The papers presented in this volume were given at a conference held by the Institute for M iddle East Studies in the University of St. Andrews. I am grateful to the British Academy and to Bill Pagan and the Honeyman Trust for financial support for this occasion.

I am sadly aware that these papers have taken longer to prepare than I would have wished, and I offer my unreserved apologies to the contributors for this delay. However, I firmly believe that all the papers are still as relevant and important as they were when first delivered, and, apart from some updating of the bibliography, I have not altered them.

I am grateful to Professor Giovanni Canova for kindly giving permission for the publication of Arnoud Vrolijks paper, which has already appeared in the Q u ad er n i di Stu d i A rab i. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the contributors for their patience during the long wait for the appearance of this volume. I am indebted to many people who helped me with this publication and wish to mention the contributions of Judy A hola whose hard work is greatly appreciated. I wish to thank W adad al-Qadi, who made many helpful suggestions, and Barbara Hird, registered indexer of the Society of Indexers, for preparing the valuable index. Above all, my sincerest thanks to Larry Conrad, whose thorough editorial efforts were essential for the publication of this project.