Islam Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The growing incidence of withdrawal of Muslim girls from physical education prompted this study into tensions between religious freedom and educational practices. It was located in a city in the West Midlands of England. Data on... more

The growing incidence of withdrawal of Muslim girls from physical education prompted this study into tensions between religious freedom and educational practices. It was located in a city in the West Midlands of England. Data on experiences, issues, concerns and solutions related to participation of Muslim girls in physical education were collected by a team of eight researchers including Islamic studies and physical education subject specialists, city advisors and teachers. Methods used were: eight in-depth case studies across primary, secondary and Muslim state schools including interviews with 19 head teachers and teachers (two were Muslim), focus-group interviews with 109 pupils and 32 parents. In addition, four focus-group interviews were held with 36 young people in community/supplementary schools for Muslim communities. All city schools (402) and 12 community providers received questionnaires, 50 were returned. Consultations were held with key national associations including the Muslim Council of Britain and the National Subject Association for Physical Education. Empirical analysis is reported elsewhere. During the experience of conducting the study four problem areas emerged that required attention to effectively address tensions between religious freedom and educational practices in physical education: bridging the gap between research and educational practice; the concept of embodied faith; the significance of context*physical education and religion in England; and finally widening researchers' frames of reference to include intersectionality and interdisciplinary approaches. The discussion exposes the complexity of pursuing social justice in a democratic society that embraces people of multiple ethnicities and religions. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which theoretical constructs increase understanding and can influence policy and practice.

Islam experienced blossoming as well as waning. The Book of Allah transformed a tribal culture into an empire. The ascent of the umma was enabled by turning to revelation. The fall was triggered by the re-orientation from revelation to... more

Islam experienced blossoming as well as waning. The Book of Allah transformed a tribal culture into an empire. The ascent of the umma was enabled by turning to revelation. The fall was triggered by the re-orientation from revelation to tradition. The ways of the forefathers, recorded in the books of traditions, supplanted the Book of Allah. The turn was triggered by the request of rulers to record the prophetic traditions. As a result, tradition surpassed revelation. The turn represented a shift from an Allah-centric to a prophet-centric paradigm. The turn was assisted by the rejection of reason. The turn produced adverse effects. The rejection of reason made revelation hard to understand and follow. The repression of reason entailed the subjugation of reason to tradition in the exegesis of revelation. The reluctance to engage reason corrupted the knowledge of revelation. The corruption of knowledge extended to the corruption of the sharia. The repression of reason eroded the people’s power to reflect rationally. The repression of reason resulted in a closing of the Muslim mind. The umma’s power to think waned. The result was the corruption of exegesis, jurisprudence and the sharia. The corruption of knowledge is reflected in the proliferation of capital punishments, for example for apostasy and adultery. The proclivity to extremism is reflected in the treatment of acts of terror as “martyrdom operations” by wayward ulama. Exegesis and jurisprudence turned from reason. The rejection of reason, in particular the teaching of causation, plunged umma into stagnation. The rejection of reason was justified by portraying the use of reason to understand revelation as kufr. But Allah exhorts us to use reason to understand revelation. The rejection of reason defies the teaching of revelation. In politics, the bias against reason intensified the repression of the rationalists by Musa al-Hadi in 786. The slaughter of five-thousand philosophers was an event not unlike the Reign of Terror of the Jacobins, under Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution. Sixteen thousand followers of “tradition” were killed at the guillotine with the emergence of the Age of Reason, touted by the European Enlightenment, a millennium afterwards. As a result of the rejection of reason, it was harder to understand and follow revelation. The perception that “all knowledge is in the Quran” did not improve matters. This was problematic. For it automatically withheld the designation of “knowledge” from all knowledge not in the Book of Allah. This perception reflected a corruption of knowledge. It was a reflection of hubris. In response to the bewilderment triggered the prohibition of the use of reason, exegetes alleged that revelation features “ambiguous” passages. The rejection of reason severed the umma from its moorings. Furthermore, it made it hard to understand key terms as “mutashabihat,” “hikma,” and “hawa.” As a result, Muslims turned to tradition, which replaced reason for the purpose of explaining revelation. To justify the treatment of tradition as fit to “explain” revelation, tradition was treated as “revelation.” Tradition was conflated with revelation. Furthermore, treating tradition as a “judge” of revelation reversed the relation of revelation and tradition. The word of God was subordinated to the words of persons. The designation of tradition as “revelation” transformed Islam into “traditional Islam.” The abrogation of the verses of reconciliation by the ayah as-sayf transformed Islam into Islamism. It is necessary to restore revelation to its pre-eminence in relation to tradition, to rehabilitate reason, and to ensure that all legislation is in accord with revelation. The disintegration of the empire was triggered by the re-orientation from revelation to tradition. The turn was expedited by the repression of reason.

Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Volume 7

In modern Indonesian society, the number of wearer of jilbab as Islamic veil is growing significantly. The veil has now been worn by all segments of Indonesian women, whereas in the 1970s it is only used by teenagers in school hours.... more

In modern Indonesian society, the number of wearer of jilbab as Islamic veil is growing significantly. The veil has now been worn by all segments of Indonesian women, whereas in the 1970s it is only used by teenagers in school hours. Furthermore, the veil has become a daily outfit of women politicians, bank workers and even the artists. With this florescene, various modes of veiling evolve and veil boutiques are popping up in major cities in Indonesia. Various names then appear from slang to shar'i veil, i.e. in line with Islamic law, given the diverse groups wear veil with different style. In its development the veil is even featured in the fashion show. As wearing veil is assumed to relate to religious injunction, the increasing number of its users is associated with an increase in public religious observance. Islamization of life is taking place in society, although not in the fundamentalistic or radicalistic pattern. Post secularism may be appropriate concept to describe this phenomenon. However, it is argued that this growing use of veil has no relation with religiosity, since it is just a part of modern life of Indonesian women. Nevertheless, wearing jilbab constitutes important cultural change occurring among Indonesian Muslim women. This paper is to describe the development of wearing veil among modern Muslim woman in Indonesia, questioning whether or not it is related to the religious consciousness of the wearer.

[Uncorrected Page Proofs] -- Montgomery, David W. 2019. "The Hardest Time Was the Time without Morality": Religion and Social Navigation in Albania. In Everyday Life in the Balkans, edited by David W. Montgomery. Bloomington: Indiana... more

[Uncorrected Page Proofs] -- Montgomery, David W. 2019. "The Hardest Time Was the Time without Morality": Religion and Social Navigation in Albania. In Everyday Life in the Balkans, edited by David W. Montgomery. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 265-277.

The present essay is intended as a contribution to the study of gratitude or šukr within the Islamic tradition, beginning with the Koranic use of the root škr (and more particularly its derivative šakūr), examining its explicit... more

The present essay is intended as a contribution to the study of gratitude or šukr within the Islamic tradition, beginning with the Koranic use of the root škr (and more particularly its derivative šakūr), examining its explicit implications for early lexicography (Ibn Manẓūr), noting the presence of these implications in traditional thought (Ibn Abī al–Dunyā and al–Ḫarā’iṭī) and proposing some comparisons with theological speculation (Abū Ḥāmid al–Ġazālī and Ibn Qayyim al–Ǧawziyya). In the light of the sources consulted, gratitude emerges as a crucial ingredient of faith, a cornerstone of a conscientious Islamic ethic, and not least an important linking element between the divine practice and the duties of man, both in terms of the harmony between man’s thankfulness to God and God’s satisfaction with the believer, and in terms of the close connection between the gratitude owed to God and that owed to a brother benefactor. Finally, man is seen as a creature endowed with an awareness whose highest vocation is, precisely, gratitude.
Le présent essai est une contribution à l’étude de la gratitude dans la tradition islamique, en commençant par l’usage coranique de la racine škr (et plus particulièrement du mot šakūr), en examinant ses implications explicites dans la lexicographie primitive (Ibn Manẓūr), en notant la présence de ses implications dans la pensée traditionnelle (Ibn Abī al–Dunyā and al–Ḫarā’iṭī) et en proposant quelques comparaisons avec la spéculation théologique (Abū Ḥāmid al–Ġazālī et Ibn Qayyim al–Ǧawziyya). A la lumière des sources consultées, la gratitude émerge comme un ingrédient essentiel de la foi, la pierre angulaire d’une éthique islamique consciente, et surtout un lien important reliant la pratique divine et les devoirs de l’homme, à la fois en termes d’harmonie entre la gratitude de l’homme envers Dieu et la satisfaction de Dieu à l’égard du croyant, et en termes de relation étroite entre la gratitude due à Dieu et celle qui est due à un bienfaiteur humain. Enfin, l’homme est vu comme une créature douée d’une conscience dont la plus haute vocation est précisément la gratitude.

The first Warwick Islamic Education Summer School, held in September 2016 marked the formation of a learning community consisting of practitioners and researchers, from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, interested in exploring issues... more

The first Warwick Islamic Education Summer School, held in September 2016 marked the formation of a learning community consisting of practitioners and researchers, from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, interested in exploring issues related to education, Islam and Muslims within the context of contemporary and historical Muslim societies. In reviving the Muslim educational tradition of taaruf, openness to learning from one another, the Summer School offers a collegial academic space within which critical inquiry and reflective practice in Islamic Education are encouraged. Each annual meeting explores in-depth a specific theme related to the teaching and learning of Islam within diverse formal and informal educational settings. The aim is to enable the formation of a new transformative Muslim culture of learning and reflective inquiry through rethinking Islamic Education within the context of a secular and culturally/religiously diverse Western Europe and the wider Muslim world. A further central objective is to improve the quality of educational thinking and pedagogic practice within the diaspora and global Muslim communities essential for facilitating effective civic engagement, social welfare and economic prosperity. The Summer School has led to the establishment of the Warwick Islamic Education Research Network which facilitates critical dialogue between the educational narratives of Islam and the West and fosters collaborative research and knowledge-transfer among diverse groups

Scott Siraj al---Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Muslims offers a theological perspective into queer sexuality and desire, subjects that continue to be thorny and taboo in Muslim societies. This... more

Scott Siraj al---Homosexuality in Islam: Critical Reflection on Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Muslims offers a theological perspective into queer sexuality and desire, subjects that continue to be thorny and taboo in Muslim societies. This review proposes an analysis of the manner in which Kugle engages the current state of attitudes vis---à---vis homosexuality in Islam.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF ACTUAL ISLAMIC MIRACLES

The book charts the attempts of Islam's largest missionary movement, the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), to build Europe's biggest mosque in London – the so-called Mega Mosque. The book follows TJ from its founding in India in 1926, to its... more

The book charts the attempts of Islam's largest missionary movement, the Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), to build Europe's biggest mosque in London – the so-called Mega Mosque. The book follows TJ from its founding in India in 1926, to its establishment in Britain during the 1940s, to its plans for construction of a controversial mosque in London. The book addresses the issues emerging at the forefront of national debates across liberal democracies: the role of Islam in the west, conceptions of changing citizenship and national identities, and how best to integrate increasingly diverse populations. What happens to illiberal and politically disengaged groups that wish to segregate themselves from what they regard as corrupt and immoral wider societies? How do these groups engage with government policy that seeks to define good citizens as those that are actively engaged in the socio-political life of the community? Zacharias Pieri provides context and insight to answer these and other important questions.

Religious authority figures often use religious texts as the primary basis for censuring homosexuality. In recent years, however, non-heterosexual Christians and Muslims have begun to contest the discursively produced boundary of sexual... more

Religious authority figures often use religious texts as the primary basis for censuring homosexuality. In recent years, however, non-heterosexual Christians and Muslims have begun to contest the discursively produced boundary of sexual
morality. Drawing upon two research projects on non-heterosexual Christians and Muslims, this article explores the three approaches embedded in this strategy. While acknowledging that homosexuality is indeed portrayed negatively in some parts of religious texts, the participants critique traditional hermeneutics by highlighting its inaccuracy and socio-cultural specificity, and arguing for a contextualized and culturally relevant interpretation. They also critique the credibility of institutional interpretive authority by highlighting its inadequacy and ideology, and relocating authentic interpretive authority to personal experience. Finally, they recast religious texts to construct resources for their spiritual nourishment.This strategy generally reflects the contemporary western religious landscape that prioritizes the authority of the self over that of religious institution.

In recent years a very rare phenomenon was observed in Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria—the conversion of the Igbo to Islam. There exists a significant scholarly work on the stages of conversion or conversion process among different people... more

In recent years a very rare phenomenon was observed in Igboland, Southeastern Nigeria—the conversion of the Igbo to Islam. There exists a significant scholarly work on the stages of conversion or conversion process among different people group; however, to the best of our knowledge, little exists on the Igbo conversion to Islam. This could be as a result of the phenomenon being a relatively recent development in Igboland, commencing in the second half of the twentieth century (Uchendu in Soc Sci J 47(1):172–188, 2010). This article seeks to discover the stages of Igbo conversion to Islam; that is, the systematic phases involved in their conversion process to Islam To accomplish this, ethnographic interviews were conducted with thirty (30) former Igbo Christians, all now converts to Islam. Gerlach and Hine’s (People, power, change: movements of social transformation, Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1970) stages of conversion theory were applied to this study, and the findings showed tha...

The authors suggest to view the origins of Islam against the background of the 6th century AD Arabian socio-ecological crisis whose model is specified in the paper through the study of climatological, seismological, volcanological and... more

The authors suggest to view the origins of Islam against the background of the 6th century AD Arabian socio-ecological crisis whose model is specified in the paper through the study of climatological, seismological, volcanological and epidemiological history of the period. Most socio-political systems of the Arabs reacted to the socio-ecological crisis by getting rid of the rigid supra- tribal political structures (kingdoms and chiefdoms) which started posing a real threat to their very survival. The decades of fighting which led to the destruction of most of the Arabian kingdoms and chiefdoms (reflected in Ayyãm al- 'Arab tradition) led to the elaboration of some definite "anti- royal" freedom-loving tribal ethos. At the beginning of the 7th century tribes which would recog- nise themselves as subjects of some terrestrial super-tribal political authority, the "king", risked to lose its honour. However, this seems not to be applicable to the authority of another type, the "ce- lestial" one. At the meantime the early 7th century evidences the merging of the Arabian tradition of prophecy and the Arabian Monotheist "Rahmanist" tradition which produced "the Arabian pro- phetic movement". The Monotheist "Rahmanist" prophets appear to have represented a supratribal authority just of the type many Arab tribes were looking for at this very time, which seems to ex- plain to a certain extent those prophets' political success (including the extreme political success of Muhammad).

This critical Arabic text edition of Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa-uns al-mushtāqīn, a manual of early Sufism by Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. ca. 470/1077), is based on a very old manuscript preserved in Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīya of Cairo, Egypt and... more

This critical Arabic text edition of Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa-uns al-mushtāqīn, a manual of early Sufism by Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. ca. 470/1077), is based on a very old manuscript preserved in Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣrīya of Cairo, Egypt and copied in 459/1067. It is introduced by a detailed analytical study of the author and his work. Salwat al-ʿārifīn forms an integral part of Sufi literature and reflects Islamic developments in Nishapur in northeastern Iran. This crucial Arabic text, published for the first time, is especially valuable because of its great philological accuracy and sound textual tradition. It represents an essential source for the intellectual history of Islam during the middle of the 4th/10th to the middle of the 5th/11th century.

Ekrem Demirli (www.ekremdemirli.com/) is Professor of Sufi Studies at Istanbul University (Faculty of Theology, Department of Tasawwuf), and Turkey's foremost scholar of Ibn ʿArabi and Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi. Below is the edited transcript... more

Ekrem Demirli (www.ekremdemirli.com/) is Professor of Sufi Studies at Istanbul University (Faculty of Theology, Department of Tasawwuf), and Turkey's foremost scholar of Ibn ʿArabi and Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi. Below is the edited transcript of an interview which I conducted with him concerning his life and work. Professor Demirli's responses were given in Turkish and translated into English by Sultan Adanir Salihoglu.

“Documentary Records of Conversions among Ottoman Palace Personnel.” In Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook, edited by Nimrod Hurvitz, Christian C. Sahner, Uriel Simonsohn, and Luke Yarbrough, University of California... more

“Documentary Records of Conversions among Ottoman Palace Personnel.” In Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook, edited by Nimrod Hurvitz, Christian C. Sahner, Uriel Simonsohn, and Luke Yarbrough, University of California Press, 2020.

The character known from the Bible as Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is never mentioned by name in the Qur>än. It is clear, however, that Sarah is the intended personage in the Quranic renditions of the three visitors to Abraham, a story... more

The character known from the Bible as Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is never mentioned by name in the Qur>än. It is clear, however, that Sarah is the intended personage in the Quranic renditions of the three visitors to Abraham, a story that can be found also in Genesis 18:1-16. 2 The exegetical comments treating these Qur>anic passages and the various tales that evolved to provide detail to the many Qur>anic references to Abraham all refer to her by the name Sarah. This is fully in keeping with the Genesis rendition. Nonetheless, the biblical story of Abraham and Sarah in some ways proved problematic to Islam, and one such example is the issue of Sarah's genealogical relationship with her husband.

Abraham Abulafia (1240–1290) is considered to be one of the most significant Jewish mystics and is one of the few who taught a comprehensive system of meditative practices designed to induce ecstatic religious experiences. At the heart of... more

Abraham Abulafia (1240–1290) is considered to be one of the most significant Jewish mystics and is one of the few who taught a comprehensive system of meditative practices designed to induce ecstatic religious experiences. At the heart of Abulafia’s meditation techniques lies the coordination of breath and body while pronouncing the Hebrew letters of the Name of God. Specifically, Abulafia instructs the practitioner to empty and stop the breath, paralleling a technical breathing practice in Yogic Pranayama called “Kumbhaka”. The Islamic polymath Al-Biruni’s (973–1048) Arabic translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is proposed as one possible transmission vector for this Yoga technique across radically different cultures and geographies into Abulafia’s method, which then profoundly influenced major Jewish personalities down to our day.

Walisongo adalah sekumpulan orang yang disatukan dengan visi yang sama, yakni menyebarkan agama islam. Kebanyakan mereka melakukan dakwah islamisasi dengan metode yang tidak jauh berbeda satu dengan lainnya. Mereka merupakan orang yang... more

Walisongo adalah sekumpulan orang yang disatukan dengan visi yang sama, yakni menyebarkan agama islam. Kebanyakan mereka melakukan dakwah islamisasi dengan metode yang tidak jauh berbeda satu dengan lainnya. Mereka merupakan orang yang sukses menyebarkan islam di nusantara sehingga dapat dipeluk oleh sebagian besar masyarakat. Karena lebih dari 8 abad islam tidak dapat berkembang dengan baik di nusantara kususnya Jawa. Adanya walisongo-lah yang merubah sebagian sosio kultural masyarakat.

Rusya müslümanları arasında tanınan ve Kazan Türklerinden Musa Carullah Bigiyev, İslâm dünyasında tanınan bir müslüman ilim, fikir ve aksiyon adamıdır. 1874'te Rusya'daki en eski ve turistik şehirlerden biri Nero Gölü'nün kıyısında... more

Rusya müslümanları arasında tanınan ve Kazan Türklerinden Musa Carullah Bigiyev, İslâm dünyasında tanınan bir müslüman ilim, fikir ve aksiyon adamıdır. 1874'te Rusya'daki en eski ve turistik şehirlerden biri Nero Gölü'nün kıyısında Rostov'da doğan Bigiyev, eğitimini Buhara, Mısır, Hicaz, İstanbul, Hindistan ve Şam medreselerinde yaptıktan sonra memleketinde, gazetecilik yapmış ve birçok eserler vermiştir. 1917 Bolşevik ihtilalinden sonra zindanlara atılmış eziyet ve işkencelere uğramış, vatanını terk ederek Çin, Afganistan, Hindistan, Finlandiya, Almanya, Türkiye, İran, Irak ve Japonya'da ilim faaliyetlerinde bulunmuş ve nihayet 1949 yılında Kahire'de vefat etmiş âlim, bilge bir şahsiyettir. Bu makâlede onun hayatı, ilmi kişiliği ve eserleri ile Rusya müslümanları arasındaki yeri ve önemi araştırılmaktadır.

The W.W. Norton Company has developed something of a reputation for producing definitive anthologies; as a young undergraduate I vividly recall lugging around two hefty volumes of The Norton Anthology of English Literature over three... more

The W.W. Norton Company has developed something of a reputation for producing definitive anthologies; as a young undergraduate I vividly recall lugging around two hefty volumes of The Norton Anthology of English Literature over three tiring years. It was with some excitement then that I opened the Islam volume of the recently published Norton Anthology of World Religions. Could we expect the same canon-shaping selection of primary texts that capture, in this case, the lifeblood of Islamic literary production over 14 centuries condensed into a single, accessible, English-language volume? The answer, after some lengthy and very pleasant perusal, has transpired to be a resounding yes.

‘[A] valid concept of “Islam” must denote and connote all possible “Islams,” whether abstract or “real,” mental or social’ (104)... Ahmed seeks to avoid two major pitfalls: (1) making Islam into a static essence or a category within an... more

‘[A] valid concept of “Islam” must denote and connote all possible “Islams,” whether abstract or “real,” mental or social’ (104)... Ahmed seeks to avoid two major pitfalls: (1) making Islam into a static essence or a category within an essentialist framework – such as proscription/prescription, ‘religion’,‘civilization’, ‘culture’, ‘orthodoxy’, etc., and (2) rendering Islam into a totally incoherent concept by conceding that there are as many islams as there are communities or individuals. Ahmed’s thesis (presented in Chapter 5) is that Islam is best conceptualized as a process of meaning-making or hermeneutical engagement in which the human agent engages with the Divine Revelation granted to Muhammad in one or more of this Revelation’s hierarchical dimensions – Pre-Text, Text, and Con-Text – in order to constitute meaning for himself."

The evidence for a history of Mandaeism during the period of Late Antiquity (3rd–8th c. CE) and its evolution as a religious tradition prior to and immediately following the advent of Islam is surveyed. This evidence includes the Mandaean... more

The evidence for a history of Mandaeism during the period of Late Antiquity (3rd–8th c. CE) and its evolution as a religious tradition prior to and immediately following the advent of Islam is surveyed. This evidence includes the Mandaean manuscript tradition, the testimony of outside witnesses, and the corpus of incantation texts from Late Antique Mesopotamia. It is noted that the study of this evidence has typically been subsumed under the study of related traditions, and that it could benefit from a reassessment. The issues addressed include Mandaeism’s relationship to other religions, such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Manichaeism, the antiquity and authenticity of its traditions, and the extent of Islamic influence upon them.

The Syrian Salafi armed group Ahrar al-Sham epitomises the most prominent case of politicisation. By 2014, Ahrar al-Sham was the leading insurgent group in Syria, with the largest number of soldiers, presence throughout Syrian... more

The Syrian Salafi armed group Ahrar al-Sham epitomises the most prominent case of politicisation. By 2014, Ahrar al-Sham was the leading insurgent group in Syria, with the largest number of soldiers, presence throughout Syrian opposition-held areas, and relatively strong ties with foreign countries including Turkey and Qatar. Ahrar al-Sham explicitly rejected al-Qaida’s legacy and developed a more inclusive approach to other groups and the population. This chapter traces the group’s emergence and development to demonstrate how pre-war developments and a de-centralised alliance-based expansion underpinned its politicisation over the years. This case study also contends that politicisation was sustained by the group’s internal institutionalisation, which ultimately explains its successes and failures during the conflict. This chapter is based on extensive field research interviews in Turkey and north-west Syria in 2019 with an array of leaders and members of Ahrar al-Sham, armed opposition groups, and independent Syrian Islamists.

This edited volume introduces the political, social and economic intra-Kurdish dynamics in the Middle East by comparatively analyzing the main actors, their ideas, and political interests. As an ethnic group and a nation in the making,... more

This edited volume introduces the political, social and economic intra-Kurdish dynamics in the Middle East by comparatively analyzing the main actors, their ideas, and political interests. As an ethnic group and a nation in the making, Kurds are not homogeneous and united but rather the Kurdish Middle East is home to various competing political groups, leaderships, ideologies, and interests. Although many existing studies focus on the Kurds and their relations with the nation-states that they populate, few studies analyze the Kurdish Middle East within its own debates, conflicts and interests from a comparative perspective across Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. This book analyzes the intra-Kurdish dynamics with historically-grounded, theoretically-informed, and conceptually-relevant scholarship that prioritizes comparative politics over international relations.

This is a short poem by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣabbān (d. 1206/1791) translated from the original Arabic into English verse. The poem is a concise, technical list of the ten essentials aspects of any science. It is intended to help students... more

This is a short poem by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣabbān (d. 1206/1791) translated from the original Arabic into English verse. The poem is a concise, technical list of the ten essentials aspects of any science. It is intended to help students memorize the outline of the topic, while a teacher's additional commentary would be needed to really understand the content and meaning of the ten essentials.

Nu’mān Bin Thābit, better known by his kunyah, Abū Ḥanīfah, has been subject to much criticism due to his supposed lack of knowledge in Ḥadīth and Ḥadīth studies. The methodology of the Ḥanafīs has been similarly scrutinized as it is... more

Nu’mān Bin Thābit, better known by his kunyah, Abū Ḥanīfah, has been subject to much criticism due to his supposed lack of knowledge in Ḥadīth and Ḥadīth studies. The methodology of the Ḥanafīs has been similarly scrutinized as it is infamously known to diverge from the other schools in their methodological usage of the sources in deriving legal rulings. Where the other orthodox schools use a methodology derived from al-Shāfi’ī's combination of the reports and opinion, Abū Ḥanīfah is known to have ruled from the Qur’ān more-so than from the reports. A particular aspect of the discussion is the idea that he took his own opinion over the clear textual sources of the Sunnah i.e. the Ḥadīth reports. However, what has been overlooked is the way in which Abū Ḥanīfah used the Ḥadīth and how he understood them. Rather than having a weakness in Ḥadīth, as purported by some, Abū Ḥanīfah had a unique understanding of Ḥadīth, and subjected them to great scrutiny in order to derive the truest rendition of God’s law on earth. Rather than a detraction from Prophetic reports, it seems that there has been a lack of understanding when it comes to the Usūl of Abū Ḥanīfah.