Paul M. Cobb, Ph.D. (1997), University of Chicago, is Professor of Islamic History in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published numerous books, translations, and articles dealing with medieval Islam, including his translation of Usama ibn Munqidh's Book of Contemplation (Penguin Classics, 2008).

• AcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsList of ContributorsIntroduction: Narratives of Fred McGraw Donner, Paul M. CobbBibliography of the Works of Fred McGraw DonnerPART ONE: HISTORY AND SOCIETYWho was the Shepherd of Damascus? The Enigma of Jewish and Messianist Responses to the Islamic Conquests in Marwānid Syria and Mesopotomia, Sean W. AnthonyPolitical Anarchism, Dissent, and Marginal Groups in the Early Ninth Century: The Ṣūfīs of the Muʿtazila Revisited, Hayrettin YücesoyScholars and Charlatans on the Baghdad-Khurasan Circuit from the Ninth to the Eleventh Centuries, Jonathan A. C. BrownWere the Ismāʿīlī Assassins the First Suicide Attackers? An Examination of Their Recorded Assassinations, David CookPART TWO: HISTORIOGRAPHYThe Identity Crisis of Abū Bakra: Mawlā of the Prophet, or Polemical Tool? , Elizabeth UrbanWriting the History of the futūḥ: The futūḥ-works by al-Azdī, Ibn ʿAtham, and al-Wāqidī, Jens ScheinerIn Defense of Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān: Treatises and Monographs on Muʿāwiya from the Eighth to the Sixteenth Centuries, Aram A. ShahinThe Umayyads and ʿAbbāsids in Mujīr al-Dīn’s Fifteenth-Century History of Jerusalem and Hebron, Robert SchickPART THREE: QURʾĀN, LAW, AND NARRATIVEReproducing Power: Qurʾānic Anthropogonies in Comparison, Kathryn KuenyNarratives of Villainy: Titus, Nebuchadnezzar, and Nimrod in the ḥadith and midrash aggadah, Shari L. LowinQurʾānic Rhetoric in Ninth-Century Muslim-Byzantine Diplomacy: Al-Maʾmūn’s Letter to Theophilus in 833 CE, Vanessa De GifisIbāḍī Fiqh Scholarship in Context, Brannon WheelerThe ḥadd Penalty for zinā: Symbol or Deterrent? Texts from the Early Sixteenth Century, Marion Holmes KatzPART FOUR: TEXTS AND ARTIFACTSThe Revolt of al-Ḥārith b. Surayj and the Countermarking of Umayyad Dirhams in Early Eighth Century CE Khurāsān, Stuart D. SearsThe Riddle of Early Islamic Ascalon: Where is it and What does Coptic Glazed Ware Tell Us About it? Tracy HoffmanḤiṣn, Ribāṭ, Thaghr or Qaṣr? Semantics and Systems of Frontier Fortifications in the Early Islamic Period, Asa EgerDescriptions of the Pharos of Alexandria in Islamic and Chinese Sources: Collective Memory and Textual Transmission, Tasha VorderstrasseBibliographyIndex

"What emerges from the contributions in this book is Donner's ability to establish among his students his own high standards of scholarship, including his careful approach to medieval and modern sources."Jere L. Bacharach in Review of Middle East Studies (MESA) 48.1-2 (2014) p. 73-75.“In conclusion, this collection makes a great contribution to the study of early Islamic religion and history and gives the reader a useful overview of the complex nature of Islamic history and scholarship.”Saud al-Sarhan in Ilahiyat Studies, Vol. 6, 2, Summer/Fall (2015).