Children of Islam: Concepts of Childhood in Medieval Muslim Society

by Avner Gil'adi

This book is the fruit of the first comprehensive research, carried out within the framework of Islamic studies, on childhood in medieval Muslim society. It deals with the images of children, with adults' attitudes toward them, and with concepts of childhood as reflected in legal, theological, philosophical, ethical and medical writings as well as works of belles lettres. The studies included in this volume are based on the historical-philological methodology enriched by a comparative approach toward the subject. Thus, findings of social historians, particularly historians of family and childhood in societies outside the domain of Islamic civilization as well as those of anthropologists working on Middle Eastern societies all have been taken into account while analyzing the medieval Arabic sources.

Hardcover

First published July 1, 1992

Reviews

[MM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good series of essays mainly using juridicial literature and bereavement/consolation treatises to examine mediaeval Muslims' attitudes towards children. Limitations aside, the conclusions speak to opposed tendencies of affection, children as innocent, etc., vs. children as undeveloped adults (need to be punished, controlled). Similar tensions are noted between reactions to infant mortality as sadness, grief, etc. vs restraint, acceptance of God's decree. One star off because I was hoping for more of an idea of how the idea of childhood developed, rather than an ethnography.