This series reprints the best of the titles in Islamic Studies that were published by Brill before 1970. Titltes that have been out of print for a long time, but are still important for libraries and scholars will become easily available to a wider audience. The best of two centuries of scholarship, newly typeset and with new introductions by some of the foremost scholars in Islamic Studies make the Brill Classics in Islam an indispensable part of any islamic studies collection. In Knowledge Triumphant, Franz Rosenthal observes that the Islamic civilization is one that is essentially characterized by knowledge ('ilm), for "ilm is one of those concepts that have dominated Islam and given Muslim civilization its distinctive shape and complexion." With an introduction by Dimitri Gutas. FRANZ ROSENTHAL (1914-2003) was Sterling Professor of Arabicand Semitic Studies at Yale University until his retirement in 1985.

Review '...a necessary and previously unknown chapter for any future history of drug abuse.' Lenn Evan Goodman, The Middle East Journal, 1974. '...eine der wertvollsten Informationsquellen zum Thema des Hashisch in der islamischen Gesellschaft.' G. Strohmaier, Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 1977. '...far-reaching and well executed study.' R.B. Serjeant, Bull. of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1972. '...much useful and otherwise inaccessible information will be welcomed by scholars on many fronts.' Jerry Stannard, Isis, 1972. '...provides a striking picture of the medieval Islamic world's knowledge of and attitudes towards drug use - particularly hashish.' Raymond Prince, Newsletter-Review, 1972. '...solte von jedem Sozialwissenschaftler, der sich mit dem modernen Orient beschäftigt, eingesehen werden.' Wolfgang Slim Freund, Die dritte Welt, 1973. '...Professor Rosenthal is to be thanked for bringing these important medieval documents and discussions to light.' Sami Hamarneh, Pharmacy in History, 1973.

In Man versus Society in Medieval Islam , Franz Rosenthal (1914-2003) investigates the tensions and conflicts that existed between individuals and society as the focus of his study of Muslim social history. The book brings together works spanning fifty years: the monographs The Muslim Concept of Freedom , The Herb. Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society (Brill, 1971), Gambling in Islam (Brill, 1975), and Sweeter than Hope. Complaint and Hope in Medieval Islam (Brill,1983), along with all the articles on unsanctioned practices, sexuality, and institutional learning. Reprinted here together for the first time, they constitute the most extensive collection of source material on all these themes from all genres of Arabic writing, judiciously translated and analyzed. No other study to date presents the panorama of medieval Muslim societies in their manifold aspects in as detailed, comprehensive, and illuminating a manner.

This Handbook contains text selections and glossaries for thirteen Aramaic dialects from the earliest times down to the present. Its purpose is to enable the student of any one Aramaic dialect to become acquainted with other Aramaic dialects and to stimulate the comparative study of the Aramaic language during its long and diverse history. The contributors and the dialects represented are: Ancient Aramaic Monumental Inscriptions (A. Dupont-Sommer); Aramaic Texts from Achaemenid Times (F. Rosenthal); Biblical Aramaic (H.L. Ginsberg, includes all the Aramaic texts of the Bible); Palmyrene-Hatran-Nabataean (H. Ingholt); Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (Y.E. Kutscher); Samaritan (Z. Ben-Hayyim); Palestinian Syriac (M. Black); Syriac (R. Köbert); Babylonian Talmudic (Y.E. Kutscher), Mandaic (R. Macuch); The Aramaic Dialect of Maʿlūla (A. Spitaler); Eastern Neo-Aramaic: Urmi and Zakho (H. J. Polotsky); Ṭûrôyo (Ṭôrânî, H. Ritter). This Handbook contains text selections and glossaries for thirteen Aramaic dialects from the earliest times down to the present. Its purpose is to enable the student of any one Aramaic dialect to become acquainted with other Aramaic dialects and to stimulate the comparative study of the Aramaic language during its long and diverse history. The contributors and the dialects represented are: Ancient Aramaic Monumental Inscriptions (A. Dupont-Sommer); Aramaic Texts from Achaemenid Times (F. Rosenthal); Biblical Aramaic (H.L. Ginsberg, includes all the Aramaic texts of the Bible); Palmyrene-Hatran-Nabataean (H. Ingholt); Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (Y.E. Kutscher); Samaritan (Z. Ben-Hayyim); Palestinian Syriac (M. Black); Syriac (R. Köbert); Babylonian Talmudic (Y.E. Kutscher), Mandaic (R. Macuch); The Aramaic Dialect of Maʿlūla (A. Spitaler); Eastern Neo-Aramaic: Urmi and Zakho (H. J. Polotsky); Ṭûrôyo (Ṭôrânî, H. Ritter).