<p>In Arabic-Islamic culture, generosity is held in the very highest regard and descriptions of charity, hospitality and largesse are consequently an important component of Arabic literature. The Egyptian judge and man of letters, Ibn Ab? al-??d al-Sakh?w? al-M?lik?, who lived in Cairo and Medina in the ninth/fifteenth century and who practiced charity his whole life, compiled a work titled the ?ilyat al-kuram?', literally "The Ornament of the Ma...