The Jihad and its Times: Dedicated to Andrew Stefan Ehrenkreutz.

AuthorAmitai-Preiss, Reuven

Students of pre-modern Islamic history are obligated to Professor Ehrenkreutz for his penetrating studies of the monetary history of the medieval Islamic world, as well as several significant articles on some of the larger issues in the economic history of the region. In addition, he has published a series of studies on Saladin, the most important of which is the 1972 biography. While all may not have agreed with Ehrenkreutz's far-reaching iconoclastic approach, his research has placed the discussion of Saladin's political career on a higher plane, and the result is generally a more sophisticated and balanced portrait. It is therefore fitting that a Festschrift devoted to Prof. Ehrenkreutz revolves around the theme of jihad and Muslim responses to Europe in the later Middle Ages. This present volume is a welcome addition to the study of these two subjects.

The book contains seven studies, as well as an appreciative essay by J. L. Bacharach and a bibliography of Prof. Ehrenkreutz's works. R. S. Humphreys' perceptive piece on the nature of Muslim political legitimacy at the time of the Crusades suggests that the most important component in providing legitimacy to a particular ruler was gaining actual control of the state and his "deeds after he had mounted the throne." R. A. Messier discusses the ideological development of the Almoravid state, and shows that jihad and the related concept of ribat, integral components of this ideology, underwent transformation as the Almoravid state established itself The failure of the Fatimid state to launch a jihad in response to the early Crusades is cogently analyzed by W. Hamblin, who suggests three reasons: the decline of the power of the Fatimid caliph, the Armenian origin of much of the Fatimid army and the initial lack of a perception by the Fatimid leaders to see the Crusaders as their "natural enemies." H...

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