Sufis in Medieval Baghdad

Agency and the Public Sphere in the Late Abbasid Caliphate

Atta Muhammad

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780755647583
• eBook ISBN: 9780755647606
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History

This book examines the political and social activities of Sufis in Baghdad in the period 1000-1258. It argues that Sufis played an important role in creating a public sphere that existed between ordinary subjects and the government. Drawing on Arabic sources and secondary literature, it explores the role of Sufis and their institutions including their ribats or lodge houses, from the use of Sufis as political ambassadors to their role in redistributing charity to the poor. The book reveals the role of Sufism in structuring a wide range of social and political arrangements in this period. It also reveals the role of ordinary, non-elite actors who, by taking part in Sufi-affiliated religious or professional associations, were able take part in public life in late-Abbasid Baghdad.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Transliteration and dates
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The concept of the public sphere in medieval Islamic societies
• Chapter 2 Spaces for the public good in medieval Islamic societies
• Chapter 3 Baghdad in the late Abbasid Caliphate
• Chapter 4 The Ribāṭ: An institution of the public sphere
• Chapter 5 Sufis’ relations with the ruling authorities and their contribution to the public sphere
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Maps and Tables
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright