Academic Article -- This article explores gender and spiritual hierarchy in the writings of three prominent Fatimid Isma'ili thinkers who interpret verses of the Qur'an on the outward ... Several authors have noted that the Yemeni Sulayhid Queen Arwa (d. 532 AH / 1138 AH) was a rare, perhaps unique, example of a woman said to hold both spiritual and temporal power ...
Academic Article -- Thsi article explores the place of the... The Fatimid era is ubiquitous today in the discourse of the Nizari Ismaili imamate.[1] Yet this was not always the case. As with other societies and religious communities the world over, the arrangement and presentation of history in the Ismaili tradition has evolved in the course of time, with new historiographical agendas ...
Academic Article -- Introduction Just over a century after the Fatimids had established their caliphate in North Africa in 297 AH / 909 CE, and four decades after the transfer of their capital to Cairo in 362 AH / 973 CE, the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir bi'llah (r. 381-422 AH / 991-1031 CE) issued what became known in Muslim historiography as the Baghdad ...
Academic Article -- Keywords Alamut, al-Ghazali, Assassin legends, community, Crusaders, da'is, da'wa, Fatimids, hashishiyya, heresiography, historiography, history, Islamic Studies, Ismaili, Ismailis, Ismailism, Ismaili studies, Marco Polo, Nizaris, Orientalism, scholarship.Download PDF version of article (291 KB)Table of contents IntroductionThe Fatimid PeriodThe Nizari / Musta'li DivisionThe Anti-Ismaili CampaignHeterodoxy and Heresyal-GhazaliHashishiyyaAssassin LegendsOrientalismModern Ismaili StudiesContemporary Research and Scholarship Introduction A major Shi'i Muslim community, the Ismailis ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (88 KB)Key words al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din Shirazi, creation,ta'wil,Qa'im-i qiyamat, Sabbath, cycles of prophecy,Natiq,Asas, adhan, haqiqat, Universal Intellect, Universal Soul, Ramadan, wasi,hadd, tawhid, laylat al-qadr,qibla, rak'at, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Jami' al-hikmatayn, Wajh-i Din, Gushayish wa Rahayish, Nasir Khusraw. Table of Contents:The Sabbath and Ta'wilCelestial and Earthly Ranks Lord of the Resurrection The SabbathandTa'wil ...
Academic Article -- This paper was delivered at the Congress of the American Oriental Society in Santa Barbara in March 1974. In it, Wilferd Madelung presents his exhaustive research into the origins and sources of a monumental document that was considered lost to history; the Kitab al-idah, Qadi al-Nu'man's first legal work - a vast collection of legal traditions transmitted from the ...
Academic Article -- Key words: Muslim, Jews, Christians, Interfaith relations, Qur'an, Byzantine, Monotheism, Sira, Ummayad, Ahl al-Kitab, Dhimmi, Ottoman, Sunna, Umma, Constitution of Medina, history, al Azhar, Bayt al-Hikma, Safavid, Vatican, Roman Catholic Church, Aramaic, Coptic Download PDF version of the article Table of ContentsIntroductionMuslims, Jews, and Christians: Relations and InteractionsThe Foundational PeriodThe Early Centuries of Muslim HistoryThe Medieval PeriodThe Modern PeriodThe ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (116 KB) Key words Ibn al-Haytham, Aristotle, Epistemology, Mathematics, Physics, Geometrical conception Mathematics / Physics Epistemological reflections on foundational scientific principles become pivotal in the reformative development of specific branches of the sciences. The methodological adjustments that accompany such critical circumstances in the unfolding of scientific knowledge necessitate a reclassification of established concepts ...
Academic Article -- Key words:Sufism, Sufis, Mysticism, Mystics, spiritual authority, taqiyya, South India, religious pluralism, religious integration, patronage. Download PDF version of article (126 KB)Table of contentsIntroductionIsmaili Pirs and Hindu rulersSufis in Different Hindu Kingdoms Rajasthan's shared spacesMarwarShekawatiAmber - JaipurConclusionNotes Introduction In varying countries and contexts, scholars have studied the historical links that have existed between political power, primarily embodied in kingship, ...
Academic Article -- Abstract: The founding of the Fatimid caliphate across the southern Mediterranean, and then in Egypt, Syria and the Hijaz at the turn of the fourth AH / tenth CE century, necessitated its negotiation with the ashraf, those who claimed lineal descent from the Prophet Muhammad, and who by this time had gained significant influence as a social class based ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article.pdfKey Words: Ta'wil, Qur'an, Isma'ili, tafsir, hermeneutics, al-Kirmani, al-Sijistani, Mu'tazilite, ays, lays,tawhid, al-khalq, cosmology, Neoplatonic thought, Rahat al-Aql, First Intellect, taqdis, kathrah,and tafawut. Table of ContentsUnderstanding Transcendence: The Tools of InterpretationArticulating Transcendence: God Beyond Being and Non-being Manifesting Transcendence: Creation and Knowledge He originates creation; then refashions it - for Him an easy task. His ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (310 KB) Table of contentsPower, Reality and KnowledgeConstructing Islam as a ReligionIs a Religion a Worldview?The Dynamics of History Power, Reality and Knowledge Let me begin with the phrase "language and reality" in the title of my presentation. Occidental thinking prides itself on objectivity expressed through a penchant for facts. Nominalism is the assumption ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (86.6 KB) Key Words Muslim, ethics, law, secularism, pluralism, morality, modernity, liberalism, civil society, din, dunya, Weltanschauung, umma, 'adl (justice), siyasa shari'a, Orientalism, Gellner, Keane, human rights, ijtihad, public sphere, democracy, Qur'an, dawla, akhlaq. Table of ContentsIntroductionIn Search of the Public SquareFinding the Public SquareLocating Muslim Social EthicsGrounding a Culture of NonviolenceConclusion Introduction Rarely ...
Academic Article -- Al-ḥamdu li'llāhi fātiri'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi jā'ili'l-malā'ikati rusulan ūlā ajniḥatin Mathnā wa-thulātha wa-rubā'a yazīdu fī'l-khalqi mā yashā'u inna'llāha 'alā kulli shay'in qadīr. Q. 35:1 Praise belongs to God, Originator of the heavens and the earth, who appointed the angels to be messengers, having wings two, three and four, increasing creation as He wills. Surely God is powerful.[1] The opening of Q. ...
Academic Article -- Download the article in PDF format Table of Contents:Sama' in Islamic theologySama' and the Sacred: Preconditions of Sufi musici. "Right time"ii. "Right place"iii. "Right company"Poetry and Sama'Prophetic versus Poetic AuditionThe Fruits of Auditioni. Ecstasyii. DanceConclusionThe Message of Sama'AcknowledgementsFootnotes Sama' in Islamic theology The great historian of Islamic music H.G. Farmer (1942, intro.:1) once described the "interminable debate between Muslim ...
Academic Article -- KeywordsPersian literature, Indian literature, Mahabharata, Atharvaveda, Muslim poetry, folkloric punthi literature, devotional literature, unity, qasida, ghazal,mathnawi, madh, na't, marthiya, naziras,diwan, dhikr, virahini, ginan, qawwali, hadith, ulama,pir, Qur'an, Shi'a, sama, Shah Wali Allah, Sayyid Amah Khan, Mirza Ghalib, Aligarh, Sir Muhammad Iqbal.Download PDF version of article (131 KB)Table of contentsLiteratures of the Turko-Persian CultureLiteratures in the Vernacular (Indic) LanguagesLiteratures of ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (100KB)Key wordsAsh'ari, Batin, Fatimids, Ibn Sina, Ikhwan al-Safa', Ismailis, Mu'tazila, Neoplatonism , al-Sijistani, ZahirThe Ismailis appeared first on the stage of the history of Islam in the second half of the third century AH /ninth century CE and spread with astonishing rapidity. Centred originally in Khuzistan in south-western Iran, its missionaries carried its ...
Academic Article -- The founding of the Fatimid state in North Africa in 297 AH / 910 CE led to the establishment of a Shi'i Ismaili caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean. From 297-361 AH / 910-972 CE, the Fatimid state was centred in the North African province of Ifriqiya (present day Tunisia and Algeria), its borders extending from the shores ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (158 KB) Key words: Mongol, Isma'ilis, Alamut, ta'limiyya, Juwayni, Gilan, Mazandaran, Saljuqs, Hulagu, Maymundiz, Khwarshah, Tarkiya, Kiya Sayf al-Din, Qazwin, Mar'ashi, Ilkhanids,mulhid, wajibat,da'wa,Ginan, Nizaris, Hasan Sabbah, Nusayris, Nasai'ih-i Shah-Rukhi, Uljaytu. Table of Contents:A Corrective to 'Ata-Malik Juwayni's Narrative In the Shadow of the Ilkhanids and Beyond Testimony of the Nasa'ih Shah-RukhiTestimony of the Da'wa ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (52 KB)Key words:da'wa, Fatimid, Qarmati, batin, Haqa'iq, ta'wil, wasi, adwar, samit, asas, mutimm, mahdi, dawr al-kashf, al Nasafi, kitab al-islah, al Sijistani, dawr al-fitra, yawm al-qiyama, cosmology, satr, Nizaris, ta'lim, taqiyya.The basic framework of an Ismaili system of religious thought was, however, already laid down during the pre-Fatimid phase of Ismaili history. In fact, ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (46.8 KB) Table of contentsWhy Study Islam?Conceptualising TraditionTradition and ModernityRecasting the TraditionalThe Pluralism of Classical IslamModern Muslim SocietiesThe Idea of TraditionProblematising "Islamic"Resuming the DialogueRepositioning "Islamic Studies"Islam as Civilisation Why Study Islam? What purpose might the study of Islam serve in the midst of the uncertainty which pervades the field of education today? This question ...
Academic Article -- Dr Shainool Jiwa This is an edited version of an article originally published in The Shi'i World: Pathways in Tradition and Modernity. I.B. Taurus, London, 2015, pp 111-130. The medieval Mediterranean littoral was a region inhabited by people of diverse ethnic backgrounds and religious persuasions. This was evident in 10th century Egypt, the mainstay of Fatimid domains, a land ...
Academic Article -- Keywords Higher education, globalisation, local knowledge, private and public goods, education about Islam ArticleRecent decades have seen many countries undergo politico-economic change brought about by the state's ostensible retreat and the market's gradual expansion. These changes are promoted by their advocates as an overdue reduction in the power of the state and its satellite bureaucracies, and consistent with assumptions ...
Academic Article -- This is an edited version of an article originally published in Transcendent Philosophy: An International Journal of Comparative Philosophy and Mysticism, Vol. 12, Dec 2011, pp. 147-168. The journal is a publication of London Academy of Iranian Studies.Download the article in PDFA Survey of Avicenna's View of Matter and It's Role in the Emanative Order Avicenna generally believed in ...
Academic Article -- Key words:Prophet Muhammad, Sunni, Shi'a, Khawarij, Zaydi, Imami, Ithna 'Ashariyya, Nizari Ismaili, Mu'tazila, Qarmati, Ibadi, People of the book (ahl al-kitab), ahl al-bayt, Shi'at 'Ali, Abu Bakr, 'Uthman, 'Umar, 'Ali ibn 'Abi Talib, Mu'awiya, Ja'far al-Sadiq, Muhammad al-Baqir, Siffin, Karbala, mahdi, mawali, battle of al-Mukhtar, Murjia, caliph, Imam, sufism, tariqa, da'wa, da'i, ghulat, taqiyya, sunna, hadith, ulama, umma, sects, ...
Academic Article -- This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Al-Kitab: La Sacralité du Texte Dans Le Monde de l'Islam. Actes du Symposium International Tenu à Leuven et Louvain-la-Neuve du 29 Mai au 1 Juin 2002, ed. Daniel De Smet, Godefroyde Callataÿ, and JanVan Reeth, published by Acta Orientalia Belgica, Subsidia III, 2004, pp. 371-87. In the ...
Academic Article -- Keywords Justice, Fatimid, Injustice, Metaphor, Context, Imamat, Sunni, Shi'i, writing, thought, expression, Muslims, Islam, Ismaili Studies, Shi'i Studies, Islamic Studies, Law, Legal Studies, 'adl, philosophy, history, literature, fiqh, shari'a, social order, Qur'an, sunna, walaya, mahdi, haqa'iq. Download PDF version of article (102 kb) Table of ContentsIntroductionThe Paradigm of Imama and the Concept of a Just OrderThe Establishment of the ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article(79 KB)Key words: Muslims, Islam, Education, Mongol, Sharia, modernity, Abdolkarim Soroush, diversity, Islamic education, Qur'an, Christianity. Table of Contents:Introduction Arguments for an Islamic Approach Conception of Islam in 'Islamic'Education From Theory to Practice: Implementing Islamic Education The Way Forward Introduction If one were to comb through the extant works from the first few centuries ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (96 KB) Key words: Hadith, qadim, Islamic theology, Qur'an,wujud, essential contingency, temporal contingency, Zad al-musafirin, divine will (iradah), al-Ghazali,kalam, mujid, Ash'arite.The vast disparity between eternal and temporal prompted a number of questions which traditional Muslim thinkers pursued with great interest over centuries. It is not possible to explore the topic in any exhaustive ...
Academic Article -- A common assumption about the ethical roots of the pre-modern western tradition is that they derive primarily from biblical norms as well as the ethical traditions of classical antiquity. Such a view, however, neglects the important role and connection with Islam, which in its formative period, engaged with the intellectual and cultural resources of antiquity and acted as a ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (32 KB)'Ali ibn Abi Talib (599-661 CE) was the first cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad; the fourth of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs (al-khulafa' al-rashidun); and the first of the Imams deemed by all Shi'i Muslims to be appointed by divine mandate. The word Shi'i itself is derived from the term shi'at' ...
Academic Article -- IntroductionRahma; A Quality of BeingOneness and CompassionRahma as CreatorConclusion Key words: comparative study, rahma, Buddhism, Islam, compassion, metta, maitri-karuna, loving compassion, Qur'an, tawhid, al-Ghazali, Divine Mercy, Hadith Introduction Compassion, even on the human plane, is not just a sentiment, it is an existential quality. This existential quality presupposes a concrete sense of participation in the suffering of others, as ...
Academic Article -- KeywordsIslamic studies, Qur'anic studies, orthodoxy, Islamist, fundamentalism, capitalism, jihad, McWorld, Political Islam, radicalism, religion, tradition, modernity, postmodernity, globalisation, democracy, local, global, science, technology, epistemology, Religious Studies, Social Sciences, anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy, meaning, power, reason, belief, ideology, Islamic Revolution, contemporary Islam.Download PDF version of article (341 KB)Introduction'The devil hides in the details ' The title of this essay announces ...
Academic Article -- Abstract The historical formation of the worldwide Muslim community or Umma, as it is known in Arabic, has resulted in a great deal of diversity that reflects a rich intellectual, spiritual, and institutional pluralism. In seeking to express a response to the primal message of Islam, Muslims have developed distinct perspectives that have led various groups to coalesce around ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (120 KB)Key words: Islamic thought, modernity, Islamic schools,fiqh, Mamluk, ulama, Sufi tariqas, modern Islamist, Shi'i Iran, Khumayni, Qur'an, Sunna,tawhid, khilafa, diversity, Orientalism, globalisation. Table of Contents:IntroductionTowards a General FrameworkThis Volume Introduction The question that perhaps poses itself at the outset in relation to this volume is why such a study of Islamic thought ...
Academic Article -- Keywords da'i, da'wa, Fatimid, Imamate, Ismailis, Shi'a, Abbasids, Mustali, Nizari, Hafizi, Tayyibi, Al-Kirmani, Al-Sijistani, Al-Nu'man, Al-Shirazi, Hasan Sabbah, Nasir Khusraw Download PDF version of article (303 KB) Table of contentsBackgroundAim of the da'wa systemIsmaili DoctrineEstablishment of an Ismaili State Inauguration of the Fatimid caliphateLaying Ideological FoundationsConsolidating AuthorityContinuation of the da'wa and Codification of Ismaili LawKey Tenets of Ismaili LawReligious ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (56 KB)Key Words:Al-Azhar Park, Aziz Al-Azmeh, Charles Baudelaire, cosmopolitianism, Durkheim, everyday pluralism, Jafar Panahi, Kevin McDonald, modernity, post-secular, tradition.Table of Contents:Picturing the ModernWhat Identity, Which Tradition?The Ethics of CosmopolitianismMuslim Modernity in PracticeFrom births, weddings and funerals, to rules on who inherits property and where you park your car: these everyday practices come together ...
Academic Article -- Keywords da 'i, da 'wa, al-da 'wa al-hadiya, Al-da 'wa al Jadida, Al-da 'wa al Qadima, Nizari, Mustalis Qiyama, Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Nasafi, Al-Sijistani, Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, Fatimids, Nasir-i Khusraw, Hasan-i Sabbah, Alamut, Khurasan, Transoxania, Qaramita, Samanids, Buyids, Seljuqs, al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi, Badakhshan, Rudbar, Quhistan, Anjudan, Hasan 'aladhikrihi'l-salam, Qiyama Download PDF version of article (411 KB) Table of contentsEmergence ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of article (160 KB) Table of contents IntroductionPart I Unity, Identity and the SelfBinding a ClothThe Metaphysics of OnenessThe I-ness of GodThe EphemeralGod is TranscendentGrasping RelativityGod is ImmanentGod Knows HimselfThe Necessity of Human DiversityThe Imperative of DialogueTrue TawhidThe Face of GodSpiritual Foundations for Tolerance, CourtesyPart II The Universal Meaning of 'Islam'The Absolute ReligionFitra - Primordial PurityMoses ...
Academic Article -- Download PDF version of the article (67 KB) Key words Fatimids, Fatimid art, Fatimid architecture There were several occasions over the past decade for scholars with different specialities to interpret rather than describe the historical and cultural phenomenon of the Fatimids. At the time of the great colloquium celebrating Cairo's first millennium, the late Gustav von Grunebaum, Professor Bernard ...
