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Publications | The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation

Publications

1999
Six Early Arab Poets: New Edition and Concordance
Arazi, Albert, and Salman Masalha, eds. Six Early Arab Poets: New Edition and Concordance. Jerusalem: The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation, 1999.

Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is one of the greatest cultural achievements of the Arabs in the early period of their history. For several centuries it was considered the only model of poetic perfection. It is the earliest literary corpus in classical Arabic and a major part of Arab cultural heritage.

The present volume consists of a concordance of al-ʿIqd al-Thamīn fī Dawawīn al-Shuʿarāʾ al-Sitta al-Jāhiliyyīn, in the edition of William Ahlwardt. It also contains a preface in Arabic and English, a new critical edition with numerous emendations of Ahlwardt's text, and a full concordance of the poetry of Imrūʾ al-Qays, Zuhayr b. Abī Sulma, Ṭarafa b. al-ʿAbd, ʿAlqama b. ʿAbada al-Faḥl, ʿAntara b. Shaddād, al-Nābigha al-Dhubyāni and a few poems by four minor poets. The book holds almost 1,400 pages and contains more than 33,000 entries.

The concordance is an essential tool for the study of classical Arabic poetry and for the study of classical Arabic in general. In addition to the concordance of nouns, verbs, and particles, it includes separate sections on proper names, geographical names, names of horses and camels.

1983
Al-Aḥādīth al-Ḥisān fī Faḍl al-Ṭaylasān
Arazi, Albert, ed. Al-Aḥādīth al-Ḥisān fī Faḍl al-Ṭaylasān. Jerusalem: The Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation, 1983.

Al-aḥādīth al-ḥisān fī faḍl al-ṭaylasān ("The beautiful traditions about the merits of the ṭaylasān") is a book concerned with Muslim attire. The author draws his material from the prophetic traditions, from the books of law, from Qurʾānic exegesis and from books of history. However, the book has significance for other fields as well. It reflects the various trends of thought in the Mamlūk period and the struggle between the various schools of law. These struggles seem to have revolved around questions related to the administration of the religious endowments (waqf).

The present edition of the Arabic text is based on four manuscripts. The editor has provided an introduction (in French) in which he discusses the contents and the significance of the Aḥādīth.