Shaping a Muslim State

Shaping a Muslim State PDF

Author: Petra Sijpesteijn

Publisher: Oxford Studies in Byzantium

Published: 2013-11

Total Pages: 554

ISBN-13: 019967390X

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This volume provides a synthetic study of the political, social, and economic processes which formed early Islamic Egypt. Looking at a corpus of previously unknown Arabic papyrus letters, Sijpesteijn examines the reasons for the success of the early Arab conquests and the transition from the pre-Islamic Byzantine system to an Arab/Muslim state.

The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State

The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State PDF

Author: Noah Feldman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2009-01-10

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1400824079

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Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in this incisive book, Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the shari'a--the law of the traditional Islamic state--in the modern Muslim world. Western powers call it a threat to democracy. Islamist movements are winning elections on it. Terrorists use it to justify their crimes. What, then, is the shari'a? Given the severity of some of its provisions, why is it popular among Muslims? Can the Islamic state succeed--should it? Feldman reveals how the classical Islamic constitution governed through and was legitimated by law. He shows how executive power was balanced by the scholars who interpreted and administered the shari'a, and how this balance of power was finally destroyed by the tragically incomplete reforms of the modern era. The result has been the unchecked executive dominance that now distorts politics in so many Muslim states. Feldman argues that a modern Islamic state could provide political and legal justice to today's Muslims, but only if new institutions emerge that restore this constitutional balance of power. The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State gives us the sweeping history of the traditional Islamic constitution--its noble beginnings, its downfall, and the renewed promise it could hold for Muslims and Westerners alike.

From Deep State to Islamic State

From Deep State to Islamic State PDF

Author: Jean-Pierre Filiu

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0190264063

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In his disturbing and timely book Jean-Pierre Filiu lays bare the strategies and tactics employed by the Middle Eastern autocracies, above all those of Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Algeria, that set out to crush the democratic uprisings of the 'Arab Revolution.' In pursuit of these goals they turned to the intelligence agencies and internal security arms of the 'deep state, ' the armed forces, and to street gangs such as the Shabiha to enforce their will. Alongside physical intimidation, imprisonment and murder, Arab counter-revolutionaries discredited and split their opponents by boosting Salafi-Jihadi groups such as Islamic State. They also released from prison hardline Islamists and secretly armed and funded them. The full potential of the Arab counter-revolution surprised most observers, who thought they had seen it all from the Arab despots: their perversity, their brutality, their voracity. But the wider world underestimated their ferocious readiness literally to burn down their countries in order to cling to absolute power. Bashar al-Assad clambered to the top of this murderous class of tyrants, driving nearly half of the Syrian population in to exile and executing tens of thousands of his opponents. He has set a grisly precedent, one that other Arab autocrats are sure to follow in their pursuit of absolute power.

From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt

From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt PDF

Author: Maged S. A. Mikhail

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-08-25

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0857725580

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The conquest of Egypt by Islamic armies under the command of Amr ibn al-As in the seventh century transformed medieval Egyptian society. Seeking to uncover the broader cultural changes of the period by drawing on a wide array of literary and documentary sources, Maged Mikhail stresses the cultural and institutional developments that punctuated the histories of Christians and Muslims in the province under early Islamic rule. From Byzantine to Islamic Egypt traces how the largely agrarian Egyptian society responded to the influx of Arabic and Islam, the means by which the Coptic Church constructed its sectarian identity, the Islamisation of the administrative classes and how these factors converged to create a new medieval society. The result is a fascinating and essential study for scholars of Byzantine and early Islamic Egypt.

Hashtag Islam

Hashtag Islam PDF

Author: Gary R. Bunt

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2018-09-25

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1469643170

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Gary R. Bunt is a twenty-year pioneer in the study of cyber-Islamic environments (CIEs). In his new book, Bunt explores the diverse and surprising ways digital technology is shaping how Muslims across vast territories relate to religious authorities in fulfilling spiritual, mystical, and legalistic agendas. From social networks to websites, essential elements of religious practices and authority now have representation online. Muslims, embracing the immediacy and general accessibility of the internet, are increasingly turning to cyberspace for advice and answers to important religious questions. Online environments often challenge traditional models of authority, however. One result is the rise of digitally literate religious scholars and authorities whose influence and impact go beyond traditional boundaries of imams, mullahs, and shaikhs. Bunt shows how online rhetoric and social media are being used to articulate religious faith by many different kinds of Muslim organizations and individuals, from Muslim comedians and women's rights advocates to jihad-oriented groups, such as the "Islamic State" and al-Qaeda, which now clearly rely on strategic digital media policies to augment and justify their authority and draw recruits. This book makes clear that understanding CIEs is crucial for the holistic interpretation of authority in contemporary Islam.

Passion for Islam

Passion for Islam PDF

Author: Caryle Murphy

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2002-10-22

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0743237439

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"Islam's revival is reshaping Egypt and other Arab countries in ways beyond violent politics. The yearning for personal solace, a just political system, indigenous lifestyles, and relevant theology all await satisfaction....Just as the Nile runs through Egypt for almost eight hundred miles, giving it life, so also the Straight Way, the way of Allah, runs through it, beckoning its people. The search by Egypt's Muslims for a modern understanding of the Straight Way is the essence of today's passion for Islam." -- from Chapter 1, "First Verses" Written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, this authoritative and enthralling primer on the modern face of Islam provides one of the most comprehensive accountings for the roots of religious terrorism and Middle Eastern strife. Over decades, a myriad of social, political, and religious factors has made today's Middle East a combustible region and has contributed to Islam's new power and turmoil. Passion for Islam uses one particular country, Egypt, as a lens through which to show how these forces play out across the area, allowing terrorism to gain a foothold. Through the personal experiences and observations of individual Egyptians encountered during her five years as the Washington Post's Cairo bureau chief, veteran journalist Caryle Murphy explores how Islam's contemporary revival is unfolding on four different levels: "Pious Islam" highlights the groundswell of grassroots piety that has created more Islamic societies; "Political Islam" examines how Islamists, using both violent and peaceful means, are reshaping the region's authoritarian secular political order and redefining Islam's role in the public arena; "Cultural Islam" looks at Egyptian efforts to resist a ubiquitous Western culture by asserting an Islamic identity; "Thinking Islam" reveals how intellectuals are reexamining their theological heritage with the aim of modernizing Islam. Representing years of exhaustive research, Passion for Islam also looks at how the tortured Israeli-Palestinian conflict has contributed to the region's religious ferment and political tumult. By revealing the day-to-day ramifications of all these issues through the eyes of Egyptian intellectuals, holy men, revolutionaries, and ordinary citizens, Passion for Islam brings an unparalleled vitality and depth to Western perceptions of Middle Eastern conflict.

Shaping Muslim Futures

Shaping Muslim Futures PDF

Author: Sameena Eidoo

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 9781645041818

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For Muslims to project themselves into the future is a radical act in a world where the lives of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims are threatened. your book. Shaping Muslim Futures: Youth Visions and Activist Praxis, amplifies the counternarratives of activist Muslim youth situated in Toronto, Canada, shaping their desired futures for themselves, their families and communities. Drawing on intensive life history interviews, Shaping Muslim Futures offers a rich account of learning experiences that raised their critical awareness of the world and of their critical reflection and action upon the world to transform it. Through their counternarratives, we explore sites of learning including families, neighbourhoods, secular and faith-based schools, and Hip Hop cultures; and Sites of reflection and action, including advocating with and for other racialized youth living in social housing; creating safer spaces for Muslim girls and young women; building public awareness campaigns for Muslim and other racialized and criminalized communities about racial profiling, police brutality and state surveillance; and writing and performing counternarratives through spoken iword poetry. Woven together, the voices and stories reveal what the activist Muslim youth can teach us about worldbuilding. Written for Muslim and other racialized youth, and anyone engaged in shaping futures where Muslim and other racialized youth are thriving, this (guide)book invites readers to imagine and practice living into the futures we want as though they exist in the present.

Shaping Global Islamic Discourses

Shaping Global Islamic Discourses PDF

Author: Masooda Bano

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2015-03-20

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1474403484

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Explores the influence of centres of Islamic learning using 3 case studies: Al-Azhar University in Egypt, International Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Mustafa University in Iran

The ISIS Reader

The ISIS Reader PDF

Author: Haroro J. Ingram

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-01-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0197536026

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In the wake of its "Caliphate" declaration in 2014, the self-described Islamic State has been the focus of countless academic papers, government studies, media commentaries and documentaries. Despite all this attention, persistent myths continue to shape--and misdirect--public understanding and strategic policy decisions. A significant factor in this trend has been a strong disinclination to engage critically with Islamic State's speeches and writings--as if doing so reflects empathy with the movement's goals or, even more absurdly, may itself lead to radicalisation. Going beyond the descriptive and the sensationalist, this volume presents and analyses a series of milestone Islamic State primary source materials. Scholar-practitioners with field experience in confronting the movement explore and contextualise its approach to warfare, propaganda and governance, examining the factors behind its dramatic evolution from failed proto-state in 2010 to standard-bearer of global jihadism in 2014, to besieged insurgency in 2018. The ISIS Reader will help anyone--students and journalists, military personnel, civil servants and inquisitive observers--to better understand not only the evolution of Islamic State and the dynamics of asymmetric warfare, but the importance of primary sources in doing so.