Muharram Nights is an Islamic children's poetry book. It portrays the battle of Karbala and the sacrifices endured in a language easily comprehended by children. The book practically illustrates the story of Imam Hussein's infant son; Abdullah, and the loyalty of our beloved Imam's horse; Zuljanah. Keeping our youth connected with the awaited son of Fatima (pbuh) the book is ended with a poem dedicated to our beloved Imam Mahdi.
Each year 300,000 pilgrims embark on a pilgrimage to the remote Indian village of Gugudu. Like many villages in South India, Gugudu is populated mostly by non-Muslims. Yet these pilgrims are coming to mark Muharram, which is observed by Shi'i Muslim communities across South Asia. In this book, Afsar Mohammad presents a lively ethnographic study of the textured religious life of Gugudu. Muharram, he shows, takes on a strikingly different color in Gugudu because of the central place of a local Hindu pir, or saint, called Kullayappa. This intense and shared devotion to the pir, Mohammad argues, represents local Islam interacting with global Islam. In the words of one devotee, "There is no Hindu or Muslim. They all have one religion, which is called 'Kullayappa devotion.'" Through his compelling fieldwork, Mohammad expands our ideas about devotion to the martyrs of Karbala, not only in this particular village but also in the wider world, and explores the intersection between an Islam with locally defined practices and global Hinduism.
The blessed days, nights, and months are each a distinctive sign of Islam. They are celebrated by Muslims all around the world in due respect to their unique worth and sanctity that make them distinct from the rest of the year. Although the worth and sanctity of these special times have essentially been shaped by the Islamic tradition from the seventh century onwards, most of these dates have their origins far back in history.
In August 1927, British colonial authorities arrested Hamman Yaji, Emir of Madagali, an infamous slave trader who had terrorized the neighboring montagnard populations of the Northern Cameroons and bedeviled the colonial administrations of three nations. His diary was seized and soon became a fabled document in northern Nigerian history. Written in Arabic and translated into English by a British colonial official, the diary chronicles Hamman Yaji's daily activities between 1912 and 1927. He recorded his daily routine - where he traveled, his slaving raids and slave-trading activities, visitors and gifts received, his relations with friends and family and with the British administration, and his practice of Islam. This rare and remarkable document, made accessible to scholars for the first time since its composition more than seventy-five years ago, is enhanced by a substantial introduction that places Hamman Yaji in historical and cultural perspective and describes the diary's discovery and translation, and its significance for British colonial and West African history.
Most of the population of the world is still of those who believe in religion. Religion is the priceless heritage of man. There are many religions in almost every country of the world. The ancient history of that country is still present in the holy books of that religion. Religion books are the only source of knowledge of ancient history, but today in the modern age (scientific age) the new generation is turning away from religion. The biggest reason for this is lack of proper knowledge about religion and not reading holy books. In today's era, identification of sects in every religion is due to new things (concoctions) in religion. It is almost impossible to get information about religious sects because there is lack of books related to it, and no one gives correct information. I wanted to know about this in many religions but no one told about it and I met many alims (scholars) but could not get any clear information and I went to Parsi (Zarathustra) pastor but there also got disappointed And met Arya Samaj and many other people but everyone said that you should read your holy book (Quran Sharif). Then I thought why these people are not giving any information? Many people provoked me not to get into its affair, otherwise there could be a fight. Then I took support of libraries but that too lacked Hindi language books, so I took support of English, Urdu, B.A., M.A. books and some encyclopedias, dictionaries helped a lot. Tafseers (explanation) of Bible and Quran Sharif also helped a lot in this. This book has been written since 28.09.2004 and is now completed on 30.08.2008. Today there is no difference between ancient history and religious history, only language, so pls read My book.thanks. Also available in paperback version.
"Handbook of Religion and the Asian City highlights the creative and innovative role of urban aspirations in Asian world cities. It points out that urban politics and governance are often about religious boundaries and processions--in short, that public religion is politics. The essays show how projects of secularism come up against projects and ambitions of a religious nature, a particular form of contestation that takes the city as its public arena. Asian cities are sites of speculation, not only for those who invest in real estate but also for those who look for housing, for employment, and for salvation. In its potential and actual mobility, the sacred creates social space in which they all can meet. Handbook of Religion and the Asian City makes the comparative case that one cannot study the historical patterns of urbanization in Asia without paying attention to the role of religion in urban aspirations"--Provided by publisher.
One of the most important current debates within and about Islam concerns its relation with power. Can Muslims be fundamentally content without power or as a minority? This book considers the voice of an important Muslim minority through its sermons. Indian Shi'i Muslims are a minority within a minority, constituting about ten to fifteen percent of the population as a whole, but comprising of about fifteen million people. Ten sermons are presented entirely and many more are quoted in order to analyze the preaching tradition in full. This book is the first survey to present the Indian mourning gathering and explain the history of this extraordinary phenomenon.
This book examines the cultural responses of Muslims to the transformations, contradictions and challenges confronting contemporary Islam as it moves towards the twenty-first century. The diffusion of populations, the globalization of culture and the forces of postmodernity have shaken the world like never before. These developments have generated a debate among Muslims which, as the contributors to this volume show, will have far-reaching consequences not just for the Muslim world, but for relations between Islam and the West more generally.
"Performing Islam" focuses on a wide spectrum of ritual activities in Iran today as a key for elucidating social, cultural and political processes, but in particular the values and beliefs underpinning gender constructions in a rapidly changing complex society.
