The Philosophical Conflict between the School of Baghdad and the School of Khorasan in the Tenth Century: Towards a New Understanding of the Development of Islamic Philosophy

Historians often present the evolution of Islamic philosophy through a limited number of philosophers beginning with al-Kindī and concluding with Ibn Rushd. This practice tacitly asserts that Islamic philosophy developed only in accordance with this “sequential” or “chronological” context that assumes it was the inevitable evolution of Aristotelian thought in Arabic. However, most of those who present Islamic philosophy in this manner appear to have overlooked the fact that it developed in the context of a philosophical conflict that emerged between the two schools to which the majority of Islamic philosophers belonged – the School of Baghdad and the School of Khorasan, which appeared in the tenth century and introduced philosophy to Islam and Muslims. This study stands apart from earlier attempts to present Islamic philosophy by considering these two schools and the frequently violent disputes that occurred between them. It is based on an historical-analytical approach accompanied by a rereading of numerous historical and literary texts and presents a reinterpretation of the works of Ibn Sīnā that differs from past interpretations of the history of Islamic philosophy. The study concludes with a thorough examination of the texts and contexts, which demonstrates the existence of the two philosophical schools and their significant contributions to the development of Islamic philosophy, albeit with their own distinctive elements. The study also argues that the philosophical School of Baghdad migrated to Morocco and Andalusia and arrived, in some respects, in Europe through Ibn Rushd, whereas the School of Khorasan appeared in Suhrawardī’s Philosophy of Illumination and in modern Iranian philosophy.     

The Sword and the Sun: The Old World Drought Atlas as a Source for Medieval Mediterranean History

The release of the Old World Drought Atlas (OWDA) in November 2015 provides historians with an unprecedented glimpse into the climate of the medieval world. Through the careful examination of tree-ring data provided by the OWDA, historians can better gauge how the environment affected the course of medieval Mediterranean history, particularly in times and places where textual data is sparse, such as North Africa. The case studies of the Norman conquest of the coast of Ifrīqiyya in the 1140s and the invasion by the Banū Hilāl in the mid-eleventh century show the utility of the OWDA for gaining a better understanding the medieval Mediterranean. In particular, OWDA data shows that the arrival of the Banū Hilāl into Ifrīqiyya coincided with a period of extended drought that is not documented in the written sources and suggests that increased competition for scarce resources was instrumental to their entrance into the region.     

The Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and the Turkmen of the Byzantine frontier, 1206–1279*

This article examines the frontier between the Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm and its Byzantine neighbours in the thirteenth century, concentrating on the place of these frontier districts within the Seljuk state. Scholarship on the frontier, influenced by the ideas of Paul Wittek, has seen it as something of a “no man's land”, politically, economically, culturally and religiously distinct from the urban heartland of the Seljuk sultanate in central Anatolia, dominated by the nomadic Turks, the Turkmen, who operated largely beyond sultanic control. It is often thought that the Seljuk and Greek sides of the border shared more in common with each other than they did with the states of which they formed a part. In contrast, this article argues that in fact the western frontier regions were closely integrated into the Seljuk sultanate. Furthermore, with the Mongol domination of the Seljuk sultanate in the second half of the thirteenth century, the Seljuk and Mongol elites became increasingly involved in this frontier region, where some of the leading figures of the sultanate had estates and endowments.     

The Saljuq Turks’ Conversion to Islam: The Crusading Sources

This article contributes to the important debate over the conversion of the Turks to Islam. Previously, it was thought that the Turks abandoned their former steppe faith and customs very swiftly to become staunch Sunni Muslims, but this view has recently been challenged by a number of studies. The current consensus seems to be that the Turks’ adoption of Islam was a process of far longer duration, spanning many decades. This article broadens this discussion by demonstrating that the chronicles written by the First Crusaders contain much useful information that is pertinent to this question. It works through these texts, showing that they can shed new light on this point.     

The Byzantines and Saladin: Some Further Arguments

This is the second of two articles by the same author arguing against the thesis that there was a conspiracy between the Byzantine emperors and Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, against the crusader states and the Third Crusade in the 1180s. While the focus of the first article was primarily on the Latin sources, the present study shifts the focus to the Arabic primary material, hitherto largely neglected or inadequately treated by modern historians. Through a critical re-examination and re-interpretation of the Arabic sources, backed by the introduction and discussion of new Latin material when necessary, this article presents expanded arguments on the relations between the Byzantine Empire, the Sultanate of Konya and Saladin in the 1180s. The conclusions lend further support to the view that the Byzantine rulers and Saladin never concluded an alliance against the Latin settlers of Outremer and the Third Crusade.     

The Will to Be Unveiled: Sufi Autobiographies in Classical Sufism

While autobiography as a special genre increasingly occupies an important position in modern scholarship, independent Sufi autobiographies still require additional and detailed examination. The current paper seeks to examine two spiritual autobiographies known very well in the history of Sufism: Al-?akīm al-Tirmidhī's Bad? sha?n, and Rūzbihān al-Baqlī's Kashf al-asrār. References to these works in modern research do not go beyond the assumption that they may represent visionary autobiographies, dreams, and mystical, extraordinary experiences and states. In the framework of this paper, we consider it essential to regard both texts as serious indicators of different realities, contexts, and mystic discourses.     

Islamic Historians of the Ayyūbid Era and Muslim Rulers from the Early Crusading Period: A Study in the Use of History

This article examines the presentation of Muslim rulers from the early crusading period, 490–540/1097–1146 in six of the main chronicles written during the first half of the seventh/thirteenth century. It discusses the themes, ideas and topoi in each, demonstrating that the historians appear to have been divided into two ‘camps’ over their presentation of these rulers, based on their personal views of the rulers of their time. The article also examines why this division may have occurred, and considers its ramifications for modern scholarship of Arabic historiography, Islamic history and the history of the Crusades, in both the sixth/twelfth and seventh/thirteenth centuries.     

The “Other” in the Crusading Period: Walter the Chancellor's Presentation of Najm al-Dīn Il-Ghāzī

This paper examines ideas surrounding the presentation of the Muslim “other” in Latin writings of the early period of the Crusades. Using a case-study approach of the views of one chronicler, Walter the Chancellor, in his work Bella Antiochena, on one individual Muslim, Najm al-Dīn Il-Ghāzī, the paper studies aspects of the image of Il-Ghāzī, the reasons for them, how and why they develop throughout the chronicle, and whether, from the other information given in the chronicle, it would be possible to interpret the information in other ways. The conclusions reached demonstrate that the reason for the vitriol in Walter's presentation was his wish to justify the Crusades and suggest that the writers of Outremer started to develop their own cross-cultural responses to Islam, independent of mainstream European thought, because of their situation.     

对我国3位优秀110m栏运动员的技术特征的分析研究

运用文献资料、数理统计法和比较分析法 ,对我国 3位优秀 110m栏运动员的比赛技术参数进行分析研究 ,并把部分技术参数与国外优秀选手进行对比 ,发现我国 3位选手在平跑能力、全程跨栏步步长、全程分栏时间与速度、过栏时间方面存在着不足 ,这些都有待于今后改进和提高。     

青少年男子400m跑项目分段计时训练的研究分析

运用文献资料法、数理统计法、对比分析法、实验法等方法对男子400m跑项目进行分段计时研究。研究结果：（1）分段计时跑很好地控制了运动员的节奏,合理的分配了体力,即在第一时段以中强度跑,第二时段以高强度跑,第三时段是冲刺阶段,但往往速度最慢;（2）分段计时训练的学生在心理上和体力上相比于传统训练的学生都占有优势;（3）分段计时法还可以帮助教练员对运动员的跑进行技术诊断;（4）提高运动员的成绩主要从运动员的速度、耐力、时间分配以及训练过程中能量的供应,制定合理的、科学的训练方法。