With contributors from specialists in different areas of classical Islamic thought, this accessible volume explores the ways in which medieval Muslims, saw, interpreted and represented the world around them in their writings.

Introduction. Note on Conventions Part 1: Fact and Fiction 1. Ibn Zunbul and the Romance of History 2. History, Fiction and Authorship in the First Centuries of Islam 3. Meisami Writing Medieval Women: Representations and Misrepresentations Part 2: Appearance and Truth 4. Al-Jahiz's Kitab al-Bayan wa al-Tabyin 5. The Maqamat as a Nexus of Interests: Reflections on Abdelfattah Kilito's Les Séances 6. The Physical World and the Writer's Eye