Historic Cities of the Islamic World
Historic Cities of the Islamic World

Author: C. Edmund Bosworth

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007-08-31

Total Pages: 630

ISBN-13: 9047423836

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This book contains articles on historic cities of the Islamic world, ranging from West Africa to Malaysia, which over the centuries have been centres of culture and learning and of economic and commercial life, and which have contributed much to the consolidation of Islam as a faith and as a social and political institution. The articles have been taken from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, completed in 2004, but in many cases expanded and rewritten. All have been updated to include fresh historical information, with note of contemporary social developments and population statistics. The book thus delineates the urban background of Islam has it has evolved up to the present day, highlighting the role of such great cities as Cairo, Istanbul, Baghdad and Delhi in Islamic history, and also brings them together in a rich panorama illustrating one of mankind's greatest achievements, the living organism of the city.

The City in the Muslim World
The City in the Muslim World

Author: Mohammad Gharipour

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-05

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1317548221

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Presenting a critical, yet innovative, perspective on the cultural interactions between the "East" and the "West", this book questions the role of travel in the production of knowledge and in the construction of the idea of the "Islamic city". This volume brings together authors from various disciplines, questioning the role of Western travel writing in the production of knowledge about the East, particularly focusing on the cities of the Muslim world. Instead of concentrating on a specific era, chapters span the Medieval and Modern eras in order to present the transformation of both the idea of the "Islamic city" and also the act of traveling and travel writing. Missions to the East, whether initiated by military, religious, economic, scientific, diplomatic or touristic purposes, resulted in a continuous construction, de-construction and re-construction of the "self" and the "other". Including travel accounts, which depicted cities, extending from Europe to Asia and from Africa to Arabia, chapters epitomize the construction of the "Orient" via textual or visual representations. By examining various tools of representation such as drawings, paintings, cartography, and photography in depicting the urban landscape in constant flux, the book emphasizes the role of the mobile individual in defining city space and producing urban culture. Scrutinising the role of travellers in producing the image of the world we know today, this book is recommended for researchers, scholars and students of Middle Eastern Studies, Cultural Studies, Architecture and Urbanism.

The City
The City

Author: Kathryn Hinds

Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 9780761416555

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Discusses what life was like for craftsmen, merchants, slaves, soldiers, and other residents of ancient Roman cities.

The Idea of the Muslim World
The Idea of the Muslim World

Author: Cemil Aydin

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2017-04-24

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0674050371

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“Superb... A tour de force.” —Ebrahim Moosa “Provocative... Aydin ranges over the centuries to show the relative novelty of the idea of a Muslim world and the relentless efforts to exploit that idea for political ends.” —Washington Post When President Obama visited Cairo to address Muslims worldwide, he followed in the footsteps of countless politicians who have taken the existence of a unified global Muslim community for granted. But as Cemil Aydin explains in this provocative history, it is a misconception to think that the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims constitute a single entity. How did this belief arise, and why is it so widespread? The Idea of the Muslim World considers its origins and reveals the consequences of its enduring allure. “Much of today’s media commentary traces current trouble in the Middle East back to the emergence of ‘artificial’ nation states after the fall of the Ottoman Empire... According to this narrative...today’s unrest is simply a belated product of that mistake. The Idea of the Muslim World is a bracing rebuke to such simplistic conclusions.” —Times Literary Supplement “It is here that Aydin’s book proves so valuable: by revealing how the racial, civilizational, and political biases that emerged in the nineteenth century shape contemporary visions of the Muslim world.” —Foreign Affairs

Islamic Empires
Islamic Empires

Author: Justin Marozzi

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2019-08-29

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 0241199050

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'Outstanding, illuminating, compelling ... a riveting read' Peter Frankopan, Sunday Times Islamic civilization was once the envy of the world. From a succession of glittering, cosmopolitan capitals, Islamic empires lorded it over the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and swathes of the Indian subcontinent. For centuries the caliphate was both ascendant on the battlefield and triumphant in the battle of ideas, its cities unrivalled powerhouses of artistic grandeur, commercial power, spiritual sanctity and forward-looking thinking. Islamic Empires is a history of this rich and diverse civilization told through its greatest cities over fifteen centuries, from the beginnings of Islam in Mecca in the seventh century to the astonishing rise of Doha in the twenty-first. It dwells on the most remarkable dynasties ever to lead the Muslim world - the Abbasids of Baghdad, the Umayyads of Damascus and Cordoba, the Merinids of Fez, the Ottomans of Istanbul, the Mughals of India and the Safavids of Isfahan - and some of the most charismatic leaders in Muslim history, from Saladin in Cairo and mighty Tamerlane of Samarkand to the poet-prince Babur in his mountain kingdom of Kabul and the irrepressible Maktoum dynasty of Dubai. It focuses on these fifteen cities at some of the defining moments in Islamic history: from the Prophet Mohammed receiving his divine revelations in Mecca and the First Crusade of 1099 to the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the phenomenal creation of the merchant republic of Beirut in the nineteenth century.

Cities and Caliphs
Cities and Caliphs

Author: Nezar AlSayyad

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1991-05-30

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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The history of the Islamic world includes many unique cultural, religious, scientific, and architectural developments. Among these was the evolution of the Arab Muslim city, which occurred during the rapid expansion of the Muslim empire in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. In this probing volume, Nezar AlSayyad examines the extraordinary characteristics of Islamic urbanism and the process by which cities and towns were absorbed and physically transformed by Islam. The early leaders of the Muslim empire--caliphs, amirs, and other rulers--had a lasting effect on what the modern scholar would call their cities' urban form. AlSayyad demonstrates that the stereotypical model of the Muslim city is inadequate, not only because individual rulers in regions of the empire were different, but also due to various cultural influences that were indigenous to conquered areas. After a prologue, the study begins with a historiography of the concept of the Muslim city and how it was paralleled by the development of its physical form. Garrison towns, established as military camps by early Arab conquerors, are examined next by AlSayyad. His research shows that building methods and urban form in the Arab cities were products of Islamization and consolidation of Caliphal power. New capital towns and cities, AlSayyad maintains, were also results of elaborate personal expressions of politico-religious authority by certain Muslim rulers. The book ends by suggesting that the Arabs' and their leaders' changing view of the role of architecture was a major factor behind the fluid urban forms of Muslim cities. This significant contribution to the study of the Arab world and its cultural history will be of great value to Middle East, urban, and architectural historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists, as well as to students of Islamic history and urbanism.

Milton in the Arab-Muslim World
Milton in the Arab-Muslim World

Author: Islam Issa

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-10-14

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1317095928

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The first full-length study of the reception of John Milton’s (1608-74) writings in the Arab-Muslim world, this book examines the responses of Arab-Muslim readers to Milton’s works, and in particular, to his epic poem: Paradise Lost. It contributes to knowledge of the history, development, and ways in which early modern writings are read and understood by Muslims. By mapping the literary and more broadly cultural consequences of the censure, translation and abridgement of Milton’s works in the Arab-Muslim world, this book analyses the diverse ways in which Arab-Muslims read and understand a range of literary and religious aspects of Milton’s writing in light of cultural, theological, socio-political, linguistic and translational issues. After providing an overview of the presence of Milton and his works in the Arab world, each chapter sheds light on how cultural and translational issues shape the ways in which Arab-Muslim readers perceive and understand the characters and motifs of Paradise Lost. Chapters outline the ways in which the figures are currently understood in Milton scholarship, before exploring how they fit into the narrative drama and theology of the poem, and their position in Islamic creed and Arab-Muslim culture. Concurrently, each chapter examines the poem’s subject matter in detail, placing particular emphasis on matters of linguistic, theological and cultural translation and accommodation. Chapter conclusions not only summarise the patterns and potentialities of reception, but point towards the practical functions of Arab-Muslim responses to Milton’s writing and their contribution to the formation of social ideas.

A History of the Muslim World to 1750
A History of the Muslim World to 1750

Author: Vernon O. Egger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-08

Total Pages: 642

ISBN-13: 1351389076

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A History of the Muslim World to 1750 traces the development of Islamic civilization from the career of the Prophet Muhammad to the mid-eighteenth century. Encompassing a wide range of significant events within the period, its coverage includes the creation of the Dar al-Islam (the territory ruled by Muslims), the fragmentation of society into various religious and political groups including the Shi'ites and Sunnis, the series of catastrophes in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that threatened to destroy the civilization, and the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires. Including the latest research from the last ten years, this second edition has been updated and expanded to cover the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Fully refreshed and containing over sixty images to highlight the key visual aspects, this book offers students a balanced coverage of the Muslim world from the Iberian Peninsula to South Asia, and detailed accounts of all cultures. The use of maps, primary sources, timelines, and a glossary further illuminates the fascinating yet complex world of the pre-modern Middle East. Covering art, architecture, religious institutions, theological beliefs, popular religious practice, political institutions, cuisine, and much more, A History of the Muslim World to 1750 is the perfect introduction for all students of the history of Islamic civilization and the Middle East.