I HAVE ACCUMULATED many debts while researching and writing this book. A group of scholars, including David Armitage, Dick Bulliet, Kristen Gillespie, Geraldine Heng, Syed Akbar Hyder, Ayesha Jalal, Neil Kamil, Jean Ma, Abd al-Razzaq Moaz, Laura Neitzel, Cindy Postma, Alan Segal, and Denise Spellberg exemplify intellectual support and generosity. They have read drafts at various stages of the project and offered insightful suggestions. Dick Bulliet, Kristen Gillespie, Karen Pinto, Abd al-Razzaq Moaz, Denise Spellberg, and Aban Rustomji provided useful citations. Kristen Gillespie, with wit and vigor, read through the entire manuscript. My anonymous reviewers offered constructive commentary and criticism.
Over the years, I have benefited from the guidance of three mentors. Denise Spellberg helped me discover my interest in traditions of heaven and hell when I was an undergraduate, and her unwavering support over the years has been indispensable to the writing of the book. Since graduate school, Ayesha Jalal has encouraged me to explore the phenomenology of the Islamic otherworld, and her questions and queries have always challenged me to rethink the implications of my arguments. My advisor Dick Bulliet, who has been involved at every stage of the project, helped me expand the scope of my research and refine my argument. At all points of research and writing, I have relished his encouragement, humor, and creativity.
Research for this project has been made possible through Columbia University’s President’s Fellowship, Bard College’s Research Fund, the American Historical Association’s Bernadotte E. Schmitt Grant, St. John’s University’s Summer Stipend, and the helpful staff at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Bodleian Library, British Library, Cambridge University Library, Columbia University Library, Freer Gallery, Institut Français de Damas, John Rylands Library, New York Public Library, and Royal Asiatic Society Collection. Debra Kolah at Rice University provided much-needed assistance at the final stages of manuscript production.
At Columbia University Press, I would like to thank my editor Wendy Lochner, Christine Mortlock, and Roy Thomas. Wendy Lochner’s steadfast support and understanding have been indispensable to the production of the book.
Finally, I would like to express appreciation for my family. To my parents, Aban and Purvez Rustomji, I owe such gratitude that it is inexpressible. My brother Arish’s wisdom and humor provide my nourishment. My husband Shehriyar has been my rock who has read numerous drafts, endured my writing at the most inconvenient of times, and helped make our home a happy place to live and work. My son Azad arrived during the final phase of the book, yet his presence has helped me reach new realizations.
The book is written for my parents as a tribute to their sense that life is meant to be lived fully. Some of the best moments of our lives have been spent sitting and enjoying the companionship of family and friends in my grandparents’ gardens on lazy summer evenings in Quetta. This book has been inspired by those evenings, which offered the most simple and domestic of earthly paradises.