Page 25 - 1..PRESENTATION (ENGLISH)
P. 25
25
of the ᶜulamā’, 119 and García Sanjuan’s on the economic opportunities that arose from pious
endowments. 120 In the realm of science, analyses by Miquel Forcada and Julio Samsó 121 continue
and refine the work begun by Marie Geneviève Balty-Guesdon. 122 Increasing attention is being
paid to the social context which produced the transmission of knowledge and the translating
activity. 123
The bibliography that HATA brings together reflects the vitality of research on knowledge
in al-Andalus in all its aspects. 124 These studies will undoubtedly result in new and innovative
efforts at synthesis in the coming years, although there are still fields that deserve greater
attention: education, reading practices, the “culture industry” and book production, continuity
and change in the learned milieu, cultural and social practices of the ᶜulamā’, and the influence
of knowledge produced in al-Andalus on the wider Islamic and Christian worlds. 125 The spread
of poetic and musical forms invented in al-Andalus, such as the muwashshaḥa, is well known,
but the impact of other cultural elements that originated in the Islamic West has yet to be fully
assessed. 126 We have already noted which Andalusi works can be considered “best-sellers,”
119 M. Marín, “El oficio de la ciencia y otros oficios: en torno a la onomástica de los ulemas andalusíes,” in M.
Marín and H. de Felipe (eds.), EOBA. VII (Madrid: CSIC, 1995), pp. 377-436; “Parentesco simbólico y matrimonio
entre los ulemas andalusíes,” AQ 16 (1995), pp. 335-56; “Sentido y usos del yah en biografías de ulemas
andalusíes,” AQ22/1 (2011), pp. 129-73.
120 A. García Sanjuán, Hasta que Dios herede la tierra. Los bienes habices en al-Andalus. Siglos X al XV (Huelva:
Universidad de Huelva, 2002); English trans. Till God Inherits the Earth: Islamic Pious Endowments in al-Andalus
th
(9-15 centuries) (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2007).
121 M. Forcada, “Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus durante el periodo almohade: una aproximación
biográfica,” in M. Fierro and M. L. Ávila (eds.), EOBA. X. Biografías almohades, II (Madrid: CSIC, 2000), pp. 359-
411; “Síntesis y contexto de las ciencias de los antiguos en época almohade,” in P. Cressier, M. Fierro and L. Molina
(eds.), Los almohades: problemas y perspectivas, II (Madrid: CSIC, 2005), pp. 1091-1135; J. Samsó, “A Social
Approximation to the History of the Exact Sciences in al-Andalus,” Actes de la VII Trobada d’Història de la
Ciéncia i de la Tècnica (Barcelona: SCHCT, 2003), pp. 519-30.
122 M. G. Balty-Guesdon, Médecins et hommes de sciences en Espagne musulmane (IIe/VIIIe-Ve/XIe s.) (T. D.
Université La Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III, 1992). Microfiche: Atelier National de Reproductions des Thèses de
l’Université de Lille III, 1992.
123 Dag Nikolaus Hasse, “The Social Conditions of the Arabic-(Hebrew)-Latin Translation Movements in Medieval
Spain and in the Renaissance,” in Andreas Speer and Lydia Wegener (eds.), Wissen über Grenzen. Arabisches
Wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter (Berlin-New York: Walter der Gruyter, 2006), pp. 68-86.
124 Aside from EOBA there are the series Ciencias de la naturaleza en al-Andalus (CSIC) and El saber en al-
Andalus. Textos y estudios, published by the University of Seville.
125 An effort in this direction is M. ᶜA. Makkī, “Balance global de la cultura de al-Andalus y su contribución a la
cultura universal,” in M. García-Arenal (coord.), Al-Andalus allende el Atlántico (Granada: El Legado Andalusí,
1997), pp. 35-50.
126 Magic is a field about which we are continually learning more. On the spread of Ghāyat al-ḥakīm and Rutbat al-
ḥakīm see the many studies by Godefroid de Callataÿ under the entry for Maslama b. Qāsim. An interesting study,
although it deals with a North African author, is Noah Gardiner, “Forbidden Knowledge? Notes on the Production,
of the ᶜulamā’, 119 and García Sanjuan’s on the economic opportunities that arose from pious
endowments. 120 In the realm of science, analyses by Miquel Forcada and Julio Samsó 121 continue
and refine the work begun by Marie Geneviève Balty-Guesdon. 122 Increasing attention is being
paid to the social context which produced the transmission of knowledge and the translating
activity. 123
The bibliography that HATA brings together reflects the vitality of research on knowledge
in al-Andalus in all its aspects. 124 These studies will undoubtedly result in new and innovative
efforts at synthesis in the coming years, although there are still fields that deserve greater
attention: education, reading practices, the “culture industry” and book production, continuity
and change in the learned milieu, cultural and social practices of the ᶜulamā’, and the influence
of knowledge produced in al-Andalus on the wider Islamic and Christian worlds. 125 The spread
of poetic and musical forms invented in al-Andalus, such as the muwashshaḥa, is well known,
but the impact of other cultural elements that originated in the Islamic West has yet to be fully
assessed. 126 We have already noted which Andalusi works can be considered “best-sellers,”
119 M. Marín, “El oficio de la ciencia y otros oficios: en torno a la onomástica de los ulemas andalusíes,” in M.
Marín and H. de Felipe (eds.), EOBA. VII (Madrid: CSIC, 1995), pp. 377-436; “Parentesco simbólico y matrimonio
entre los ulemas andalusíes,” AQ 16 (1995), pp. 335-56; “Sentido y usos del yah en biografías de ulemas
andalusíes,” AQ22/1 (2011), pp. 129-73.
120 A. García Sanjuán, Hasta que Dios herede la tierra. Los bienes habices en al-Andalus. Siglos X al XV (Huelva:
Universidad de Huelva, 2002); English trans. Till God Inherits the Earth: Islamic Pious Endowments in al-Andalus
th
(9-15 centuries) (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2007).
121 M. Forcada, “Las ciencias de los antiguos en al-Andalus durante el periodo almohade: una aproximación
biográfica,” in M. Fierro and M. L. Ávila (eds.), EOBA. X. Biografías almohades, II (Madrid: CSIC, 2000), pp. 359-
411; “Síntesis y contexto de las ciencias de los antiguos en época almohade,” in P. Cressier, M. Fierro and L. Molina
(eds.), Los almohades: problemas y perspectivas, II (Madrid: CSIC, 2005), pp. 1091-1135; J. Samsó, “A Social
Approximation to the History of the Exact Sciences in al-Andalus,” Actes de la VII Trobada d’Història de la
Ciéncia i de la Tècnica (Barcelona: SCHCT, 2003), pp. 519-30.
122 M. G. Balty-Guesdon, Médecins et hommes de sciences en Espagne musulmane (IIe/VIIIe-Ve/XIe s.) (T. D.
Université La Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris III, 1992). Microfiche: Atelier National de Reproductions des Thèses de
l’Université de Lille III, 1992.
123 Dag Nikolaus Hasse, “The Social Conditions of the Arabic-(Hebrew)-Latin Translation Movements in Medieval
Spain and in the Renaissance,” in Andreas Speer and Lydia Wegener (eds.), Wissen über Grenzen. Arabisches
Wissen und lateinisches Mittelalter (Berlin-New York: Walter der Gruyter, 2006), pp. 68-86.
124 Aside from EOBA there are the series Ciencias de la naturaleza en al-Andalus (CSIC) and El saber en al-
Andalus. Textos y estudios, published by the University of Seville.
125 An effort in this direction is M. ᶜA. Makkī, “Balance global de la cultura de al-Andalus y su contribución a la
cultura universal,” in M. García-Arenal (coord.), Al-Andalus allende el Atlántico (Granada: El Legado Andalusí,
1997), pp. 35-50.
126 Magic is a field about which we are continually learning more. On the spread of Ghāyat al-ḥakīm and Rutbat al-
ḥakīm see the many studies by Godefroid de Callataÿ under the entry for Maslama b. Qāsim. An interesting study,
although it deals with a North African author, is Noah Gardiner, “Forbidden Knowledge? Notes on the Production,
