The present study aims to understand the subject matter of the Shajarat al-Kawn. In the two earlier studies of this text--both translations, the first in English and the second in French with extensive notes--the translators approach the text with specific preconceptions which influence the translations and analyses. In contrast, our approach is to focus on the persons, events and images within the text and thereby to reveal the salient issues and themes. In the analysis we are led to question the authorship of the text, specific details reveal that it may not be by Ibn 'Arabi In spite of this problem, the description of the archetypal figures Muhammad and Iblis--which has elements resembling the description of the same figures by Mansur al-Hallaj and 'Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadhani-leads us to believe that the Shajarat al-Kawn makes an important contribution toward understanding some of the riddles on how these complex figures are viewed.

This study deals with the characteristics of Arabic historiography in Iraq down to the time of Abu Ja'fer Tabari (d. 310/923). The historical annals of Taberi provide both the specific focus of the study and a methodological approach. Since Tabari's work may be regarded as an anthology of the writings of the early historians, our first question concerns the characteristics of Iraqi historiography as they are reflected in the annals. Then we are concerned with the ways in which Tabari's work differed from his predecessors. Part One of the study comprises a historical survey of the main historians of the period including Tabari. Part two deals with certain specific characteristics of history writing, suoh as the khabar element, based upon illustrative material provided by a translated portion of the annals, which itself appears as an Appendix to the study. Again drawing upon the translated material, we deal with certain problems, such as the nature of the sources, with which Tabari was confronted in compiling his own work.

Sadr al-Din Qunavi (605/1207-673AH/1274 CE)--stepson and pupil of Ibn $ rm sp{c}$Arabi (d. 638 AH/1240 CE)--played a pivotal role in the development of Islamic intellectual history. His contributions in the medieval period helped alter the course of mystico-philosophical tradition, which was then flourishing from Asia Minor and Persia to the major learning centers of the Arabic-speaking world. His importance was largely due to the complex mystical doctrine he expounded in the light of Ibn Sina's critique of knowledge. The age-old dilemma of knowledge was encapsulated in a famous declaration by Ibn Sina--the rationalist philosopher--who asserted that man is incapable of knowing intellectually "the realities of things," let alone the First Being. This did not imply that the realities were either unknowable in every sense, or that they did not exist. The question is in what sense and how are they knowable? It was Ibn Sina's special calling, Qunavi argued, to show the proper role and scope of reason in this quest. Philosophical knowledge may be represented chiefly through demonstrative logic, the only paradigm available to Ibn Sina. Qunavi on the other hand, set out to develop an exegetical grammar more suited to the movements of spiritual dialogue and paradox. For him, an intellectual knowledge of the "realities," in essence, rested on the relation between two distinct realities (subject and object). Yet all agreed that God's knowledge of Himself was the root of all knowledge. It had to transform utterly the distinction between the two realities. God's self-revelation is furthermore an unfolding book divulged through the infinite possibilities of linguistic construction. Mysticism's technical vocabulary had, therefore, to distinguish itself from, though without displacing, the bare skeleton of demonstrative logic.

The struggle for power between the military class and state officials in the 'Abbasï court on governmental affairs had assumed serious proportions by the time of Munis' rise to power (296/908). There was a similar struggle among the ghilman, the class to which Munis belonged. From the start, those ghilman particularly the Hujariya and the Masaffiva appeared as armed political groups rather than apolitical military units. The purpose of this thesis is to deal with Munis' political and military career at the 'Abbasi court between 296-321/908-933. Three focal areas were chosen for this study. (1) The struggle for power between the military class and the kuttab as exemplified by Munis' struggle with the wazir Ibn al-Furat. (2) The struggle for power within the military class itself as it appears through Munis' struggle with Harun b. Gharib and Yaqut. (3) The struggle between the military class and the khalifa as shown hy Munis' conflict with al-Muqtadir and al-Qahir.

This thesis is a study of one aspect of the Twelver-Shi'i doctrine of imamah.

The Manaqib al-`Arifin is a series of hagiographic biographies of the first Mevlevi masters. It was written in Persian by the dervish Eflaki in the first half of the fourteenth century in Konya. Because of the limited number of narrative sources from that period, Eflaki appears as an outstanding witness of the late Seldjuk, Ilkhanid, and early Beylik period in Anatolia. / This thesis intends to evaluate the Manaqib al-`Arifin as a source for political history. While previous historical scholarship has made frequent use of this source for isolated episodes, barely any systematic study of the Manaqib has been published yet. / The evaluation presented in this thesis results from a comparison between every element of information that can be considered "political" in the Manaqib al-`Arifin and current scholarship on the respective topic. These elements of information fall into four broad categories: The Seldjuk of Anatolia, the akhi organization, the Ilkhan state, and the beylik states. / The most part of this thesis consists in an exhaustive enumeration of the elements of political history that could be found in the Manaqib. In turn, these elements set the tone of the global conclusion of the inquiry, that is to say that the Manaqib al-`Arifin, without being a revolutionary source, offers information which is often original and which, under certain conditions, can prove highly reliable.

Many works present solid biographical data on h&dotbelow;adith transmitters, offering tajrih&dotbelow; and ta`dil with respect to both personal and social background. These works have different ways of organizing their entries. Some show various classes (t&dotbelow;abaqat) of h&dotbelow;adith transmitters, e.g., T&dotbelow;abaqat of Ibn Sa'd. Others use alphabetical order. The outcome is a difference not only in structure but in contents. Some works are based on transmitters, such as those of the six canonical books of Sunni h&dotbelow;adith ; others are based specifically on the disputable qualities of the transmitters. The purpose of this thesis is to present Ibn H&dotbelow;ajar al-`Asqalani's Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, which comes as a summation of its kind and is to a large degree comprehensive. By focusing on some biographies of h&dotbelow;adith transmitters included in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib which are based on the transmission chains of four selected h&dotbelow;adiths , we hope to show Tahdhib al-Tahdhib as a independent source for assessing the validity of h&dotbelow;adith transmission chains. Moreover, by comparing the assessment of a h&dotbelow;adith transmitter found in Tahdhib al-Tahdhib to that of other works---such as Kitab al-Jarh&dotbelow; wa al-Ta`dil by Ibn Abi H&dotbelow;atim al-Razi and Mizan al-I'tidal by al-Dhahabi---we hope to appraise the position of Ibn H&dotbelow;ajar al-`Asqalani within h&dotbelow;adith criticism.

This thesis presents Islamic modernism in Malaya as reflected in the life and works of Sayid Syekh al-Hadi (1867-1934). Having first described and evaluated the previous writings mentioned about al-Hadi, it outlines the main characteristics of Islamic modernism, and discusses al-Hadi's life and his thought covering four topics namely: ritualism, education, woman and politics. / The study has shown that al-Hadi was a Malayan Muslim modernist. He seriously advocated Islamic modernism to overcome what he had perceived as the causes contributing to Malayan Muslim decadence and backwardness. He believed that Malayan Muslims could advance and progress even though they were under British rule because Islamic teachings are practicable and realistic.

München, University, Diss., 2006.

Techn. Univ., Diss.--Dresden, 2007. / Literaturangaben.