Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Giving Builds the Armacost Library. Thank You, Prince Ahmed!


Prince Ahmed in the 1960s
Below is a list of a few stimulating books acquired recently through the generosity of University of Redlands alumnus Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al Saud.  Prince Ahmed graduated from the U of R in 1968 with a degree in political science.  He is the youngest of the Sudairi Seven, a group of seven sons of the first Saudi King, Abdulaziz, a/k/a Ibn Saud, who ruled from the Kingdom’s inception in 1932 until his death in 1953.  Ahmed’s brother Fahd ruled from 1985 until 2005.  The current monarch, King Abdullah, is Ahmed’s half-brother.

Prince Ahmed endowed a fund at the University of Redlands to assist students in the study of Islam and ancient or contemporary matters of Arab history and world affairs.  Each year, the Armacost Library is able to purchase the Oxford Islamic Studies Online database access and an enticing selection of books due to the Prince's philanthropy.

A small sample of Prince Ahmed book titles:


Bashir, Shahzad.  Sufi Bodies: Religion and Society in Medieval Islam. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.

Belting, Hans.  Florence and Baghdad: Renaissance Art and Arab Science.  Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011.

Coller, Ian.  Arab France: Islam and the Making of Modern Europe, 1798-1831.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.

Curtis, Edward E. Muslims in America: A Short History. Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Emon, Anver M.  Islamic Natural Law Theories.  Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Foltz, Richard.  Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures.  Oxford: Oneworld, 2006.


Mackintosh-Smith, Tim.  Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler.  New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2004.

Rashid, Rushdi.  Al-Khwarizmi:The Beginnings of Algebra.  London: Saqi, 2009.

Rowe, Nicholas.  Raising Dust: A Cultural History of Dance in Palestine. London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2010.

Sardar, Ziauddin.  What Do Muslims Believe?: The Roots and Realities of Modern Islam.  New York: Walker & Company, 2007.

The Treasures of Islamic Art in the Museums of Cairo.  Cairo; New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2006.

Warner, Marina.  Stranger Magic: Charmed States and The Arabian Nights.  Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.

el-Zein, Amira.  Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn.  Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2009.


Les Canterbury
Collection Development/Reference Librarian
Armacost Library 221
(909) 748-8081


Photo of Prince Ahmed courtesy of the University of Redlands Archive.  Thank you, Bernadette!