How was violence justified in early Islam? What role did violent actions play in the formation and maintenance of the Muslim political order? How did Muslim thinkers view the origins and acceptability of violence? These questions are addressed by an international range of eminent authors through both general accounts of types of violence and detailed case studies of violent acts drawn from the early Islamic sources.

Table of Contents

• Dates and Abbreviations
• List of Figures and Tables
• 1. INTRODUCTION - István T. Kristó-Nagy and Robert Gleave
• PART I. JIHĀD AND CONQUEST: ATTITUDES TO VIOLENCE AGAINST THE EXTERNAL ENEMIES OF THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
• 2. THE QUESTION OF DIVINE HELP IN THE JIHĀD - Dominique Urvoy
• 3. READING THE QURʾĀN ON JIHĀD: TWO EARLY EXEGETICAL TEXTS - Andrew Rippin
• 4. IBN AL-MUBĀRAK'S KITĀB AL-JIHĀD AND EARLY RENUNCIANT LITERATURE - Christopher Melchert
• 5. SHAPING MEMORY OF THE CONQUESTS: THE CASE OF TUSTAR - Sarah Bowen Savant
• PART II. THE CHALLENGED ESTABLISHMENT: ATTITUDES TO VIOLENCE AGAINST THE STATE AND IN ITS DEFENCE WITHIN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
• 6. WHO INSTIGATED VIOLENCE: A REBELLING DEVIL OR A VENGEFUL GOD? - István T. Kristó-Nagy
• 7. ATTITUDES TO THE USE OF FIRE IN EXECUTIONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND EARLY ISLAM: THE BURNING OF HERETICS AND REBELS IN LATE UMAYYAD IRAQ - Andrew Marsham
• 8. ʿABBĀSID STATE VIOLENCE AND THE EXECUTION OF IBN ʿĀʾISHA - John A. Nawas
• 9. THE SULTAN AND THE DEFIANT PRINCE IN HUNTING COMPETITION: QUESTIONS OF LEGITIMACY IN HUNTING EPISODES OF ṬABARISTĀN - Miklós Sárközy
• PART III. LUST AND FLESH: ATTITUDES TO VIOLENCE AGAINST THE DEFENCELESS, INTRA-COMMUNITARIAN VIOLENCE BY NON-STATE ACTORS
• 10. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN ANDALUSI HISTORICAL SOURCES (THIRD/NINTH–SEVENTH/THIRTEENTH CENTURIES) - Maribel Fierro
• 11. SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN VERSE: THE CASE OF JIʿTHIN, AL-FARAZDAQ'S SISTER - Geert Jan van Gelder
• 12. BANDITS - Michael Cooperson
• 13. EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG: SOME EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF CANNIBALISM IN ARABIC SOURCES - Zoltán Szombathy
• 14. ANIMALS WOULD FOLLOW SHĀFIʿISM: LEGITIMATE AND ILLEGITIMATE VIOLENCE TO ANIMALS IN MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC THOUGHT - Sarra Tlili
• Bibliography