Cover; Copyright; Contents; Abbreviations; Figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1�Ah�at in Islamic Thought; 2 Literary Networks in Mamluk Cairo; 3 Recollecting and Reconfiguring Afflicted Literary Bodies; 4 Transgressive Bodies, Transgressive Hadith; 5 Public Insults and Undoing Shame: Censoring the Blighted Body; Bibliography; Index.

Outlines the complex significance of bodies in the late medieval central Arab Islamic lands. Did you know that blue eyes, baldness, bad breath and boils were all considered bodily 'blights' by Medieval Arabs, as were cross eyes, lameness and deafness? What assumptions about bodies influenced this particular vision of physical difference? How did blighted people view their own bodies? Through close analyses of anecdotes, personal letters, (auto)biographies, erotic poetry, non-binding legal opinions, diaristic chronicles and theological tracts, the cultural views and experiences of disability an.

Print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

JSTOR Books at JSTOR Demand Driven Acquisitions