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As the Middle East descends ever deeper into violence and chaos,'sectarianism'has become a catch-all explanation for the region's troubles. The turmoil is attributed to'ancient sectarian differences', putatively primordial forces that make violent conflict intractable. In media and policy discussions, sectarianism has come to possess trans-historical causal power. This book trenchantly challenges the lazy use of'sectarianism'as a magic-bullet explanation for the region's ills, focusing on how various conflicts in the Middle East have morphed from non-sectarian (or cross-sectarian) and nonviolent movements into sectarian wars. Through multiple case studies -- including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Kuwait -- this book maps the dynamics of sectarianisation, exploring not only how but also why it has taken hold. The contributors examine the constellation of forces -- from those within societies to external factors such as the Saudi-Iran rivalry -- that drive the sectarianisation process and explore how the region's politics can be de-sectarianised. Featuring leading scholars -- and including historians, anthropologists, political scientists and international relations theorists -- this book will redefine the terms of debate on one of the most critical issues in international affairs today.

Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam offers a multi-disciplinary study of Muslim thinking about paradise, death, apocalypse, and the hereafter. It focuses on eschatological concepts in the Quran and its exegesis, Sunni and Shi‘i traditions, Islamic theology, philosophy, mysticism, and other scholarly disciplines reflecting Islamicate pluralism and cosmopolitanism. Gathering material from all parts of the Muslim world, ranging from Islamic Spain to Indonesia, and the entirety of Islamic history, this publication in two volumes also integrates research from comparative religion, art history, sociology, anthropology and literary studies. Unparalleled and unprecedented in its scope and comprehensiveness, Roads to Paradise promises to become the definitive reference work on Islamic eschatology for the years to come. Available as: • Hardback (ISBN 978-90-04-33313-0, 2 volumes) • E-Book (ISBN 978-90-04-33315-4) • Paperback (ISBN 978-90-04-72491-4, 2 volumes) Paperback volumes are also available separately: • Paperback, Volume 1 (ISBN 978-90-04-71180-8) • Paperback, Volume 2 (ISBN 978-90-04-71249-2)

The present volume focuses on aspects of Islamic thought in Iran and Yemen, and other regions of the Middle East, ninth through fifteenth century CE, through a close study of manuscript materials. The book's sixteen chapters are arranged under five rubrics: Mu'tazilism, Zaydism in Iran and in Yemen, Twelver Shi'ism, Mysticism, and Bibliographical Traditions. The material included in the book has been published previously in a different version. The appearance of these studies together in a single volume makes this book a significant and welcome contribution to the field of classical Islamic Studies.

The 1,400-year-old schism between Sunnis and Shi'is is currently reflected in the destructive struggle for hegemony between Saudi Arabia and Iran—with no apparent end in sight. But how did this conflict begin, and why is it now the focus of so much attention?Charting the history of Islam from the death of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, John McHugo describes the conflicts that raged over the succession to the Prophet, how Sunnism and Shi'ism evolved as different sects during the Abbasid caliphate, and how the rivalry between the Sunni Ottomans and Shi'i Safavids ensured that the split would continue into the modern age. In recent decades, this centuries-old divide has acquired a new toxicity that has resulted in violence across the Arab world and other Muslim countries.Definitive, insightful, and accessible, A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi'is is an essential guide to understanding the genesis, development, and manipulation of the schism that for far too many people has come to define Islam and the Muslim world.

After the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East and the new geopolitical landscape in this region, it is essential for the modern reader to understand the history that has allowed for and influenced these types of Islamic groups to form. Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism acts as a didactic resource that explains, from the Islamic perspective, the historical importance of the Islamic fundamentalist world.This dictionary provides a comprehensive and thorough analysis of various groups, events, movements, key figures, and dogmas that have influenced contemporary Islamic fundamentalism. A chronology spanning 600 years, graphs of complex Islamic group associations and alliances, and an Arabic-to-English glossary have all been included to facilitate a complete understanding of the nuances and generalities that have shaped this movement. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalism also contains an introduction, appendixes, an extensive bibliography, and more than 700 cross-referenced entries on ideologies, people, events, and movements of the 20th and 21st centuries.

In the aftermath of popular uprisings that unleashed the quest for freedom, Arab governments scrambled to limit sectarian divisions, though much of these efforts came to naught. Regrettably, weak governments fell into carefully laid traps, aimed to divide and rule. Protracted wars further destroyed Arab wealth and cohesiveness, and Sunni communities saw their power bases marginalised. On cue, and predicted by some commentators, extremist movements like the so-called Islamic State emerged, targeting Sunnis with extreme violence. In 2014 Nabil Khalife, an established Lebanese thinker, published a widely praised thesis that identified the root causes of renewed sectarian tensions at a time when confrontations polarised awakened Arab societies. Based on an extensive discussion of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the Shah, Khalife advanced the notion that the revolution was not Islamic but an Iranian-Shiah rebellion that ended the Pahlavi military monarchy, and that the post-2011 Sunni-Shiah struggle was planned by leading Western powers, including Russia, to preserve Israel and impose the latters acceptance in the Middle East as a natural element. In this translation of Istihdaf Ahl al-Sunna [Targeting Sunnis], Joseph A. Kechichian analyses the fundamental questions raised by the author to better place the current sectarian collision in a geo-strategic global perspective. Based on the books avowals of how the worlds three monotheistic religions perceive each other and Political Sunnism, Kechichian assesses Henry Kissinger's famous appellation of the Middle World that houses significant and indispensable oil resources, and why that allegedly makes it -- Political Sunnism -- dangerous. In a comprehensive introduction to the translation, he describes various initiatives that led global powers to check the undeniable force of Political Sunnism.

An assessment of how important the sea was in the middle ages.How important has the sea been in the development of human history? Very important indeed is the conclusion of this ground-breaking four volume work. The books bring together the world's leading maritime historians, who address the question of what difference the sea has made in relation to around 250 situations ranging from the earliest times to the present. They consider, across the entire world, subjects related to human migration, trade, economic development, warfare, the building of political units including states and empires, the dissemination of ideas, culture and religion, and much more, showing how the sea was crucial to all these aspects of human development. The Sea in History - The Medieval World covers the period from the end of the Roman Empire in the West up to around the year 1500. It demonstrates that for many peoples and states in this period the sea was central to theirexistence - the Vikings, the Hanse, Venice, Genoa, the Normans - and it shows also how important the sea was for states which are not normally thought of as maritime powers, such as Byzantium, the Crusader states and the Mongol Empire. The book is global in its coverage, including material on East and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa, with particularly interesting material on China's extensive voyages of exploration in the fifteenth century, the role of the Vikings in the early formation of Russia, and on the building of ships, appropriate to local conditions, in different parts of the world. 40 of the contributions are in English; 34 are inFrench. MICHEL BALARD is Emeritus Professor at the University Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne. CHRISTIAN BUCHET is Professor of Maritime History, Catholic University of Paris, Scientific Director of Océanides and a member of l'Académie de marine.

An assessment of how important the sea was in the early modern period.How important has the sea been in the development of human history? Very important indeed is the conclusion of this ground-breaking four volume work. The books bring together the world's leading maritime historians, who address the question of what difference the sea has made in relation to around 250 situations ranging from the earliest times to the present. They consider, across the entire world, subjects related to human migration, trade, economic development, warfare, the building of political units including states and empires, the dissemination of ideas, culture and religion, and much more, showing how the sea was crucial to all these aspects of human development.The Sea in History - The Early Modern World covers the period from around the end of the fifteenth century up to the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. It examines the establishment and growth of'the Atlantic World', but also considers maritime developments in the Indian Ocean, Southeast and East Asia and Africa, and highlights the continuing importance of the North Sea and the Baltic. A very wide range of maritime subjects is explored including trade, which went through a huge global expansion in this period; fishing; shipping, shipbuilding, navigation and ports; the role of the sea in the dissemination of religious ideas; the nature of life for sailors in different places and periods; and the impact of trade in particularly important commodities, including wine, slaves, sugar and tobacco. One particularly interesting chapter is on the Hanse, the important maritime commercial'empire'basedin north Germany, which extended much more widely than is often realised and whose significance and huge impact have often been overlooked. 33 of the contributions are in English; 42 are in French. CHRISTIAN BUCHET is Professor of Maritime History, Catholic University of Paris, Scientific Director of Océanides and a member of l'Académie de marine. GÉRARD LE BOUDEC is Emeritus Professor of the University of South Brittany.

Frustrated Democracy in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan follows a newly independent oil-rich former Soviet republic as it adopts a Western model of democratic government and then turns toward corrupt authoritarianism. Audrey L. Altstadt begins with the Nagorno-Karabagh War (1988–1994) which triggered Azerbaijani nationalism and set the stage for the development of a democratic movement. Initially successful, this government soon succumbed to a coup. Western oil companies arrived and money flowed in—a quantity Altstadt calls'almost unimaginable'—causing the regime to resort to repression to maintain its power. Despite Azerbaijan's long tradition of secularism, political Islam emerged as an attractive alternative for those frustrated with the stifled democratic opposition and the lack of critique of the West's continued political interference. Altstadt's work draws on instances of censorship in the Azerbaijani press, research by embedded experts and nongovernmental and international organizations, and interviews with diplomats and businesspeople. The book is an essential companion to her earlier works, The Azerbaijani Turks: Power and Identity Under Russian Rule and The Politics of Culture in Soviet Azerbaijan, 1920–1940.

This book shows the development of women's status in the Mongol Empire from its original homeland in Mongolia up to the end of the Ilkhanate of Iran in 1335. Taking a thematic approach, the chapters show a coherent progression of this development and contextualise the evolution of the role of women in medieval Mongol society. The arrangement serves as a starting point from where to draw comparison with the status of Mongol women in the later period. Exploring patterns of continuity and transformation in the status of these women in different periods of the Mongol Empire as it expanded westwards into the Islamic world, the book offers a view on the transformation of a nomadic-shamanist society from its original homeland in Mongolia to its settlement in the mostly sedentary-Muslim Iran in the mid-13th century.

Theology and Society is the most comprehensive study of Islamic intellectual and religious history, focusing on Muslim theology. With its emphasis on the eighth and ninth centuries CE, it remains the most detailed prosopographical study of the early phase of the formation of Islam. Originally published in German between 1991 and 1995, Theology and Society is a monument of scholarship and a unique scholarly enterprise which has stood the test of the time as an unparalleled reference work. The volume consists of a Bibliography, followed by an Index of Names, an Index of Works and a General Index.

This is the first collection of studies entirely devoted to the terminological pair dār al-islām / dar al-ḥarb, “the abode of Islam” and “the abode of war”, apparently widely known as representative of “the Islamic vision” of the world, but in fact almost unexplored. A team of specialists in different fields of Islamic studies investigates the issue in its historical and conceptual origins as well as in its reception within the different genres of Muslim written production. In contrast to the fixed and permanent categories they are currently identified with, the multifaceted character of these two notions and their shifting meanings is set out through the analysis of a wide range of contexts and sources, from the middle ages up to modern times.Contributors are Francisco Apellániz, Michel Balivet, Giovanna Calasso, Alessandro Cancian, Éric Chaumont, Roberta Denaro, Maribel Fierro, Chiara Formichi, Yohanan Friedmann, Giuliano Lancioni, Yaacov Lev, Nicola Melis, Luis Molina, Antonino Pellitteri, Camille Rhoné-Quer, Francesca Romana Romani, Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, Roberto Tottoli, Raoul Villano, Eleonora Di Vincenzo and Francesco Zappa.

This volume addresses three fundamental questions about the interplay between the ethics of globality and spirituality: What are the practical implications of spirituality for the condition of life in a turbulent era of violent religious/non-religious extremism? In what way can spirituality, the view of love, compassion, tolerance, and mutual recognition encounter mistrust, enmity, separateness, and violence? How, and in what way, can spirituality contribute to the newly emerging global ethics?Religious scholars distinguish between the esoteric and exoteric sides of belief systems. Esotericism centres on the inner awareness, and conceals a certain spirituality that is only transmittable to those who could successfully pass through a process of initiatic preparation and transpersonal practices to understand the mystical dimensions of existence. In contrast, exotericism takes the outer dimension of every day consciousness into account and favours the possibility of the popular understanding of the essence of existence. In this perspective, truth could be grasped by the public without the need of any transpersonal initiative and transformation of consciousness. Esotericism extends beyond religion and has become the spiritual philosophy of life without the need of being essentially religious. It has become common, notably in the West, to identify oneself as spiritualist without having religious affiliations.The condition of globality has provided an unprecedented opportunity for spiritual perspectives to grow. Ideas, perspectives, beliefs, and philosophies of life are growing outside local/national containers to express themselves in different global settings, while the forces of globalisation are influencing local identities and cultures. While evolving global transformations strengthen people's capability to leave institutionally ordered belief systems, it simultaneously enables them to rearrange themselves around alternative perspectives. These fundamental transformations cultivate a fabulous landscape for the growth of spirituality.

Hezbollah provides a new, grounded analysis of the controversial and misunderstood Lebanese party. Where previous books have focused on aspects of the party's identity, the military question or its religious discourse, here Joseph Daher presents an alternative perspective, built upon political economy.Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Lebanon and dozens of interviews, as well as new archival and other primary sources, Daher's analysis confidently positions Hezbollah within socio-economic and political developments in Lebanon and the Middle East. He emphasises Hezbollah's historic ties with its main sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, its media and cultural wings and its relationship with Western economic policies.Further chapters examine the party's policies towards workers'struggles and women's issues, and its orientation towards the sectarian Lebanese political system. Hezbollah is a well informed and fresh analysis of a topic which remains central to our understanding of one of the world's most tumultuous and politically unstable regions.

La présente étude, L'imamat et l'Occultation selon l'imamisme, Étude bibliographique et histoire de textes, concerne l'évolution religieuse et historique du Hadith imamite autour de la constitution progressive et complexe des doctrines aussi fondamentales que l'imamat et l'Occultation. L'annexe de ce travail comprend les textes en arabe de ces écrits identifiés et reconstitués à travers leurs citations. In his work, L'imamat et l'Occultation selon l'imamisme, Etude bibliographique et histoire de textes, Hassan Ansari has attempted to reconstruct a number of doctrines related to the concepts of religious authority (imāma) as well as occultation (ghayba) in Twelver Shi‘i Islam (Ithnā'ashariyya). This has been done through identifying and collecting numerous references to quotations of early works in later Shiʿi texts. Ansari has reconstructed earlier layers of primary materials that are entirely lost and only pre-served in later sources.The book's Appendix comprises fragments of early works of Hadith reconstructed from later sources.

This study provides a new interpretation of how political authority was conceived and transmitted in the Early Mongol Empire (1227-1259) and its successor state in the Middle East, the Īlkhānate (1258-1335). Authority within the Mongol Empire was intimately tied to the character of its founder, Chinggis Khan, whose reign served as an idealized model for the exercise of legitimate authority amongst his political successors. Yet Chinggis Khan's legacy was interpreted differently by the various factions within his army. In the years after his death, two distinct political traditions emerged within the Mongol Empire, the collegial and the patrimonialist. Each of these streams represented the economic and political interests of different groups within the Mongol Empire, respectively, the military aristocracy and the central government. The supporters of both streams claimed to adhere to the ideal of Chinggisid rule, but their different statuses within the Mongol community led them to hold divergent views of what constituted legitimate political authority. Michael Hope's study details the origin of, and the differences between, these two streams of tradition; analyzing the role that these streams played in the political development of the Mongol Empire and the Īlkhānate; and assessing the role that ideological tension between the two streams played in the events leading up to the division of the Īlkhānate. Hope demonstrates that the policy and identity of both the Early Mongol Empire and the Īlkhānate were defined by the conflict between these competing streams of Chinggisid authority.

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries religious zeal nourished by the mendicants'sense of purpose motivated Dominican and Franciscan friars to venture far beyond Europe's cultural frontiers to spread their Christian faith into the farthest reaches of Asia. Their incredible journeys were reminiscent of heroic missionary ventures in earlier eras and far more exotic than evangelization during the tenth through twelfth centuries, when the western church Christianized Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. This new mission effort was stimulated by a variety of factors and facilitated by the establishment of the Mongol Empire, and, as the fourteenth century dawned, missionaries entertained fervent but vain hopes of success within khanates in China, Central Asia, Persia and Kipchak. The reports these missionaries sent back to Europe have fascinated successive generations of historians who analyzed their travels and struggled to understand their motives and aspirations. The essays selected for this volume, drawn from a range of twentieth-century historians and contextualized in the introduction, provide a comprehensive overview of missionary efforts in Asia, and of the developments in the secular world that both made them possible and encouraged the missionaries'hopes for success. Three of the studies have been translated from French specially for publication in this volume.

Winner of The 2018 Saidi-Sirjani Book Award In The Western Christian Presence in the Russias and Qājār Persia, c.1760–c.1870, Thomas O'Flynn vividly paints the life and times of missionary enterprises in early nineteenth-century Russia and Persia at a moment of immense change when Tsarist Russia embarked on an expansionist campaign reaching to the Caucasus. Simultaneously he charts the relationship between the new Persian dynasty of the Qājārs and missionary activity on the part of European and American missionaries. This book reconstructs that world from a predominantly religious perspective. It recounts the sustaining ideals as well as the everyday struggles of the western missionaries, Protestant (Scottish, Basel and American Congregationalist) and Catholic (Jesuit and Vincentian). It looks at the reactions of diverse tribal peoples, the Tatars of the North Caucasus, the Kabardians and Circassians. Persia was the ultimate goal of these missionaries, which they eventually reached in the 1820s. Altogether this study throws light on the troubled course of history in West Asia and provides the background to politico-religious conflicts in Chechnya and Persia that persist to the present day.

365 jours de réflexions d'un homme public! Loin des sentiers battus, dans un livre « politique » inclassable, l'auteur, à travers ses souvenirs d'enfance, ses premiers amours, sa crise de la quarantaine, son goût pour les voyages ou son expérience professionnelle, dévoile, sans tabou, ses impressions, ses émotions et ses réflexions. En faisant partager un an de sa vie (son journal s'étale du 1er septembre 2015 au 31 août 2016), le mandataire public s'efface devant l'homme tout court. Ce livre est d'abord et avant tout celui d'un homme épris de liberté, refusant les simplismes du « politiquement correct » ou du populisme. Comprendre le monde dans lequel il évolue, partager sa richesse intérieure avec les autres, afin de toucher à une certaine universalité : ce sont les seuls objectifs que l'auteur s'est fixés. Réflexion, passion, humour, analyse, prise de distance pour le plus grand plaisir des lecteurs… EXTRAIT 23 novembre Apparemment, je ne me suis pas trompé… Depuis quelques jours, chaque leader politique, en Belgique comme en France, chaque célébrité y va de son commentaire sur les attentats de Paris. Et, bien évidemment, ne manque pas de proposer sa solution pour régler cette problématique complexe. Des moments de grande poésie, où l'on touche aux confins de la stratégie géopolitique et socioéconomique la plus subtile. Éric Zemmour, le nouveau philosophe de la droite, sorte de chaînon manquant entre les Républicains et le FN, a déclaré le plus sérieusement du monde qu'il fallait « bombarder Molenbeek », présentée comme le refuge mondial des djihadistes. Jan Jambon, le Ministre belge de l'Intérieur, connu pour son positionnement à la droite extrême, a affirmé qu'il allait « s'occuper personnellement de cette commune ». Donald Trump, lui, s'est déclaré favorable au retour de la torture, notamment par la simulation de la noyade (qui consiste à verser de l'eau sur un tissu qui obstrue le nez et la bouche du suspect). Même les « people » s'y mettent, Halliday affirmant que s'il n'était pas chanteur, il irait combattre l'EI. Toutes ces déclarations à l'emporte-pièce m'insupportent. Pierre Desprogres n'était pas loin de la vérité lorsqu'il déclarait : « Il vaut parfois mieux se taire et passer pour un con que de parler et de ne laisser aucun doute sur le sujet ». Puissent certains s'en inspirer. CE QU'EN PENSE LA CRITIQUE Au fil d'une année de réflexions, de commentaires, il se livre à la manière de l'ancienne Ministre et journaliste française, Françoise Giroux, après s'être remis en question et en mettant en avant les valeurs qui sont les siennes aujourd'hui. - Philippe Lorain, Vivacité RTBF À PROPOS DE L'AUTEUR Licencié en Journalisme et Communication et titulaire d'un Diplôme en Etudes Spécialisées en politique européenne, Sébastian Pirlot est Député-Maire depuis près de 15 ans. Elu successivement dans différents niveaux pouvoirs, il siège aujourd'hui à la Chambre des Représentants, plus particulièrement dans les Commissions « Défense nationale », « Suivi des opérations militaires à l'étranger » et « Achats militaires ». Il est également membre du Parlement consultatif BENELUX et de l'Assemblée interparlementaire de l'OTAN. Passionné de rugby et de culture des îles du Pacifique Sud, fan de tatouages tribaux, bourlingueur invétéré, il a parcouru de nombreux pays du globe. Féru de poésie et de littérature, il se définit comme un homme de centre-gauche, keynésien sur le plan économique, progressiste et libéral (au sens philosophique du terme). Et surtout, il aime être libre et « atypique »…

The Arab theatre and cinema are among the most neglected subjects in the studies of Oriental literature and research into the history of theatre. This book, written by the acclaimed scholar Jacob M. Landau and first published in 1958, is a survey of the development of the Arab theatre and cinema as cultural and social phenomena and goes a long way in shedding some light on these neglected subjects.

From the best-selling author of Republic of Fear, here is a gritty and unflinching novel about Iraqi failure in the wake of the 2003 American invasion, as seen through the eyes of a Shi‘ite militiaman whose participation in the execution of Saddam Hussein changes his life in ways he could never have anticipated. When the nameless narrator stumbles upon a corpse on April 10, 2003, the day of the fall of Saddam Hussein, he finds himself swept up in the tumultuous politics of the American occupation and is taken on a journey that concludes with the discovery of what happened to his father, who disappeared into the Tyrant's gulag in 1991. When he was a child, his questions about his father were ignored by his mother and his uncle, in whose house he was raised. Older now, he is fighting in his uncle's Army of the Awaited One, which is leading an insurrection against the Occupier. He slowly begins to piece together clues about his father's fate, which turns out to be intertwined with that of the mysterious corpse. But not until the last hour before the Tyrant's execution is the narrator given the final piece of the puzzle—from Saddam Hussein himself. The Rope is both a powerful examination of the birth of sectarian politics out of a legacy of betrayal, victimhood, secrecy, and loss, and an enduring story about the haste with which identity is cobbled together and then undone. Told with fearless honesty and searing intensity, The Rope will haunt its readers long after they finish the final page.

In 2011, the Middle East saw more people peacefully protesting long entrenched dictatorships than at any time in its history. The dictators of Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen were deposed in a matter of weeks by nonviolent marches. Imprecisely described as'the Arab Spring', the revolution has been convulsing the whole region ever since. Beyond an uneven course in different countries, Philosophy of Nonviolence examines how 2011 may have ushered in a fundamental break in world history. The break, the book argues, is animated by nonviolence as the new spirit of the philosophy of history. Philosophy of Nonviolence maps out a system articulating nonviolence in the revolution, the rule of constitutional law it yearns for, and the demand for accountability that inspired the revolution in the first place. Part One--Revolution, provides modern context to the generational revolt, probes the depth of Middle Eastern-Islamic humanism, and addresses the paradox posed by nonviolence to the'perpetual peace'ideal. Part Two--Constitutionalism, explores the reconfiguration of legal norms and power structures, mechanisms of institutional change and constitution-making processes in pursuit of the nonviolent anima. Part Three--Justice, covers the broadening concept of dictatorship as crime against humanity, an essential part of the philosophy of nonviolence. It follows its frustrated emergence in the French revolution, its development in the Middle East since 1860 through the trials of Arab dictators, the pyramid of accountability post-dictatorship, and the scope of foreign intervention in nonviolent revolutions. Throughout the text, Professor Mallat maintains thoroughly abstract and philosophical arguments, while substantiating those arguments in historical context enriched by a close participation in the ongoing Middle East revolution.

La géopolitique, en tant qu'étude des relations internationales, rend compte du phénomène de la mondialisation tout en analysant ses mécanismes. Pédagogique, ce guide commence par définir la géopolitique. Pratique, il propose 42 fiches thématiques pour dresser un panorama des conflits, des problématiques et des tendances du monde actuel. Illustré par une vingtaine de cartes, il constitue une synthèse d'introduction et de référence sur le sujet. Les défis - Les crises - Les tendances - Les questions

Kishwar Rizvi, drawing on the multifaceted history of the Middle East, offers a richly illustrated analysis of the role of transnational mosques in the construction of contemporary Muslim identity. As Rizvi explains, transnational mosques are structures built through the support of both government sponsorship, whether in the home country or abroad, and diverse transnational networks. By concentrating on mosques--especially those built at the turn of the twenty-first century--as the epitome of Islamic architecture, Rizvi elucidates their significance as sites for both the validation of religious praxis and the construction of national and religious ideologies.Rizvi delineates the transnational religious, political, economic, and architectural networks supporting mosques in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as in countries within their spheres of influence, such as Pakistan, Syria, and Turkmenistan. She discerns how the buildings feature architectural designs that traverse geographic and temporal distances, gesturing to far-flung places and times for inspiration. Digging deeper, however, Rizvi reveals significant diversity among the mosques--whether in a Wahabi-Sunni kingdom, a Shi&8219;i theocratic government, or a republic balancing secularism and moderate Islam--that repudiates representations of Islam as a monolith. Mosques reveal alliances and contests for influence among multinational corporations, nations, and communities of belief, Rizvi shows, and her work demonstrates how the built environment is a critical resource for understanding culture and politics in the contemporary Middle East and the Islamic world.

The Seljuks, nomadic tribesman in origin, invaded the Middle East in the 11th century and established themselves as sultans in the Islamic tradition. The Great Seljuk Empire became one of the major empires of Middle Eastern history and dominated Central Asia, Iran, Iraq and Syria in the 11th and 12th centuries.The proposed book will provide the first English language general history of this empire. It will outline the chronological history of the empire and will then explore the religious and institutional history, based on the following themes:• The relationship between tribes and the state• The development of administrative and religious institutions• The nature and impact of Turkish settlement in the Middle East and its consequences• The long-term significance of the religious history of the period• The struggle for legitimacy and authority between sultans, caliphs, religious scholars and amirs• The political role of women in the Seljuk court• The Seljuks and the non-Muslim world.

Based on a political sociology of two families of religious scholars, al-Hakim and al-Khu'i, Elvire Corboz explains the internal workings of transnational leadership patterns in Shi`ism for the first time. Corboz compares the multifaceted roles played by Shi`i clerics in contemporary affairs with selective narratives about the traditional system of religious authority (the marja`iyya), political organisations, and international charities. Whether informal or institutionalised, their authority networks are in constant negotiation between communities and states in Iraq, Iran, other Middle Eastern countries, the Indian sub-continent South-East Asia, and the West. This multi-sited approach clarifies the local and transnational dynamics that underpin clerical authority.

The Iranian cleric Ayatollah Montazeri (1922-2009) played an integral role in the founding of the Islamic Republic in the wake of the Iranian Revolution of 1978/9. Yet at the time of his death, Montazeri was considered one of the Islamic Republic's fiercest critics. What made this man, who was once considered the leading advocate of the state doctrine of the'Guardianship of the Jurist'(velayat-e faqih) and the designated successor to the supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini, change his views? How did his political theory incorporate issues such as civil rights, pluralism and popular participation? And what influence did his ideas have on others? Ulrich von Schwerin's book answers these questions by examining the evolution of Montazeri's political thought over the course of five decades, and studies his role in the discourse on religion and politics in Iran. In doing so, he sheds a new light on some of the most crucial events and vital protagonists of recent Iranian history.

In The Mongol Empire between Myth and Reality, Denise Aigle presents the Mongol empire as a moment of contact between political ideologies, religions, cultures and languages, and, in terms of reciprocal representations, between the Far East, the Muslim East, and the Latin West. The first part is devoted to “The memoria of the Mongols in historical and literary sources” in which she examines how the Mongol rulers were perceived by the peoples with whom they were in contact. In “Shamanism and Islam” she studies the perception of shamanism by Muslim authors and their attempts to integrate Genghis Khan and his successors into an Islamic framework. The last sections deal with geopolitical questions involving the Ilkhans, the Mamluks, and the Latin West. Genghis Khan's successors claimed the protection of “Eternal Heaven” to justify their conquests even after their Islamization.

The present volume—the first of its kind—deals with takfīr: accusing one´s opponents of unbelief (kufr). Originating in the first decades of Islam, this practice has been applied intermittently ever since. The nineteen studies included here deal with cases, covering different periods and parts of the Muslim world, of individuals or groups that used the instrument of takfīr to brand their opponents—either persons, groups or even institutions—as unbelievers who should be condemned, anathematized or even persecuted. Each case presented is placed in its sociopolitical and religious context. Together the contributions show the multifariousness that has always characterized Islam and the various ways in which Muslims either sought to suppress or to come to terms with this diversity.With contributions by: Roswitha Badry, Sonja Brentjes, Brian J. Didier, Michael Ebstein, Simeon Evstatiev, Ersilia Francesca, Robert Gleave, Steven Judd, István T. Kristó-Nagy, Göran Larsson, Amalia Levanoni, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Hossein Modarressi, Justyna Nedza, Intisar A. Rabb, Sajjad Rizvi, Daniel de Smet, Zoltan Szombathy, Joas Wagemakers.

The Arabo-Islamic heritage of the Islam is among the richest, most diverse, and longest-lasting literary traditions in the world. Born from a culture and religion that valued teaching, Arabo-Islamic learning spread from the seventh century and has had a lasting impact until the present.In The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning leading scholars around the world present twenty-five studies explore diverse areas of Arabo-Islamic heritage in honor of a renowned scholar and teacher, Dr. Wadad A. Kadi (Prof. Emerita, University of Chicago). The volume includes contributions in three main areas: History, Institutions, and the Use of Documentary Sources; Religion, Law, and Islamic Thought; Language, Literature, and Heritage which reflect Prof. Kadi's contributions to the field. Contributors:Sean W. Anthony; Ramzi Baalbaki; Jonathan A.C. Brown; Fred M. Donner; Mohammad Fadel; Kenneth Garden; Sebastian Günther; Li Guo; Heinz Halm; Paul L. Heck; Nadia Jami; Jeremy Johns; Maher Jarrar; Marion Holmes Katz; Scott C. Lucas; Angelika Neuwirth; Bilal Orfali; Wen-chin Ouyang; Judith Pfeiffer; Maurice A. Pomerantz; Riḍwān al-Sayyid ; Aram A. Shahin; Jens Scheiner; John O. Voll; Stefan Wild.

This is the first work available in any language to extensively document and critically discuss traditions of'Alid piety and their modern contestations in the region. The concept of'Alid piety allows for a reframing of our views on the widespread reverence for'Ali, Fatima and their progeny that emphasizes how such sentiments and associated practices are seen as part of broad traditions shared by many Muslims, which might or might not have their origins in a specifically Shi'a identity. In doing so, it facilitates the movement of academic discussions out from under the shadow of polemical sectarian discourses on'Shi'ism'in Southeast Asia. The chapters include presentations of new material from previously unpublished early manuscript sources from Muslim vernacular literatures in the Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Acehnese and Bugis languages, as well as rich new ethnography from across the region. These studies engage with cultural, intellectual, and performative traditions, as well as the ways in which'Alid piety has been transformed in relation to more strictly sectarian identifications since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

When Bashar al-Asad smoothly assumed power in July 2000, just seven days after the death of his father, observers were divided on what this would mean for the country's foreign and domestic politics. On the one hand, it seemed everything would stay the same: an Asad on top of a political system controlled by secret services and Baathist one-party rule. On the other hand, it looked like everything would be different: a young president with exposure to Western education who, in his inaugural speech, emphasized his determination to modernize Syria.This volume explores the ways in which Asad's domestic and foreign policy strategies during his first decade in power safeguarded his rule and adapted Syria to the age of globalization. The volume's contributors examine multiple aspects of Asad's rule in the 2000s, from power consolidation within the party and control of the opposition to economic reform, co-opting new private charities, and coping with Iraqi refugees. The Syrian regime temporarily succeeded in reproducing its power and legitimacy, in reconstructing its social base, and in managing regional and international challenges. At the same time, contributors clearly detail the shortcomings, inconsistencies, and risks these policies entailed, illustrating why Syria's tenuous stability came to an abrupt end during the Arab Spring of 2011. This volume presents the work of an international group of scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. Based on extensive fieldwork and on intimate knowledge of a country whose dynamics often seem complicated and obscure to outside observers, these scholars'insightful snapshots of Bashar al-Asad's decade of authoritarian upgrading provide an indispensable resource for understanding the current crisis and its disastrous consequences.

Disziplinäre Grenzen überschreitend zielt der Band darauf ab, die Visualisierung Mohammeds in der westlichen Welt vis-à-vis mit dessen Darstellung im Islam zu untersuchen. Dabei wird das Material weder geographischen oder sprachlichen Sphären zugeordnet noch werden Textquellen isoliert von bildlichen Darstellungen betrachtet. Die Beiträge eröffnen vielmehr einen thematischen und theoretischen Dialog über die Frage, wie der Prophet in verschiedenen kulturellen Traditionen, in Europa und Amerika und in der Welt des Islam, vom Mittelalter bis in die Gegenwart, vergegenwärtigt wurde.

The search for identity is a continuous challenge in the global world: from personal identity to social, national, European or professional identities, each person experiences nowadays a multi-dimensional self-representation. Placing the topic against an intercultural background, with a focus on communication, this book addresses the complicated relationship between self, identity, and society, from an academic perspective. The authors of the chapters in this book offer a complex landscape of professional and scholar approaches and research, in various parts of the world, including Canada, China, Estonia, France, Greece, Israel, Romania, and the United States of America.

This book traces the development of modern Syria focusing on the contribution of the Ba'th party and Ba'thist ideology. It examines the roots of the Ba'th in the intellectual ferment of the 1940s and charts its growing influence on Syrian politics. Special attention is devoted to the crucial Sixth Congress of the Ba'th Party in 1963 and the key ideological document, the Muntalaqat, produced by Michel Aflaq. After 1963 the military became increasingly dominant until Hafiz al-Asad came to power in 1970. Since then the Party has been less dominant internally but Syria itself has established a pivotal position in regional affairs. The book concludes by reviewing the prospects for Syria after Asad and the potential for a Ba'thist revival.

Al-Māturīdī (d. 944 CE), the prominent Hanafi scholar from Samarqand, succeeded in formulating a theological doctrine which is widely accepted in Sunni Islam to this day. The present volume which is a revised English translation of the German original published in 1997 examines his teachings by describing their principal characteristics and situating them in the history of kalām.Part one investigates the development of Hanafi thought in Transoxania before Māturīdī's time. Part two deals with the other religious groups (in particular the Mu'tazilites) which emerged in this area during his lifetime. Part three shows how he explained and defended the position of his predecessors; in doing so, he reformed their traditional views, thereby developing his own theology which then became the basis of a new tradition, viz. the Māturīdite school.

Shi'i Islam, with its rich and extensive history, has played a crucial role in the evolution of Islam as both a major world religion and civilization. The prolific achievements of Shi?i theologians, philosophers and others are testament to the spiritual and intellectual wealth of this community. Yet Shi?i studies has unjustly remained a long-neglected field, despite the important contribution that Shi'ism has made to Islamic traditions. Only in recent decades, partially spurred by global interest in political events of the Middle East, have scholars made some significant contributions in this area. The Study of Shi'i Islam presents papers originally delivered at the first international colloquium dedicated exclusively to Shi'i studies, held in 2010 at The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. Within the book are eight sections, namely, history, the Qur'an and its Shi'i interpretations, hadith, law, authority, theology, rites and rituals, and intellectual traditions and philosophy.Each section begins with an introduction contextualizing the aspects of studying Shi'i Islam particular to its theme, before going on to address topics such as the state of the field, methodology and tools, and the primary issues with which contemporary scholars of Shi'i studies are dealing. The scope and depth here covered makes this book of especial interest to researchers and students alike within the field of Islamic studies. The volume benefits from the diverse expertise of nearly 30 world-class scholars, including Mohammad-Ali Amir-Moezzi, Meir M. Bar-Asher, Farhad Daftary, Daniel De Smet, Gerald R. Hawting, Nader El-Bizri, Etan Kohlberg, Wilferd Madelung, Andrew Newman, Ismail K. Poonawala, Sabine Schmidtke and Paul E. Walker.

The IFLA Religious Libraries in Dialogue Special Interest Group is dedicated to libraries serving as places of dialogue between cultures through a better knowledge of religions. This book based on experiences of libraries serving interreligious dialogue, presents themes like library tools serving dialogue between cultures, collections dialoguing, children and young adults dialoguing beyond borders, story telling as dialog, librarians serving interreligious dialogue.

As a judicial concept dating back to the 17th century, the term ex(tra)territoriality has long excited the interest of scholars and writers who have, since the 20th century, not hesitated to appropriate the notion, widening and transforming it in the process. This transfer to the field of humanities has opened a new space of reflection, a space for imagination, through the means of a creative re-reading, among others, which has given rise to new but related concepts such as “deterritorialization”. To take into account the growing importance of this extraterritoriality paradigm reassessing the idea of territory in literature, culture and languages, this book offers an interdisciplinary and plurilingual journey through four centuries, four continents and a dozen languages, from literature to new media, encompassing philosophy, history, linguistics, the press, the cinema…Notion juridique remontant au XVIIe siècle, le terme d'ex(tra)territorialité suscite depuis longtemps l'intérêt des sciences humaines et de la littérature qui, depuis le Xxe siècle, n'ont pas hésité à se l'approprier pour l'élargir et le transformer. Ce transfert du qualificatif ex(tra)territorial vers les humanités a ouvert un autre espace de réflexion, un espace d'imagination, grâce notamment à une relecture créatrice, ce qui a pu donner lieu à de nouveaux concepts apparentés comme celui de « déterritorialisation ». Pour tenir compte de l'importance grandissante d'une pensée de l'ex(tra)territorialité, mettant en question la notion de territoire dans les domaines littéraire, culturel et linguistique, le présent ouvrage propose un parcours interdisciplinaire et plurilingue à travers quatre siècles, quatre continents et une dizaine de langues, de la littérature aux nouveaux médias, en passant par la philosophie, l'histoire, la linguistique, la presse, le cinéma, etc.

The cities of Saudi Arabia are among the most gender segregated in the world. In recent years the Saudi government has felt increasing international pressure to offer greater roles for women in society. Implicit in these calls for reform, however, is an assumption that the only'real'society is male society. Little consideration has been given to the rapidly evolving activities within women's spaces. This book joins young urban women in their daily lives—in the workplace, on the female university campus, at the mall—to show how these women are transforming Saudi cities from within and creating their own urban, professional, consumerist lifestyles. As young Saudi women are emerging as an increasingly visible social group, they are shaping new social norms. Their shared urban spaces offer women the opportunity to shed certain constraints and imagine themselves in new roles. But to feel included in this peer group, women must adhere to new constraints: to be sophisticated, fashionable, feminine, and modern. The position of'other'women—poor, rural, or non-Saudi women—is increasingly marginalized. While young urban women may embody the image of a'reformed'Saudi nation, the reform project ultimately remains incomplete, drawing new hierarchies and lines of exclusion among women.

Diverging Paths? investigates an important question, to which the answers must be very complex: “why did certain sorts of institutionalisation and institutional continuity characterise government and society in Christendom by the later Middle Ages, but not the Islamic world, whereas the reverse end-point might have been predicted from the early medieval situation?” This core question lies within classic historiographical debates, to which the essays in the volume, written by leading medievalists, make significant contributions. The papers, drawing on a wide range of evidence and methodologies, span the middle ages, chronologically and geographically. At the same time, the core question relates to matters of strong contemporary interest, notably the perceived characteristics of power exercised within Islamic Middle Eastern regimes.Contributors are Stuart Airlie, Gadi Algazi, Sandro Carocci, Simone Collavini, Emanuele Conte, Nadia El Cheikh, Maribel Fierro, John Hudson, Caroline Humfress, Michel Kaplan, Hugh Kennedy, Simon MacLean, Eduardo Manzano, Susana Naroztky, Annliese Nef, Vivien Prigent, Ana Rodríguez, Magnus Ryan and Bernard Stolte.

In Politics, Patronage and the Transmission of Knowledge in 13th – 15th Century Tabriz, an international group of specialists from different disciplines investigate the role of Tabriz as one of the foremost centres of learning, cultural productivity, and politics in post-Mongol Iran and the Middle East. While standard accounts of Islamicate history have long presented the 13th to 15th centuries as the bottom of the decline paradigm of old, the present volume demonstrates the vibrancy and originality of the intellectual and cultural production of this period by focusing on Tabriz among other capitals of the region. The volume particularly explores the transmission of knowledge and institutional and cultural patronage in the post-Mongol period.Contributors include Reuven Amitai, Nourane Ben Azzouna, Sheila Blair, Devin DeWeese, Joachim Gierlichs, Birgitt Hoffmann, Domenico Ingenito, Robert Morrison, Ertuğrul Ökten, Judith Pfeiffer, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, F. Jamil Ragep, and Patrick Wing.

What are the mechanisms of change and adaptation in Islam, regarded as a living organism, and how do they work? How did these mechanisms preserve the integrity of Muslim civilization through the innumerable hazards, divisions and devastations of time? From the perspective of history and intellectual history, this book focuses on a significant, though still largely under studied, aspect of this immense issue, namely, the role of mystical and messianic ferment in the construction and re-construction of religious authority in Islam. Sixteen scholars address this topic with a variety of approaches, providing a fresh outlook on the trends underlying the evolution of Muslim societies and, in particular, the emergence and consolidation of the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires.Contributors include: Abbas Amanat, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Paul Ballanfat, Shahzad Bashir, Ilker Evrim Binbaş, Daniel De Smet, Devin DeWeese, Armin Eschraghi, Omid Ghaemmaghami, Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Todd Lawson, Pierre Lory, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, A. Azfar Moin, William F. Tucker.

This French-language book is the first to propose a scientific approach to the Aga Khan's religious thought, placing it in its proper perspective by revealing how the Aga Khan responded to contemporary challenges. It will be of interest to both students and scholars of history, orientalism and Islamic thought and cultures, and to anyone interested in South Asia or in the fundamental issues of religion and modernity.

Africa's international relations have often been defined and oriented by the dominant international and geopolitical agendas of the day. In the aftermath of colonialism the Cold War became a dominant paradigm that defined the nature of the continent's relationship with the rest of the world. The contemporary forces of globalization are now exerting an undue influence and impact upon Africa's international relations. Increasingly, the African continent is emerging as a vocal, and in some respects an influential, actor in international relations. There is a paucity of analysis and research on this emerging trend. This timely book proposes to fill this analytical gap by engaging with a wide range of issues, with chapters written by experts on a variety of themes. The emerging political prominence of the African continent on the world stage is predicated on an evolving internal process of continental integration. In particular, there are normative and policy efforts to revive the spirit of Pan-Africanism: the 21st century is witnessing the evolution of Pan-Africanism, notably through the constitution and establishment of the African Union (AU). Given the fact that there is a dearth of analysis on this phenomemon, this volume will also interrogate the notion of Pan-Africanism through various lenses – notably peace and security, development, the environment and trade. The volume will also engage with the emerging role of the AU as an international actor, e.g. with regard to its role in the reform of the United Nations Security Council, climate change, the International Criminal Court (ICC), the treaty establishing Africa as a nuclear-free zone, Internally Displaced Persons, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), international trade, the environment, public health issues, security, and development issues. This book will assess how the AU's role as an international actor is complicated by the difficulty of promoting consensus among African states and then maintaining that consensus in the face of often divergent national interests. This book will in part assess the role of the AU in articulating collective and joint policies and in making interventions in international decision and policy-making circles.The Handbook will also assess the role of African social movements and their relationship with global actors. The role of African citizens in ameliorating their own conditions is often underplayed in the international relations discourse, and this volume will seek to redress this oversight. Throughout the book the various chapters will also assess the role that these citizen linkages have contributed towards continental integration and in confronting the challenges of globalization.

The first encylopedic guide to the history of relations between Jews and Muslims around the worldThis is the first encyclopedic guide to the history of relations between Jews and Muslims around the world from the birth of Islam to today. Richly illustrated and beautifully produced, the book features more than 150 authoritative and accessible articles by an international team of leading experts in history, politics, literature, anthropology, and philosophy. Organized thematically and chronologically, this indispensable reference provides critical facts and balanced context for greater historical understanding and a more informed dialogue between Jews and Muslims.Part I covers the medieval period; Part II, the early modern period through the nineteenth century, in the Ottoman Empire, Africa, Asia, and Europe; Part III, the twentieth century, including the exile of Jews from the Muslim world, Jews and Muslims in Israel, and Jewish-Muslim politics; and Part IV, intersections between Jewish and Muslim origins, philosophy, scholarship, art, ritual, and beliefs. The main articles address major topics such as the Jews of Arabia at the origin of Islam; special profiles cover important individuals and places; and excerpts from primary sources provide contemporary views on historical events.Contributors include Mark R. Cohen, Alain Dieckhoff, Michael Laskier, Vera Moreen, Gordon D. Newby, Marina Rustow, Daniel Schroeter, Kirsten Schulze, Mark Tessler, John Tolan, Gilles Veinstein, and many more.Covers the history of relations between Jews and Muslims around the world from the birth of Islam to todayWritten by an international team of leading scholarsFeatures in-depth articles on social, political, and cultural historyIncludes profiles of important people (Eliyahu Capsali, Joseph Nasi, Mohammed V, Martin Buber, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, Edward Said, Messali Hadj, Mahmoud Darwish) and places (Jerusalem, Alexandria, Baghdad)Presents passages from essential documents of each historical period, such as the Cairo Geniza, Al-Sira, and Judeo-Persian illuminated manuscriptsRichly illustrated with more than 250 images, including maps and color photographsIncludes extensive cross-references, bibliographies, and an index

The German Yearbook of International Law, founded as the Jahrbuch für Internationales Recht, provides an annual report on new developments in international law and is edited by the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at the University of Kiel. Since its inception in 1948, the Yearbook has endeavored to make a significant academic contribution to the ongoing development of international law. Over many decades the Yearbook has moved beyond its origins as a forum for German scholars to publish their research and has become a highly-regarded international forum for innovative scholarship in international law. In 1976, the Yearbook adopted its current title and began to publish contributions written in English in order to reach the largest possible international audience. This editorial decision has enabled the Yearbook to successfully overcome traditional language barriers and inform an international readership about current research in German academic institutions and, at the same time, to present international viewpoints to its German audience. Fully aware of the paramount importance of international practice, the Yearbook publishes contributions from active practitioners of international law on a regular basis. The Yearbook also includes critical comments on German state practice relating to international law, as well as international reactions to that practice.