bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Nature and Structure of the Islamic World
Authors: Dadoo Yousuf
Published: December 2020

The author offers a concise critique of Wes tern perceptions of Islamand the Muslim world. He then proceeds to discuss the Muslim world andproposes a taxonomy for it on the basis of certain configurations in orderto prove that the Muslim world should not be treated as a monolith.Contemporary problems, which shall be elucidated during the course ofthis review, are highlighted.In "Prospectus," Braibanti introduces the perception dialectic that isnow prevalent in the West as regards Islam. First, there is the pejorative"green menace," according to which the united hordes of Islam threaten toannihilate the West. Second, there is a more sober ecclesiastical, political,and intellectual reappraisal of Islamic issues. The author offers a tentativeprediction: In a more confrontational environment, the former view willpredominate, and vice versa. He then discusses the first component of thedialectic in greater detail over the next three chapters.In "Circles of Antagonism: Popular Culture," Braibanti states that thenegative bias toward Islam and the fear of it are reflected daily in Americanmedia and in policy-shaping forums. He cites a few contemporary examplesfrom literature, movies, print media, and documentaries.He argues that two "subtle rhetorical aberrations" (p. 7) prejudice theperception of Islam. The first one is the tenn fundamentalist, which isequated with violence. In Christianity, where this term is defined clearly,it refers to a literal interpretation of the Bible by a minority of adherentswho believe in biblical infallibility. When this term is applied to Muslimson this basis, virtually all can be called fundamentalists. However, as violencecannot be linked to the quintessentials of Muslim belief, it is unfairto blame all Muslims for the crimes committed by a minority. The authorcould have elaborated on the nebulousness of this term for Muslims withdetails like the following: Whereas certain groups of Christians, like theAmish, emulate lifestyles of earlier times in minute details, no "traditional"Muslim spurns conclusively the benefits of technetronics. So one wouldnot find a Muslim preferring to travel by camel when motor transportwould be affordable and more convenient."Fundamentalism" gained currency among Western media with theIranian revolution of 1979. Some Muslims often ask: Was this binaryopposition, namely, fundamentalist/other, fabricated to sow confusionamong Muslims? Would the "other" only refer to a nominal, nonpracticingMuslim? ...
Double Betrayal
Authors: Irfani Suroosh
Published: December 2020

Since 1989, more Kasluniris have died in the struggle against Indianrule than the cumulative number of Bosnian casualties of Serb attacks inSarajevo and of Palestinians during the intifada. Even so, not many peopleare aware of the mass freedom movement that has gripped the northernHimalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir for the past six years. Reasons forsuch apathy are not hard to gauge: Western stakes in Kashmir are of a differentkind than those in the Balkans or the oil-rich Middle- EastConsequently, the uprising in Kashmir and the massive human rights vio­lations there have been relegated to the fringe of the Western media. Overburdenedby its post-cold war concerns, the Western conscience seems tobe on recess in Kashmir.

A corollary to the lack of international concern over Kashmir is thevirtual absence of literature on contemporary Kashmiri reality. The studyby Paula Newberg, a senior associate at the Camegie Endowment whohas visited Kashmir several times, is an apt response to this doubledeficit. Academically unpretentious and refreshingly free of prescriptivesolutions, Double Betrayal (available from The Brooking Institution inWashington, DC) etches a disturbing image of mass resistance and insularmass repression in this land-locked Indian-administered state. Thebook encapsulates the nature of the Kashmiri insurgency, Indian repression,and the agony of an entire population whose suffering the worldrefuses to fathom ...
Islam and Israel
Authors: Saleh Mohsen
Published: December 2020

This book consists of six chapters, endnotes, a glossary, a bibliography,and an index. Although fairly short vis-a-vis the long period that itcovers (from the Ottoman era to 1988), this book is in fact a very valuablereference work on the subject. The author made considerable efforts tocollect, compare, and analyze the data. However, it seems that the maintitle, Islam and Israel, is rather ambiguous and misleading. The subtitle,Muslim Religious Endowments and the Jewish State, reveals the book'scontents adequately. This title may have been coined by the publisher formarketing purposes.The book explores Israeli policy toward Palestinian Muslim religiousendowments (awqtif, sing. waqf) and studies the methods employed toconfiscate and transfer most of them so that they eventually becameexclusively Jewish property. The waqf system played a very significantsocioeconomic, religious, and educational role in the history of Muslimsociety. About 15 percent of the agricultural land in Palestine is waqf (1.2million dunums), as are many buildings, shops, and other structures inurban areas. The revenue derived from these sources finances importantnetworks of welfare and charitable services in Palestine, such as schools,orphanages, and soup kitchens.The first chapter tackles the Palestinian Muslim waqf system duringthe late Ottoman empire and the British Mandate. It indicates the importanceof waqf for the notable families in Palestine and their administrationof it in ways designed to enhance their power and influence. It also studiesthe arrangements made by the Ottomans during the nineteenth centuryto set up a waqf administrative structure and to develop it under their closesupervision. During the British Mandate (1918-48), however, a new structure,known as The Supreme Muslim Council, was created in 1922. It wasdominated by the Palestinian religious elite and notables and took a"national character" under the leadership of Hajj Am1n al ijusayn1. In1937, the British mandatory government suspended the council's centralcommittee and replaced it with a government-appointed commission.These measures undermined the waqf institution and its role in politics andthe national struggle.The second chapter discusses the Muslim waqf system in Israel from1948 to 1965 and explains how the Zionist state managed to control andconfiscate waqf properties and resources. In the parts of Palestine that ...
Political Authority in Classical Islamic Thought
Authors: Sonn Tamara
Published: December 2020

Unlike Christianity, where normative thought is expressed in theologicalwritings, in Islam normative thought is expressed in legal tradition.According to this tradition, the purpose of Islamic society is to submit toGod‘s will, which is expressed clearly through revelation: Human beingsare to create a just society. As political activity is essential for the creationand maintenance of social justice, all political activity is essentially religiousactivity in Islam. Thus, the discussion of political activity is highlydeveloped and wide-ranging in Islamic legal texts. In this paper, I focus ondiscussions of the source of political authority in the ideal Islamic state.Among contempomy commentators on Islam, it has become popularto claim that there is no separation of religion and politics in Islam. Thisclaim, combined with the rejection of secularism by many contemporaryMuslim activists, has led some observers to assume that Islam espouses akind of theocracy. However, this is not the case; the term “nomocracy” ismore suitable to describe Islamic political theory. A theocracy is a stategoverned by God/gods or those who claim to act on divine authority. Anommcy, by contrast, is a state governed by a codified system of laws.The ideal Islamic state is one governed by individuals or bodies bound byIslamic law.’In this context, classical Islamic legal theory implicitly distinguishesbetween those empowered to interpret the law (the legislative and judicialbranches) and those empowered to make sure the law is being followed(the executive branch). Executive political power-with its coerciveauthority-ideally would concern itself with safeguarding Islamic law.But because it is subject to abuse, the formulators of Islam’s classical theoryof political authority considered it an unreliable repository of religious ...
Constitutionalism and Ethnic Conflict
Authors: Mansur Salim
Published: December 2020

The role of a constitution and a constitutional order in political developmentis generally not discussed in recent literature on the comparativepolitics of developing societies. It is more or less taken for granted that, inthe division between developed and developing societies, the former areidentified with matwe institutions of legitimate order that provide politicalstability, continuity of political authority, and established rules for conflictsettlement; the latter are characterized by the weakness or absence of suchinstitutions. ‘Ibis is the analytical scheme in Huntington’s now classic study,Political Order in Changing Societies.’ In this work, there is no index entryfor “constitution,” “constitutionalism,” or “constitutional order.” The absenceof such references was not considered anomalous, for it was assumedthat constitutional practice and norms, designs and processes, were thedefining characteristics of mature developed societies. Instead of examiningthe role of constitutions in the evolution of developing societies, comparativepolitical studies like Huntington’s focused on the polity’s structuralfoundations and the functional nature of political organizations. Huntingtonclaimed that the difference between developed and developing societies wasnot in the form, but rather in the degree, of government. Constitutionalism,the study of constitutions in the workings of a mature political system, in thisview, rightly belongs to examining the various forms of political systemsavailable in the modem world. Conversely, his study implied, efficacy ordegree of government did not follow from the adoption of a constitution inthe making of political order in a developing society.Recent events in Europe, beginning with the disintegration of theSoviet Union and Yugoslavia, raise once again questions of ethnicity,nationalism, and political development. For much of the second half of thetwentieth century, these were seen as problems pertinent to the developingsocieties of Africa, Asia, and South America and only of comparative ...
An Introduction to Islamic Economics
Authors: Hasan Zubair
Published: December 2020

It is perhaps desirable to preface the review of a book with a briefdescription of its form and content, more so in the area of Islamic economics,where formal writing structures have yet to evolve and much diversematerial tends to be treated under similar, even misleading, titles. Akram'sbook opens with an erudite foreword by Khurshid Ahmad. The text containssix chapters of uneven length spread over 111 pages. Two appendices,notes and references, a select bibliography to help further research, and acouple of indexes constitute its remaining portion.The Introduction is a neat, petite work. Simple language, a lucid style,an uncompromising stance, and reHance on original sources are some of itsnotable features. It has not a few seminal ideas and some outlandish onesas well. The vast coverage inevitably is at some expense of depth and detail.Chapter 1 provides a broad picture of Islamic economics for thosewho may not have the time to read the entire book (p. xii). It is a potpourriof ideas concerning such varied topics as the Islamic worldview, basicassumptions of the discipline, economic organization, the role of money,the problem of poverty, fiscal management, and the sharing of knowledge.Understandably, positions are taken without much argument to supportthem ...
The Vision of Islam
Authors: Woods John E.
Published: December 2020

The Vision of Islam forms part of a series, entitled Visions of Reality,designed to focus on religions as worldviews. According to the statement of theeditorial board on the flyleaf, each religion studied in the series will be presentedin the context of its own inner dynamic or ethos using a methodologyappropriate to itself. Murata and Chittick have succeeded admirably in livingup to this commiunent by allowing Islam to speak through abundant quotationsfrom the Qur'an and the hadith.The outgrowth of an introductory course on Islam taught by the authors atthe State University of New York at Stony Brook for more than a decade, Visionis organized in an innovative manner. After a brief introduction to the Qur'an,its translations, and the life of the Prophet, the authors recount the "hadith ofGabriel" transmitted by both al-Buk:haf1 and Muslim on the authority of 'Umaribn al-Kha.t.tab. According to this repon, the Prophet was questioned by anunknown stranger about the significance of submission (islam), faith (iman),and doing what is beautiful (Ihsan ). After explaining these concepts, the Prophetthen identified this mysterious individual as the angel Gabriel, the being throughwhom God revealed the Qur'an. The remainder of the book is structured aroundthese three elements or dimensions, as the authors term them.Dealing first with the several senses of submission, acceptance, or commitment,Part I describes the essential practices of Islam: the five pillars. An oftenmisunderstood sixth pillar, jihad or struggle, is also discussed cogently. Theauthors then explain the historical articulation of these practices in the formationof the Sunni and Shi'i schools (madhahib), the Shari'ah, and Islamic jurisprudence.Here and elsewhere, variations among the schools are noted.Part II, dealing with imiin, accounts for more than two-thirds of the book,an indication of the relative weight the authors give this dimension. The threefundamental principles of faith-divine unity, prophecy, and eschatology-arethe major topics of this section. The nature of God's absolute unity and transcendenceis explored through a discussion of His signs, attributes, and acts (asmanifested in creation), and Islamic angelology. Here, the text is infused withthe metaphysics of illuminationist philosophy. Notions such as good and evil,human free will and determinism, are linked convincingly with the concepts ofdivine unity and the hierarchy of creation. This argument, in tum, leads logicallyto an account of the role of prophecy and humanity's acceptance of ...
The Asian Renaissance
Authors: Al-‘Alwani Taha Jabir
Published: December 2020

It is not my habit to make public statements on political leaders and I usuaHyprefer to hold my views private. But with my close friend and brother, AnwarIbrahim, the deputy prime minister and finance minister of Malaysia, I have nohesitation. I have known him for over 20 years and he has always been a modelof virtue because he combines truthfulness with sincerity. Thi shows in hisactions both personally and professionally. From being an idealistic young manhe grew into one of the most important political leaders of Malaysia. The goodqualities he had when he was a promising young leader have not left him, in piteof the whithering effect politics can have on one's character. Anwar is now justas honest and sincere, humble and charitable as he was when I first met him over20 year ago. Throughout this time, he has been strict with him elf and generouswith others. demonstrating a true nobility. Above all, he has striven accordingto the dictum that "there is no right superior to the right of truth."Unfortunately, too few people have striven for the truth which Anwar has pursued,leading us to the crisis in the world today. In the East, failure to think haslead to passive decay wmle in the West, thinking too much and often wrongly ...
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY
Authors: Khan Muhammad Akram
Published: December 2020

IntroductionThe recent past has seen fundamental changes in the government’srole in the economy. With the defeat of socialism and the worldwideonslaught of privatization, a new scenario is emerging. The direct roleof government is shrinking and its indirect role is increasing. Arguably,privatization does not necessarily mean “no government,” but rather“better government.” As a result, the following new issues are emerging:What is the extent and nature of government regulation in theeconomy? How can government play an effective role in the redistributionof economic power and still keep the free market economy undisturbed?What structural changes are necessary to protect the publicinterest? How can government itself be regulated? How can we preventgovernment from becoming an instrument of injustice and tyranny?The present paper seeks to discuss these questions from the Islamicperspective.Need for GovernmentWe need government to provide the fundamental legal and socialframework for a free market economy. This framework implies necessarylaws that define the property and other rights, enforce contracts,and describe the status and form of various business organizations. Weneed government to define the rules of the game. Through legislationthe government acts as a referee and forbids foul play. It prohibitscheating and the sale of adulterated foods and drugs; it establishes ...
CAVEAT EMPTOR VERSUS KHIYAR AL-'AYB
Authors: Ma'sum Billah Muhammad
Published: December 2020

It is an obligation in any commercial (sale-purchase) transaction thatprior to entering into an agreement, the seller is to allow the buyer toinspect the goods, in order to ensure that they are free from any unknowndefect. Such an obligation on the seller is known in common law ascaveat emptor.' The doctrine, in other words, gives the buyer a right todetermine whether the goods to be purchased are free from any defectbefore the actual agreement is completed, so as to protect him from anyfuture risk from a defective product. Thus, this doctrine implies that thebuyer, after such inspection or investigation of the fitness of such goods,will shoulder the responsibility of any risk on the goods after the conclusionof the said sale and purchase agreement. Jowitt's Dictionary ofEnglish Law explains that a buyer must be on the alert, for he has no rightto remain in ignorance of the fact that what he is buying belongs to someoneother than the vendor and that any buyer who fails to investigate thevendor's title does so at his own risk.However, caveat emptor does not imply any obligation on the seller topoint out a defect in the goods to be sold.3 He is, therefore, only obligedto allow the buyer or purchaser to investigate the goods himself andnothing more. The buyer, in h s case, can decide before any sale andpurchase agreement whether to carry out such an inspection on the goodsto be sold. The buyer is then at liberty whether to exercise this means ofprotection against any defective goods! Islamic law also provides sucha safeguard against any defective products or goods in a sale and purchaseagreement. The Islamic doctrine which allows such safeguard iscalled in Islamic commercial terminology khiyur al-'ayh. Thus, underIslamic commercial law, the seller, in a sale and purchase agreement, is ...
Indonesia in ASEAN
Authors: Suliman Osman
Published: December 2020

This book analyzes Indonesia's political and economic commitment toASEAN. ASEAN compri es six Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Indonesia,Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. To clarify that commitment,Anwar makes a deliberate attempt to investigate ASEAN's underlying assumptions.Specifically, the organization is intended to promote harmony and peacein the region, given that ASEAN countries are relatively more politically stableand economically developed compared to the nearby [ndochinese states. Inadrution, ASEAN has been perceived as attempting to manage regional orderagrunst nonregional powers such as Chma while strengthening Western ties. Theauthor examines these assumptions on the premise that ASEAN is mainly a distinctivevehicle of Indonesian foreign policy. To do so, he follows Wein tein'sapproach, which I based on the uses of foreign policy, that is, his analysis does not adopt a common theory. Thus, he unintentionally goes back and forth to verify what seems to be the main theme of the book: how Indonesia sought regionalleadership through ASEAN to achieve its main goals of foreign policy ...
WORKSHOP REPORT ON THE ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE
Authors: Moten Abdul Rashid
Published: December 2020

The workshop on the Islamization of knowledge, organized by theKulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, washeld at Regency Hotel, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, fromJune 7-11, 1996. Workshops and seminars of this sort usually revolvearound the nature, characteristics, and rationale for the Islamization ofknowledge. This workshop, however, was different in that it dealt withthe question of methodology. Given that Islamization is an intellectualand methodological outlook, the workshop’s emphasis on methodologyis justified and well placed.Clearly, the workshop was not for the uninitiated or for new recruits.It was meant for those who have been associated with the movement forthe Islamization of knowledge and especially for those who have thepotential to make some contribution toward its realization. Clearly, thelist of participants indicates that the organizers selected those who areimbued with a spirit of selflessness and zeal to work for the sake of Islamto uplift the Ummah’s image intellectually and otherwise.The workshop,as briefed by Louay Safi, was an occasion to scrutinize in minute detailthe parameters of the Islamization of knowledge, to critically appreciatethe contributions made by the leading luminaries, and to grapple seriouslywith questions of methodology ...
Russia and Azerbaijan
Authors: Kucukcan Talip
Published: December 2020

The last centuries of human history bear witness to the generation of havocand carnage brought about by the disintegration of world empires and superpowersthat ruled vast areas inhabited by people of different ethnic. religious,and national backgrounds. One such event took place in the early period of thiscentury: the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Its downfall left a power vacuumin many areas of the Balkans. North Africa and the Middle East. Out of the ashesof its ruin, new and independent states emerged.Toward the end of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union totally disintegratedand suddenly disappeared from the international scene in a relatively shorttime. As mentioned. history has recorded the gradual decline and final fall ofgreat empires. The collapse of the Soviet Union differs from other olderempires. We will draw a comparison between its disintegration and the fall ofthe older Ottoman Empire.There are abundant scholarly and literary analyses indicating that the OttomanEmpire underwent a process of gradual dismantling from it initial decline to itsfinal collapse. The Soviet Union, however, underwent an abrupt end to its reignand. entered ultimate oblivion without experiencing a prolonged loss of vitality.This abrupt fall and quick end may be auributed to various factors, from the failureof economic policies to the yearning for freedom. including the revival ofethnic, religious. and national identities. These are the points emphasized bySwietochowski's timely book on Russia and Azerbaijan.The current wave of world events exerts itself nor only upon the political elitebut also within academic quarters and on publishing trends. As the 1979 Iranianrevolution drew greater attention to Islam and was followed by the establishmentof new departments of Islamic studies and the publication of hundreds ofbooks on the subject, the collapse of the Soviet Union generated a significantamount of interest and, accordingly, academicians and publishing housesresponded to the growing search to know more about the region.Swietochowski's look should be considered a significant contribution to theseeffons.It is a widely held observation thal the disintegration of Lhe Soviet Union dramaticallychanged and traumatized the geopolitical and geocullural landscape ofthe area. Swietochowski's book concentrates specifically on Azerbaijan byexamining closely the last two centuries of this unknown land's history. As thetitle Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition suggests, the authordeals with a people whose land is divided between north and south. He usesarchival sources, official documents, and numerous books and articles written invarious languages to inform readers about a land and a people about which littlewas known before the Soviet Union's downfall. Swietochowski's work ...
Tribes, Government and History in Yemen
Authors: Young William C.
Published: December 2020

This book is complex and, at points, obscure. Yet it is also an exceptionallyrich collection of information about trihal identity and ethos in Yemen and, forscholars with a special interest in Yemeni society, can be a valuable resource.The author orients much of his material toward two main questions, neither ofwhich I formulated explicitly: How can tribal political organization and statelegal institutions co-exist, not only for brief moments but for over 1,000 years?and How have the names and boundaries of tribal territories been preserved withlittle change for such a long time?The answer to the first question is on p. 165: " ... the hijrah [in YemeniArabic: a protected space or person] provided the point around which both statesof the world turned: strong Imams fheads of state] and weak. It could do so because it meant different things to different people.” The first 150 pages of thebook, especially chapters 2 (“The Language of Honour”), 3 (“Tribes andCollective Action”) and 4 (“Estates of Society within the Tribal Peace”), lead upto and persuaded us to accept the conclusion that the mutual recognition by thestate and by the tribes of neutral zones and people in tribal territories facilitatedtrade, tribe-state communication, and contact between literate Islamic specialistsand illiterate farmers and stock-breeders. Even when the interests of the tribesand the state were directly opposed (for instance, in controlling roads and determiningrates of taxation), violent conflicts between tribe and state were keptpartly in check by tribal custom, just as they were when tribe clashed with tribe(see pp. 267, 268, 379-387) ...
THE ROLE OF ISLAMIC lJTIHAD IN THE REGULATION AND CORRECTION OF CAPITAL MARKETS
Authors: Al-'Alwani Taha Jabir
Published: December 2020

I am hesitant to speak on the role of ijtihiid in an Islamic capital market,because this topic requires understanding two important but difficultareas whose primary sources are in different languages. The first area isijtihiid which is connected withfiqh issues; the majority of its sources arein Arabic. The second area is economics which is connected with theanalysis of capital markets; the majority of its sources are in Europeanlanguages. Linking ethics and economics is necessary but difficult.Necessary, because every economic choice has a spiritual dimension.Difficult, because secular economics severs the link, by reducing valuesto tastes and arguing that different ethical values do not change themethod of choice. Therefore, properly linking ijtihiid and economics is adifficult task, requiring determined effort to refute the secular separationof ethics and economics. I spent over 100 hours thinking, reading, andanalyzing the essential points of both until I could establish commonground between them.Ijtihad is of central importance in usul al-fiqh, and concerns themethod of implementing the spirit of the sacred texts in any environment.Since the third century A.H., ijtihd has been the main theme ofdialog between the different schools of fiqh. To this day scholars debatethe issue.Economics is an important science in our time, influencing severalother sciences. Since the capital market is a significant topic in economics,it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the neoclassicalanalysis of capital markets' in developing an Islamic capitalmarket. We must also understand the history of economic thought, howcapital markets became an important part of it, and why many ...
Winter’s Al-Ghazali on Disciplining the Soul
Authors: Mohamed Yasien
Published: December 2020

Al-Ghazali on Disciplining the Soul (Kitab Riyadat al-Nafs) and OnBreaking the Two Desires (Kitab Kasr alShahwatayn)- Book XXII andXXIII of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya Ulum h al-Din).Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge, 1995, translation with notes andIntroduction by T.J. Winter.Winter’s translation is the first accurate translation of Books XXII andXXIII of the Ihya’ (Revival) into English. Although Fazlul Karim’s ImamGazzali’s Ibd’ ‘Ulum al-Din was an attempt at translating the Ihya’(Revival) in four volumes, it is in fact an abridged and mutilated translation.Winter’s translation is also supported by a scholarly introductionand notes; therefore, my review will focus on two aspects: the scholarlyapproach of the author and the quality of his translation.We shall present a critical evaluation of Winter’s text as a whole. Whencomparing the English text with the original Arabic, it is to assesswhether the translator managed to capture the content, message, andstyle of the Ihya’. We also pay attention to the choice of words, particularlythe English equivalents of key Arabic terms. As a kind of practicalcriticism we look at the scholarly and literary style of the introduction inthe form of book reviewing and subject the text to “literary appreciation”as an academic exercise in critical reading.Winter’s study of Al-Ghazli’s ethics in English is just one of the contributionsthat have emerged in recent years. Among those worthy ofmentioning is Sherif‘s Ghazali‘s Theory of Virtue, which deals mainlywith philosophic, religious, and mystical virtues. Unlike Winter, heregards the Mizan al-‘Amal as an authentic work by Al-Gazali andmakes frequent reference to it. Sherif divides his book into thirty sections,of which the fourth discourse-“The Refinement of the Soul”-overlaps with Book XX and XXIII of Winter’s translation of the Ihya’ ...
America and the Persian Gulf
Authors: Berdine Michael D.
Published: December 2020

Steve A. Yetiv, an assistant professor of political science at Old DominionUniversity in Virginia and a research affiliate at the Center for Middle EasternStudies at Harvard University, has written a most interesting book on what hecalls the "third-party dimension in world politics." Based on his doctoral dissertation, Yetiv’s thesis, which at first glance seems a simple and natural way toview the cause-and-effect relationships of historical events and conflicts, is farmore complex. No “domino theory,” which focuses on the primary actors, thethird-party dimension in world politics, as its name implies, focuses on the“third-party” actor, or actors, vis-8-vis events on the world stage.Primarily concerned with how conflict in the Persian Gulf area in the late1970’s, 1980’s and early 1990’s affected the United States’ position in theMiddle East, America and the Persian Gulf generally examines the third-partysituation and, in particular, how its position changes-for better or worse-as aresult of the actions of the main participants and other third parties who areactive or passive participants in diplomatic crises, conflicts, and revolutions.Furthermore, in emphasizing its importance, Professor Yetiv writes that byexamining “the conditions under which the third party is weakened or strengthenedby conflict. . . we may learn more about the utility of statecraft, the politicsof rapidly changing conflictual regions of the world, conflict processes andoutcomes, and conflict avoidance and resolution.” He goes on to state that “thestudy of the third party will tell us something about the third party itself be it astate, an international organization, or some other actor in world politics.” Lastbut not least, it “can also inform us about the context in which the third partyplays a role, the long-term role of the third party in that context, other contextswhich the third party affects, and the nature and impact of conflict in general”(p. 158).
The Fula and Islamic Education in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Authors: Jalloh Alusine
Published: December 2020

This study examines the role of the Fula in Islamic education inFreetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, from the colonial to the postcolonialperiod. The Fula educational initiative forges a partnershipbetween the Muslim private sector and local educators. Not only does itprovide a model for responding to the challenge of developing Islamiceducation in Sierra Leone, but it is a model that can be implementedthroughout Africa. It is especially important given the increasing multiethnicstudent population and limited government support for Islamiceducation in Sierra Leone and across the continent. The recent decline insupport from foreign Islamic countries for education in Africa addsurgency to the need for African Muslims, such as the Fula, to pursue alternative approaches to promotingIslamic education through broad-based cooperation among local educators, indigenous Muslim businesspersons, and the govemment.For over two centuries the Fula, a devout Muslim group inAfrica,' were pioneers in the spread of Islam not just in Freetownbut throughout Sierra Leone. In fact, the Fula ...
City of Stones
Authors: Langgulung Hasan
Published: December 2020

This book is a political and historical study of the holy city of Jerusalem andits periods from the biblical era to the present. Beginning with a discussion ofthe contrasting versions of Jerusalem’s history presented by Palestinian Arabsand Israeli Jews, the author goes on to examine the way the radically opposedgoals and aspirations of both sides results in conflicts. The author concludes thatthe stalemate over Jerusalem’s future is a “condition” that can be dealt with onlyby a “process oriented” and not “solution oriented” approach. The participantsmust deal with the problems caused by the existing conditions. This book representsa dissenting Israeli view of the problem.Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem whose authorityincluded the administration of the eastern side of Jerusalem and the Old City, ishighly qualified to write an unfalsified history of the Holy City.In his book Ciry ofstone, the author tried his best to demonstrate multisidedhistorical, demographic, cultural, religious, and political opinions, together withthe citizen’s feelings, without victors or vanquished.As I read the eight chapters of this precious book, I found that some issuesneeded clarification. and some questions needed answers ...
Competing Visions of Islam in the United States
Authors: Hussain Ahmed
Published: December 2020

Barring the initial works of a handful of scholars over the last 50 years,Muslim communities and their understanding of Islam in America have gonerelatively unstudied in relation to other religious groups. The lacuna now, however,has been partially filled by the work of Kambiz GhaneaBassiri in a concisebut complete in-way-of-issues-mentioned manner. Primarily a secondarysource, it relies heavily on the initial works produced by scholars such asYvonne Haddad, Adair T. Lummis, Earle Waugh. Aminah McCloud, and AtifWasfi. The book is the first of a second generation of work on the subjectUsing a purely sociological method and lens, the book analyzes the findings ofthe works that came before it, coupling a case study of the views, opinions, andattitudes of different constituents of the Muslim populace of Los Angeles withthe more cross-sectional approach used by the aforementioned scholars. Thework raises fundamental questions regarding the validity of studying sociologicallythe American Muslim condition; whether a truly American Muslim conditionexists; and (if it does) its characteristic features. Nevertheless, KambizGhaneaBassiri's work indexes, in a cartographic manner, the competing visionsof Islam in the United States.Within the introduction of his work, the author outlines the purpose andmethodology of his study. Departing from the writings and approach of Haddad,Lummis, Waugh, McCloud, and Wasfi, he makes his intention clear: to use surveysto examine the religious identity of Muslims in the United States by determininghow they define their role as American citizens. His already enigmaticdefinition of a religious identity, however, being an amalgam of one's "desires,""needs," "cultural and ethnic background" and "level of religious understanding,"missed certain key elements. The roles of intention and volitional acts­the main components of the textual definition of Muslim identity-outlinedwithin the Qur'an and Sunnah, more than the categories used in the study, defineMuslim identity. The lack of a clear definition of Muslim identity and the inabilityof the study to operationalize it are the work's two main weaknesses.Nowhere in the work is it scientifically illustrated or articulated that a case study ...
Orientalism in Lord Byron's "Turkish Tales"
Authors: Hasnain Lmtiaz
Published: December 2020

In most of the critical studies of Orientalist and/or colonialist literature, thereis an element of humanist closure, marked by the bracketing of the political contextof culture and history. At times, this humanist closure is deliberate. For itnot only helps in avoiding an analysis of domination, exploitation, denigration,and manipulation, but also it facilitates in reducing the discursive antagonismbetween "we" and "they," between the "white" and the "dark," between the"Occidentals" and the "Orientals." By distancing oneself from the politics ofdomination, this typical facet of humanjst closure makes it possible to rejectEdward Said's suggestion that "colonial power and discourse is possessedentirely by the colonizer"-an insight with a far-reaching discursive implication(Orientalism, 1978). One needs to take a critical look at OrientaJism not only todelineate an accurate representation of a profound conflict but also to highlight those elements of syncretism which are suggestive of “a deviation from conventional western concepts of the orient” (p. v). In fact, in chapter 1, titled“Image of the Orient in English Literature: A Historical Survey,” it is in this veinthat the main contours of literary Orientalism from the beginning up to Byron’s day are outlined ...
Reclaiming the Tradition
Authors: Kazami Yedullah
Published: December 2020

The issue at hand for every Muslim who takes hisher Muslim identityseriously is to work toward the creation and maintenance of Islamicknowledge. The commitment to this agenda should not, however, beseen exclusively as an exercise in constructing yet another knowledgestructure, for then it would be an empty academic exercise. The full truthand force of Islamization of knowledge is captured only in its beingunderstood initially as a political act. Only later is it to be understood asan act that, for its completion, requires Muslims to engage in academicexercises without, however, ever losing sight of the political import ofthe entire undertaking.The sense in which I am using the term “political” should not be understoodin the narrow and parochial sense of belonging to a political partyor an organization or even of being committed to some political ideology.I am employing the term to mean the exercise of power not for individualgains but for the betterment of the community viewed as a moralentity. Hence, the political is the realm within which moral debate takesplace regarding the ends for which the community is to use power, bywhom it will be exercised on behalf of the community, and how it willemploy power to realize those ends. In this sense, the political becomesconstitutive of the community considered as a moral entity.This understanding of the political is consistent with the Islamic view,which does not separate the political from the moral. In fact, in Islampolitical activity has legitimacy and makes sense only if undertaken fora moral purpose. In the West, the moral understanding of the politicalwas the Cornerstone of Plato’s and Aristotle’s classical political theory,until it became marginalized as the West grew more secular and ...
Quest for Conception
Authors: Thorbjornsrid Berit
Published: December 2020

Infertility is normally thought to be a problem for the rich, Western world,overpopulation the problem of the poor, Third World. But is this dichotomybuilt on empirical facts or on racial prejudices? Available statistics surprisinglyreveal an infertility belt from the Sudan and across Africa, where the problem incertain countries is extremely widespread. This and the AIDS epidemic threaten,according to Marcia lnhom, to depopulate large areas. In Egypt, official statisticsshow the infertility rate lo be 8%, a number Inborn regards as unrealisticallylow, but still it is eight times the number in Korea and Thailand. Despitesuch high figures, the focus in Egypt is only on hypofertility and family planning.Even so, the population is stilJ increasing due, says lnhom, to politicians'and health personnels' ignorance of the dialectic between fertility and infertility.lnhom goes a long way toward exposing the "overpopulation problem" as amyth. She takes as her starting point the U.N. declaration of human rights, whichasserts the right of all individuals to found a family, and transfers the focus tochildless Egyptians, which she claims is a muted group.Quest for Conception is the first comprehensive account of infertility in theThird World and represents a breakthrough in medical anthropology. Becausethis topic is highly gendered, the book also makes an important contribution togender studies. Her 100 childless informants from Alexandria are all poorMuslim women, and Quest for Conception can be read both as a study of povertyand of female Islamic practice.lnhom analyzes the extent of infertility, its causes and existing forms of treatment(both ethno- and biomedical), and potential reforms. Her material is basedon childless women's medical life stories-which often contain an astonishingvariety of treatments. In addition, she has followed them through 15 months ofdesperate search for children (1988-89). In all this time, only one(!) succeededin giving birth. The others presumably are continuing their restless search for thechild they need in order to realize their one and only career-motherhood. Thewomen's own experiences and emotional reactions, their subjective understandingof causes and different methods of treatment, and their strategies are centralto lnhom's very humane ethnography. But this micromaterial is continuously ...
Muslims and Christians Face to Face
Authors: Salem Salem A.
Published: December 2020

Muslims and Christians Face to Face is an academic research work thatobserves the various response of Muslims to Christianity and Christians toIslam. It is written by Kate Zebiri, who is a lecturer in Arabic and IslamicStudies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.In the first chapter, "Factors Influencing Muslim-Christian Relations," Zebiridiscusses the four factors that affect Mu Jim and Christian perceptions of eachother.The first factor is what the Qur'an says about Christians and Christianity, andthe way in which the Qur'anic material has been interpreted. With regards to thisfactor the author discusses the Qur'anic awareness of religious plurality, theQur'anic perception of Jesus, the earthly end of Jesus in the Qur'an, and what theQur'anic verses say about the salvation of the People of the Book in the hereafter.Moreover, Zebiri tries to draw attention to the difference between what theQur'an says about Christians and Christianity, and the way in which the Qur'anicmaterial has been interpreted, and the difference between the commentators' andjurists' positions toward Christianity, in both the classic and contemporary periods.The second factor is the history of Muslim-Christian relations and the affectof historical memory. Here the author describes the relation between the ArabMuslim conquest and the Byzantine Christian Empire; the situation ofChristians under Muslim rule; the affect of the Crusades on the Muslims' attitudesto Christianity; the development of the Christian attitude to Islam fromignorance during the European Christendom, to anti-Muslim polemic attitude toconduct studies on Islam based on reliable sources after the Renaissance, tousing Islam as a theme in internal Christian polemic during the time of theReformation, to admiring Islam for its own sake in the Enlightenment; and finally,the attitude of both liberal and conservative Christians to Islam today.The third factor is the relationship between Christian missions and imperialismand the influence this has on the Muslim attitude toward Christianity today.With regards to this factor, the author explores the interrelationship betweenColonialism and Christian missions, and how it has been implanted in theMuslim consciousness and become part of the anti-Western discourse.The fourth factor is Christian and Muslim views on dialogue. In this pare theauthor shows the Christian acknowledgment of Islam as a result of the Christianecumenical movement She states that Muslims have been slow to initiate andparticipate in organized dialogue. In addition, she mentions that many Christiansand Muslims see dialogue as antithetical to their mission or da'wah, believingthat one compromises the other ...
Report on the International Workshop on the Integration of lslamic Studies into Liberal Arts Curricula
Authors: Wheeler Brannon M.
Published: December 2020

On March 6-7, 1998 the incipient program in Comparative IslamicStudies at the University of Washington (UW) hosted an internationalworkshop on the Integration of Islamic Studies into Liberal ArtsCurricula. This workshop was sponsored by the Department of NearEastern Languages and Civilization, the Walter Chapin SimpsonCenter for the Humanities, the Henry M. Jackson School forInternational Studies, the Comparative Religion Program, the MiddleEast Studies Program, and the South Asian Studies Program.

Aims of the WorkshopThe general aim of the workshop, discussing the integration of Islamicstudies into liberal arts curricula, can be divided into three areas. First,the workshop brought together about forty teachers and scholars, abouttwenty from the UW and twenty from across the United States andCanada. Most of these participants were professors teaching IslamicStudies or related discipliies at private and public colleges and Universities,although some secondary-level teachers also participated. The disciplinesrepresented ranged from religion, art history, geography, ethnomusicoIogy,history, comparative literahm, women’s studies, anthropology,biblical studies, and political science. This meeting allowed foropen cornmetion and the exchange of ideas among scholars who areotherwise separated from one another by institutional boundaries ...