434 Toe American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 10:3 Seminars, Conferences, Addresses The 203rd Third Meeting of the American Oriental Society 25 - 28 Shawwiil 1413 I 18 - 21 April 1993 Chapel Bill, North Carolina The annual meeting featured panels on the Ancient Near East and Art History; East Asia; Islam, South, and Southeast Asia; The Ancient Near East; and Linguistics. In this report the sessions on Islam are covered. The first day deaJt with Islamic history. Khalid Blankinship (Temple University, Philadelphia, PA) explored "The Background of Sayf ibn 'Urnar (d. c. 180/796) and the Nature of His Sources." Sidney H. Griffith (Catholic University of America, Washington, DC) spoke on "Muhammad and the Monk Bahira: Reflections on a Syriac Apologetical Text from Abbasid Times." Tayeb el-Hibri (Columbia University, New York, NY) spoke on "The Regicide of the Caliph al-Am in and the Challenge of Rep­ resentation in Medieval Islamic Historiography." Christopher Melchert (Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC) explicated the religious Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 435 policies of the caliphs from al Mutawakkil to a1 Muqtadir as expressed by their judicial appointments. Closing this session was Chase P. Robin- son (Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT), who informed the pattici- pants that the coincidence of plague, flooding, earthquake, locusts, and imperial warfare conspired to cause significant social dislocation among the settled communities of the Syrp-Mesopotamian plain. On the second day, six papers were presented during the first Session. James A. Bellamy (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI) talked about the techniques used by early Muslim Qur'anic commentators and sug- gested new readings of Qur'an 2:226. He could not offer new meanings and accepted the suggestions of the early commentators. Boustan Hirji (Dawson Community College, Glendive, M'") spoke on "Islamic Neo- Platonism: Primacy of the Intellect?" and pmented the case of the Ismii'ili Abii Ya'qiib a1 SijistM (d. between 991-1003). She concluded that while he outwadly maintains a Neoplatonic stmctwe of the intel- lect's priority, this is simply a logical priority, for at the ontological and functional levels, the primacy of the soul is clear. Richard M. Frank (Catholic University of America, Washington, DC) presented "The Chron- ology of a1 Ghazdi's Writings," and was followed by Rosalind Gwynne (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN), who suggested, in her "The Neglected Sunnah Sunnat Allah" that, when pondering the possible al- teration of early textual referetlces to sunnah, if the original reference might have been to the sun& of God instead of to that of the Prophet or the community. Irfan Shahid (Georgetown University, Washington, DC) commented on the fid nine verses of Swat ul BurEj and argued, based on their contents and language, that they do not refer to NajrGn and the persecution of Christians therein. Davis J. Stewart (Emory Univer- sity, Atlanta, GA) discussed the problem of authority and orthodoxy in Islam. He seem to argue that these did exist in Islam and, to strengthen his view, presented the case of Salman Rushdi. The second Session dealt with Islamic law and its principles. Michael G. Catter (New York University, New York, NY) used his "Legal and Grammatical Reasoning" to discuss the otigins of "'ilhi" and "qiycis" in legal and grammatical reasoning. The paper offers a small specimen from Ibn Rushd to show how an argument can begin with a syllogism and end with an analogy accoding to the requirements of the topic. Marie Ber- nand (Paris) compared the views of al S M ' i and J a s s i s on hy&z and ccmcluded that the latter's definition was more comprehensive. Shetman A. Jackson (Indiana University, Bloomingtcm, IN) spoke on mutluq and 'umm in al Qariiff s jurisprudence. Rudolph Peters (University of Amster- dam, the Netherlands) shed some light on the application of the Shari'ah in criminal matters in Egypt before the introduction of western law codes 436 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 in 1883. He could not find a single instance where such penalties as am- putation and stoning to death had been implemented. According to him, the Shari'ah was limited mainly to settling private claims arising from criminal acts. The final paper was given by Lutz Wiedserhold (Germany), who spoke on "Some Remarks on the Manuscript U d Tuymcr 94 (Diir a1 Kutub, Cairo): An Anonymous Risduh j7 ul IjtW wu ul T q l i d . The plenary session discussed the classification of knowledge i n Islam, while the afternoon session dealt with different topics of Islamic literature. Soheila Amimleimani talked about a1 Baybaqi's treatment of a1 Mas'iid's court, his explanation of "how history occurs," and the his- torian's view of the use of intrigue in court politics. Lawrence I. Conrad (Welcome Institute) presented "a1 J&iz on the Ralative Merits of Slave- Boys and SlaveGirls: An Epistemological Metaphor?" He thinks that in the litefaty circles of early Islamic times, sexual matters were discussed candidly, were an open subject of amusement, and that a1 J&iz mocked those who considered them obscene or shameful. Leila S. Al- Imad (East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN) read a paper on "Sexuality and Sexual Discourse in Arabic Literature." She opines that, in medieval literatme, sex was not so much a taboo as one would expect and that it was tackled by both jurisprudents and lay writers. The following papers, "Ritual Purity and Political Exile: The Seduction of the Queen of Sheba in a Judeo-Islamic Folktale" and Anvari's "Tears of Khurasan" were pre- sented by Jacob Lassner (Wayne State University, Detroit, MI) and K. Allin Luther (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI), mpectvely. The final session f e a t d Muhammad Akram (Villanova University, Villanova PA), who spoke on the attitude of American orientalists on the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. He asserted that American Views on many aspects of Islam and Muslims come from Europe. Norman Cigar dealt with "Heresy and Orthodoxy in Pre-Colonial Morocco,'' and Thomas D. Goodrich (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA) showed the maps of Istanbul in the Kitab-i-Bahirye of Pin Reis. The presidential address was delivered by Throkild Jacobson at the end of the annual subscription dinner. He highlighted the importance of the early history of the ancient East. After selecting the new president for the 204th meeting of the society, the socitey meeting was was finalized. Muhammad Akram Fulbright Scholar Center for Arab and Islamic Studies Villanova University Villanova, Pennsylvania