bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?
Authors: Hallaq Wael B.
Published: December 2011

As conceived by classical Muslim jurists,ijtihādis the exertion of mental energy in the search for a legal opinion to the extent that the faculties of the jurist become incapable of further effort. In other words, ijtihad is the maximum effort expended by the jurist to master and apply the principles and rules ofuṣūl alfiqh(legal theory) for the purpose of discovering God's law.1The activity of ijtihad is assumed by many a modern scholar to have ceased about the end of the third/ninth century, with the consent of the Muslim jurists themselves. This process, known as ‘closing the gate of ijtihad’ (in Arabic: ‘insidād bāb al-ijtihād’), was described by Joseph Schacht as follows:
Political Intrigue and Suppression in Lebanon During World War I
Authors: Ajay Nicholas Z.
Published: December 2011

At the outbreak of World War I, Lebanon was a part of the Ottoman Empire and comprised mainly the Mutasarrifîyah, or Independent Sanjaq, of Mount Lebanon and the Wilâyah, or province, of Beirut. Because of its position in international power politics, Lebanon was not under as strict Ottoman control as other provinces, with Mount Lebanon enjoying a considerable degree of local autonomy. Turkish involvement in the war, however, resulted in military occupation of Lebanon, which comprised part of the Fourth Army Command under Jamâl Pâsha, in prosecution of the war effort against the British in Egypt.
Land Reform Versus Agricultural Reform: Turkish Miracle or Catastrophe Delayed?
Authors: Parvin Manoucher , Hic Mukerrem
Published: December 2011

The change from an agriculturally based economy to one based primarily on industrial and services sectors requires a complex transformation in technology of productions, physical and human capital structure, social and political institutions, and cultural attitudes. Although broad similarities exist, no two countries have traced an identical path. One major economic and ideological concern in such a transformation is the fate of private property in general and land ownership in particular. Furthermore, the degree of redistribution of political power and material wealth of existing or emerging groups constitutes an important characteristic of the transformation itself. Thus, an important and interesting link in the chain of probable events is the occurrence or non-occurrence of land reform. The nature and degree of land reform, if it happens, or the variety of its substitutes, if it does not, provide vital clues to the specificity of the political economy of development.
Towards a New Political Economy of State Industrialization in the Arab Middle East
Authors: Chatelus Michel , Schemeil Yves
Published: December 2011

Over recent years, scholars and politicians have grown to recognize the increasing obsolescence of models and patterns applicable to the development crisis. This crisis affects both ‘liberal’ capitalist systems and state-controlled ‘socialist’ systems, and can be analyzed on two levels. On the theoretical level, the development crisis is one aspect of the crisis of paradigms in social sciences, especially in economics. New ways of thinking originate with the denial of all those dogmatic approaches which have flourished in the realm of economic development for the last three decades. However, we cannot be satisfied with a predominantly empirical investigation devoid of theoretically explicit background. On the empirical level, some sweeping situations emerge; development processes, either unpredicted by, or contradictory to theoretical forecasts have arisen.
The Study Of Middle Eastern Industrlal History: Notes On The Interrelationship Between Factories And Small-Scale Manufacturing With Special References To Lebamese Silk And Ecyptian Syugar, 1900–1930
Authors: Owen Roger
Published: December 2011

The growth and transformation of Middle Eastern manufacturing industry has been little studied for the period before the advent of tariff autonomy, and thus protectionism, in the early 1930s The reasons for this are various but must have much to do with the many difficult problems involved. There is an obvious lack of data, particularly about the activities of the craft or small-scale sector which, even to this day, is regularly under-counted by government statisticians. There are also serious problems of definition which hage generally been ignored by the vast majority of economic historians who remain content to analyse manufacturing activity in terms of such simple dichotomies as modern/factory/capitalist versus traditional/workshop/pre-capitalist, a method which not only masks the fact that there are a whole range of activities which do not fall into such apparently neat categories but also — to introduce the major theme of this essay — makes it impossible to examine the complex interrelationship between plants of different size and degree of capitalisation. Finally, much of what passes for a ducussion of manufacturing activity has, in fact, got muddled with the much larger debate about the whole process of industrialisation, about whether particular areas of the Middle East could have developed their own industrial base before 1930, and about why they might have been prevented from doing so.
The Saudi Religious Elite (ULAMA) as Participant in The political System of The kingdom
Authors: Bligh Alexander
Published: December 2011

The Ulema are the power that holds the Sultan and his people together—the medium of control. But they seldom meddle in politics. This premise was expressed by Ameen Rihani, an Arab traveller, in 1928, before either Sultan 'Abd al-'Aziz became king or Najd and its dependencies became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Was Rihani correct in his conclusion? Is he right today? This article will endeavor to explore the term ulama in the Saudi context in the twentieth century. Later, an attempt will be made to discuss the participation of Saudi ulama in a number of key cases in the history of Saudi Arabia.

The house of Saud along with the house of Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of the Unitarian movement, were parties to a unique coalition in the eighteenth century. The coalition embraced the Unitarian movement, or Wahhabiyah, founded in the mid-eighteenth century, and members of the Arab noble house of Saud of Najd.
State-Systems and Revolutionary Challenge: Nasser, Khomeini, and the Middle East
Authors: Nahas Maridi
Published: December 2011

Revolutions are momentous events that shake the foundations of societies, transforming their social and political structures and often signalling the triumph of a new ideology. It has long been noted that the international ramifications of revolutions are no less profound than their domestic impact. This is not only because revolutions often give rise to powerful states, thus potentially undermining the extant balance of power, but also because they sometimes infuse those states with norms and objectives that are antithetical to those subscribed to by other members of the international system. They also exert a demonstration effect beyond the boundaries of their country of origin, with a potential for triggering waves of revolution and counter-revolution both within and between societies.
The Novella in Arabic: a Study in Fictional Genres
Authors: Allen Roger
Published: December 2011

Before broaching the main topic of this study, there seem to me to be two general issues involving terms in the title which need to be addressed: The one concerns nomenclature, the other the question of genres. A certain vagueness colors most attempts at definition of the term “novella,” something which seems the result of both the way in which the term has developed and the considerable differences of opinion among critics. Thus theOxford English Dictionaryseems to reflect the relatively recent interest in the genre in the English-speaking world by not including the word at all in the main part of the dictionary and by defining it in the Supplement as “a short novel (as in the stories of Boccaccio'sDecameron).” As Howard Nemerov points out, however, “the term ‘short novel’ is descriptive only in the way that the term ‘Middle Ages’ is descriptive—that is, not at all, except with regard to the territory on either side.” The index to the English translation of Todorov'sPoetics of Prose lists: Novella, see Tale. Such entries as these do at least convey to us the notion that the novella operates somewhere along a fictional spectrum, the two poles of which are the novel and the short story, but that is all.
The ‘Crisis of Orientation’: The Shift of Egyptian Intellectuals to Islamic Subjects in the 1930's
Authors: Smith Charles D.
Published: December 2011

The decade of the 1930s in Egypt has been subject to varying interpretations in recent scholarship. The publication of books on classical Islamic themes and figures by men who previously had advocated the adoption of Western scientific techniques and cultural values as essential to Egypt's modernization has been seen as indicative of an intellectual crisis which contributed to a more general conservative reaction from 1935 onwards. While analyses have varied as to the motivation and scope of this crisis, a dominant influence upon scholarly literature has been Nadav Safran's important study, Egypt in Search of Political Community, and his conclusion that ‘the intellectuals surrendered their previous bearing — rationalism and a Western cultural orientation — without being able to produce any viable Muslim-inspired alternative’. Given the importance of Safran's work and its relationship to the research presented here, we will discuss the period in question and, in particular, Taha Husayn and Muhammad Husayn Haykal, with specific references to Safran's general approach as well as to his treatment of the 1930s.
The Education of a Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Âlim, Ahmed Cevdet Paşa
Authors: Chambers Richard L.
Published: December 2011

In 1924 the doors of the medreses of Turkey were ordered closed by the Grand National Assembly. The century-old movement to modernize and secularize Turkish education reached a crucial watershed with the abandonment of the traditional Islamic system of mektebs and medreses. The bifurcation which had characterized Ottoman education since the early nineteenth century and which had been reflected in the empire's educated élite could not be tolerated in the new, secular republic envisaged by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The Revolutionary character of the Iranian Ulame: Wishful Thinking or Reality?
Authors: Floor Willem M.
Published: December 2011

In several scholarly works it has been asserted that opposition to tyranny is a fundamental and pervasive characteristic of Shi'i Islam.1 Here I shall try to show that the revolutionary character ascribed to the Shi'i ulama in Iran has been greatly exaggerated. I will argue that the ulama's perception of the socio-economic and political structure of Iranian society often did not basically differ from that of the secular power elite. Further, I will analyze the causes of the opposition of the ulama to the state during the early 1960s. It was in large part his analysis of these events that made Algar partially amend his conclusion to his study of the ulama in Qajar Iran, namely “that they failed to perceive the nature of what was being demanded and its implication for Iran and themselves.”2
Does The Interpretation of Islamic Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?
Authors: Leaman Oliver
Published: December 2011

When discussing the Kuzari of Halevi, Leo Strauss comments in a footnote that “One cannot recall too often this remark of Goethe (in the Noten und Abhandlungen zum besseren Verständnis der West-östlichen Divans): ‘Das eigentliche, einzige und tiefste Thema der Welt — und Menschengeschichte, dem alle übrigen untergeordnet sind, bleibt der Konflikt des Unglaubens und Glaubens.’” It will be argued here that the influence of such a conflict on Islamic philosophy has been much exaggerated, especially by the highly influential approach that Strauss brings to such a mode of thought and its means of expression.
Is There A Middle East?
Authors: Keddie Nikki R.
Published: December 2011

The Middle East, as a geographical term, is generally used today to cover the area stretching from Morocco through Afghanistan, and is roughly equivalent to the area of the first wave of Muslim conquests plus Anatolia. It is a predominantly Muslim area with widespread semi-arid and desert conditions where agriculture is heavily dependent on irrigation and pastoral nomadism has been prevalent. With the twentieth-century rise of exclusive linguistic nationalisms, which have taken over many of the emotional overtones formerly concentrated on religious loyalties, it becomes increasingly doubtful that the Middle East is now much more than a geographical expression – covering an area whose inhabitants respond to very different loyalties and values. In Turkey since the days of Atatürk, the ruling and educated élites have gone out of their way to express their identification with Europe and the West and to turn their backs on their traditional Islamic heritage. A glorification of the ‘modern’ and populist elements in the ancient Turkish and Ottoman past has gone along with a downgrading of Arab and Persian cultural influences–indeed the latter are often seen as having corrupted the pure Turkish essence, which only re-emerged with Atatürk’s swepping cultural reforms. Similarly the Iranians are increasingly emulating the technocratic and rationalizing values of the capitalist West, and in the cultural sphere identify with the glorious civilization of pre-Islamic Iran. This identification goes along with a downgrading of Islam and particularly of the Arabs, which has characterized both radical nationalists like the late nineteenth-century Mîrzâ Âqâ Khân Kirmânî and the twentieth-century Ahmad Kasravâ1 and more conservative official nationalists such as the Pahlavi Shahs and their followers. The recent celebrations of the 2500th anniversary of the Persian monarchy, for example, were notable for their virtual exclusion of the Muslim ulama, though religious leaders of other religious were invited, and their lack of specifically Islamic references. In both Iran and Turkey, traditional Islam has become largely a class phenomenon, with the traditional religion followed by a majority of the peasantry and the petty bourgeoisie, but rejected or radically modified by the more educated classes. With the continued spread of Western-style secular education it may be expected that the numbers of people identifying with nationalism and with the West (or with the Communist rather than the Islamic East) will grow.
In Memoriam Gustave E. Von Grunebaum, 1909–1972
Authors: Rosenthal Franz
Published: December 2011

The first President of the Middle East Studies Association and one of its principal founders, Gustave E. von Grunebaum, died of cancer in Los Angeles, California, on 27 February 1972, at the age of sixty-two. Born in Vienna on I September 1909, he belonged to a family well established in the economic and intellectual life of the old Austrian Empire, which was soon to pass into history but not without leaving to some among the younger generation the legacy of an open-minded cosmopolitanism, a wide participation in Europe's multilingual structure, and a keen enjoyment of style and elegance in the material and spiritual pleasures of life. Von Grunebaum was not given to speaking much about himself, and I do not recall that he ever mentioned to me why he chose Oriental studies as his subject at the University of Vienna, nor did I meet him when he, a Ph.D. recipient not yet 22 years old, came for a year of postgraduate study (1932-3) to Berlin where I had just begun my studies. Soon the second collapse of the world that had nurtured him came with the infamous Anschluss of 1938. Because of his clear perception of the new barbarism as completely antithetical to all the values he cherished, he left for the United States to join the Asia Institute in New York, where Arthur Upham Pope (1881-1969) was making an heroic, and greatly successful, effort to give displaced European Orientalists a new start. While his first five years in the United States were not easy, they brought such compensations as sharing in the intellectual atmosphere of a New York so different, yet in certain respects similar, to that of Europe,uninterrupted work in the quiet of the Oriental Reading Room of the New York Public Library, small and cramped but friendly in addition to containing what was then the best collection of Arabic books in America and, above all, getting married to his Austrian sweetheart Giselle Steuerman as soon as she was able to reach this country.
Sunni Radicalism in the Middle East and the Iranian Revolution
Authors: Sivan Emmanuel
Published: December 2011

Sunni radicalism surfaced before the Iranian Revolution of 1978. It arose out of conditions specific to Arab countries and the manner in which those faithful to the Suuna reacted to these conditions. In the quater century between the appeareance of the ideas of Sayyis Qutb, the father of Sunni radicalism, and the end of the 1970s, not only were the Sunni radical movements devoid of Iranian-Shi⊂i influence, but almost no reference was made in these movements to the fact that Iranian Islam was simultaneously undergoing a process of radicalization. A mixture of ignorance and apathy predominanted. The most one can find are several references to the organizational lessons of the Fidaciyan al-Islam, an Iranian phenomenon of the early 1950s; it seems that whatever inspiration the radical Sunni movements in Arab lands sought from the outside came from Sunni circles in India andPakistan.
An Assessment of the Tr'ade and Restructuring Effects of the Gulf Co-Operation Council
Authors: Cain Michael , Al-Badri Kais S.
Published: December 2011

During the last three decades, there has been an increasing drive in developing countries towards integration, characterized by an equally apparent tendency towards the institutionalization of this attitude. This is a direct result of the realization that their future development as well as their ability to break the vicious circle of their dependence on the developed world depend on the extent of their success in attaining collective self-reliance. It was this realization and the futility of past integration efforts that motivated the six Arab Gulf countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to establish in 1981 the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) in an attempt to find a common basis on which economic development could be carried out on a regional basis.
The Trials of Syrian Ismaʿilis in the First Decade of the 20th Century
Authors: Douwes Dick , Lewis Norman N.
Published: December 2011

In 1887 or 1888, a small group of Syrian Isma'ilis journeyed to Bombay to visit Sultan Muhammad Shah, the third Aga Khan, and on their return to Syria recognized him as their Imam. Unexpectedly in consequence, little more than a decade later, the religious leader of that section of the Isma'ili sect in Syria and a number of his followers found themselves arrested and imprisoned, accused of treason and other crimes. Their trials before criminal courts in Damascus lasted, intermittently, from 1901 until 1906, and before those trials were concluded, more men of their faith had been similarly accused, imprisoned, and put on trail. The persecution of the Isma'ilis only ended, and even then not completely, with the Ottoman constitutional revolution of 1908.
The Political Economy of Credit Subsidy in Iran, 1973–1978
Authors: Salehi-Isfahani Djavad
Published: December 2011

During the last decade of the Pahlavi rule in Iran, rising oil income financed a very extensive development program in which both the state and the private sector accumulated huge amounts of wealth in real and financial capital. Having no direct access to the oil riches, the private sector accumulated much of its new wealth by direct and indirect subsidies from the government. Through various mechanisms, the state channeled resources to the private sector in an attempt to foster capitalist development of the country. While the strategy was successful insofar as it resulted in massive investment by the private sector, it was not without its ill side effects. This article is a study of the consequences, both intended and unintended, of one specific conduit for resource transfer—credit subsidy.
The Ruling Political Elite in Baʿthi Iraq, 1968–1986: The Changing Features of a Collective Profile
Authors: Baram Amazia
Published: December 2011

While to the casual observer Iraq appears to have been ruled by the same political elite since 1968, closer examination reveals that its leadership underwent important changes between 1968 and the mid-1980s. This article intends to show that even though the changes were very gradual, sometimes almost imperceptible, the accumulated effect over 18 years was considerable.
The 1850 Events In Aleppo: An Aftershock Of Syria's Incorporation Into The Capitalist World System
Authors: Masters Bruce
Published: December 2011

The events of Aleppo have caused amongst all classes of all nationalities a sensation such as I have never witnessed here before. The population of Aleppo is the wealthiest, best conducted community in Syria. That such a body of people in a time of profound peace, living under the protection of an organized government of two pashas and a garrison of regular troops of all arms should find themselves, without the slightest provocation on their part, or a moment's warning, the victims of atrocities which are rarely practiced on a town taken by storm, is a consideration which has, I regret to say, produced a feeling most unfavorable to the responsible government.
Another View of Feminine Networks: Tunisian Women and the Development of Political Efficacy
Authors: ltzwa Susan E
Published: December 2011

Contemporary feminists have stressed the importance of women's networks in empowering women. In the Western context, professional networks, support groups, and the availability of role models are seen to provide a collective basis for the development of confidence and self-esteem as well as a potential base for political action. Feminist attention to the Middle East has uncovered patterns of interaction suggesting that there, too, women have found in feminine networks both the basis for power and the personal attributes that undergird social competence. Aswad, for example, describes the kabul, an upper-class formal visitation network in Turkey with distinct political overtones. Women exchange information that might be dismissed as gossip were it not for the fact that participants are from powerful land-owning families, and the discussions have impact well beyond the immediate setting.1
The Experiment That did not Fail: Image and Reality in the Israeli Kibbutz
Authors: Bowes Alison M.
Published: December 2011

The kibbutzim of Israel show the world that communal living can be successful, and many observers have asked the questions: Can this success be repeated elsewhere? What are its lessons for other societies? In sociology, the validity and importance of comparative study and the intrinsic interest of the kibbutz way of life cannot be denied.
A Winter Of Discontent: Britain's Crisis In Jordan, December 1955-March 1956
Authors: Oren Michael B.
Published: December 2011

The 1950s were years of profound change in the Middle East. In the realm of great power diplomacy, British hegemony gradually gave way to American ascendancy which, in turn, competed with the rapid spread of Soviet influence in the area. Within the region, the era witnessed the crystallization of a state system and, simultaneously, the growth of ideological movements dedicated to the unification of those states on national or religious bases. Internally, Middle Eastern governments sought new of opposition groups. These transformations, together with the dislocations of decolonization, the persistence of regional rivalries, and the introduction of new technologies, caused chronic instability throughout the Middle East, and in the winter of 1955–1956, combined to produce Britain's crisis in Jordan.
Capsali as a Source for Ottoman History, 1450–1523
Authors: Shmuelevitz Aryeh
Published: December 2011

The chronicle of Rabbi Elijah Capsali (ca. 1483–1555), which concerns itself with the history of the Ottoman Empire, turns up as a subject for discussion from time to time. Capsali, rabbi of the Candia community in Crete, wrote the chronicle entitled Seder Eliyahu Zuta during the plague of the spring and summer of 1523. It is divided into four parts and 166 chapters and includes an introduction in which he explains the reasons for writing it and mentions his sources. As yet, however, the importance of this chronicle has not been sufficiently emphasized. The interpretation presented by Uriel Heyd at the Sixth Turkish History Congress held in Ankara in 1961. dealt with a number of aspects such as the sources of Capsali and Jewish references in the text, but only in their most general form. In this paper I examine the importance and limitations of the chronicle more thoroughly.
The Formation of an Ottoamn Egyptian Elite in the 18th Century
Authors: Piterberg Gabriel
Published: December 2011

The conquest of the Mamluk sultanate by the Ottoman Empire brought into confrontation two centers in the history of Islamic civilization. One, Asia Minor and southeast Europe, was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The other, Egypt, had been the core of the Mamluk sultanate for 2½ centuries (1250–1517). Both states were dominated by Turkish-speaking elites based on the institution of military slavery. In both cases this slave-recruited manpower was the backbone of the army, and, to a lesser extent, of the administration.
Household Formation in Late Ottoman Istanbul
Authors: Duben Alan
Published: December 2011

The contrast between Muslim Istanbul and Anatolia in the late Ottoman years was based on the large-scale socioeconomic dichotomies that often set great traditional cities apart from their hinterlands. These differences were also felt in the rhythms of ordinary domestic life in the city. Istanbul was marked by a unique system of marriage and household formation, one that had cultural connections with the Anatolian hinterland, but that also resembled those found in other major centers in the Mediterranean basin. This pattern is not at all what it seems to have been to many Turks or to most European observers of Turkey in the 19th century.
Studying My Movement: Social Science Without Cynicism
Authors: El-Affendi Abdelwahab
Published: December 2011

While I was working on my Ph.D. thesis on Ikhwan in the Sudan,1 a Sudanese colleague of mine working in a related area used to joke that we have all become “Orientalists.” There was a certain sense of irony—and truth—in this “accusation.” Our endeavor was either the negation and supersession of Orientalism, or its final triumph. For here we are, fiery Islamic militants, squatting meekly and dutifully at the feet of our Orientalist sheikhs, hoping to drink at their hands the cup of knowledge on which we had simultaneously turned our backs. Is this conceding defeat or starting an invasion?
The Sudanese Mahdī: Frontier Fundmentalist
Authors: Voll John
Published: December 2011

The Sudanese Mahdī has been pictured as a villain, as a hero, as a reactionary, as an anti-imperialist revolutionary, and in many other ways. The romance and excitement of the nineteenth-century Mahdiyya has inspired novels and movies, while the many faceted reality of the movement has caught the attention of a wide range of scholars in search of case studies of specific phenomena. In recent years the Mahdī has been used as an example of a ‘charismatic’ leader,1 the founder of a religionpolitical party in the ‘third world,’2 the leader of a millenarian revolt,3 an African rebel against alien rule,4 and a Semitic messiah in an African context. Many of these analyses are the constructive products of the changing situation in the world of contemporary historical studies. Each tends to reflect a broader analytical concern aroused by modern developments.
Ethnic-Regional (Cins) Solidarity in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Establishment
Authors: Kunt Metin Ibrahim
Published: December 2011

Similar to many previous and contemporary Islamic states, the basis of classical Ottoman administration and military was a highly elaborate system of slavery. Slaves, carefully recruited and educated, made up the bulk of the central army and filled many of the administrative posts of the empire. To the traditional sources of slaves the Ottomans added a new one: the levy of children from non- urban, mostly Christian subjects of the empire (devşirme). The motive behind this elaborate system of ‘slaves of the sultan’ is obvious: to provide the sultan and the central government with an efficient, well-trained and loyal professional army. The basis of the loyalty was that theoretically they were without root and without ties.
Attitudes of University Students Toward Women' Work: The Case of Jordan
Authors: Barhoum Mohammad Issa
Published: December 2011

Economic growth in underdeveloped countries, including Jordan, is associated with substantial social change. According to the theory of social deviance, underdeveloped societies are characterized by a traditional distribution of labor where customs and values greatly influence the manners of economic performance. These customs and values shape attitudes of people toward work in general, and the issue of participation of women in the labor force in particular.
The Greco-Turkish war, 1920–1922
Authors: Jensen Peter Kincaid
Published: December 2011

The Greco-Turkish War was one of the major aftershocks in the wake of World War I. In attacking war-ravaged Turkey, Greece sought to realize her goal of a new Hellenic presence in Asia Minor. This action, together with British, French, and Italian designs upon Anatolian territory, threatened Turkey's existence as a nation.
Income Distribution and Taxation Laws of Iran
Authors: Firoozi Ferydoon
Published: December 2011

Our perception of the world around us, both as to what it is and what it ought to be, is influenced by a variety of factors. Among such factors are the nature of training we have received and the philosophical outlook we have been exposed to in the course of our lives. To most of us, the manifestations and the impact, if any, of the ideas that we have thus formulated do not go beyond a small circle—our mates, children, friends, and associates. For a few, it can extend to a larger circle and at times to more than one generation. In one instance, however, the impact has encompassed a nation. The Shah's reform measures have not only affected the social, economic, and political life of Iran in this generation and generations to come, but it may have altered the destiny of the country in the community of nations.
Social and Economic Conditions In Per-Islamic Mecca
Authors: Ibrahim Mahmood
Published: December 2011

Mecca's existence depended primarily on its location near the most important trade route in western Arabia which linked the surplus-producing region of Yemen with Syria. The route branched near Ayla in the north to proceed to Gaza on the Mediterranean and also to Egypt. Another route branched near Mecca to proceed in a northeasterly direction toward al-Ubulla, Ḥīra, and eventually Sasanid Persia. The commercially advantageous location of Mecca was enhanced further by the Zamzam waterwell which made Mecca a convenient stop in the trade of antiquity. Also the concept of the ḥaram, the sacred area, and its center, the Ka⊂ba, made Mecca the object of pilgrimage during the sacred months, pilgrims/merchants traveled with security of life and property and went to Mecca to trade their commodities.
The Anonymous “History of the Abbasid Family” and its Place in Islamic Historiography
Authors: Daniel Elton L.
Published: December 2011

A recent burst of interest in revisionist interpretations of early Islamic and especially Abbasid history may be attributed in large measure to the availability of a number of fresh source materials, one of the most important of which is an anonymous history of the Abbasid family. A number of problems surrounding this work are still far from being satisfactorily resolved, including the questions of its title, the date of its composition, the identity of its author, and its historical and historiographical value.
Alternative Economic Systems for Afghanistan
Authors: Noorzoy M. Siddieq
Published: December 2011

Pending a peaceful solution to the current war of liberation in Afghanistan, any consideration of alternative economic systems, as raised in some circles, must be based on the given structural conditions of the Afghan economy. Contrary to expectations by some, the basic structure of the economy in terms of size distribution of sectoral output is unlikely to change significantly despite any changes in the share of resources between the private and public sectors.

The Afgham economy is based on agriculture and it will continue to derive the major portion of its national income (output) from this sector in the foreseeable future. The potential for economic development, based on domestic resources, is also largely founded in agriculute.
“Palestine” and Other Territorial Concepts in the 17th Century
Authors: Gerber Haim
Published: December 2011

It is a well-known anachronism of historians to treat areas within the Ottoman Empire (Egypt, Syria) as if they had a meaningful existence of their own in the prenationalist period. There is no question that before the appearance of nationalism in the later part of the 19th century the major political community was Islam, whose actual political manifestation was the Ottoman state. It is assumed that as a consequence, no other form of collective identity could exist at the time. The received wisdom on this issue may be expressed by one study of Arab nationalism which claimed:“None of the [Arab] new states was commensurate with a political community. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine—these names derived from geography or classical history.” Yet it is possible that the debate over these issues is not yet over. One is entitled, for example, to doubt whether we know enough in social psychology to determine that the human mind is so simple that it cannot accommodate multi-faceted phenomena such as double identity, both in terms of regional Egyptian nationalism, for example, and all-inclusive Arab identity. Dichotomization makes for sharper and more impressive arguments, but sometimes it can be pushed too far and thus rendered misleading. In line with this last consideration, the argument of this paper is that though the all-inclusive identity of Middle Eastern Muslims under the Ottomans was Islamic and Ottoman first, territorial identities existed beneath them and that these territorial communities are commensurate with the modern Middle Eastern states.
The Turco-Egytian Army in Sudan on the Eve of the Mahdiyya, 1877–80
Authors: Moore-Harell Alice
Published: December 2011

The causes for the mahdi's revolt in Sudan have been fully studied by modern historians and point to economic, social, religious, and administrative short-comings of the sixty-year Turco-Egyptian domination there. As for the timing, one must look attwo factors that together had a decisive influence. First, Egypt's financial difficulties subjected it to increasing European control and, consequently, to the deposition of the Khedive Ismaʿcil in June 1879 and the appointment to the throne of his son Tawfiq, a puppet of the great European powers, thus damaging the prestige of Muhammad ʿAli's dynasty. Further, Cairo was preoccupied throughout 1880–82 by a confrontation between the government and the nationalist movement of the native Egyptian officers in the army, led by Ahmad ʿUrabi, resulting among other things in the lack of a clear policy as regards Sudan. Second, there was the resignation in January 1880 of Colonel Charles Gordon, the governor-general of Sudan, who enjoyed wide political and economic autonomy, and the appointment of Muhammad Raʿuf Pasha, who was subordinated directly to the government in Cairo, as his successor in Khartoum. While Gordon, who had an energetic, enterprising, and authoritative personality, left Sudan in the midst of reforms in almost all fields, Muhammad Raʾuf Pasha had a different nature altogether. He was a mild and gentle ruler whose authority was narrowed by Cairo, where the political state of affairs was turning into chaos.
Income and Consumption in Egypt, 1886/1887 to 1937
Authors: Hansen Bent
Published: December 2011

The attempt to estimate per capita income for Egypt from 1886/1887 to 1937, presented in this paper, is part of an effort to evaluate British colonial economic policyduring the period of the British occupation of Egypt. For such an evaluation national income estimates covering the whole period would be very helpful. National income estimates worth the name, however, go back only to 1935–1939, and for years earlier than the 1950s they are of very poor quality. Compared with so many other lessdeveloped countries, Egypt has relatively rich statistics extending backward to the decades before World War I; but they do not really suffice for building up a national income series from either the production or the expenditure side, and from the income side there is hardly any information. In this situation, which both development economists and economic historians know only too well, the problem is how to make maximal use of existing production and expenditure indicators in order to come out with some idea of what per capita income developments may have looked like. Apart from gauging per capita income in Egypt during half a century before World War II, the paper serves more generally to illustrate a methodology that may find application for other countries.
‘Der Grossmufti’ in Berlin: The Politics of Collaboration
Authors: De Luca Anthony R.
Published: December 2011

During the mandatory period following World War I Britain's attempts to implement the provisions of the Balfour Declaration and establish a ‘National Home’ for the Jews in Palestine encountered stubborn resistance from the local Arab population. As dissatisfaction mounted in the late 1930s, militant nationalists were able to mobilize popular support for the Arab cause and foster the growth of an opposition movement directed against the British. The most visible and significantleader of this movement was the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini.
Socioeconomic Bases of Cultural Patronage under the Later Timurids
Authors: Subtelny Maria Eva
Published: December 2011

Periods of cultural florescence seem to coincide with times of political decline far too regularly in the history of medieval Iran and Central Asia for the link between them to be merely incidental. One of the most outstanding examples is the period of the rule of the Turko-Mongol Timurid dynasty in the 9th/15th century, which has been dubbed a “Timurid renaissance” by Western scholars. Another is the period of the political domination of the Buyid dynasty of Dailamite origin in the 4th–5th/10th–11th centuries, which Adam Mez popularized as the “renaissance of Islam.” Still another is the period of the Muzaffarid, Jalayirid, Sarbadarid, and Kartid kingdoms which arose in the 8th/14th century after the fall of the Mongol Ilkhanid empire. Although the appropriateness of the term “renaissance” as applied to the Timurid case in particular has raised reservations among scholars, it does underscore the point that his period was characterized by an extraordinary surge of activity in all areas of cultural and intellectual endeavor, something already noted by its contemporaries.
Rebellion and Social Change in Astarābād, 1537–1744
Authors: Reid James J.
Published: December 2011

Three basic forms of rebellion existed in Iran during the Safavid period. These were qazāq revolts, rebellions by urban notables, and peasant revolts against the Safavid state or local notables. All three types sprouted spontaneously in the fallow fields of Astarābād. While they existed in other regions of Iran as well, Astarābād was the only region where all three grew up independent of one another. By examining the separate courses of these rebellions a better dissection can be made of the three forms, how they affected one another, and how they grew up. Since Astarābād was also a border region near Central Asia, some of the many grievances that affected life in other parts of Iran came more clearly to the forefront, and a better picture can be obtained of the reactions evinced by various local populations to the burdensome loads of the Safavid state and the qizilbāsh tribal state systems.
Rural Revolt and Provincial Society in Egypt, 1820–1824
Authors: Lawson Fred H.
Published: December 2011

Given Gabriel Baer's 1962 study “Submissiveness and Revolt of the Fellah,” there should be no more talk of the political passivity of Egyptian peasants and their rural neighbors during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Baer demonstrates that rural uprisings were frequent and widespread during the years just before and on into the regime of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Furthermore, he describes three series of provincial rebellions which were significantly larger and better organized than any that preceded them. These three series of rebellions, which are associated with the village of as-Salimiyyah between Qina and Farshut in 1820–1821, with that of al-Ba'irat opposite Luqsur in 1822–1823, and with virtually the whole of Qina province in 1824, illustrate both that a very large number of people in this region would actively support an antigovernment leader during the 1820s and that these people were willing and able to establish effective and legitimate governmental institutions of their own on a local level.
Expansion of Opium Production in Turkey and the State Monopoly of 1828–1839
Authors: Poroy Ibrahim Ihsan
Published: December 2011

In order to gain a proper historical perspective on opium production in Turkey, it is necessary to look into its worldwide impact during the first half of the nineteenth century. During this time, opium production and trade in both India and Turkey grew rapidly and international trade in opium acquired great significance in shaping England's commercial and political relations with the Levant and the Far East for over a century.
Delineating Regional Subsystems: Visit Networks and the Middle Eastern Case
Authors: Thompson William R.
Published: December 2011

Reflecting the political climate and preoccupations of the time, structural examinations of international politics in the 1950s and early 1960s tended to focus on East-West interaction patterns and associated questions of global polarity and polarization. A major exception to this statement has been provided by an eclectic group of regional subsystem analyses which were, at least initially, intended to counteract the distortions perceived to be associated with an exclusively global, bipolar perspective.
Class Struggle in Post-Revolutionary Iran
Authors: Moaddel Mansoor
Published: December 2011

Classes are objective positions defined by the social relations of production. These positions broadly determine, among other things, the occupants' political and ideological orientations and their potential to participate in revolutionary movements. The conflict between and the contradictory nature of these positions are the underlying mechanisms for the generation and reproduction of class struggle. Nevertheless, a simple structural analysis is insufficient for analyzing the role of classes in a revolutionary movement. Classes are not static entities fixed once and for all, nor are they completely determined by “objective” economic “facts” such as the social relations of production.1To understand the success of the dominated classes in a revolutionary movement, one must analyze their level of class formation—namely, the capacity of the members of a class to realize their interests. Class capacity is contingent, among other things, on the level of organization and mobilization of the members of the class. Rather than deriving automatically from the structural positions, class capacity is “rooted in traditional culture and communities.”2Class boundaries, interests, and mobilization are always shifting: interests change, coalitions are formed and break up, positions in the economy are created or destroyed, and demobilization occurs.3Classes are continually organized, disorganized, and reorganized.4The methodological strategy adopted in this article to demonstrate the importance of class in shaping the economic policy of the Islamic Republic is based on the analysis of the significant and controversial issues that appeared in the post-revolutionary period. It will be argued that these issues were a manifestation of class struggle and that the way they were finally resolved reflected the balance of class forces.5
The Role of the Egyptian Communists in Introducing the Sudanese to Communism in the 1940s
Authors: El-Amin Mohammed Nuri
Published: December 2011

The Sudan came to know of Communism directly during the 1940s, through Egypt and Herbert Storey. Egyptian Communism had passed through two phases. The first phase was in the 1920s when, under Joseph Rosenthal and his Alexandria Group, it appeared first as a socialist movement and then as a Communist one proper. During this phase it made some impact on some of the Egyptian intelligentsia, a few trade unions, and a small number of workers. It also tried, though unsuccessfully, to join the Comintern so as to act as its official representative in this part of the world, thereby assuming for itself the role that organization had already entrusted to the Communist parties of the European colonial countries. However, the efforts of Egyptian Communism during this first stage received a mortal blow in the mid-1920s at the hands of Saʿd Zaghlūl, the leader of the Wafd party, when he began to see in the activities of the Communists a serious challenge to the hegemony of the Wafd in Egyptian politics.
The 1953Coup D'Etatin Iran
Authors: Gasiorowski Mark J.
Published: December 2011

In retrospect, the United States sponsoredcoup d'étatin Iran of August 19, 1953, has emerged as a critical event in postwar world history. The government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq which was ousted in the coup was the last popular, democratically oriented government to hold office in Iran. The regime replacing it was a dictatorship that suppressed all forms of popular political activity, producing tensions that contributed greatly to the 1978–1979 Iranian revolution. If Mosaddeq had not been overthrown, the revolution might not have occurred. The 1953 coup also marked the first peacetime use of covert action by the United States to overthrow a foreign government. As such, it was an important precedent for events like the 1954 coup in Guatemala and the 1973 overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile, and made the United States a key target of the Iranian revolution.