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Ignacio Sánchez

University of Castilla-La Mancha, Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Senior Research Fellow (JIgnacio.Sanchez@uclm.es)

University of Cambridge, Near and Middle Eastern Department, Alumnus

University of Warwick, Classics and Ancient History, Former Senior Research Fellow

University of Castilla-La Mancha, Filología Moderna, Faculty Member

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Section Editor of Brill's Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (History of Science)

Executive Editor Endowment Studies:
http://www.brill.com/products/journal/endowment-studies
Address: Escuela de Traductores de Toledo
Plaza de Santa Isabel, 5
45002 Toledo (Spain)

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Mustafa Al Ansari

The University of Sydney

Patmawati Ibrahim

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Radboud University Nijmegen

Will Kwiatkowski

Adam Silverstein

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hussein Elasrag

Independent Researcher

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Books by Ignacio Sánchez

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book. (Leiden: Brill, 2024). Vol. 1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill, 2024). Vol. 2.1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill , 2024). Vol. 2.2

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill 2024). Vol. 3.1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill 2024). Vol 3.2

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. 5 Volumes. Leiden: Brill 2019.

Open Access: https://dh.brill.com/scholarlyeditions/library/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia/

Epistle on Geography. Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of the Epistle 4 of the Rasāʾīl Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (Oxford: Oxford University Press / Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2014)

Papers by Ignacio Sánchez

Controlling Books, Controlling Texts: Al-Waqf al-Manqūl between Religious Scrupulosity and Authorial Anxiety

Miura Toru (Ed.), Comparative Study of Donation Strategies (Toyo Bunko, 2024), 2024

Ignacio Sánchez, "Controlling Books, Controlling Texts: Al-Waqf al-Manqūl between Religious Scrup... more

Comparative Guts: Exploring the Inside of the Body through Time and Space

I. Sánchez, "Arabic and Persian Materials", in Chiara Thumiger (Ed.), Comparative Guts: Exploring... more

Patronage, Medicine, and Piety in Ayyubid Damascus The Medical Madrasas and the Muslim Defence of Medicine. Part 2

Endowment Studies, 2024

Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153 The first part of this article, published in 2021, discus... more Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153

The first part of this article, published in 2021, discussed the status of medicine within Islamic societies and changing attitudes towards this discipline until the Ayyubid period that led to the so-called Islamisation of medicine. This second part will survey the sources conveying information about a unique phenomenon that took place in seventh/thirteenth-century Damascus: the endowment of madrasas for the study of medicine.

The Fortunes of the “Baby in the Womb”: Embryology and Asceticism in Kalīla and Dimna, Buddhist sutras, and Islamic Sermons

Quaderni di Studi Arabi, 18 1-2: pp. 173–206, 2023

The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the ... more The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the world in translations and adaptations made throughout history. This work has also served as inspiration – often unknowingly – for authors who cultivated different genres. This article explores some aspects of the pre-history and reception of Kalīla and Dimna by focusing on an allegorical element that appears in the introductory chapters attributed to Burzoy and was later developed in Arabic literature: the “baby in the womb” motif and the relationship between the origin of life, the divide between the natural world and the hereafter, and its manifestation in literature. The first part of the article traces the embryological notions used in this work back to a Buddhist sutra, the Garbhāvakrāntisūtra (Descent of the Embryo Scripture). The second part of the article analyses the use of the “baby in the womb” motif in varied examples of Shiʿite literature, in which it is part of narratives that address the problem of human suffering and use embryological descriptions to advocate renunciation and asceticism.

A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine

Rhetorica, 2023

Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-... more Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine." Rhetorica, vol. 41 no. 3, 2023, p. 250-278. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/910300.

Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (192–260/808–873) is mainly known as a translator of Greek works into Arabic, but he was also a prolific author. This article focuses on one of his least known treatises, On Vines (Kitāb al-Karma), which still remains unedited. On Vines is an eclectic and unclassifiable work that combines different genres. It has been traditionally considered a dietetic treatise on the properties of vine products inserted in the Galenic tradition. But On Vines is also a disputation on the excellence of trees written in the form of questions and answers and, ultimately, a polemical encomium of wine that relies for its effect on the opinions of ancient Greek authorities such as Homer, Diogenes, Aristotle, Socrates or Theophrastus. In this article I analyse the structure of the treatise, identifiying its generic affiliations and the rhetorical strategies deployed by Ḥunayn. I discuss specially the long sections on wine and Ḥunayn's defence of the virtues of this drink against its critics, arguing that the structure of the treatise is also determined by the religious implications of praising wine in an Islamic environment.

Wine, Law and Irony: al-Jāḥiẓ’s Kitāb al-Shārib wa-l-mashrūb (On the Drinker and Drinks)

In: Francesca Bellino , Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen , and Luca Patrizi (Eds.), L’adab, toujours recom... more

The Jawāmiʿ al-Tawba. Vice and Repentance in the Margins of the Mamluk Society

"The Jawāmiʿ al-Tawba. Vice and Repentance in the Margins of the Mamluk Society", in The Mamluk S... more

Why Muslims Shouldn’t Practice Medicine: The Autobiographical Account of a Frustrated Physician, Ibrāhīm al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of seventh/ thirteenth century)

Medieval Worlds, 2022

Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the othe... more Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the otherwise unknown Cairene physician Ibrāhīm ibn Yuḥannā al-Wajīh al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of the seventh century AH/ thirteenth century CE), offers a unique account of the lives of street medical practitioners. Although written as a piece of advice warning students about the dangers that the practice of medicine poses for them in this world and the hereafter, this work is a treasure trove of information about the life of physicians beyond the walls of the court and the attitude of the common people towards them and their art. In this essay I will survey and discuss al-Qalyūbī's complaints about the poor living conditions of physicians, the challenge of their authority by female medical practitioners, the predominance of Jews in the profession, and the dangers that the practice of medicine entails, according to al-Qalyūbī, for the intellect and the religious convictions of physicians.

Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation

Why We Translate? Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic), 2022

Uwe Vagelpohl and Ignacio Sánchez, "Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation," in Dimit... more

Patronage, Medicine, and Piety in Ayyubid Damascus. The Medical Madrasas and the Muslim Defence of Medicine. Part 1

Endowment Studies, 5 1/2: 53–106, 2021

This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas ... more This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas for Muslims in 7th/13th-century Damascus. This part briefly examines the relationship between medical practitioners and rulers, especially in the Ayyubid period, and studies a number of works written by religious scholars and physicians —often addressed to their patrons—, in which they tackled problems affecting the practice of medicine and its scientific status. I particularly focus on the polemics against pietistic groups who adhered to the doctrine of tawakkul (reliance on God), the emergence of the genre of “prophetic medicine”, and the denunciation of those physicians who impugned the universality of medical principles. This article will provide a wide contextualisation for the discussion of the phenomena that lead to the creation of medical madrasas, which will be analysed in detail in the second part.

When the Beasts Lost Their Voice: Fables, Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ and Dramatic Irony in The Case of the Animals versus Man of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, JAS 8/1, 38–74.

Journal of Abbasid Studies, 2021

The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the... more The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the animal fable included in Epistle 22, known in its English translation as “The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn.” The complexity and thematic richness of the work allows multiple readings and it has often been interpreted as a fable denouncing cruelty against animals. The abrupt ending of the work recognising the superiority of men, however, seems to contradict the ecological spirit that animates the debate. This article approaches this contradiction from a narratological point of view. Together with the genre of animal fables, especially the Kalīla wa-Dimna, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ rely heavily on the tradition of the qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ to recreate a setting that would have evoked in the educated audiences both the descriptions of the pre-Adamite era, where animals were free and had the ability to speak, and the consequences of the creation of Adam and his preordained fall. The recognition of these parallelisms and other proleptic clues creates a gap between the expectations of the characters and those of the readers, which can be interpreted as dramatic irony.

Endowment Studies – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

by Tillmann Lohse and Ignacio Sánchez

This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides lay... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.

Endowment Studies – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

by Annette Schmiedchen, Ignacio Sánchez, and Tillmann Lohse

Endowment Studies 1.1, 2017

This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides layin... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book. (Leiden: Brill, 2024). Vol. 1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill, 2024). Vol. 2.1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill , 2024). Vol. 2.2

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill 2024). Vol. 3.1

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. E-Book (Leiden: Brill 2024). Vol 3.2

E. Savage-Smith, S. Swain, G.J. van Gelder, I. Sánchez, P. Joosse, A. Watson, B. Inksetter, F. Hilloowala (Eds./Trs.), A Literary History of Medicine - The ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿah. 5 Volumes. Leiden: Brill 2019.

Open Access: https://dh.brill.com/scholarlyeditions/library/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia/

Epistle on Geography. Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of the Epistle 4 of the Rasāʾīl Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (Oxford: Oxford University Press / Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2014)

Controlling Books, Controlling Texts: Al-Waqf al-Manqūl between Religious Scrupulosity and Authorial Anxiety

Miura Toru (Ed.), Comparative Study of Donation Strategies (Toyo Bunko, 2024), 2024

Ignacio Sánchez, "Controlling Books, Controlling Texts: Al-Waqf al-Manqūl between Religious Scrup... more

Comparative Guts: Exploring the Inside of the Body through Time and Space

I. Sánchez, "Arabic and Persian Materials", in Chiara Thumiger (Ed.), Comparative Guts: Exploring... more

Patronage, Medicine, and Piety in Ayyubid Damascus The Medical Madrasas and the Muslim Defence of Medicine. Part 2

Endowment Studies, 2024

Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153 The first part of this article, published in 2021, discus... more Endowment Studies, 7/2 (2024): 127–153

The first part of this article, published in 2021, discussed the status of medicine within Islamic societies and changing attitudes towards this discipline until the Ayyubid period that led to the so-called Islamisation of medicine. This second part will survey the sources conveying information about a unique phenomenon that took place in seventh/thirteenth-century Damascus: the endowment of madrasas for the study of medicine.

The Fortunes of the “Baby in the Womb”: Embryology and Asceticism in Kalīla and Dimna, Buddhist sutras, and Islamic Sermons

Quaderni di Studi Arabi, 18 1-2: pp. 173–206, 2023

The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the ... more The animal fables of Indian origin collected in Kalīla and Dimna have reached all corners of the world in translations and adaptations made throughout history. This work has also served as inspiration – often unknowingly – for authors who cultivated different genres. This article explores some aspects of the pre-history and reception of Kalīla and Dimna by focusing on an allegorical element that appears in the introductory chapters attributed to Burzoy and was later developed in Arabic literature: the “baby in the womb” motif and the relationship between the origin of life, the divide between the natural world and the hereafter, and its manifestation in literature. The first part of the article traces the embryological notions used in this work back to a Buddhist sutra, the Garbhāvakrāntisūtra (Descent of the Embryo Scripture). The second part of the article analyses the use of the “baby in the womb” motif in varied examples of Shiʿite literature, in which it is part of narratives that address the problem of human suffering and use embryological descriptions to advocate renunciation and asceticism.

A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine

Rhetorica, 2023

Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-... more Sánchez, Ignacio. "A Religious Polemic in Galenic Garb? Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's (d. 260/873) Kitāb al-Karma (On Vines) and his Encomium of Wine." Rhetorica, vol. 41 no. 3, 2023, p. 250-278. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/910300.

Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (192–260/808–873) is mainly known as a translator of Greek works into Arabic, but he was also a prolific author. This article focuses on one of his least known treatises, On Vines (Kitāb al-Karma), which still remains unedited. On Vines is an eclectic and unclassifiable work that combines different genres. It has been traditionally considered a dietetic treatise on the properties of vine products inserted in the Galenic tradition. But On Vines is also a disputation on the excellence of trees written in the form of questions and answers and, ultimately, a polemical encomium of wine that relies for its effect on the opinions of ancient Greek authorities such as Homer, Diogenes, Aristotle, Socrates or Theophrastus. In this article I analyse the structure of the treatise, identifiying its generic affiliations and the rhetorical strategies deployed by Ḥunayn. I discuss specially the long sections on wine and Ḥunayn's defence of the virtues of this drink against its critics, arguing that the structure of the treatise is also determined by the religious implications of praising wine in an Islamic environment.

Wine, Law and Irony: al-Jāḥiẓ’s Kitāb al-Shārib wa-l-mashrūb (On the Drinker and Drinks)

In: Francesca Bellino , Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen , and Luca Patrizi (Eds.), L’adab, toujours recom... more

The Jawāmiʿ al-Tawba. Vice and Repentance in the Margins of the Mamluk Society

"The Jawāmiʿ al-Tawba. Vice and Repentance in the Margins of the Mamluk Society", in The Mamluk S... more

Why Muslims Shouldn’t Practice Medicine: The Autobiographical Account of a Frustrated Physician, Ibrāhīm al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of seventh/ thirteenth century)

Medieval Worlds, 2022

Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the othe... more Naṣīḥat al-muḥibb fī dhamm al-takassub bi-l-ṭibb, a largely autobiographical treatise by the otherwise unknown Cairene physician Ibrāhīm ibn Yuḥannā al-Wajīh al-Qalyūbī (fl. second half of the seventh century AH/ thirteenth century CE), offers a unique account of the lives of street medical practitioners. Although written as a piece of advice warning students about the dangers that the practice of medicine poses for them in this world and the hereafter, this work is a treasure trove of information about the life of physicians beyond the walls of the court and the attitude of the common people towards them and their art. In this essay I will survey and discuss al-Qalyūbī's complaints about the poor living conditions of physicians, the challenge of their authority by female medical practitioners, the predominance of Jews in the profession, and the dangers that the practice of medicine entails, according to al-Qalyūbī, for the intellect and the religious convictions of physicians.

Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation

Why We Translate? Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic), 2022

Uwe Vagelpohl and Ignacio Sánchez, "Why Do We Translate? Arabic Sources on Translation," in Dimit... more

Patronage, Medicine, and Piety in Ayyubid Damascus. The Medical Madrasas and the Muslim Defence of Medicine. Part 1

Endowment Studies, 5 1/2: 53–106, 2021

This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas ... more This is the first of a two-part article that aims at discussing the creation of medical madrasas for Muslims in 7th/13th-century Damascus. This part briefly examines the relationship between medical practitioners and rulers, especially in the Ayyubid period, and studies a number of works written by religious scholars and physicians —often addressed to their patrons—, in which they tackled problems affecting the practice of medicine and its scientific status. I particularly focus on the polemics against pietistic groups who adhered to the doctrine of tawakkul (reliance on God), the emergence of the genre of “prophetic medicine”, and the denunciation of those physicians who impugned the universality of medical principles. This article will provide a wide contextualisation for the discussion of the phenomena that lead to the creation of medical madrasas, which will be analysed in detail in the second part.

When the Beasts Lost Their Voice: Fables, Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ and Dramatic Irony in The Case of the Animals versus Man of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, JAS 8/1, 38–74.

Journal of Abbasid Studies, 2021

The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the... more The most famous piece of the collection of Rasāʾil written by the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ is probably the animal fable included in Epistle 22, known in its English translation as “The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn.” The complexity and thematic richness of the work allows multiple readings and it has often been interpreted as a fable denouncing cruelty against animals. The abrupt ending of the work recognising the superiority of men, however, seems to contradict the ecological spirit that animates the debate. This article approaches this contradiction from a narratological point of view. Together with the genre of animal fables, especially the Kalīla wa-Dimna, the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ rely heavily on the tradition of the qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ to recreate a setting that would have evoked in the educated audiences both the descriptions of the pre-Adamite era, where animals were free and had the ability to speak, and the consequences of the creation of Adam and his preordained fall. The recognition of these parallelisms and other proleptic clues creates a gap between the expectations of the characters and those of the readers, which can be interpreted as dramatic irony.

Endowment Studies – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

by Tillmann Lohse and Ignacio Sánchez

This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides lay... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies ( ENDS ). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.

Endowment Studies – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

by Annette Schmiedchen, Ignacio Sánchez, and Tillmann Lohse

Endowment Studies 1.1, 2017

This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides layin... more This article serves as an introduction to the new journal Endowment Studies (ENDS). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.

Al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/869) on Ḥadīth Criticism

The notable and distinguished adīband theologian of the third/ninth century, al-Jāḥiẓ, is usually... more The notable and distinguished adīband theologian of the third/ninth century, al-Jāḥiẓ, is usually not associated with the study of ḥadīth. On the contrary, he has frequently been considered a vitriolic critic of the experts on traditions and some of his works have even been interpreted as a demolition of the science of ḥadīth. However, a careful reading of his writings reveals a quite different picture. In this article, al-Jāḥiẓ’s treatises on the imamate — and especially the most extended one, the Kitāb al-ʿUthmāniyya— will be scrutinised and discussed in the light of the author’s acquaintance with the tradition of legal hermeneutics as described in al-Shāfiʿī’s Risāla.

“Stiftung – Mittelalterlicher Sprachgebrauch und moderner Begriff” (pp. 36–45); “Forschungsgeschichten” (pp. 103–117); “Typologisierungen” (pp. 183–199); “Periodisierungen” (pp. 275–295); “Schriftzeugnisse” (pp. 354–377); “Sachzeugnisse” (pp. 472–494)

M. Borgolte (Ed.), Enzyklopädie des Stiftungswesens in mittelalterlichen Gesellschaften. Band 1: Grundlagen (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014).

Shāfiʿī Hermeneutics and Qur'anic Interpretation in al-Jāḥiẓ's Kitāb al-ʿUthmāniyya

Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink (Eds.), Tafsīr and Islamic Intellectual History Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre (Oxford: OUP, 2015).

“Religiöses Verdienst und weltliche Ambitionen" (pp. 36-48); "Gedenken und Kultus" (pp. 108-27); "Wohltätigkeit und Bildung" (pp. 205-23); "Stiftungsvermögen und –Verträge" (pp. 300-10); "Stiftungsbegünstigte" (pp. 463-76)

Articles included in Michael Borgolte (Ed.), Enzyklopädie der Stiftungen in mittelalterlichen Ges... more

Ibn Qutayba and the Ahl Khurāsān: The Shuʿūbiyya Revisited

In: Monique Bernards (Ed.), 'Abbasid Studies IV. Occasional Papers of the School of 'Abbasid Studies (Oxford: Oxbow, 2013)., 2013

InTRoducTIon The Shuʿūbiyya polemic was one of the most relevant literary querelles of the ʿAbbās... more InTRoducTIon The Shuʿūbiyya polemic was one of the most relevant literary querelles of the ʿAbbāsid period. numerous Muslim authors took part in this controversy, and it is possible to find references to the conflicts between the Arabs and the newly converted non-Arab peoples in a variety of contexts. However, and despite the importance of the phenomenon, the sources that have come down to us are scarce. The most important of all the early testimonies of this polemic is a treatise by Ibn Qutayba (d. 276/889), commonly referred to as Kitāb al-ʿArab or al-Radd ʿalā l-shuʿūbiyya, which earned him reputation of being anti-Shuʿūbī. Scholars such as Goldziher, Gibb, Mottahedeh or norris, have analysed Ibn Qutayba's treatise together with other sources in remarkable studies on the Shuʿūbiyya. 1 none of them, however, had access to the new edition of the text published in 1998, which contains previously unknown passages about the Khurāsānids and the entire second part of the treatise, devoted to the sciences of the Arabs and hitherto unpublished. In the light of the new information, both Ibn Qutayba's work and the phenomenon of the Shuʿūbiyya deserve a thorough re-evaluation. This article focuses on the analysis of the first part of this work, with special emphasis on the newly edited passages. concretely, I shall be looking at the way Ibn Qutayba defines Persians and Khurāsānids as two different and antagonistic peoples, and at the strategies he deploys to analyse their significance within the Islamic umma and their relationship with the Arabs. I will argue that Ibn Qutayba's treatise, rather than as a defence of the Arabs from the critiques of the Shuʿūbīs, should be read as a meticulous demolition of the idea that Persians and Khurāsānids are the same people, as a general encomium of the Khurāsānids who settled in Baghdad after the ʿAbbāsid revolution, and as a particular vindication of the ahl al-ḥadīth, probably related to the polemics concerning al-Maʾmūn's legacy and al-Mutawakkil's religious policies. 7 This affirmation contrasts with other works where Ibn Qutayba states that some of them were Zindīqs; cf. Ibn Qutayba, al-Maʿārif, 621. 8 Ibn Qutayba quotes Q 3:110, "you are the noblest community ever raised up for mankind," and interprets that the verse refers specifically to the Quraysh. However, he claims that this verse has a universal meaning and refers to the entire Islamic umma in his Taʾwīl mushkilāt al-Qurʾān, 117. 9 Faḍl, 91.11 [374.8]. crone (Medieval Islamic Political Thought, 22) interprets that this is the first Sunni formulation of this rule. on this ḥadīth see van ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft, iv, 709-710; and al-dumayjī, al-Imāma al-ʿuẓmā, 274f. 10 Faḍl, 107.5. 11 Faḍl, 101.1-2 (al-ḥaramayn wa-l-arḍ al-muqaddasa).

Reading Adab as Fiqh: al-Ǧāḥiẓ's Singing Girls and the Limits of Legal Reasoning (Qiyās)

Bulletin d'Études Orientales, LX, 2011, pp. 203-222.

Lire l'Adab comme du Fiqh : l'épître d'al-Ǧāḥiẓ sur les esclaves-chanteuses et les limites du qiyās

Ethnic disaffection and dynastic legitimacy in the early Almohad period: Ibn Tūmart's translatio studii et imperii

Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, Jan 1, 2010

The Almohads, who presented themselves as a minority of true believers, provide a paradigmatic ca... more The Almohads, who presented themselves as a minority of true believers, provide a paradigmatic case of religious elitism. The aim of this article is to study the representation of Almohad elitism and the myth of Ibn Tūmart in contrast with the legitimizing narrative used by previous North African movements. In the first section, I briefly survey the Berber movements in North Africa and the creation of new dynasties of Berber origin or supported by Berbers. In the second, I analyse the relationship of the religious discourse adopted by these states to the dialectic between Arabs and non‐Arabs, and will address the historical evolution of this narrative, focusing mainly on those expressions of ethnicity that might be connected with religious claims whereby the Berbers are represented as a spiritual minority. The third and final part examines the case of Ibn Tūmart and Almohad religious elitism in the light of this literary tradition, arguing that the exaltation of the figure of Ibn Tūmart as the Mahdī, and the depiction of the Almohad elites as his supporters, are deeply rooted in the tradition that represents the Berbers as the new supporters of Islam [anṣār]. The appropriation and use of this narrative, however, is based on a geographical – rather than ethnic – opposition, and can be analysed as an Almohad variation of the theme of translatio studii et imperii which reflects a change of religious and intellectual legitimacy from the Mashriq to the Maghrib.

Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists, Volume 27 (2019). (Open access: https://www.middleeastmedievalists.com/al-usur-al-wusta/current-issue/)

by Antoine Borrut, Pamela Klasova, Rachel N Schine, Marie Legendre, Marijn van Putten, Austin O'Malley, Zara Pogossian, Hythem Sidky, Ignacio Sánchez, Coleman Connelly, Robert Haug, and Noah Gardiner

Review of Peter Pökel, Der unmännliche Mann: Zur Figuration des Eunuchen im Werk von al-Ǧāḥiẓ (gest. 869).

al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā 27, 2019

Review of Peter Adamson and Peter Pormann (eds.), Philosophy and Medicine in the Formative Period of Islam, The Warburg Institute, 2018.

Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2018

Online edition (open access): https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/philosophy-and-medicine-in-the-formativ... more

Review of The Reader in al-Jāḥiẓ: The Epistolary Rhetoric of an Arabic Prose Master By Thomas Hefter (Journal of Islamic Studies, 2015)

Workshop: Illness, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity (Toledo 10-11 June)

by Ignacio Sánchez and Caroline Petit

The Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (UCLM) and the University of Warwick organise a workshop ent... more The Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (UCLM) and the University of Warwick organise a workshop entitled "Illness, Health and Healing in Late Antiquity".

Speakers: Valérie Gitton-Ripoll (Toulouse), Grigory Kessel (ÖKW, Vienna), Caroline Petit (Warwick), Uwe Vagelpohl (Warwick), María Teresa Santamaría Hernández (UCLM), Arsenio Ferraces Rodríguez (A Coruña), Antonio Ricciardetto (CNRS), Chiara Thumiger (Kiel), Kate Cooper (Royal Holloway), Stefanie Rudolf (Max Planck Institute, Berlín), Ortal-Paz Saar (Utrecht), Paolo Delaini (Bologna), Lennart Lehmhaus (Tübingen), Ignacio Sánchez (UCLM), Petros Bouras-Vallianatos (Athens), Zachary Chitwood (Munich), Vivian Nutton (UCL

Dates: 10 June (9:30-18:00h) y 11 June (10:00-13:30h)

Venue: Escuela de Traductores, Pl. de Sta. Isabel 5, 45001 Toledo

Free entrance. In-person participation only, limited to 60 people. Contacts: C.C.L.Petit@warwick.ac.uk and JIgnacio.Sanchez@uclm.es.

Conference on "Interreligious Founding" - April 8th and 9th, 2021 (via Zoom)

Persons interested in attending the conference are welcome to register by sending an e-mail to ma... more

Congreso 10 de mayo — Kalīla wa-Dimna and its Translations -A Research Adventure -Results and Further Perspectives

La Freie Universität (Berlín) y la Escuela de Traductores de Toledo organizan un congreso interna... more La Freie Universität (Berlín) y la Escuela de Traductores de Toledo organizan un congreso internacional centrado en el Libro de Calila y Dimna y en el proyecto de investigación desarrollado en la universidad berlinesa con subvención del European Research Council (ERC).
El evento cuenta con el patrocinio del Ayuntamiento deToledo y la Library of Arabic Literature.

Kalīla wa-Dimna and Its Translations – a Research Adventure: Results and Further Perspectives
Organizadores: Isabel Toral e Ignacio Sánchez

10 de mayo de 2024 10.00-19.00h
Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Pl. St. Isabel 5, Toledo

Programme

10.30 - 10.45 Welcome: Ignacio Sánchez and Isabel Toral

MORNING SESSION 1
Chair: Luis Miguel Pérez Cañada

10.45 - 11.15 AnonymClassic – a Trajectory Beatrice – Beatrice Gruendler e Isabel Toral
Discussant: Maribel Fierro

11.15 - 11.45 Continua and Rare Chapters in the Kalīla wa-Dimna tradition - Crossroads – Khouloud Khalfallah
Discussant: Beatrice Gruendler

11.45 - 12.00 Coffee break

MORNING SESSION 2
Chair: Rachel Peled

12.00 - 12.30 On the Trope of Translation: Syriac and Persian Versions - Hidden Cargo – Theodore S. Beers and Jan J. van Ginkel
Discussant: Marigel Gallego

12.30 - 13.00 Kalīla wa-Dimna and the 'Theft Paradigm': On Stealing and Appropriating Knowledge – Ignacio Sánchez
Discussant: Delfina Serrano

13.00 - 13.30 Digital Philology and the Kalīla wa-Dimna Platform - The Journey Goes On – Marwa M. Ahmed
Discussant: M. Xenia Kudela

13.30 - 15.00 Lunch break

AFTERNOON SESSION 1
Chair: Ruben Schenzle

15.00 - 16. 30 Students Doing Research: Ready for Take-Off – Hala Abdalhadi, Doğa Akpinar, Oualid El Khattabi, Isla Karademir, Alice Woolston
Coordination: Ruben Schenzle

16.30 - 16.44 Academic Coordination - A Travelogue –Agnes Kloocke

16.45 - 17.15 Coffee break

AFTERNOON SESSION 2
Chair: Ignacio Sánchez

17.15 - 18. 15 Round Table: Where Does the Journey Go To? About Mouvance, Text Edition, and Translation
Participants: Beatrice Gruendler, James E. Montgomery, Isabel Toral, Jan J. van Ginkel, Theodore S. Beers

Ciclo de conferencias: Utopías y distopías en el mundo islámico y la literatura árabe

by Ignacio Sánchez, Antonio Garcia Espada, and Álvaro Abella Villar

La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza en mayo y junio ... more La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza en mayo y junio un ciclo de conferencias con el título “Utopías y distopías en el mundo islámico y la literatura árabe”. El ciclo incluye las siguientes ponencias:

15 de mayo - Maribel Fierro (CSIC), Al-Andalus: historia, imaginarios y emociones
22 de mayo - Ignacio Sánchez (UCLM), “Utopías ecológicas” islámicas y su recepción europea
29 de mayo - Antonio García Espada (UNED), Fascinación medieval por el Oriente mongol
5 de junio – Salvador Peña (U. de Málaga), Las mil y una noches y la utopía de los libros
12 de junio – Álvaro Abella (U. Complutense), Distopías y ciencia ficción en la narrativa egipcia contemporánea
Organiza: Ignacio Sánchez

Las conferencias se pueden seguir de forma presencial en la Escuela de Traductores (Plaza de Sta. Isabel, 5 - Toledo) a las 18:30, y online a través de Teams, con ID: 364 062 814 617; y código de acceso: ABoCrt.
O siguiendo el enlace directo: https://bit.ly/4b9KBFh

Maimonides on How to Read and Abridge Galen: The Two Introductions to His Collection of Galenic Summaries

Conference: Maimonides on How to Read and Abridge Galen: The Two Introductions to His Collecti... more Conference:
Maimonides on How to Read and Abridge Galen: The Two Introductions to His Collection of Galenic Summaries

Por Ignacio Sánchez (Escuela de Traductores de Toledo - UCLM)

CSIC
Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo (ILC)

Sala Julián Ribera (1C)

Vía Zoom
ID de reunión: 853 4757 3864
Código de acceso: 492890

Conferencia: “El bebé en el vientre materno”. Un motivo budista en Calila y Dimna y en la tradición homilética musulmana

La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-... more La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La tercera sesión, impartida por el Dr. Ignacio Sánchez, discutirá el motivo budista del “bebé en el vientre materno” que Calila y Dimna adapta de la Garbhāvakrānti-sūtra, su relación con el texto coránico y su uso en sermones islámicos, hadiz, y literatura aljamiada.
Fecha: Miércoles 24 de enero, 18:00
Lugar: Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plz. de Sta. Isabel, 5
Registro online:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/9846eeba-ed96-4d8f-94e7-0e372e6c277e@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56

Conferencia de A.M. Ortíz Ballesteros y G. Gómez Rubio : "Adaptaciones infantiles en castellano de Calila y Dimna"

La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Casilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2... more La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Casilla-La Mancha) organiza este curso 2023-2024 una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del Libro de Calila y Dimna. La segunda sesión de 2023 estará impartida por las Dras. Antonia María Ortíz Ballesteros (UCLM) y Gema Gómez Rubio (UCLM). Las ponentes abordarán el Libro de Calila y Dimna en su doble dimensión de colección de fábulas y espejo de príncipes, discutiendo el concepto de adaptación y analizando el corpus de obras que pueden considerarse adaptaciones infantiles en castellano.

Fecha: Miércoles 20 de diciembre, 12:00
Lugar: Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plz. de Sta. Isabel, 5

El evento se puede seguir online. Para registrarse sigan el siguiente enlace:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0e42b2bf-b851-4394-8215-a93ac7fb4760@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56

Conferencia de I. Toral-Niehoff: "Las traducciones de Calila y Dimna"

by Ignacio Sánchez and Isabel Toral-Niehoff

La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza una serie de con... more La Escuela de Traductores de Toledo (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha) organiza una serie de conferencias consagradas al estudio y la difusión del ciclo de fábulas conocido como Libro de Calila y Dimna.
La primera de estas conferencias tendrá lugar el 21 de noviembre a las 18:00 a cargo de la Dra. Isabel Toral-Niehoff, de la Universidad Libre de Berlín (Freie Universität).
Para registrarse, por favor, sigan el siguiente enlace:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/be36b5a8-2b2e-428a-a6f6-1ce690ffa63d@c42cbae6-61f4-498c-9107-6a8cf5f01e56

El evento también se puede seguir de manera presencial en:
Escuela de Traductores de Toledo, Plaza de Sta. Isabel, 5 – 45002 Toledo

Online Lecture: Dr. Ignacio Sánchez (Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Spain): “Collation Culture in Pre-Modern Islam: The Manuscript Tradition of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa’s ʿUyūn al-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt al-Aṭibbāʾ”

by Bruno De Nicola and Ignacio Sánchez

Tuesday 17th October 2023, 5 pm CET. Registration: https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/webinar/register/W... more Tuesday 17th October 2023, 5 pm CET.
Registration: https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jtYw9_Y_TXCkopYHFvdnCw

Abstract
Scholars have been aware of the complex manuscript and textual tradition of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa’s Uyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ since August Müller discussed it in the introduction to his edition of the work. I revised Müller’s conclusions in one of the essays accompanying Brill's new edition and translation, demonstrating that the ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ had circulated in three different versions (Emilie Savage-Smith et al (ed.), A Literary History of Medicine, Brill, 2020, vol. 1). In this paper, I will discuss how the scribes approached the copy of Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa's work, how they dealt with the textual problems derived from the coexistence of the different versions, and how these collation practices are reflected in the codicological, textual and paratextual features that we find in the extant manuscripts.