To some, Islamic Fundamentalism means the restoration of a true religion. To others, it is a politics that stands apart from capitalism and socialism. To many Westerners, particularly in the past decade, it has come to constitute a threat to established order and international security. There can be no disputing the phenomenal importance of Islamic Fundamentalism today. Holy Wars, first published in 1989, comprises a non-partisan narrative that takes account of both the socio-cultural values expressed in Fundamentalism, and its political consequences. Dilip Hiro's starting point is that fundamentalist forces have been active Islam since the death of the Prophet Muhammad. He presents the two major sects, Sunnis and Shias, in this light. Clearly and concisely, Hiro provides the background for an understanding of what was taking place in Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Libya Egypt and Syria at the end of the 1980s. This is a comprehensive and readable work, of great relevance and value to those with an interest in Middle Eastern politics and history, and the growth of Islamic Fundamentalism.

Faith, War, and Violence analyzes the age-old links between religion and violence perpetrated in the name of God, and the role religion performs in politically infusing the state with romantic spiritualism. The volume examines instances of this phenomenon from ancient Rome to the modern day; it finds that religion-inspired violence is not restricted to Abrahamic faiths or to one geographic region.

The fact that symbolically charged religious violence has destructive consequences is not lost on contributors to Faith, War, and Violence. Among the subjects tackled are: the ideological and religious foundations that inspired the founders of Al-Qaeda and its role in the Arab Spring; the long history of religious conflict in Ireland known as the Troubles; Sikh extremism; and the evolution of the Christian approach to war.

As the contributors demonstrate, in Western societies, the unity of religious fervor and warmongering stretches from Constantine's incorporation of Christian symbols into Roman army flags to slogans like Gott mit uns (God is with us), which appeared on the belt buckles of German soldiers in World War I. In recent years, George W. Bush declared the war on terror a "crusade," and his speechwriter, David Frum, coined the religiously inspired term "Axis of Evil," to describe Iraq and other countries opposing the United States.

The timely Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars who provide a coherent state of the art overview of the complex relationships between religion and violence. * This companion tackles one of the most important topics in the field of Religion in the twenty-first century, pulling together a unique collection of cutting-edge work * A focused collection of high-quality scholarship provides readers with a state-of-the-art account of the latest work in this field * The contributors are broad-ranging, international, and interdisciplinary, and include historians, political scientists, religious studies scholars, sociologists, anthropologists, theologians, scholars of women's and gender studies and communication

Exile was a central feature of society throughout the early modern world. For this reason the contributors to this volume see exile as a critical framework for analysing and understanding society at this time.

This book is based on unprecedented interviews with active and former jihadists, even IS fighters. It focuses on the changing nature of jihad as a social phenomenon and how jihad changes jihadists. It argues that there are fascinating generational differences between jihadists' ideas and behaviors. Moreover, it argues that jihad changes jihadists through socialization in jihadists groups. Indeed, radicalization continues in new forms after entering the conflict zone. Recognizing that jihadism is a complex social phenomenon and a discourse on religiously legitimized violence with deep roots in the history of Islam and Muslim societies, the book asks two simple questions. Why have some Muslims residing in the West taken up arms to enter the global battlefields of jihad? Have the motivations and experiences of different jihadists all been the same? To create a more coherent analysis than the article format allows, and to offer new insights, the author summarizes and further develops several years of research into jihadism. As gaining access to and conducting interviews-especially with active jihadists-often differs from standard interviews, much of the data were collected in a gray zone between more formal interviewing and ethnographic research. The empirical material, which is based on interviews with active and former jihadists, is unique. Moreover, the methodological reflections are unprecedented, and the project offers new analytical insights into jihadism with a focus on how jihadism and jihadists change.

This book examines the antisemitism that flourished outside of Vienna, in Austrian provinces such as Styria, Carinthia, Vorarlberg, Upper Austria, and Tyrol, focusing in particular on gender bias and its relationship to antisemitism. The 1904 arrest and bigamy trial of Frau von Hervay, the Jewish wife of District Captain Franz von Hervay of a Styrian provincial town (Murzzuschlag), is closely examined to shed light on the relationship between Jews and non-Jews and attitudes towards women and sexuality in the small cities and towns of the Austrian provinces. The case demonstrates that antisemitism influenced popular perceptions of Jews and women at the local level and that it targeted women as well as men. This book provides an in-depth study of an episode of Austrian history that had a significant impact on the development of Austrian law; the role of religious institutions; perceptions of Jews, women, and sexuality; conceptions of Austrian bureaucracy and the need for reform; and the relationship between the provinces and the Viennese center. It also provides insight into the public interest generated by sensations such as arrests, suicides, crimes, and trials and the way the press of that time reported on them.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ruled Mosul from 2014-2017 in accordance with its extremist interpretation of sharia. But beyond what is known about ISIS governance in the city from the group's own materials, very little is understood about the reality of its rule, or reasons for its failure, from those who actually lived under it. This book reveals what was going on inside ISIS institutions based on accounts from the civilians themselves. Focusing on ISIS governance of education, healthcare and policing, the interviewees include: teachers who were forced to teach the group's new curriculum; professors who organized secret classes in private; doctors who took direct orders from ISIS leaders and worked in their headquarters; bureaucratic staff who worked for ISIS. These accounts provide unique insight into the lived realities in the controlled territories and reveal how the terrorist group balanced their commitment to Islamist ideology with the practical challenges of state building. Moving beyond the simplistic dichotomy of civilians as either passive victims or ISIS supporters, Mathilde Becker Aarseth highlights here those people who actively resisted or affected the way in which ISIS ruled. The book invites readers to understand civilians' complex relationship to the extremist group in the context of fragmented state power and a city torn apart by the occupation.

The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade brings together a rich and diverse range of medieval sources to examine key aspects of the growth of heresy and dissent in southern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the Church's response to that threat through the subsequent authorisation of the Albigensian crusade. Aimed at students and scholars alike, the documents it discusses - papal letters, troubadour songs, contemporary chronicles in Latin and the vernacular, and inquisitorial documents - reflect a deeper perception of medieval heresy and the social, political and religious implications of crusading than has hitherto been possible. The reader is introduced to themes which are crucial to our understanding of the medieval world: ideologies of crusading and holy war, the complex nature of Catharism, the Church's implementation of diverse strategies to counter heresy, the growth of papal inquisition, southern French counter-strategies of resistance and rebellion, and the uses of Latin and the vernacular to express regional and cultural identity. This timely and highly original collection not only brings together previously unexplored and in some cases unedited material, but provides a nuanced and multi-layered view of the religious, social and political dimensions of one of the most infamous conflicts of the High Middle Ages. This book is a valuable resource for all students, teachers and researchers of medieval history and the crusades.

Logos Bookstores' Best Book in Christianity and Culture How do we live with our deepest differences? In a world torn by religious conflict, the threats to human dignity are terrifyingly real. Some societies face harsh government repression and brutal sectarian violence, while others are divided by bitter conflicts over religion's place in public life. Is there any hope for living together peacefully? Os Guinness argues that the way forward for the world lies in promoting freedom of religion and belief for people of all faiths and none. He sets out a vision of a civil and cosmopolitan global public square, and how it can be established by championing the freedom of the soul-the inviolable freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In particular he calls for leadership that has the courage to act on behalf of the common good. Far from utopian, this constructive vision charts a course for the future of the world. Soul freedom is not only a shining ideal but a dire necessity and an eminently practical solution to the predicaments of our time. We can indeed maximize freedom and justice and learn to negotiate deep differences in public life. For a world desperate for hope at a critical juncture of human history, here is a way forward, for the good of all.

Despite the widespread trends of secularization in the 20th century, religion has played an important role in several outbreaks of genocide since the First World War. And yet, not many scholars have looked either at the religious aspects of modern genocide, or at the manner in which religion has taken a position on mass killing. This collection of essays addresses this hiatus by examining the intersection between religion and state-organized murder in the cases of the Armenian, Jewish, Rwandan, and Bosnian genocides. Rather than a comprehensive overview, it offers a series of descrete, yet closely related case studies, that shed light on three fundamental aspects of this issue: the use of religion to legitimize and motivate genocide; the potential of religious faith to encourage physical and spiritual resistance to mass murder; and finally, the role of religion in coming to terms with the legacy of atrocity.

Despite the widespread trends of secularization in the 20th century, religion has played an important role in several outbreaks of genocide since the First World War. And yet, not many scholars have looked either at the religious aspects of modern genocide, or at the manner in which religion has taken a position on mass killing. This collection of essays addresses this hiatus by examining the intersection between religion and state-organized murder in the cases of the Armenian, Jewish, Rwandan, and Bosnian genocides. Rather than a comprehensive overview, it offers a series of descrete, yet closely related case studies, that shed light on three fundamental aspects of this issue: the use of religion to legitimize and motivate genocide; the potential of religious faith to encourage physical and spiritual resistance to mass murder; and finally, the role of religion in coming to terms with the legacy of atrocity.

First published in 2006. This book is a study of the political struggles over the repeal of laws restricting or penalizing religious minorities in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and of the opinions and ideas expressed in the controversies surrounding these struggles.

The deeply moving memoir of an award-winning war correspondent turned activist - and her rousing defence of human rights in times of resurgent authoritarianism. As a broadcast journalist for Sky News and Al Jazeera, Sherine Tadros was trained to tell only the facts, as dispassionately as possible. But how can you remain neutral when reporting from war zones, or witnessing brutal state repression? For twenty-six years, Tadros grew up in the quiet surroundings of her family's London home, and yet injustice was something her Egyptian immigrant parents could never shelter her from. From her first journalistic assignment trapped inside a war zone in the Gaza Strip, to covering the Arab uprisings that changed the course of history, Tadros searched for ways to make a difference in people's lives. But it wasn't until her fiance left her on their wedding day, and her life fell apart, that she found the courage to pursue her true purpose. It was the beginning of a journey leading to her current work for Amnesty International at the United Nations, where she lobbies governments to ensure that human rights are protected around the world. With the compassion and verve of a clear-sighted campaigner and a natural storyteller, Tadros shares her remarkable journey from witnessing injustice to fighting it head-on in the corridors of power.

Using case studies from the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Basin, this book examines the global trend of violence against religious places and figures. The contributors believe attacks on sacred places to be particularly damaging to peace and harmony because of the centrality of religion in many Asian and Pacific countries.

A diverse range of topics are covered, including an empirical exploration of the global trends of violence against sacred spaces; attacks against and policies toward holy sites in Israel and the Palestinian Territories; the fate of Indian Islamic monuments after India gained independence in 1947; the Christian community's response to the increasing Islamization of Malaysia, and the future of communalism in Malaysia. Africa and Australia are also referenced in the work.

Taken together, this volume explores the importance of protecting sacred spaces, holy symbols, and religious people as a crucial element in fostering peace in the world, and especially the Asia-Pacific region. The contributors argue that much of the violence in the world is rooted in politics of religious identity.

A critical examination of political Zionism, a topic often considered taboo in the West, is long overdue. The discussion of Christian Zionism is usually confined to evangelical and fundamentalist settings. The present volume will break the silence currently reigning in many religious, political, and academic circles and, in so doing, will provoke and inspire a new, challenging conversation on theological and ethical issues arising from various aspects of Zionism - a conversation that is vital to the quest for a just peace in Israel and Palestine. The eleven authors offer a rich diversity of religious faith, academic research, and practical experience, as they represent all three Abrahamic faiths and five different Christian traditions. Among the many themes that run through Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land is the contrast between exclusivist narratives, both biblical and political, and the more inclusive narratives of the prophetic Scriptures, which provide the theological foundation and the moral imperative for human liberation. Readers will be drawn into a compelling, readable, and stimulating series of essays that tackle many of the complex issues that still confound clergy, politicians, diplomats, and academic experts.

This is the first book in English to examine the Mizrahi Jews (Jews from the Muslim world) in Israel, focussing in particular on social and political movements such as the Black Panthers and SHAS. The book analyses the ongoing cultural encounter between Zionism and Israel on one side and Mizrahi Jews on the other. It charts the relations and political struggle between Ashkenazi-Zionists and the Mizrahim in Israel from post-war relocation through to the present day.

The author examines the Mizrahi political struggle and resistance from early immigration in the 1950s to formative events such as the 1959 Wadi-As-Salib rebellion in Haifa; the 1970s Black Panther movement uprising; the ?Ballot Rebellion? of 1977; the evolution and rise of the SHAS political party as a Mizrahi Collective in the 1980s, and up to the new radical Mizrahi movements of the 1990s and present day. It examines a new Mizrahi discourse which has influenced Israeli culture and academia, and the nature of the political system itself in Israel.

This book will be of great interest to those involved in Middle East Studies and Politics, Jewish and Israeli Studies and Race and Ethnic Studies.

Modern Arab and Muslim hostility towards Jews and Israel is rooted not only in the Arab-Israeli conflict and traditional Islamic teaching but also in Christian anti-Semitic attitudes brought into the Islamic world by Western colonial powers. In this volume, Raphael Israeli examines how the worsening situation in the Middle East together with large waves of Muslim immigration to Europe, North America, and Australia has brought about a comingling of two anti-Semitic traditions.

As the author explains, the unique interaction of Muslim immigrants in the West with the host societies brought them into contact with local, traditional anti- Semites of the xenophobic fascist and racist Right along with the avowedly anti-Zionist Left, to build a formidable wall of hatred against the Jewish state and its people. To complicate this picture further, the same Muslim immigrants share with them minority status in a Christian majority society. Often finding themselves at odds with the majority host society, they find themselves subject to criticism and censure on all sides. They are engaged simultaneously in battle with both their host society into which they cannot integrate, and their Jewish compatriots who are a model of good integration. Consequently, they feel exposed and lose ground in the struggle for social acceptance.

Israeli lays out the nature and ideologies of the Muslim immigrant world and shows how in each European country they create their own ethnic sub-groups and religious communities, often in competition with each other. This remarkable and courageous book will be of interest to sociologists, Middle East specialists, and political scientists.

Jihad is the most organized force against Western capitalism since the Soviet era. Yet jihadism is multifaceted and complex, much broader than Al-Quaeda alone. In the first wide-ranging introduction to today's rapidly growing jihadism, Khosrokhavar explains how two key movements variously influence jihadi activists. One, based in the Middle East, is more heavily influenced by Islamic religion and political thought. The other, composed of individuals growing up or living mostly in Europe and Western democracies including the United States, is motivated by secular as well as religious influences. Khosrokhavar interprets religious and lesser-known Arabic texts and the real world economic and political dynamics that make jihadism a growing threat to Western democracies. Interviews with imprisoned jihadists on what motivated their plots and actions help the readers understand reality as seen by jihadists. The author concludes with recommendations to safeguard democracies from future jihadism.

This second volume of Crusader Warfare focuses on cultures that have not been written about in the same depth or to the same degree as those Western European Crusader and Byzantine cultures. Islamic, Mongol and medieval Indian civilization have certainly been studied, and there is a reasonable amount of material available in academic journals or specialist anthologies. Here the fluid nature of politics and warfare, not to mention culture and religion, makes it necessary to look closely at Islamic and other regional armies which campaigned outside the immediate sphere of Middle Eastern or Crusading warfare. Futhermore, research into the military affairs of the medieval Islamic World is still at a relatively early stage when compared to medieval European or even Byzantine military studies. Hence the Islamic net needs to be cast wider in order to get a better understanding of what forces were involved, how they were motivated, maintained and led, as well as the military traditions or expectations which spurred their commanders to victory or defeat. Until now this material has not yet been brought together within one book. Working in tandem with the first volume, each "culture" is approached in almost exactly the same manner, using the same format, approach and organization of its constituent subject material, thus enabling parallels, similarities and contrasts to be recognized clearly and accurately.

With an approach both personal and symbolic, this volume leads us through the imagined worlds, delusions, discoveries, questions, hopes, ambivalences, anxieties, and historical, cultural and psychological dynamics of six German-Jewish writers and intellectuals who arrived in Palestine between the 1920s and 1930s. Hugo Bergmann, Gershom Scholem, Gabriele Tergit, Else Lasker-Schuler, Arnold Zweig, and Paul Muhsam witnessed the gap between dream and reality from their own perspectives, representing it at many levels: intellectual, cultural, historical, psychological, and literary. As these six figures arrived in Palestine, this ancient land long imagined by diaspora generations with life-long nostalgia was new and open to different interpretations, outcomes, and realities. This book explores the difficulties and challenges that these figures had to face as they returned to the land of their fathers, a return shadowed by a historical, symbolic and metaphysical exile. It tells the story of a culture suspended and balanced between many worlds- a story of exile and return that is still unfolding under our eyes today.

The scope of this collection of original essays covers the years 1050 to 1215, but it really begins in the summer of 1096, when marauding crusaders attacked Jewish communities in three Rhineland cities. These violent episodes disrupted what had been a fairly peaceful history of coexistence between Jews and Christians for more than two centuries. Although the two groups inhabited fundamentally different religious universes, Jews and Christians lived in the same towns, on the same streets, and pursued their lives with minimal mutual interference and often with considerable cooperation. The events of 1096 destroyed that status quo. Relations between the two communities deteriorated, and the Jewish communities suffered as a result.

The contributors' careful analyses of people, events, and texts provide a balanced perspective on the fate of twelfth-century Jewish communities. They reveal that there is considerable evidence that old routines and interactions between Christians and Jews persisted throughout this period. From the perspective of the editors and contributors, this sense of complementarity, of interaction or action and reaction, needs to better inform the medieval story. The essays in this volume therefore intentionally highlight areas of common or parallel activity: in vernacular literature, in biblical exegesis, in piety and mysticism, in the social context of conversion, in relations with prelates and monarchs, in coping in a time of change, renewal, and upheaval. Most importantly, the editors and contributors insist on integrating both Jewish and Christian perspectives into the larger history of a very complex and increasingly urban twelfth-century Europe.

Terrorists and peacemakers may grow up in the same community and adhere to the same religious tradition. The killing carried out by one and the reconciliation fostered by the other indicate the range of dramatic and contradictory responses to human suffering by religious actors. Yet religion's ability to inspire violence is intimately related to its equally impressive power as a force for peace, especially in the growing number of conflicts around the world that involve religious claims and religiously inspired combatants. This book explains what religious terrorists and religious peacemakers share in common, what causes them to take different paths in fighting injustice, and how a deeper understanding of religious extremism can and must be integrated more effectively into our thinking about tribal, regional, and international conflict.

Religion-the source of inspiration, hope, and basic values for most of humanity throughout history-has also been the motive for atrocious persecutions from antiquity to the present. In the Name of Heaven is a wide-ranging historical survey of religious persecution encompassing three millennia and a great diversity of cultures worldwide. Defining religious persecution as "repressive actions initiated or condoned by authorities against their own people on religious grounds," author Mary Jane Engh begins with ancient Egypt, followed by the biblical history of Israel with its accounts of divinely ordered genocides and capital punishment for worshipers of other deities. Chapters are devoted to ancient Greece (Socrates, Alcibiades, and Aristotle, among others, clashed with the religious establishment); the Roman Empire (persecutions of Jews, Christians, and Manichaeans, and the later persecution of pagans and heretics by a Christianized Rome); the Islamic Empire (persecutions of polytheists and dissident Muslims); and medieval and Reformation Europe (where Protestants and Catholics persecuted each other and both persecuted heretics). The twenty-two chapters also cover Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific area. In an epilogue Engh reviews the new forms of religious persecution from the 20th century to the present-from major genocides and militant forms of polytheism to persecution of all religion by atheistic governments. Complete with references to further reading, this sobering but factually indisputable survey of religion's dark side enlightens while serving as a warning for the future.

Examining contestation and conflict management within holy cities, this book provides both an overview and a range of options available to those concerned with this increasingly urgent phenomenon. In cities in India, the Balkans and the Mediterranean, we can see examples where religion plays a dominant role in urban development and thus provides a platform for conflict. Powerful religious hierarchies, the generation of often unregulated revenues from donations and endowments, the presence of holy sites and the enactment of ritualistic activities in public spaces combine to create forms of conflicts which are, arguably, more intense and more intractable than other forms of conflicts in cities. The book develops a working definition of the urban dimension of religious conflicts so that the kinds of conflicts exhibited can be contextualised and studied in a more targeted manner. It draws together a series of case studies focusing on specific cities, the kinds of religious conflicts occurring in them and the international structures and mechanisms that have emerged to address such conflicts. Combining expertise from both academics and practitioners in the policy and military world, this interdisciplinary collection will be of particular relevance to scholars and students researching politics and religion, regional studies, geography and urban studies. It should also prove useful to policymakers in the military and other international organisations.

'This is Irish history seen anew, from below, bristling with practical lessons for working-class struggle today' - Eamonn McCann The 32 counties of Ireland were divided through imperial terror and gerrymandering. Partition was borne from a Tory strategy to defend the British Empire and has spawned a 'carnival of reaction' in Irish politics ever since. Over the last 100 years, conservative forces have dominated both states offering religious identity as a diversion from economic failures and inequality. Through a sharp analysis of the history of partition, Kieran Allen rejects the view that the 'two cultures' of Catholic and Protestant communities lock people into permanent antagonism. Instead, the sectarian states have kept its citizens divided through political and economic measures like austerity, competition for reduced services and low wages. Overturning conventional narratives, 32 Counties evokes the tradition of James Connolly and calls for an Irish unity movement from below to unite the North and the Republic into a secular, socialist and united Ireland.