SPECIAL ISSUE INTRODUCTION. (May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Singer, Amy
• Is Part Of: International journal of Middle East studies. Volume 46:Number 2(2014:May)
• Page Start: 227
• Page End: 238
• Publication Date: 2014-05
• Subjects: Middle East -- Periodicals; 915.603305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020743814000087
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7438

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="text-abstract"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Almost two decades ago, Michael Bonner, Mine Ener, and I organized the first in a series of MESA panels on the general theme of poverty and charity in Middle Eastern contexts. We came to the topic using different chronologies, sources, and approaches but identified a common field of interest in shared questions about how attitudes toward benevolence and poverty affected state and society formation: in early Islamic thought, in the Ottoman Empire of the 15th and 16th centuries, and in khedival Egypt. At that time, we could confidently state that there was very little work in the broad field of Middle East and Islamic studies that focused explicitly on the study of charity and poverty.</p> </abstract>