Title from publishers bibliographic system (viewed 19 Jun 2013).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This intimate portrayal of the devotional life in early medieval Islamic society demonstrates how Islamic law defined holy behavior.

Cover; Law and Piety in Medieval Islam; Series; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Devotional Piety and Islamic Law; The Meaning of Devotional Piety; Concentric Circles of Piety; Biography and the Challenges of Hagiography; 1 The Persistence of Asceticism; The Meaning of Medieval Asceticism; The Case of Celibacy; Contradictions; Was Women's Piety Distinct from That of Men?; 2 "Devote Yourselves to Deeds You Can Bear": Voluntary Fasting and Bodily Piety; Features of the Islamic Fast; Part I: Difficulty and Duration; Ascetic Diets, Legal Fasts.

A Lacuna: How Much Fasting is Too Much Fasting?Motives and Benefits; Part II: The Case of the Perpetual Fast; Health and Excess; Bound and Collared; 3 Charity, Food, and the Right of Refusal; Charity and Table Fellowship; A Critique of Charity: The Glutton; Scrupulous Asceticism: Seeking the Licit; Problems of Livelihood; Juristic Ethics; God's Law vs. Substantive Law: Taxonomies of the Licit; Conclusion: The Scope of Ethical Asceticism; 4 The Devil at the Fountain: Problems of Ritual; Part I: Waswa.s and the Body; The Context; The Controversy: Shaykh al-. Ima.d and the Pitchers of Water.

Devilish WhisperingsLegal Discourse and Symbolic Purity; Was Waswa.s a H.anbali. Problem?; Part II: Waswa.s and the World; Author and Victim: The Case of al-Salla.mi.; Conclusion: Triumphant Scrupulosity; Conclusion: Beyond Transgression, Beyond sunna; Part I: Excessive Piety and Transgression; Part II: Excessive Piety and the Sunna; Glossary; Bibliography; Primary Sources; Secondary Sources; Index; Series.

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