2016

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Winning Title

Christian Lange
Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions  
(Cambridge University Press)

The Muslim afterworld, with its imagery rich in sensual promises, has shaped Western perceptions of Islam for centuries. However, to date, no single study has done justice to the full spectrum of traditions of thinking about the topic in Islamic history. The Muslim hell, in particular, remains a little studied subject. This book, which is based on a wide array of carefully selected Arabic and Persian texts, covers not only the theological and exegetical but also the philosophical, mystical, topographical, architectural and ritual aspects of the Muslim belief in paradise and hell, in both the Sunni and the Shiʿi world. By examining a broad range of sources related to the afterlife, Christian Lange shows that Muslim religious literature, against transcendentalist assumptions to the contrary, often pictures the boundary between this world and the otherworld as being remarkably thin, or even permeable.

‘This book is quite simply a scholarly masterpiece, a path-breaking and fascinating piece of research.  It will remain THE study of Islamic eschatology for a long time to come’
Anonymous reviewer

Christian Lange is Professor and Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Utrecht and a fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences. His research focuses on premodern Islamic intellectual and cultural history, particularly in the areas of Islamic eschatology, Islamic law and legal theory, Islamic mysticism, and the Muslim sensorium.

Runners up

Karen Bauer
Gender Heirarchy in the Qur’an  
(Cambridge University Press)

This book explores how medieval and modern Muslim religious scholars ('ulamā') interpret gender roles in Qur'ānic verses on legal testimony, marriage, and human creation. Citing these verses, medieval scholars developed increasingly complex laws and interpretations upholding a male-dominated gender hierarchy; aspects of their interpretations influence religious norms and state laws in Muslim-majority countries today, yet other aspects have been discarded entirely. Karen Bauer traces the evolution of their interpretations, showing how they have been adopted, adapted, rejected, or replaced over time, by comparing the Qur'ān with a wide range of Qur'ānic commentaries and interviews with prominent religious scholars from Iran and Syria. At times, tradition is modified in unexpected ways: learned women argue against gender equality, or Grand Ayatollahs reject sayings of the Prophet, citing science instead. This innovative and engaging study highlights the effects of social and intellectual contexts on the formation of tradition, and on modern responses to it.

‘Karen Bauer’s book is a ground-breaking contribution to the history of Muslim exegesis of the Qur’an.  It is highly original not only in its diachronic perspective, but also in the variety of material it examines’. 

‘The book is highly readable.  Through the case studies that lie at its core, Bauer develops convincing arguments that demonstrate her tremendous knowledge and her analytical rigour.  She strikes an ideal balance between factual findings and synthesis, providing the reader with a wealth of insights into discursive structures and historical developments’. 

‘In my opinion, it is by far the best monograph on the history of Qur’anic exegesis that has been published in recent years and will be an indispensable resource for future scholars’. 

Anonymous reviewer

Karen Bauer is a Senior Research Associate in the Qur’anic Studies Unit at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. Dr Bauer’s research centres on the Qur'an and its reception history, the history of emotions in Islam, and gender in Islamic history and thought.

Nadav Samin
Of Sand or Soil : Genealogy and Tribal Belonging in Saudi Arabia  (Princeton University Press)

Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? Of Sand or Soil looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom’s genealogical culture.

‘The backbone of the book is a remarkable amount of primary research’.  This enables the author to provide us with a ‘series of insights not only into the day-to-day work of a genealogies within a living tradition, but also into the evolution of the Wahhabi state from the pre-oil period to the 21st century’.  Throughout the book, Samin illustrates ‘a dynamic relationship between the state, scholar and tribe, and in so doing succeeds in his aim of providing a narrative of Saudi history that does not focus solely on oil or Islam’. 

‘the ability of Samin to link the big picture political story to his archival and field work on a scholar almost completely unknown outside the Arabian Peninsula is a remarkable achievement and would make him a worthy winner of this book prize’.

Anonymous reviewer

Nadav Samin is a Visiting Scholar at The Catholic University of America. He is a historian of the Middle East.

Winning authors with HE Sheikh Mubarak Al Mubarak Al Sabah, HE Mr Khaled Al-Duwaisan and Professor Yasir Suleiman, Chair of the Judges

Winning authors with His Excellency Sheikh Mubarak Al Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah,
His Excellency Mr Khaled Al-Duwaisan and Professor Yasir Suleiman, Chair of the Judges