1 BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN
The Kalbids of Sicily
Muslim Sicily Unraveling
Born in Syracuse, Becoming a Poet
Education in an Early Jihadi Frontier
The Rise of an Indigenous Muslim-Sicilian Culture
Poetry in Muslim Sicily, From Philology to Art and Politics
Crafting a Poetics of 'Homeland'
2 DILEMMA: TO REMAIN OR DEPART
Sojourn in Sfax: Maintaining the Ifriqiya-Sicily Connection
Asad ibn al-Furat: Muslim Sicily's Founding Father
Ibn Hawqal's Sicilian Chapter
In the Shadow of the Norman Conquest
3 THE FIRST DESERT CROSSING
Ifriqiya: A Divided and Turbulent Motherland
The Zirid Dynasty of Ifriqiya
The 'Arabs' of Eleventh-Century Ifriqiya
On the Desert Highway: Traveling with Arab Companions
4 LA DOLCE VITA IN SEVILLE
The 'Abbadid Kingdom of Seville
Muslim Spain and Muslim Sicily: A Comparative View
Elegy to a Father
Serving the Patron: The Political Panegyric
Court Poet as Court Functionary
The Looming Threat of the Christian Reconquest
Poetic Sparring: Poet as Client, Poet as Competitor
5 FROM THE DARK CLOUDS OF AL-ZALLAQA TO A SECOND EXILE
Confrontation at Badajoz: Enter the Almoravids
The Battle of al-Zallaqa
The Fall of the 'Abbadids of Seville
6 1091: ANNUS HORRIBILIS AND THE SECOND DESERT CROSSING
Intermission at Qal'at Bani Hammad
Return to Mahdia
Connecting to the Zirids: Praise and Blame for Tamim
Vigilant Eye on the Norman Conquest
Ode to a Falling Homeland
Back to the Family in Sfax: Mourning the Loss of an Aunt and a Wife
7 THE POETICS OF JIHAD: AT THE ZIRID COURT IN MAHDIA
At the Court of Yahya ibn Tamim
Revolt and Murder at the Zirid Palace
Breaking Ranks in Gabes
From Seville to Nicotera and Mahdia: The Almoravids Move East
Victory at al-Dimas
The Almohads on the Horizon
8 TIME OF REFLECTION: ASCETIC VERSES AND ARABS AT THE NORMAN COURT
Retreat into Devotional Verse
Arabs and Muslim Culture at the Norman Court in Palermo
9 TWILIGHT: BLINDNESS, LOSS, AND DEFEAT
Losing Sight
Sicily Forever on the Mind
Elegy to a Nephew and Family History
Mourning a Daughter, Mourning a Homeland
Death and Burial
Ibn Hamdis's Legacy in History and Literature