The Medieval Islamic Apocalyptic Tradition: Divination, Prophecy, and the End of Time in the 13th Century Eastern Mediterranean

By Mohammad Masad

Part of a growing research focus on Medieval Islam, this book uses a wealth of unpublished and primary sources to recover the Islamic apocalyptic tradition of the 7th/13th century, as it flourished under the Ayyubids and Mamluks in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in Syria and Egypt. Whilst some work has been done on magic (sihr) and astrology (tanj?(R)m), scholarly interest in Islamic apocalyptic writings remains under-researched. This is partly due to a mistaken belief that medieval Islamic culture was dominated by Sunni orthodoxy that had little tolerance for divination and the occult, which are generally connected with Shi'I tendencies. As this book demonstrates, such a view cannot be supported by the historical evidence; rather, medieval Islamic literature points to a deep and sustained interest in these traditions and sciences amongst Sunni scholars. Having made this point, the book puts forward two key conclusions: firstly, that divination and apocalyptic prophesying occupied a significant place in medieval Islamic culture; and secondly, that some respected Sunni scholars who were interested in these areas had such a strong loyalty to the 'Al?(R)ds and the Shi'i Im?ms that they are hardly distinguishable from their Shi'i counterparts. It thus questions the conventional view that sees medieval Islamic culture primarily as the triumph of an orthodox form of Sunni Islam, inhospitable to other denominations. Instead it offers a more complex and subtle approach to medieval Islamic religious culture through the lens of divinatory and apocalyptic literature.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1409424200
• ISBN13: 9781409424208
• Release Date: July 2022
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 151 Pages