE EDITORIAL PREFACE, YASIR SULEIMAN PRESENTS THE VOLUME CHAPTER BY CHAPTER AND DEMONSTRATES HOW THE CONTRIBUTIONS REFLECT PRO FESSOR HILLENDRBAND'S RESEARCH INTERESTS. THE EDITOR EMPHASIZES HER "CONVICTION THAT THE BEST SCHOLARSHIP ON ISLAMIC HISTORY AND ISLAMIC STUDIES SHOULD VIEW ISLAM. NOT JUST AS A RELIGION BUT ALSO AS A CIVILIZATION" - A VIEW THAT COULD BE DEFINED AS CORRESPONDING TO THE CLASSICAL SCHOLARLY APPROACH IN THE FIELD. SULEIMAN PRESENTS THE WORK OF HILLENBRAND AS THE ACHIEVEMENT OF AN OUTSTANDING ISLAMICIST TO WHOM "SERIOUS TEACHING AND RESEARCH CANNOT BUT BE LANGUAGE-BASED". HE THUS DRAWS AN EXAMPLE FROM HER PROFESSORIAL CAREER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH WHERE SH INSISTED ON TEACHING THE FIRST-YEAR COURSE IN ARABIC FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEAR! THE READER OF THE VOLUME GETS A SENSE OF CAROLE HILLENBRAND'S VARIETY OF INTEI ESTS. THE EDITOR IS CERTAINLY FULLY AWARE OF THE FACT THAT, EVEN IF MANY OF THE BOOI CHAPTERS REFLECT IN A WAY OR ANOTHER HER SCHOLARLY INTERESTS, THIS DOES NOT SUFI TO ACHIEVE A FULL COHERENCE. HOWEVER, THIS IS OF COURSE NOT THE PURPOSE OF A FEST- SCHRIFT. THEREFORE, THE EDITOR HAS ADOPTED THE MOST PRACTICAL APPROACH IN ARRAN ING THE VARIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS - THEY ARE ORGANIZED ALPHABETICALLY BY AUTHOR, AN NOT BY SUBJECT, SO EACH CHAPTER IS AN AUTONOMOUS STUDY ON ITS OWN. IN CHAPTER I "THE ORIGIN OF KEY SHI'ITE THOUGHT PATTERNS", ABDEL S. AL-ABDUL JADER OFFERS A RECONSIDERATION OF THE INTRA-MUSLIM RELIGIO-POLITICAL DIVISIONS AFT THE KILLING OF THE FOURTH CALIPH 'ALI B. ABI ?aLIB AND THE SUBSEQUENT DRAMATIC EVENT: INVOLVING THE EMERGING SHI'ITE COMMUNITY. IN HIS CONCISE PIECE OF RESEARCH, WHICH NEVERTHELESS IS COMPREHENSIVE IN TERMS OF HISTORICAL SCOPE, JADER TACKLES THE ORIGIN OF A SET OF KEY RELIGIO-POLITICAL CONCEPTS FROM THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURI] AFTER THE hijra - Up TO THE END OF UMAYYAD RULE AND THE RISE OF THE 'ABBASID DYNASTY. HE FOREGROUNDS AS "KEY PATTERNS" CONCEPTS SUCH AS "OCCULTATION" (ghayba) AND "RETURN" (raj 'a) OF THE HIDDEN IMAM, THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHANGE IN GOD'S WILL OR COMMAND (bada'), THE RISE OF A SYMBOLIC-ALLEGORICAL, OR