This article explores the local context of the prominence of Sufism and sanctity in the late medieval period (1250–1500) through an examination of the diffusion of the Qādirī spiritual path in the spatial frame of Palestine. The geographical spread of the major spiritual paths (ṭarīqas) and the emergence of their shaykhs as charismatic figures in the course of the late medieval period has received considerable attention by historians of Sufism. Although the study of the social historical dimensions of the universal evolution and its nuances and variations is in order, patiently asked questions remain open regarding the establishment of the ṭarīqas into locally embedded associations around charismatic shaykhs in particular historical and geographical settings, as well as the role local leaders of the ṭarīqas played in shaping a communities' life and space.

Iraq in the tenth and eleventh centuries witnessed a flowering of Shiite cultural production with lasting effects on the Islamic sciences such as law, hadith, theology, and Qur'anic commentary. The works of al-Shaykh al-Mufīd (d. 413/1022), al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (d. 436/1044), and al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī (d. 460/1067) not only broke significant new ground in Shiite intellectual history and defended Shiite doctrinal positions against opponents, but also set parameters for production in these fields that would remain in effect, grosso modo, until modern times. During the same period, Shiite authors made substantial contributions to fields not directly related to Shiite religious doctrine, playing a crucial role in elaborating and preserving Islamic heritage in general. Al-Masʿūdī's (d. 345/956) famous history Murūj al-dhahab and Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣfahānī's (d. 356/967) collection of songs, poetry, and associated lore, Kitāb al-Aghānī, are prominent examples of Shiite authors' contributions to general Arabo-Islamic cultural production. Arguably yet more important is the Fihrist, composed in Baghdad in 377-378 ah/987-988 ce by Ibn al-Nadīm, an Imāmī Shiite bookseller. This work, a comprehensive catalogue of Arabic book titles, is widely recognised as one of the most important sources for the history of all learned disciplines recorded in Arabic in the course of the first four Islamic centuries. As a consequence, the present understanding of entire swaths of Islamic intellectual history, including the rise and development of Muʿtazilī theology and the translation of the Greek sciences into Arabic, is heavily indebted to a Shiite author.

Although practicing Buddhists and historians of Tibet are well aware of the Ra Mo Che Temple in Lhasa, very little about the building and its history has been published. Situated a short distance north-west of the more-famous Ra Sa gTsug Lag Khang or Jo Khang, the temple received, according to the dBa' bZhed, the Buddha image brought to Tibet in the time of the Tang princess Ong Jo. Early in the reign of Khri Srong lDe bTsan, while the king was still in his minority, anti-Buddhist factions led by Zhang Ma Zham Khrom Pa sKyes circumscribed royal power and murdered the pro-Buddhist minister Zhang sNa Nam Khri Thong rJe Thang la ‘Bar. They also arranged for the image at Ra Mo Che to be removed from the temple. The plan was to return the Buddha to China, along with the head priest and his entourage. The statue's great weight, however, thwarted the scheme. After being dragged a short distance, the Buddha was left half-buried in the earth. The state of affairs in those days is indicated by dBa' bZhed which reports that the Lhasa vihāra was turned into a workshop with sheep carcasses hung from the arms of the principal holy images and entrails wound round their necks! After Buddhism was reinstated, the Ra Mo Che was returned to worship. Subject to campaigns of refurbishment and additions through the centuries, it was the centre of a number of important developments, notably becoming the seat of the upper Tantric college (rGyud sTod) established by rJe bTsun Kun dGa' Don Drub in 1474.

Between 1922 and 1953, the German-Dutch Catholic Congregation Societas Verbi Divini, SVD, also known as the Divine Word Missionaries or Steyl Missionaries, sent approximately 90 missionaries to Northwest China. During these three decades, the Divine Word Missionaries established some 30 missionary stations (plus about 100 out-stations) in Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

Tràng An is a Vietnamese government supported cultural and ecological park development covering 2,500 hectares that is centred on an isolated massif on the southern edge of the Song Hong delta in Ninh Bình Province, north Vietnam (Fig. 1). The archaeological investigation of Tràng An is being led jointly by the Xuan Truong Construction Corporation and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, under the direction of the lead author. The Corporation is creating an ecologically sensitive development – the ‘Tràng An Tourism Resort’ – within this karstic landscape, which is also the subject of a planned application to UNESCO for World Heritage Site status. International involvement in this work has been at the behest of Nguyêń Van Truong, the General Director of Xuan Truong and at the invitation of the Ninh Bình People's Committee. The research itself is carried out under the guidance of Nguyêń Van Son, the Tràng An Tourism Resort Project Manager. The main focus of the May 2007 season was to undertake excavations at the site of Hang Boi (the ‘Fortune-Teller's Cave’).

After Burckhardt's ‘rediscovery’ of Petra in 1812, no other Europeans were able to visit the site until William John Bankes led an expedition in 1818. Unlike Burckhardt, Bankes and his companions were granted two days in which they could freely explore and record as much as possible. They used the time to the full, and with great energy and skill produced an astonishingly large collection of information.