The Echoes of Fitna

The Echoes of Fitna

Author: Aaron M. Hagler

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-01-30

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9004524258

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In The Echoes of Fitna, Aaron M. Hagler engages in a close reading of the fitna narratives of three related texts: al-Ṭabarī’s Taʾrīkh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, Ibn al-Athīr’s al-Kāmil fī al-taʾrīkh, and Ibn Kathīr’s Kitāb al-bidāya wa-l-nihāya. Because the latter two texts’ presentations of the fitna follow al-Ṭabarī’s so closely, moments of divergence in the texts are understood as clear markers of the later historians’ goals, perspectives, and literary-narrative strategies. The analysis of these changes demonstrates that the desire to reframe the meaning of Karbalāʾ is central to Ibn al-Athīr’s and Ibn Kathīr’s narrative construction, and that—while they left al-Ṭabarī’s versions of key events intact—small, even minute changes to contextual expository moments fundamentally change their meaning.


The Echoes of Fitna

The Echoes of Fitna

Author: Aaron M. Hagler

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-01-30

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9004524258

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In The Echoes of Fitna, Aaron M. Hagler engages in a close reading of the fitna narratives of three related texts: al-Ṭabarī’s Taʾrīkh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, Ibn al-Athīr’s al-Kāmil fī al-taʾrīkh, and Ibn Kathīr’s Kitāb al-bidāya wa-l-nihāya. Because the latter two texts’ presentations of the fitna follow al-Ṭabarī’s so closely, moments of divergence in the texts are understood as clear markers of the later historians’ goals, perspectives, and literary-narrative strategies. The analysis of these changes demonstrates that the desire to reframe the meaning of Karbalāʾ is central to Ibn al-Athīr’s and Ibn Kathīr’s narrative construction, and that—while they left al-Ṭabarī’s versions of key events intact—small, even minute changes to contextual expository moments fundamentally change their meaning.


Texts from the Middle

Texts from the Middle

Author: Thomas E Burman

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2022-08-23

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0520296532

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Texts from the Middle is a companion primary source reader to the textbook The Sea in the Middle. It can be used alone or in conjunction with the textbook, providing an original history of the Middle Ages that places the Mediterranean at the geographical center of the study of the period from 650 to 1650. Building on the textbook’s unique approach, these sources center on the Mediterranean and emphasize the role played by peoples and cultures of Africa, Asia, and Europe in an age when Christians, Muslims, and Jews of various denominations engaged with each other in both conflict and collaboration. The supplementary reader mirrors the main text’s fifteen-chapter structure, providing six sources per chapter. The two texts pair together to provide a framework and materials that guide students through this complex but essential history—one that will appeal to the diverse student bodies of today.


Owning Disaster

Owning Disaster

Author: Aaron M. Hagler

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-12-18

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1003812074

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Delving into the intertwined tapestry of Jewish, Christian and Muslim sacred texts, exegesis, philosophy, theology, and historiography, this book explores the similar coping mechanisms across Abrahamic communities in reconciling the implications of disasters without abandoning their faith. Belief in a single, omnipotent God carries with it the challenge of explaining and contextualizing disasters that seem to contravene God’s supposed will. Through explorations of Jewish responses to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, Christian responses to the Arab Muslim conquests, Muslim responses to the Crusades, and a variety of responses to the Mongol conquests, Aaron M. Hagler unveils the shared patterns and responses that emerge within these communities when confronted by calamity. Initial responses come in the forms of horrified lamentations, but as the initial shock dissipates, a complex dance of self-blame and collective introspection unfolds, as writers and theologians seek to contextualize the tragedy and guide their communities towards hope, resilience, and renewal. Of interest to scholars, theologians, and individuals seeking to explore interconnected notions of resilience within Abrahamic communities, Owning Disaster will resonate with readers eager to contemplate the intricate relationship between religious dogma, human resilience, and the profound questions that emerge when confronted with calamity.


In Praise of the Few. Studies in Shiʿi Thought and History

In Praise of the Few. Studies in Shiʿi Thought and History

Author: Etan Kohlberg

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-05-06

Total Pages: 650

ISBN-13: 9004406972

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In Praise of the Few: Studies in Shiʿi Thought and History is a selection of Etan Kohlberg’s research on Shiʿi Islam over a period of fifty years. It includes previously published articles, revised dissertation chapters, and a full bibliography of the author’s work. Divided into two parts, the collection begins with chapters from Kohlberg’s Oxford doctoral dissertation (1971) and related articles that investigate Sunni and Shiʿi views on the Prophet’s Companions and debates concerning the extent of their authority as sources of religious knowledge. Part Two traces the doctrinal and historical developments pertaining to various dimensions of Imāmī Shiʿi intellectual tradition such as theology, hadith, law, jurisprudence, and exegesis.


Can Science Come Back to Islam?

Can Science Come Back to Islam?

Author: K. Razi Naqvi

Publisher: K. Razi Naqvi

Published:

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 8299992311

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The Muslim world, aware of the paramount importance of scientific knowledge, is searching for the route to an affirmative answer to the question raised in the title, but it seems to shy away from asking some closely related questions, which are: Who brought science to Islam? Who banished science from Islam? Who can bring science back to Islam? This book seeks to answer all these questions. Its author, who has had a lifelong interest in the history of science and religion, and has spent five decades at the forefront of scientific research, tries to convince contemporary Muslims to forsake regressive and anti-scientific interpretations of their scriptures; to warn them that the gap between dogma and fact cannot be papered over, that progress will be possible, and that science will come back to Islam only when a clean break is made from those whose teaching has led to the current malaise. The book ends with the pregnant question: How can Western voters help in this important project?


Muslim Reformers and the Bolsheviks

Muslim Reformers and the Bolsheviks

Author: Naira. E Sahakyan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1000570150

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This book explores how the Muslim scholars of Daghestan, an important Muslim region within Russia, experienced the 1917 Russian Revolution and how they attempted to gain religious and political authority in the new post-imperial environment. Covering the period between the February Revolution and the first massive repressions of the scholars of Islam, it provides new insights into the complexities of the relations between Muslim reformers and Bolsheviks. It challenges the prevailing view in Western scholarship that the relationship was antagonistic, revealing that relations were pragmatic rather than ideological. It argues that there was cooperation on issues of modern education and language policy, and alliances against assumed common threats, such as the British, Wahhābis and local Ṣūfīs, along with disagreements related to the Bolsheviks’ atheism and their concept of class struggle. Overall, it demonstrates that the Islamic reformist discourse in Daghestan, although influenced by the wider Islamic debate at the turn of the twentieth century, was an integral part of Soviet modernity.


The Epistle of Salim Ibn Dhakwan

The Epistle of Salim Ibn Dhakwan

Author: Salim Ibn Dhakwan

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 2001-03-15

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0191590150

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The epistle ascribed to Salim Ibn Dhakwan is a tract against 'wrong' doctrines regarding the classification and treatment of opponents. Written by an Ibadi before AD 800 and taking issue with both Kharijite extremists and Murji'ites, it was brought to the attention of Western Islamicists in the early 1970s by Amr Khalifa Ennami, and is here edited, translated, and discussed in full for the first time. The early centuries of Islamic religious thought have become a dynamic field in the last few years, and there is renewed interest in the attempt to use the early literature of the Muslim sects as windows onto the wider scene of doctrinal discussion in the period before the mainstream tradition becomes plentiful. In addition to making available a new source, this study seeks to open up the Ibadi tradition for future research on early Islamic thought, partly by making heavy use of Ibadi sources in its interpretation of Salim's epistle and by partly by offering systematic information about the Ibadi figures and literary works involved in the appendices and bibliography.


Non-Democratic Legitimacy During the Arab Spring

Non-Democratic Legitimacy During the Arab Spring

Author: Nicolai Due-Gundersen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-09-20

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 3031118820

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This book analyzes non-democratic legitimacy during the Arab Spring. During this historic event, monarchs and presidents were forced to defend their rule, whether through Islam, the cultural image of paternalism or the cash flow of welfare. Can Arab leaders still justify apolitical reigns? Are monarchies more respected than republicans or are they too under threat? The author traces the history of apolitical rule in the Arab world, from Islamic roots to the role of Arab leaders in merging religion with socio-economic benefits and cosmetic liberalization. Finally, analysis of speeches given by leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain in response to the Arab Spring are considered. When protesters took to the streets with their slogans, the regimes talked back. This work discusses the weight of their words and why some leaders survived unrest while others were overthrown. To engage with the author and book further, you can find their presentation discussing their experience publishing with Palgrave Macmillan here: https://youtu.be/NfKETFx4sok; and their presentation discussing the book itself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJU6_3M3xyo