Previous Winners

Prize winners 2009

(for books published in 2008)

In 1996 the British-Kuwait Friendship Society took the far-sighted decision to establish a valuable (£10,000) book prize for the best work of academic standard on a Middle Eastern subject published in the United Kingdom in the course of the year. The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, of which I have the honour to be President, gratefully enjoys the task of administering the prize.

Our warm thanks go to His Excellency Mr Khalid al-Duwaisan, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Co-Chairman of the British-Kuwait Friendship Society, for hosting this evening's reception in the impressive surroundings of Manchester Museum. This is not the first time that the Ambassador, despite his many preoccupations, has found the time to preside at such an occasion; we are duly grateful. We are also very grateful to Shaikh Mubarak Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah, who takes a keen interest in the prize both on his own account and as representative of the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation, which generously finances the prize.

The Judges Panel for the 2008 prize consisted of myself; Shaikh Mubarak Abdullah Mubarak Al-Sabah; Professor Carole Hillenbrand, formerly Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh; Professor Yasir Suleiman, Director of the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge; Professor Robert Gleave, Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Exeter; Dr Zahia Salhi, Head of the Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Leeds; and Sir Roger Tomkys, formerly Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Chairman of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to Sir Roger, the Judges Panel were able to hold their discussions in great comfort at the Chamber.

The Judges Panel were much aided by the assessments made by the professional reviewers to whom the books are submitted in the first place.

Thirty-three books were submitted this year, fewer than the forty-five of the previous year but offering great variety in their subject-matter. The Judges Panel are grateful to both the authors and the publishers who gave them so many hours of stimulating reading. There were books in the fields of ancient and modern history, politics, anthropology, economics, religion, culture, archaeology, literature, language and gender studies; they included two engaging studies of women of renown in the shape of Star of the Morning: The Extraordinary Life of Lady Hester Stanhope by Kirsten Ellis (Harperpress) and Pilgrimage to Mecca by Lady Evelyn Cobbold, annotated by Ahmad S Turkistani and with an introduction by William Facey and Miranda Taylor (Arabian Publishing Limited).

At the risk of making invidious distinctions the judges singled out a number of works for honourable mention (by alphabetical order of their authors):

(a) Coptic Christology in Practice: Incarnation and Divine Participation in Late Antiquity and Medieval Egypt by Stephen J Davis (Oxford University Press). Described by the reviewer as "a stimulating read that raises many general questions", this work traces the Christological beliefs of the Egyptian Coptic Church from the sixth century to the thirteenth. The history is prefaced by a substantial introduction to the Christologies of the Alexandrian theologians Athanasius and Cyril, and the interest of the non-specialist is aroused by a postscript on controversies in the modern period. A feature of the work is the way in which it incorporates into its discussion of literary remains other aspects of Coptic culture that illustrate ways in which belief in the incarnation influenced spirituality and forms of worship - accounts of sermons, narratives of pilgrimage, textile motifs and wall paintings.

(b) The Culture of Letter-writing in Pre-modern Islamic Society by Adrian Gully (Edinburgh University Press). As the reviewer states, "Gully tackles a neglected subject that has relevance to the study of the history, politics and the art of writing in the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. He does this from a comparative perspective with epistolography in European culture in the same period". The reviewer further comments that the book is well written, full of interesting information and based on meticulous research.

(c) Mathematics in Ancient Iraq: A Social History by Eleanor Robson (Princeton University Press). The reviewer states that this book "sets out to do something that has never been done before, to write a history of Sumerian and Baylonian mathematics that integrates mathematics into the intellectual, social and economic life of ancient Mespotomania. It succeeds magnificently". Although it remains a difficult work for non-mathematicians, the author has been at pains to present complex material with clarity. The reviewer concludes that Eleanor Robson's book is "essential" for the study of ancient Mesopotamia.

(d) Charity in Islamic Societies by Amy Singer (Cambridge University Press). Relying chiefly on Ottoman sources, this engaging work examines the attitude to charity in a broad range of Muslim societies across space and time, and discusses contemporary themes as well as the origins of almsgiving in early Islam. It also includes useful discussions based on a comparative approach with other societies, including Byzantium and Elizabethan England. The reviewer comments that it is noteworthy that Amy Singer looks at the important role of Muslim women, and that she discusses charitable giving not just from the viewpoint of the donor but also that of the recipient. The reviewer sums up that this "is a very interesting book on a neglected aspect of Islamic studies".

(e) Palestine in Late Antiquity by Hagith Sivan (Oxford University Press). The reviewer begins his review by stating that this book "is without doubt an important one from an academic point of view. Apart from filling a significant gap in the cultural history of Palestine and displaying in the process an impressive breadth of learning, the author brings to the task an enviable level of modern methodological skill". The work contains some remarkable accounts of individual cities in Late Antique Palestine, and, unusually, the Samaritans are given a prominent role. The reviewer concludes that the work "will have high impact among specialists".

(f) In the Shadow of the King: Zill al-Sultan and Isfahan under the Qajars by Heidi A Walcher (IB Tauris). Heidi Walcher's study of Zill al-Sultan (son of Nasir al-Din Shah), who was governor of Isfahan from 1874 until his death in 1907, is based on her doctoral thesis; the reviewer comments that it is "an impressively thorough piece of research". The author uses her case study to explore a range of broad political, social and cultural phenomena in later Qajar Persia; the reviewer states that the "originality and importance of Walcher's work stems in large part from her taking a perspective from the periphery (although Isfahanis might object to the suggestion that their city is anything bur central!)".

As in all previous years, the judges decided that the award itself should be split. They decided that prizes of £2,500 should be awarded to:

(a) Jewish Property Claims against Arab Countries by Michael R Fischbach (Columbia University Press). The reviewer comments that "Professor Fischbach's examination of Jewish property claims against Arab countries is an exemplary example of original scholarship which is solidly based in archival research and takes into account the relevant secondary literature. Given its focus on primary sources, this is ground-breaking work". While the author demonstrates an acute awareness of history and politics he remains dispassionate in his analysis. His work, again to quote the reviewer, is "of great significance in relation to the compensation questions which could arise in any final Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, and has eminently practical implications".

(b) Artillery of Heaven by Ussama Makdisi (Cornell University Press). The author begins by contrasting, in the early 19th century, an intolerant United States, in which the Christian white men had forced their religion on the native populations, and a broadly tolerant Ottoman Empire in which dhimmis could normally live in a considerable degree of security. He goes on to describe how American missionaries in an exceptionalist enterprise crossed the oceans to Syria - and made just one convert, As'ad Shidyaq. The latter's tragic life serves as the focal point of the book. The reviewer comments that it is "an important contribution to the expanding field of study on Christian missions to the Middle East as well as revisionist history of Ottoman Syria", and refers to its "innovative exploration of cross cultural encounters, use of English and Arabic sources, and approachable narrative". He concludes that it is "a well-written and innovative example of how the careful and thorough work of a historian can critically assess contemporary society, while providing readers with a factual and exciting narrative of historical events".

The judges decided that a first prize of £5,000 should go to The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights (Penguin) translated by Malcolm Lyons, with an elegant introduction to each of the three volumes by Robert Irwin, and with three of the most celebrated stories translated by Ursula Lyons from Galland's French. The appearance of this work is undoubtedly a major literary event, which, in the words of the reviewer, "will have an impact far beyond the field of Middle Eastern studies. Since the first time they were translated into a European language, the 1001 Nights have never ceased to excite fascination in Western readers; they have formed a bridge between the cultures of the Arab world and Europe". Malcolm Lyons has chosen an accessible, easy-to-read contemporary idiom, but the choice of translating style and even more the execution of it can have been no simple task and represents years of labour: difficult decisions had to be taken about textual variations and choice of manuscripts. An outstanding entry for the prize.

 

Prize Winners 2008
(for books published in 2007)

Speech given at the presentation ceremony by Sir Harold Walker.

Forty-five books were submitted, seven short of the record of fifty-two in 2006 but still a significant number, indicating the continued attractiveness of the prize to publishers. In the opinion of the judges the entry overall was of high quality. It was also of considerable variety, the range covering anthropology, archaeology, architecture, history, law, literature, politics and religion. Missing this year, however, was any work on language or linguistics.

At the risk of making invidious distinctions in a high-quality field, the judges singled out a number of works for honorable mention (by alphabetical order of their authors):

• Cairo of the Mamluks by Doris Behrens-Abouseif (I B Tauris).
  This beautifully illustrated book, complete with some spectacular axonometric drawings, adroitly treads the dividing line between a work aimed at a scholarly audience and one intended for the interested amateur. The core of the work is devoted to descriptions of sixty of the most important Mamluk buildings, with much out-of-the-way detail - a valuable addition to knowledge of the monuments of "a city beyond imagination" (Ibn Khaldun).

• Martyrdom in Islam by David Cook (Cambridge University Press).
  A comprehensive yet not over-long study of a topical but largely misunderstood subject, wide in scope, well researched, and full of fascinating insights. Coming from a background in religious studies, the author is able to speak in comparative terms about martyrdom in the two other montheistic traditions, while a good number of the case studies with which he illustrates his analysis of doctrine come from beyond Arabia - from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Africa.

• The Future for Palestinian Refugees: Towards Equity and Peace by Michael Dumper (Lynne Rienner Publishers).
  Michael Dumper has found something fresh to say about this long-standing problem, placing it in the context of other conflicts involving refugees. A thoroughly well researched and clearly written book which deserves to be read not only by the parties but also by the broader interested public.

• Introduction to Middle Eastern Law by Chibli Mallat (Oxford University Presss).
  A well written work, based on extensive research, that constitutes a bold attempt to frame the law of the Middle Eastern countries in a new way.

• Power, Politics and Religion in Timurid Iran by Beatrice Forbes Manz (Cambridge University Press).
  Of this work the reviewer noted that, fifteen years or so in the making, it was "a rich and detailed examination of a dynamic period in the history of Iran and Central Asia". The chapters on the sources of religious authority and the involvement of the religious classes in politics were particularly original and important. "Manz makes magisterial use of a wide range of sources; her work will be a model for the discussion of these issues [of Timurid society] on a broader canvas."

• Governing Property, Making the Modern State by Martha Mundy and Richard Saumarez Smith (I B Tauris).
  This original work, written for the specialist rather than the general reader, sets out an argument, backed by an impressive collation of over ten years of fieldwork and analysis of archival records, that modernity came to Ottoman society in the nineteenth century as the outcome of internal processes, not as an import from the West.

• Space and Muslim Urban Life by Simon O'Meara (Routledge).
  In this short but packed book Simon O' Meara brings, in the words of the reviewer, "a new depth and sophistication" to the literature on the Islamic city. In an examination showing intimate on-the-spot knowledge he homes in on space rather than monuments to interpret pre-modern Fez not as a UNESCO World Heritage site but as a machine for living. He assembles an impressive body of legal data to explain the purpose of the many walls that subdivide Fez, with far-reaching implications for the study of other Islamic cities.

As in all previous years, the judges decided that the award itself should be split. They decided that two works should be awarded £4000 each:

• A Tribal Order: Politics and Law in the Mountains of Yemen by Shelagh Weir (The British Museum Press).
  This admirably readable work of anthropology describes the politico-legal system in an area of northern Yemen. The reviewer commented: "She explores in impressive detail the tribal system, tribal governance, law and politics, and state and tribal relations, the latter crucial to our understanding of Yemen today". The book is the result not only of extensive fieldwork but the examination of some 350 Arabic documents describing for example the minutiae of land transactions on the one hand and defence pacts on the other. The judges agreed with the judgment of the reviewer that overall "the book is a remarkable achievement in adding greatly to our understanding of this complex tribal world" and, they would add, to dispelling notions of the uniformity of tribal systems.

• Medieval Islamic Medicine by Peter E Pormann and Emilie Savage-Smith (Edinburgh University Press).
  This volume not only updates Manfred Ullmann's monumental Die Medizin im Islam of 1968 but also challenges aspects of past conventional wisdom, for example on the importance of the translation movement of the 9th century. The reviewer, after stating that the book offers a readable, up-to-date introduction to the field covered by its title, comments that the "book will be useful also to the many academics within the field who are becoming aware of the discipline's growing importance", adding that "this volume will certainly take its place among the sources that allow easy access to 'non-Western' accomplishments". He concludes that it is "an inestimable contribution both to its own field, but also within and - perhaps most importantly - outwith Islamic and Middle Eastern studies."

The judges further decided that £2000 should be awarded to The Ismailis in the Middle Ages by Shafique N Virani (Oxford University Press). This fascinating and elegantly written book deals with a little known area of later medieval Islamic history, namely that of the Ismailis after the Mongol destruction of Alamut in 1256.The author draws on a wide array of Arabic and Persian sources, providing new and valuable information on the fate of the Ismailis in the period 1256-1500. The author gives an admirably lucid account of the history of both events and doctrines, and explains how the Ismailis survived in hostile environments, using a variety of stratagems.

2007

The books on the shortlist were:

• Sons of Sinbad: The Photographs, selected and introduced by William Facey, Yacoub al-Hijji and Grace Pundyk (Arabian Publishing). This is an evocative supplement to Alan Villiers' classic Sons of Sinbad. A thorough introduction presents photographs in which you can positively smell the sea.
• Also by Arabian Publishing - The Arab Chest by Sheila Unwin describes with infectious enthusiasm the history and types of the subject of its title.
• Arab Representations of the Occident: East-West Encounters in Arabic Fiction by Rasheed El-Enany (Routledge)
• Modern Arabic Literature by Paul Starkey (Edinburgh University Press)
• Warring Souls by Roxanne Varzi (Duke University Press)
• The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq by Patrick Cockburn (Verso);
• The Secret History of Al-Qa'ida by Abdul Bari Atwan (Saqi Books).
• The Sword of Persia: Nader Shah by Michael Axworthy (I B Tauris)
• Islam, Christianity and Tradition by Ian Netton (Edinburgh University Press)

As in every year so far the Judges Panel decided that the award should be split. They came to the following conclusion.

Two works should be awarded a prize of £1000 each:

• Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century by Ruud Peters - our speaker this evening - published by Cambridge University Press. To quote our reviewer, "This book... about punishment in Islamic law.. is very interesting and enlightening, as it concentrates not only on theory, as so many earlier books on Islamic law have done, but... also provides extensive documentation on actual legal cases... Peters demonstrates an impressive mastery of his subject."

• The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity by Christopher Baumer (I B Tauris). Again I quote: "Baumer... is a scholar to his fingertips... He combines in the most impressive way a solid knowledge of the complex past of the Nestorian church, a sensitivity to its theological, spritual and mystical heritage, and an inexhaustible fascination with how that heritage fares in today's world from Syria to India and from Cyprus to the USA... This is an inspired work of synthesis, but it also contains much original research."

Two works should be awarded top prizes of £4000 each:

• Islam and the Moral Economy: The Challenge of Capitalism by Charles Tripp (Cambridge University Press). This is an outstanding work of world-class scholarship that will certainly enhance understanding of the Middle East among a wider readership in the English speaking world. Charles Tripp surveys the ways in which Islamic thinkers have grappled with the imaginative and material universe of capitalism over the last two hundred years. He argues with considerable cogency, sympathy and elegance that the Islamic tradition gives a distinctive idiom and colour to a set of responses that otherwise operate with the same grammar and on the same conceptual basis as other non-Islamic responses to capitalism.

• Islamic Calligraphy by Sheila Blair (Edinburgh University Press). This must be the best book ever written about Islamic calligraphy. Its author has carefully judged it to meet the demands not only of anyone interested in Arabic writing, but also of specialists. The Judges Panel agreed with our reviewer that this is a work of profound erudition and insight. And we took our decision in full realisation of the fact that Sheila Blair had won a prize once before (in 1999 for Islamic Inscriptions (Edinburgh University Press)).

2006

The books on the shortlist were:

• Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire by Gabor, published by Cambridge University Press
• Documenting Transnational Migration: Jordanian men working and studying in Europe, Asia and North America by Richard T. Antoun, published by Berghahn Books
• The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia bt David Commins, published by IB Tauris
• The Middle East in International Relations by Fred Halliday, published by Cambridge University Press
• The Early Dilmun Settlement at Saar by Robert Killick and Jane Moon, published by Archaeology International
• Marriage, Money and Divorce in Medieval Islamic Society by Yossef Rapoport, published by Cambridge University Press

The runner up was The Turks in World History by Carter Vaughn Findley, published by Oxford University Press and the winning title was Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman: The People of the Dhow by Dionisius Agius, published by Kegan Paul.

2005

Winner:

Medieval Islamic Political Thought by Patricia Crone published by Edinburgh University Press.

The judges also awarded two runners up prizes of £1,000 which went to:

• The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It by Suraiya Faroqhi published by I B Tauris

• The Court of the Caliphs by Hugh Kennedy published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson

2004

The winning title of the book prize, presented in 2004, receiving a cheque for £7,000 from Shaikh Mubarak al-Abdullah al-Mubarak Al Sabah was:

Making Music in the Arab World by A.J. Racy (Cambridge University Press)

Other Prizes

• The Arabic Language and National Identity by Yasir Suleiman (Edinburgh University Press)

• Early Persian Painting by Bernard O'Kane (I B Tauris)

2003

On the shortlist, the judges had four very different publications:

• Nigel Groom's Sheba Revealed edited by William Facey and published by the London Centre of Arab Studies
• Karis M. Firro's Inventing Lebanon published by I B Tauris
• Being Israeli: the dynamics of multiple citizenship by Gershon Shafir and Yoav Peled published by Cambridge University Press
• Juan Cole's Sacred Space and Holy War published by I B Tauris

The judges awarded two runner-up prizes to the following:

• Jeremy Johns' Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily published by Cambridge University Press and
• Peerless Images - Persian painting and its sources by three authors led by Eleanor Sims published by Yale University Press

We were delighted that both authors could be present at the award ceremony to receive cheques for £1,000.

The book which was awarded the main prize of £8,000 was Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, Globalisation and the Middle East by Naomi Sakr, published by I B Tauris. The judges had no doubt that this book deserved the main prize. It is the best book written on Arab television. It focuses mainly on the production side of transnational television and gives a profound insight about the institutional foundations in what our reviewer describes as "simply Stunning" in character. This is an outstanding book that admirably meets the criteria of being based on sound scholarship that will enhance the understanding of the Middle East among a wider readership in the English speaking world and we were delighted to present Naomi Sakr with this award.

2002

Winner:

Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought by Michael Cook (Cambridge University Press)

The book was described as 'a truly outstanding work'. Professor Cook received a cheque for £7,000 at the Award Ceremony which was held at the residence of Kuwaiti Ambassador, HE Khaled Al-Duwaisan in the presence of Shaikh Mubarak al-Abdullah al-Mubarak Al Sabah.

Runners Up:

• Paper Before Print by Jonathan Bloom (Yale University Press)

• Arabia and the Arabs from the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam by Robert Hoyland (Routledge)

• Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World by Bruce Masters (Cambridge University Press)

2001

Winner:

Franklin D. Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West - The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi (Allen Lane - Oneworld, 2000)

Professor Lewis received a cheque for £7,000 at an Award Ceremony during the BRISMES Annual Conference in July 2001.

The runners-up (each receiving £1,000) were:

• Sevket Pamuk, The Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press)
• Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia (I.B. Tauris)
• Chase F. Robinson, Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia (Cambridge University Press).

2000

Winners of the prize for books published in 1999 are as follows:

• Andrew George, The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Allen Lane - The Penguin Press, 1999) and
• Julie Scott Meisami, Persian Historiography to the End of the Twelfth Century (Edinburgh University Press, 1999).

Both received a cheque for £5,000 at an Award Ceremony which followed the BRISMES Annual Conference in July 2000.

The four other shortlisted books, praised at some length at the Award Ceremony, were the following:

• Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Edinburgh University Press);
• Robert Irwin, Night & Horses & the Desert (Allen Lane-The Penguin Press);
• Shireen Mahdavi, For God, Mammon and Country: A Ninteenth-Century Persian Merchant, Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin Al-Zarb (Westview Press);
• Rudi Matthee, Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver 1600-1730 (Cambridge University Press)

1999

The prizes for books published in 1998 are as follows:

• Islamic Inscriptions by Sheila S. Blair (Edinburgh University Press) was awarded the first prize of £3,000;
• State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540-1834 by Dina Rizk Khoury (Cambridge University Press)

• Shi'i Scholars of 19th Century Iraq by Meir Litvak (Cambridge University Press) won the two runner-up prizes of £1,000.

Winners of the prize in its first year were:

• James Montgomery, The Vagaries of the Qasidah: The Tradition and Practice of Early Arabic Poetry (Aris & Phillips
• Yazid Sayigh, Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 (Oxford University Press).

Runners up were:

• Harriet Crawford, Robert Killick and Jane Moon: The Dilmun Temple at Saar: Bahrain and its Archaeological Inheritance (Kegan Paul
• Richard Parkinson: The Tale of Sinuhe and other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 BC (Oxford University Press).

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