Abstract Animals appear in different kinds of sources in medieval Islam, from the Quran to animal fables and works of belles-lettres . This article benefits from previous research on Islam’s attitude towards animals, specifically from the viewpoint of the ascetic-mystical stream of Islam during its classical stage. It examines animals in early Sufi narrative material from three perspectives. The first is the theological-ethical perspective that both questions Sufi morals in approaching animals and animality as well as the allegorical use of animals to portray the human psyche. The second perspective is the narrative angle that examines narrative tropes that use animals as a literary device to enhance human piety. The third perspective is ontological and it examines animals as active agents and practitioners of Sufi piety who share bonds and cosmic interconnectedness with human devotees. This cosmic interconnectedness implies an encompassing unity of the universe in which both human and non-human beings are able to obtain God’s love and intimacy. After an introduction that places the topic within a broader framework of studying animals in Islamic culture, the article approaches stories as a substantially significant source for Sufi thought. It then discusses the three proposed perspectives using birds, lions and dogs as case studies.

Abstract This article examines the lexicon for “gift” in the Gāndhārī epigraphical corpus, focusing on three key word-forms: G. dana-, danamuha - and deyadhaṃma -. These terms, which denote the meaning of “gift”, appear 36, 111 and 14 times respectively (both as single words and as compound constituents) in Gāndhārī inscriptions currently recorded in the CKI. Despite their frequent appearance, existing scholarship has primarily restricted itself to identifying their synonymous functions or analysing their grammatical construction in the case of the two compounds. No comprehensive study has yet catalogued all occurrences of these word-forms, traced their semantic development or examined the reasons behind their changing usage over time. This article addresses this gap by providing a complete inventory of the occurrences of these word-forms in the Gāndhārī epigraphical corpus and examining their use in non-Gāndhārī sources. It also presents a semantic analysis, exploring their synchronic and diachronic relationships within Gāndhārī inscriptions.

Abstract The dating of the qameṣ shift (*/aː/ > [ɔː]) in the Tiberian tradition of Biblical Hebrew has long been a scholarly puzzle. In this article I present possible evidence for this shift in the Greek transcriptions of Origen’s Hexapla , datable to the first half of the third century ce in Palestine. While the evidence is limited both in attested tokens and in grammatical scope, it is suggested that lexical diffusion may account for the gradual spread of this shift, as recorded in different stages of the transmission of Biblical Hebrew.

Abstract This article contains editions of three new copperplate charters of the kings of Valkhā who, in the late fourth and early fifth centuries ce, ruled a territory situated to the north of the Vākāṭaka kingdom along the Narmadā river. Ramesh and Tewari, the editors of the famous Bagh hoard of plates discovered in 1982, furnished a straightforward chronology of five successive Valkhā rulers on the basis of 32 plates known to them. However, one of the plates edited here flatly contradicts the sequence they proposed. It turns out that the dating of several previously known Valkhā charters is also controversial. It has been suggested by other scholars that there were, in fact, two kings of Valkhā by the name of Rudradāsa as well as two by the name of Bhuluṇḍa. A reinvestigation of old data combined with the newly edited plates confirms the former and shows a high likelihood of the latter.

Abstract This is an extended review of Jonathan Owens, Arabic and the Case against Linearity in Historical Linguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023) that addresses several important issues in the methodology of historical Arabic linguistics.

Abstract This article studies the origins of Jafr , an apocalyptic, eschatological and occult book attributed to the first Shiʿi imam, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 661). While it remains unclear whether Jafr was ever physically composed, it became associated with lettrism ( ʿilm al-ḥurūf ) in medieval Sunni and Shiʿi literature. Jafr gradually evolved into a crucial component of Islamic occult traditions and influenced various cosmological theories as well as the letter-magic practices of prominent Sunni and Shiʿi occultists. Despite its historical significance, confusion regarding Jafr ’s roots, authorship and content in Shiʿi sources from the third to fifth centuries ah persists in scholarship. This article examines various aspects of Jafr in early Shiʿi tradition and sheds light on its status as a key text of messianism, prognostication and apocalypticism.