The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the focus of love and devotion for one fifth of humanity. Even outsiders cannot deny his political genius and great statesmanship as the founder of a new world order and the stimulus for a succession of brilliant and progressive civilisations. But a study of his life in these terms overlooks arguably his most essential qualities - his mercy and benevolence. Internationally renowned Islamic scholar, Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has produced a work unrivalled in its comprehensive treatment of the subject matter, illustrating the merciful character of the Prophet in all its aspects, towards humans and more generally towards all beings. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri has reproduced a solid corpus of references from the Qur'an, along with reliable Hadith, specially selected for authenticity and relevance. All sources are meticulously referenced in Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri's characteristic style. This book shows how in spite of immense hardships and painful ordeals, the mercy and compassion of the Prophet remained to the fore, even towards those who opposed and persecuted him. For Muslims, this book will be a means to celebrate the magnanimous personality of the Prophet and an incentive to instil the great qualities of the Prophet in their own lives, while non-Muslims and academics will discover how these qualities as described in the Islamic literature have caused the Prophet to occupy his preeminent position in the religious consciousness of Muslims.

We have a King. He is the personal, infinite God, who has created us and redeemed us through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has revealed truth to us. On the basis of what He has said, we are to live our lives as Kingdom people who are present, spiritual members of the Kingdom of God. Our Great King has given us commandments, statutes, testimonies, precepts, and promises. At the same time, He has given us His Spirit to live within us and empower us to live lives to please Him. His love for us and His power in us is beyond anything we could ever imagine or think.

What are the things we are to do on a daily basis, to cause us to proceed through this life? The King has given His people a picture of a journey, a pilgrimage. We are to press forward in this life toward our high calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14). We do this by walking, running, fighting, trusting, and praying. What does each one of these action words look like in practice? This is what we want to examine in this book.

We are going to take the position that someone else has paid a great price to reclaim us and to bring us back from our enslavement to sin and to set us free. Indeed, Jesus did pay it all, and all to Him we owe. Our King is our Savior and Lord, and our lives are to be spent to return His great and sacrificial love and to always live for His glory and honor.

This volume focuses on today's kibbutz and the metamorphosis which it has undergone. Starting with theoretical considerations and clarifications, it discusses the far-reaching changes recently experienced by this setting. It investigates how those changes re-shaped it from a setting widely viewed as synonymous to utopia, but which has gone in recent years through a genuine transformation. This work questions the stability of that "renewing kibbutz". It consists of a collective effort of a group of specialized researchers who met for a one-year seminar prolonged by research and writing work. These scholars benefitted from resource field-people who shared with them their knowledge in major aspects of the kibbutz' transformation. This volume throws a new light on developmental communalism and the transformation of gemeinschaft-like communities to more gesellschaft-like associations. Contributors are: Havatselet Ariel, Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Miriam Ben-Rafael, Sigal Ben-Rafael Galanti, Yechezkel Dar, Orit Degani Dinisman, Yuval Dror, Sylvie Fogiel-Bijaoui, Alon Gal, Rinat Galily, Shlomo Gans, Sybil Heilbrunn, Michal Hisherik, Meirav Niv, Michal Palgi, Alon Pauker, Abigail Paz-Yeshayahu, Yona Prital, Moshe Schwartz, Orna Shemer, Michael Sofer, Menahem Topel, and Ury Weber.

In this volume amulets and talismans are studied within a broader system of meaning that shapes how they were manufactured, activated and used in different networks. Text, material features and the environments in which these artifacts circulated, are studied alongside each other, resulting in an innovative approach to understand the many different functions these objects could fulfil in pre-modern times. Produced and used by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, the case studies presented here include objects that differ in size, material, language and shape. What the articles share is an all-round, in-depth approach that helps the reader understand the complexity of the objects discussed and will improve one's understanding of the role they played within pre-modern societies. Contributors Hazem Hussein Abbas Ali, Gideon Bohak, Ursula Hammed, Juan Campo, Jean-Charles Coulon, Venetia Porter, Marcela Garcia Probert, Anne Regourd, Yasmine al-Saleh, Karl Schaefer and Petra M. Sijpesteijn.

The excitement of the spiritual life is as fulfilling as friendship, as mysterious as the soul, and as infinite as the universe. This book is a jumpstart in the faith for those who have tried religion and not found the spirit, or have tried pleasure and not found joy, or have chased after life and not found deep meaning, or thought God to be imagined and not been awakened.

The book includes chapters on the infinite interior life, expectant faith, mystery traveler, sex in God's creation, beautiful simplicity, storytelling, difficulties connecting with God, religion unfettered, the New Evangelization, with humor throughout. The final chapter, titled "Evolutionary Christogenesis," includes quotes from Teilhard de Chardin.

The author, a Catholic priest, writes unabashedly of straitjacket rituals, institutional stonewalling, and the cynicism of people. Positively, he conveys an enthusiasm in the surge of goodness that is present in this generation. He conveys how you can become a fully rigged ship with sails unfurled in the sea of God's spirit. The divine force has never been absent from nature's scene or from human relational ways. We are called to be faith rebels.

In Ordinary Jerusalem, Angelos Dalachanis, Vincent Lemire and thirty-five scholars depict the ordinary history of an extraordinary global city in the late Ottoman and Mandate periods. Utilizing largely unknown archives, they revisit the holy city of three religions, which has often been defined solely as an eternal battlefield and studied exclusively through the prism of geopolitics and religion. At the core of their analysis are topics and issues developed by the European Research Council-funded project "Opening Jerusalem Archives: For a Connected History of Citadinite in the Holy City, 1840-1940." Drawn from the French vocabulary of geography and urban sociology, the concept of citadinite describes the dynamic identity relationship a city's inhabitants develop with each other and with their urban environment.

The Festschrift Darkhei Noam: The Jews of Arab Lands presented to Norman (Noam) Stillman offers a coherent and thought-provoking discussion by eminent scholars in the field of both the history and culture of the Jews in the Islamic World from pre-modern to modern times. Based on primary sources the book speaks to the resilience, flexibility, and creativity of Jewish culture in Arab lands. The volume clearly addresses the areas of research Norman Stillman himself has considerably contributed to. Research foci of the book are on the flexibility of Jewish law in real life, Jewish cultural life particularly on material and musical culture, the role of women in these different societies, antisemitism and Jewish responses to hatred against the Jews, and antisemitism from ancient martyrdom to modern political Zionism.