The Book of Misers
The Book of Misers

Author: Jāḥiẓ

Publisher: ISBS

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9781859641415

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Al-Jahiz (776-869) was one of the greatest exponents of Arabic prose of all time. His scholarship, the breadth of his interests, and his ability to express his ideas and arguments with vigour and humour were outstanding; "The Book of Misers" is his comical masterpiece, and one of the earliest works of fiction from the Islamic world. Generosity is regarded by Arab society as one of the principle virtues, and this satire on miserliness has a clear social purpose. With his acute powers of observation, light-hearted scepticism, his comic sense and satirical turn of mind, he ridicules both individuals and groups such as schoolmasters, singers or scribes. In addition, there is much incidental detail about traditional culture and conduct. It will appeal to the modern reader for its comical power, sometimes covert and sometimes straight-faced, which remains undiminished 1100 years after it was written . This translation by the late Professor R.B. Serjeant makes this work available to the English-speaking world. Professor Serjeant was one of the most eminent Arabic scholars in Britain, and since the 1950s he had used extracts from this work when teaching Arabic to his students, as he felt it gave great insight into traditional Arabic society.

Black Morocco
Black Morocco

Author: Chouki El Hamel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-02-27

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 1139620045

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Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam chronicles the experiences, identity and achievements of enslaved black people in Morocco from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. Chouki El Hamel argues that we cannot rely solely on Islamic ideology as the key to explain social relations and particularly the history of black slavery in the Muslim world, for this viewpoint yields an inaccurate historical record of the people, institutions and social practices of slavery in Northwest Africa. El Hamel focuses on black Moroccans' collective experience beginning with their enslavement to serve as the loyal army of the Sultan Isma'il. By the time the Sultan died in 1727, they had become a political force, making and unmaking rulers well into the nineteenth century. The emphasis on the political history of the black army is augmented by a close examination of the continuity of black Moroccan identity through the musical and cultural practices of the Gnawa.

Greater Syria
Greater Syria

Author: Daniel Pipes

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1992-03-26

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0195363043

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While for many years scholars and journalists have focused on the more obvious manifestations of political life in the Middle East, one major theme has been consistently neglected. This is Pan-Syrian nationalism--the dream of creating a Greater Syria out of an area now governed by Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey. Though not nearly as well known as Arab or Palestinian nationalism and hardly studied in depth, Pan-Syrianism has had a profound effect on Middle Eastern politics since the end of World War I. In Greater Syria, the noted Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes provides the first comprehensive account of this intriguing, important, and little understood ideology.

Economic Concepts of Ibn Taimiyah
Economic Concepts of Ibn Taimiyah

Author: Abdul Azim Islahi

Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 0860376656

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This valuable work presents Ibn Taimiyah's thoughts on the concept of Islamic economics, the state in the economy, on public finance, money, interest, prices, partnership, and profit-sharing, and offers a comparison of his ideas with those of some medieval scholars in Europe, along with a study of his influence on Islamic thinkers in later periods.

Women Claim Islam
Women Claim Islam

Author: Miriam Cooke

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-11-23

Total Pages: 139

ISBN-13: 1135959439

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This provocative collection addresses the ways in which Arab women writers are using Islam to empower themselves, and theorizes the conditions that have made the appearance of these new voices possible.

Historical Dictionary of Somalia
Historical Dictionary of Somalia

Author: Mohamed Haji Mukhtar

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2003-02-25

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0810866048

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Despite advances in modern communication and the proliferation of information, there remain areas of the world about which little is known. One such place is Somalia. The informed public is aware of a political meltdown and consequent chaos there, but few comprehend the causes of this tragic crisis. This new edition covers Somalia's origin, history, culture, and language, as well as current economic and political issues. The alphabetical arrangement of this Dictionary, with a complete chronology, list of acronyms, and in-depth bibliography provide useful information about the country in a convenient format. A vital addition to reference collections supporting undergraduate and graduate programs on Africa and the Middle East, international relations, and economics- a useful fact-filled compendium for government and public libraries, NGO's, and other special libraries