Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts

Michael Bonner is Professor of Medieval Islamic History at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is the author of Aristocratic Violence and Holy War: Studies in the Jihad and the Arab-Byzantine Frontier. Mine Ener (1965–2003) was Associate Professor of History at Villanova University. Amy Singer is Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. She is the author of Palestinian Peasants and Ottoman Officials: Rural Administration around Sixteenth-Century Jerusalem and Constructing Ottoman Beneficence: An Imperial Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem, both also published by SUNY Press, and Charity in Islamic Societies.

• List of Illustrations Note to the Reader Introduction Part I: Entitlement and Obligation 1. Poverty and Charity in the Rise of IslamMichael Bonner 2. Status-Based Definitions of Need in Early Islamic Zakat and Maintenance LawsIngrid Mattson 3. The Foreign Jewish Poor in Medieval EgyptMark R. Cohen 4 "Prices Are in God's Hands": The Theory and Practice of Price Control in the Medieval Islamic WorldAdam Sabra Part II: Institutions 5. The Functional Aspects of Medieval Islamic HospitalsYasser Tabbaa 6. Charity and Hospitality: Hospitals in the Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern PeriodMiri Shefer 7. Charity, the Poor, and Distribution of Alms in Ottoman AlgiersMiriam Hoexter Part III: The State as Benefactor 8. Living on the Margins of Charity: Coping with Poverty in an Ottoman Provincial CityEyal Ginio 9. The Charity of the KhediveMine Ener 10. Imperial Gifts and Sultanic Legitimation during the Late Ottoman Empire, 1876–1909Nadir Özbek Part IV: Changing Worlds 11. Al-Tahtawi on Poverty and WelfareJuan R. I. Cole 12. Islam, Philanthropy, and Political Culture in Interwar Egypt: The Activism of Labiba AhmadBeth Baron 13. "The Child Question": The Politics of Child Welfare in Early Republican TurkeyKathryn Libal Part V: Welfare as Politics 14. Islamic Redistribution through Zakat: Historical Record and Modern RealitiesTimur Kuran 15. Charity's Legacies: Reconsideration of Ottoman Imperial Endowment-MakingAmy Singer ConclusionNatalie Zemon Davis Contributors Index

"A well-thought-out analysis with the very specific aim of addressing a gap in the historiography of the Middle East." — Virginia H. Aksan, author of An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700–1783\"Posing interesting questions and offering imaginative answers, this volume marks a new departure in Middle Eastern scholarship. I am aware of no comprehensive volume on this or a similar subject for the Middle East." — Nathan J. Brown, The George Washington University"The individual articles complement one another so that the cumulative effect for understanding poverty and charity in the Middle East across the sweep of its history is quite rich. No existing volume provides such an overview of the topic as does this one." — Everett K. Rowson, translator of The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXII: The Marwānid Restoration: The Caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik A.D. 693-701/A.H. 74-81