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Journals and memoirs, Politics and government, Islam
My Year Inside Radical Islam is a memoir of first a spiritual and then a political seduction. Raised in liberal… Ashland, Oregon, by parents who were Jewish by birth but dismissive of strict dogma, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross converted to Islam in college-a process that began with a desire to connect with both a religious community and a spiritual practice, and eventually led him to sympathize with the most extreme interpretations of the faith with the most radical political implications. In the year following graduation, Gartenstein-Ross went to work for the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation, a charity dedicated to fostering Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's austere form of Islam-a theological inspiration for many terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda. Shortly after he left Al Haramain-when his own fanaticism had waned-the foundation was charged by the U.S. government for a money-laundering scheme that was seemingly designed to finance terrorist organizations. Gartenstein-Ross, by this time a lawyer at a prominent firm, volunteered for questioning by the FBI. They already knew who he was. The story of how a good faith can be distorted and a decent soul can be seduced away from his principles, My Year Inside Radical Islam provides a rare glimpse into the personal interface between religion and politics.
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Islam
The Muslim world had long been dormant and was therefore almost ignored by the west Since 9 11 there… is a new awareness seeking multiple explanations of those events often in a distorted and simplified manner Is there such a thing as the clash of civilizations Or is the turmoil in the Muslim world rooted in a set of causes that are based on religious belief that remain deeply misunderstood This overview of the state of the countries where Islam is the dominant faith offers new insights into the Arab Spring and the challenge of Iran Taking on such historians as Samuel Huntington and Francis Fukuyama Ardavan Amir-Aslani an attorney and historian of Iranian descent living in Paris argues persuasively for a different analysis and a fresh approach to what has become one of the major issues of the twenty-first century How does religious faith intersect with geopolitics in the post Cold War period America Russia Israel are all playing major roles amid the turmoil of the region but the great originality of this book is to show the complexity and sometimes baffling actions and reactions within Muslim societies and countries Across Central Asia the Middle East and North Africa from Pakistan to Morocco the world of Islam remains in religious and geopolitical ferment Amir-Aslani s authoritative voice suggests that western values may not apply neatly into the picture as many leaders would prefer He offers a realistic and true understanding of this new reality
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Islam, General non-fiction
Though it is the fastest growing religion in the world Islam remains shrouded by ignorance and fear What… is the essence of this ancient faith Is it a religion of peace or war How does Allah differ from the God of Jews and Christians Can an Islamic state be founded on democratic values such as pluralism and human rights A writer and scholar of comparative religions Reza Aslan has earned international acclaim for the passion and clarity he has brought to these questions In No god but God challenging the clash of civilizations mentality that has distorted our view of Islam Aslan explains this critical faith in all its complexity beauty and compassion Contrary to popular perception in the West Islam is a religion firmly rooted in the prophetic traditions of the Jewish and Christian scriptures Aslan begins with a vivid account of the social and religious milieu in which the Prophet Muhammad lilved The revelations that Muhammad received in Mecca and Medina which were recorded in the Quran became the foundation for a radically more egalitarian community the likes of which had never been seen before Soon after his death the Prophet s successors set about the overwhelming task of defining and interpreting Muhammad s message for future generations Their efforts led to the development of a comprehensive code of conduct that was expected to regulate every aspect of the believer s life But this attempt only widened the chasm between orthodox Islam and its two major sects Shiism and Sufism both of which Aslan discusses in rich detail Finally No god but God examines how in the shadow of European colonialism Muslims developed conflicting strategies to reconcile traditional Islamic values with the social and political realities of the modern world With the emergence of the Islamic state in the twentieth century this contest over the future of Islam has become a passionate sometimes violent battle between those who seek to enforce a rigid and archaic legal code and those who struggle to harmonize the teachings of the Prophet with contemporary ideals of democracy and human rights According to Reza Aslan we are now living in the era of the Islamic Reformation No god but God is a persuasive and elegantly written account of the roots of this reformation and the future of Islamic faith From the Hardcover edition
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Religious texts, Christianity, Islam
The relationship between Christianity and Islam is complex This collection of essays by scholars and human rights activists engages… with some of the most pressing issues in Christian-Muslim relations addressing matters of theology the encounter between civilisations and inter-religious affairs Some of the most controversial and sensitive questions are considered ranging from sacred text to the politics of multiculturalism These are key questions for the 21st century a period when Christianity and Islam are destined to interact more closely than ever before in human history
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Asian history, Islam, Judaism, General non-fiction
In this book Israeli anthropologist Andr Levy returns to his birthplace in Casablanca to provide a deeply… nuanced and compelling study of the relationships between Moroccan Jews and Muslims there Ranging over a century of history--from the Jewish Enlightenment and the impending colonialism of the late nineteenth century to today s modern Arab state--Levy paints a rich portrait of two communities pressed together of the tremendous mobility that has characterized the past century and of the paradoxes that complicate the cultural identities of the present Levy visits a host of sites and historical figures to assemble a compelling history of social change while seamlessly interweaving his study with personal accounts of his returns to his homeland Central to this story is the massive migration of Jews out of Morocco Levy traces the institutional and social changes such migrations cause for those who choose to stay introducing the concept of contraction to depict the way Jews deal with the ramifications of their demographic dwindling Turning his attention outward from Morocco he goes on to explore the greater complexities of the Jewish diaspora and the essential paradox at the heart of his adventure--leaving Israel to return home
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History, Politics and government, Islam, Customs and cultures, General non-fiction
For some, the idea of an Islamic state serves to fulfill aspirations for cultural sovereignty and new forms of ethical… political practice. For others, it violates the proper domains of both religion and politics. Yet, while there has been much discussion of the idea and ideals of the Islamic state, its possibilities and impossibilities, surprisingly little has been written about how this political formation is lived. For Love of the Prophet looks at the Republic of Sudan's twenty-five-year experiment with Islamic statehood. Focusing not on state institutions, but rather on the daily life that goes on in their shadows, Noah Salomon's careful ethnography examines the lasting effects of state Islamization on Sudanese society through a study of the individuals and organizations working in its midst. Salomon investigates Sudan at a crucial moment in its history--balanced between unity and partition, secular and religious politics, peace and war--when those who desired an Islamic state were rethinking the political form under which they had lived for nearly a generation. Countering the dominant discourse, Salomon depicts contemporary Islamic politics not as a response to secularism and Westernization but as a node in a much longer conversation within Islamic thought, augmented and reappropriated as state projects of Islamic reform became objects of debate and controversy. Among the first books to delve into the making of the modern Islamic state, For Love of the Prophet reveals both novel political ideals and new articulations of Islam as it is rethought through the lens of the nation.
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Asian history, Islam, General non-fiction
In the United States and Europe, the word "caliphate" has conjured historically romantic and increasingly pernicious associations. Yet the caliphate's… significance in Islamic history and Muslim culture remains poorly understood. This book explores the myriad meanings of the caliphate for Muslims around the world through the analytical lens of two key moments of loss in the thirteenth and twentieth centuries. Through extensive primary-source research, Mona Hassan explores the rich constellation of interpretations created by religious scholars, historians, musicians, statesmen, poets, and intellectuals.Hassan fills a scholarly gap regarding Muslim reactions to the destruction of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad in 1258 and challenges the notion that the Mongol onslaught signaled an end to the critical engagement of Muslim jurists and intellectuals with the idea of an Islamic caliphate. She also situates Muslim responses to the dramatic abolition of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924 as part of a longer trajectory of transregional cultural memory, revealing commonalities and differences in how modern Muslims have creatively interpreted and reinterpreted their heritage. Hassan examines how poignant memories of the lost caliphate have been evoked in Muslim culture, law, and politics, similar to the losses and repercussions experienced by other religious communities, including the destruction of the Second Temple for Jews and the fall of Rome for Christians. A global history, Longing for the Lost Caliphate delves into why the caliphate has been so important to Muslims in vastly different eras and places.
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Islam
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Historical biography, History, World War I, Islam
On Saturday September 9 1922 the victorious Turkish cavalry rode into Smyrna the richest and most… cosmopolitan city in the Ottoman Empire The city s vast wealth created centuries earlier by powerful Levantine dynasties its factories teemed with Greeks Armenians Turks and Jews Together they had created a majority Christian city that was unique in the Islamic world But to the Turkish nationalists Smyrna was a city of infidels In the aftermath of the First World War and with the support of the Great Powers Greece had invaded Turkey with the aim of restoring a Christian empire in Asia But by the summer of 1922 the Greeks had been vanquished by Atat rk s armies after three years of warfare As Greek troops retreated the non-Muslim civilians of Smyrna assumed that American and European warships would intervene if and when the Turkish cavalry decided to enter the city But this was not to be On September 13 1922 Turkish troops descended on Smyrna They rampaged first through the Armenian quarter and then throughout the rest of the city They looted homes raped women and murdered untold thousands Turkish soldiers were seen dousing buildings with petroleum Soon all but the Turkish quarter of the city was in flames and hundreds of thousands of refugees crowded the waterfront desperate to escape The city burned for four days by the time the embers cooled more than 100 000 people had been killed and millions left homeless Based on eyewitness accounts and the memories of survivors many interviewed for the first time Paradise Lost offers a vivid narrative account of one of the most vicious military catastrophes of the modern age
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Politics and government, Islam, Religion, General non-fiction
In sixteen concise chapters on key topics this book provides a rich authoritative and up-to-date introduction to… Islamic political thought from the birth of Islam to today presenting essential background and context for understanding contemporary politics in the Islamic world and beyond Selected from the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought and focusing on the origins development and contemporary importance of Islamic political ideas and related subjects each chapter offers a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to its topic Written by leading specialists and incorporating the latest scholarship the alphabetically arranged chapters cover the topics of authority the caliphate fundamentalism government jihad knowledge minorities modernity Muhammad pluralism and tolerance the Qur an revival and reform shari a sacred law traditional political thought ulama religious scholars and women Read separately or together these chapters provide an indispensable resource for students journalists policymakers and anyone else seeking an informed perspective on the complex intersection of Islam and politics The contributors are Gerhard Bowering Ayesha S Chaudhry Patricia Crone Roxanne Euben Yohanan Friedmann Paul L Heck Roy Jackson Wadad Kadi John Kelsay Gudrun Kr mer Ebrahim Moosa Armando Salvatore Aram A Shahin Emad El-Din Shahin Devin J Stewart SherAli Tareen and Muhammad Qasim Zaman A new afterword discusses the essays in relation to contemporary political developments
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Politics and government, Islam, Religion, General non-fiction
In the decades leading up to the Arab Spring in 2011, when Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime was swept from power… in Egypt, Muslim women took a leading role in developing a robust Islamist presence in the country's public sphere. Soft Force examines the writings and activism of these women--including scholars, preachers, journalists, critics, actors, and public intellectuals--who envisioned an Islamic awakening in which women's rights and the family, equality, and emancipation were at the center.Challenging Western conceptions of Muslim women as being oppressed by Islam, Ellen McLarney shows how women used "soft force"--a women's jihad characterized by nonviolent protest--to oppose secular dictatorship and articulate a public sphere that was both Islamic and democratic. McLarney draws on memoirs, political essays, sermons, newspaper articles, and other writings to explore how these women imagined the home and the family as sites of the free practice of religion in a climate where Islamists were under siege by the secular state. While they seem to reinforce women's traditional roles in a male-dominated society, these Islamist writers also reoriented Islamist politics in domains coded as feminine, putting women at the very forefront in imagining an Islamic polity.Bold and insightful, Soft Force transforms our understanding of women's rights, women's liberation, and women's equality in Egypt's Islamic revival.
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Politics and government, Islam, General non-fiction
Today, two-thirds of all Arab Muslims are under the age of thirty. Young Islam takes readers inside the evolving competition… for their support--a competition not simply between Islamism and the secular world, but between different and often conflicting visions of Islam itself.Drawing on extensive ethnographic research among rank-and-file activists in Morocco, Avi Spiegel shows how Islamist movements are encountering opposition from an unexpected source--each other. In vivid and compelling detail, he describes the conflicts that arise as Islamist groups vie with one another for new recruits, and the unprecedented fragmentation that occurs as members wrangle over a shared urbanized base. Looking carefully at how political Islam is lived, expressed, and understood by young people, Spiegel moves beyond the top-down focus of current research. Instead, he makes the compelling case that Islamist actors are shaped more by their relationships to each other than by their relationships to the state or even to religious ideology. By focusing not only on the texts of aging elites but also on the voices of diverse and sophisticated Muslim youths, Spiegel exposes the shifting and contested nature of Islamist movements today--movements that are being reimagined from the bottom up by young Islam.The first book to shed light on this new and uncharted era of Islamist pluralism in the Middle East and North Africa, Young Islam uncovers the rivalries that are redefining the next generation of political Islam.
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History, Asian history, Islam, Judaism
Perhaps the most contested patch of earth in the world, Jerusalem’s Old City experiences consistent violent unrest between Israeli and… Palestinian residents, with seemingly no end in sight. Today, Jerusalem’s endless cycle of riots and arrests appears intractable—even unavoidable—and it looks unlikely that harmony will ever be achieved in the city. But with Jerusalem 1900, historian Vincent Lemire shows us that it wasn’t always that way, undoing the familiar notion of Jerusalem as a lost cause and revealing a unique moment in history when a more peaceful future seemed possible. In this masterly history, Lemire uses newly opened archives to explore how Jerusalem’s elite residents of differing faiths cooperated through an intercommunity municipal council they created in the mid-1860s to administer the affairs of all inhabitants and improve their shared city. These residents embraced a spirit of modern urbanism and cultivated a civic identity that transcended religion and reflected the relatively secular and cosmopolitan way of life of Jerusalem at the time. These few years would turn out to be a tipping point in the city’s history—a pivotal moment when the horizon of possibility was still open, before the council broke up in 1934, under British rule, into separate Jewish and Arab factions. Uncovering this often overlooked diplomatic period, Lemire reveals that the struggle over Jerusalem was not historically inevitable—and therefore is not necessarily intractable. Jerusalem 1900 sheds light on how the Holy City once functioned peacefully and illustrates how it might one day do so again.
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Politics and government, Islam
A summer must read SEAN HANNITY Fox News No Go… Zones should be required reading for conservatives Republicans liberals teachers students reporters editors and activists all alike NIGEL FARAGE Member of the European ParliamentNo Go Zones That s what they re called And while the politically correct try to deny their existence the shocking reality of these No Go Zones where Sharia law can prevail and local police stay away can be attested to by its many victims Now Raheem Kassam a courageous reporter and editor at Breitbart com takes us where few journalists have dared to tread inside the No Go Zones revealing areas that Western governments including the United States don t want to admit exist within their own borders With compelling reporting Kassam takes you into Islamic areas you might not even know existed communities neighborhoods and whole city districts from San Bernardino California a No Go Zone of the mind to Hamtramck Michigan essentially an Islamic colony in the Midwest from Malm Sweden to the heart of London England where infidels are unwelcome Islamic law is king and extremism grows In No Go Zones Kassam reveals How in No Go Zones a blind eye is being turned to polygamy female genital mutilation sexual assault segregation and even honor killings Why Muslim ghettos in the West aren t the equivalent of Little Italy or Chinatown but a serious cultural and political threat How the welfare state actually funds and supports a Muslim subculture of resentment How to identify extremist mosques A matter of numbers how mass migration could transform Europe into a Muslim-dominated continent within our own lifetimes The alarming speed at which No Go Zones are coming to America Compelling in its reporting shocking in its detail Raheem Kassam s No Go Zones is one of the most frightening true stories you will read this year
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Politics and government, Islam
This book addresses contemporary debates on civil disobedience in Islam within the rich Sunni tradition especially during the height… of the non violent people revolution in various Arab countries popularly known as the Arab Spring It illustrates the Islamic theological and jurisprudential arguments presented by those who either permit or prohibit acts of civil disobedience for the purpose of changing government political systems or policy The book analyses the nature of the debate and considers how a theological position on civil disobedience should be formulated in contemporary time and makes the case for alternatives to violent political action such as jihadism terrorism and armed rebellion
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Christianity, Islam, Judaism
From the book s introduction civilizations of the holy land is an expression not easily… defined in either space or time By the Holy Land most of us mean the stretch of Near-Eastern territory the nucleus of which is modern Palestine or Israel intimately associated with the great Religions of the Book Judaism Christianity and Islam Many of the events crucial to the origin and early development of these three faiths took place outside this geographical nucleus but cannot for that reason be ignored in this account Equally not all the cultures which have flourished in this region have been directly linked to the beliefs which to us make it holy but they are part of its history nonetheless and must be brought into the story The truth is that the history of this corner of the world is extremely complicated and does not easily accommodate itself to the straitjacket of a strictly systematic treatment In telling it we shall sometimes find ourselves digressing both in chronology and geography before resuming the main thread of our narrative In short we shall be closer to the methods of Herodotus than those of Thucydides - with a dash of Pausanias and Strabo thrown in No matter what the tale loses in clarity it may gain in colour History buffs and students of the Bible and Koran would find this book fascinating The understanding of either book will be enhanced by knowing the history and culture behind those books and the places of worship which they inspire From Canaaites to Crusaders Very readable
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Computers and internet, Psychology, Islam
This book considers the ways in which Muslims view the way they are being viewed, not viewed, or incorrectly viewed,… by the West. The book underscores a certain "will-to-visibility" whereby Muslims/ Arabs wish just to be "seen" and to be marked as fellow human beings. The author relates the failure to achieve this visibility to a state of desperation that inextricably and symmetrically ties visibility to violence. When Syrian and Palestinian refugees recently started refusing to be photographed, they clearly ushered the eventual but inevitable collapse of the image and its final futility. The photograph has been completely emptied of its last remaining possibility of signification. The book attempts to engage with questions about the ways in which images are perceived within cross cultural contexts. Why and how do people from different cultural backgrounds view the same image in opposing ways; why do cartoon, photographs, and videos become both the cause and target of bloody political violence - as witnessed recently by the deadly attacks against Charlie Hebdo in France and in the swift military response by the US, Jordan, France, and others to videotaped violence by ISIS.
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European history, Asian history, History, Islam
Europe and the Islamic World sheds much-needed light on the shared roots of Islamic and Western cultures and on the… richness of their inextricably intertwined histories refuting once and for all the misguided notion of a clash of civilizations between the Muslim world and Europe In this landmark book three eminent historians bring to life the complex and tumultuous relations between Genoans and Tunisians Alexandrians and the people of Constantinople Catalans and Maghrebis--the myriad groups and individuals whose stories reflect the common cultural intellectual and religious heritage of Europe and Islam Since the seventh century when the armies of Constantinople and Medina fought for control of Syria and Palestine there has been ongoing contact between the Muslim world and the West This sweeping history vividly recounts the wars and the crusades the alliances and diplomacy commerce and the slave trade technology transfers and the intellectual and artistic exchanges Here readers are given an unparalleled introduction to key periods and events including the Muslim conquests the collapse of the Byzantine Empire the commercial revolution of the medieval Mediterranean the intellectual and cultural achievements of Muslim Spain the crusades and Spanish reconquest the rise of the Ottomans and their conquest of a third of Europe European colonization and decolonization and the challenges and promise of this entwined legacy today As provocative as it is groundbreaking this book describes this shared history in all its richness and diversity revealing how ongoing encounters between Europe and Islam have profoundly shaped both
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Christianity, Religion, Islam, Judaism
Jews Christians and Muslims supposedly share a common religious heritage in the patriarch Abraham and the idea… that he should serve only as a source of unity among the three traditions has become widespread in both scholarly and popular circles Inheriting Abraham boldly challenges this view demonstrating Abraham s distinctive role in each tradition while delineating the points of connection as well In this sweeping and provocative book Jon Levenson subjects the powerful story in Genesis of Abraham s calling his experience in Canaan and Egypt and his near-sacrifice of his beloved son Isaac to a careful literary and theological analysis But Levenson also explores how Judaism Christianity and Islam have given unique distinctive interpretations to these narratives often reimagining Abraham and his life in mutually exclusive ways Historically the three traditions have differed sharply over what Abraham s life foreshadows how the Abrahamic community is constituted and sustained and what practices the patriarch s example authorizes In these disputes Levenson finds illuminating signs of profound and enduring theological divergences alongside the commonalities A stunning achievement that is certain to provoke debate Inheriting Abraham traces how each community has come to revere Abraham as an exemplar of its own distinctive spiritual teachings and practices This probing and compelling book also reveals how the increasingly conventional notion of the three equally Abrahamic religions derives from a dangerous misunderstanding of key biblical and Qur anic texts fails to do full justice to any of the traditions and is often biased against Judaism in subtle and pernicious ways
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Religion, Islam
The world's premier authority on religious traditions presents a concise and timely guide to the history, teachings, and practice of… Islam.Drawn from his masterful presentation of Islam in the bestselling book The World's Religions (over two million copies sold), Huston Smith offers a revealing look into the heart of a tradition with more than one billion adherents worldwide. Dispelling narrow and distorted notions about the nature of Islam and featuring a new introduction by the author, this book compellingly conveys the profound appeal of Islam, while addressing such timely issues as the true meaning of jihad, the role of women in Islamic societies, and the remarkable growth of Islam in America.