Concubines and Courtesans contains sixteen essays on enslaved and freed women across medieval and pre-modern Islamic social history. The essays consider questions of slavery, gender, social networking, cultural production, sexuality, Islamic family law, and religion in the shaping of Near Eastern and Islamic society over time.

Introduction: Producing Songs and Sons Matthew S. Gordon Chapter 1: Statistical Approaches to the Rise of Concubinage in Islam Majied Robinson Chapter 2: Abbasid Courtesans and the Question of Social Mobility Matthew S. Gordon Chapter 3: A jariya's prospects in Abbasid Baghdad Pernilla Myrne Chapter 4: Visibility and Performance: Courtesans in the Early Islamicate Courts (661-950 CE) Lisa Nielson Chapter 5: The Qiyan of al-Andalus Dwight F. Reynolds Chapter 6: The Ethnic Origins of Female Slaves in al-Andalus Cristina de la Puente Chapter 7: The Mothers of the Caliph's Sons: Women as Spoils of War in the Early Almohad Period Heather J. Empey Chapter 8: Concubines on the Road - Ibn Battuta's Slave Women Marina A. Tolmacheva Chapter 9: Slaves Only in Name: Free Women as Royal Concubinesin Late Timurid Iran and Central Asia Usman Hamid Chapter 10: A Queen Mother and the Ottoman Imperial Harem: Rabia Gülnu? Emetullah Valide Sultan (1640-1715) Betul Ipsirli Argit Chapter 11: Hagar and Mariya: Early Islamic Models of Slave Motherhood Elizabeth Urban Chapter 12: Between History and Hagiography: The Mothers of the Imams in Imami Historical Memory Michael Dann Chapter 13: Are Houris Heavenly Concubines? Nerina Rustomji Chapter 14: Educated Slave Women and Gift Exchange in Abbasid Culture Jocelyn Sharlet Chapter 15: Remembering the Umm al-Walad: Ibn Kathir's Treatise on the Sale of the Concubine Younus Y. Mirza Epilogue: Avenues to Social Mobility for Courtesans and Concubines Kathryn Hain Contributors Index

"We can only admire the high quality of this work, of which each chapter provides a cornerstone to the study of female slavery and contributes admirably to research in this area." -- Monica Balda-Tillier, The Arabica

Selling point: Features previously unpublished data and new research on slavery in Islamic society across time Selling point: Greatly expands our understanding of female slavery in medieval Islamic society providing new insights into highly debated issues such as the rise of ISIS and its specious arguments justifying enslavement of Yazidi women and girls Selling point: Contributes to the history of concubinage and courtesanship in both Islamic society and across world history

Matthew S. Gordon a professor of Middle East and Islamic history at Miami University (Oxford, Ohio). His publications include The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (2000) and The Rise of Islam (2005), and a series of articles on gender and slavery in early Islamic society. He is coeditor of the Yaqubi Translation Project and, with Antoine Borrut, an editor of the online journal al-Usur al-Wusta. Kathryn A. Hain came to academia after seventeen years serving the church in Jerusalem and Amman. She currently serves as the assistant professor of History and World Christianity at Northwest Christian University.

Selling point: Features previously unpublished data and new research on slavery in Islamic society across time Selling point: Greatly expands our understanding of female slavery in medieval Islamic society providing new insights into highly debated issues such as the rise of ISIS and its specious arguments justifying enslavement of Yazidi women and girls Selling point: Contributes to the history of concubinage and courtesanship in both Islamic society and across world history