The first major works of Sufism each systematically define the terms for drunkenness (sukr) and sobriety (sahw). This article attempts to trace the changes in the definitions of these terms in the tenth- and eleventh-century Sufi manuals, from the oldest example, Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj's (d. 378/988) Kitāb al-Luma‘ to ‘Alī Hujwīrī's (d. c. 467/1074) Kashf al-mahjūb, and to consider their implications. Hujwīrī provides an extensive debate about the relative value of the two experiences to which the terms refer, and associates arguments on either side with Abū Yazīd al-Bastāmī (d. 261/874–5?) and Abū l-Qāsim al-Junayd (d. 297/910), respectively. While the latter association stands out as innovative because previous commentators had not mentioned these individuals as exemplars of drunkenness and sobriety, it is argued here that Hujwīrī's choice was not entirely arbitrary, but a consequence of the dynamic nature of both biography and the definition of technical terminology.

An early-fourteenth-century capital of the Delhi sultanate, Tughluqabad is a prototype for the planning of many later cities. The ruins of Tughluqabad represent the extent of the architectural design and engineering skills of the time, while the street layout and other urban features remain as the earliest existing example of Indo-Muslim urban planning and its architectural components. In this report the survey of the major fortified gates with their corridors and guard rooms is presented, along with the granaries built to sustain the town in the event of siege or famine. A detailed study of the systems for controlling the water supply also shows how the flood plain was dammed and the water level managed by an ingenious system of sluices to create an artificial lake which supplied the moat and town. The report is part of the project of survey of Tughluqabad initiated in 1986 and complements the two earlier interim reports in BSOAS, 57 (1994) and 62 (1999), in which the architectural remains were studied together with urban planning and the method for construction of the town.

The contributions of Rong Xinjiang to the study of Tang civilization, and particularly of external influences upon it, have already rapidly mounted up to a considerable number, so the appearance of a volume collecting many of his essays together in one place is much to be welcomed.

The Amharic letter published and translated here was sent to me by the learned Brad Sabin Hill, formerly of the Centre for Hebrew Studies at Yarnton, Oxford, and currently at New York.

Literary and archaeological evidence date mancala playing rules to the seventeenth century and mancala game boards at least to the sixth century A.D. Individual mancala games are rarely identified since different rules may be used on identical boards. The mancala game of Bao is a possible exception since its board often has distinctive square holes in the centre which also require characteristic rules. Muyaka bin Haji composed a poem on Bao in the early nineteenth century. The composition of the poem and the references to situations in the game indicate that his game is directly related to today's game of Bao. Muyaka's poem allows the rules of Bao to be dated to the beginning of the nineteenth century, almost a century before the earliest physical evidence of this game. In addition, it provides the earliest evidence of game rules which can be related to a contemporary mancala game.