Folklore has been a phenomenon based on nostalgic and autochthonous nuances conveyed with a story-telling technique with a penchant for over-playing and nationalistic pomp and circumstance, often with significant consequences for societal, poetic, and cultural areas. These papers highlight challenges that have an outreaching relationship to the regional, rhetorical, and trans-rhetorical devices and manners in Kurdish folklore, which subscribes to an ironic sense of hope all the while issuing an appeal for a largely unaccomplished nationhood, simultaneously insisting on a linguistic solidarity. In a folkloric literature that has an overarching theory of poetics - perhaps even trans-figurative cognitive poetics due to the multi-faceted nature of its application and the complexity of its linguistic structure - the relationship of man (and less frequently woman) with others takes center stage in many of the folkloric creations. Arts are not figurative representations of the real in the Kurdish world; they are the real.

The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously, there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre. Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato's concept of Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language. The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with philosophical commentaries on Plato's Timaeus.

This book examines contemporary jihad as a cult of violence and power. All jihadi groups, whether Shiite or Sunni, Arab or not, are characterized by a similar bloodlust. Murawiec characterizes this belief structure as identical to that of Europe's medieval millenarians and apocalyptics, arguing that both jihadis and their European cousins shared in a Gnostic ideology: a God-given mission endowed the Elect with supernatural powers and placed them above the common law of mankind. Although the ideology of jihad is essentially Islamic, Murawiec traces the political technologies used by modern jihad to the Bolsheviks. Their doctrines of terror as a system of rule were appropriated by radical Islam through multiple lines of communication. This book brings history, anthropology, and theology to bear to understand the mind of jihad that has declared war on the West and the world.

For years, many have debated the relationship between religion and politics. In "Secularism in Afghanistan, " author Shukoor Zardushtian directs the discussion to Afghanistan, examining the role of religion in society in general and in Afghanistan in particular and analyzing the conflicts that arise from the mix of government and religion. Gleaned from research and his personal experiences of living in Afghanistan, "Secularism in Afghanistan" studies the characteristics of Islam and Islamic ideology. Zardushtian presents a strong case for implementing secularism-religion separate from politics-in Afghanistan in order for its citizens to embrace freedom and social awareness. He presents evidence of how the Islamic religion destroyed the country's cohesiveness and is responsible for the problems that exist today. Zardushtian understands that changing society is not easy, but he offers "Secularism in Afghanistan" as a guidebook for the younger generation of the country to aid them in improving the economic and social climate.

The Fatimid empire was a highly sophisticated and cosmopolitan regime that flourished from the beginning of the 10th to the end of the 12th century. Under the enlightened rule of the Fatimid Caliphs, Cairo was founded as the nucleus of an imperium that extended from Arabia in the east to present-day Morocco in the west. Dynamic rulers like the the fourth caliph al-Mu'izz (who conquered Egypt and founded his new capital there) were remarkable not only for their extensive conquests but also for combining secular with religious legitimacy. As living imams of the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism, they exercised authority over both spiritual and secular domains. The sacred dimension of their mandate was manifested most powerfully twice a year, when the imam-Caliphs personally delivered sermons, or khutbas, to their subjects, to coincide with the great feasts and festivals of fast-breaking and sacrifice. While few of these sermons have survived, those that have endured vividly evoke both of the atmosphere of the occasion and the words uttered on it. Paul E. Walker here provides unique access to these orations by presenting the Arabic original and a complete English translation of all the khutbas now extant. He also offers a history of the festival sermons and explores their key themes and rhetorical strategies.

In less than a century after Muhammad's death, Islam swept through Asia, Africa and Europe, dominating an area larger than that of the Roman Empire at its peak.
This book represents 3.5 years of effort, researching and editing hundreds of books and internet sources, resulting in an authoritative biography of 420+ Islamic leaders, during the past 1,500 years.

This final volume in the successful series "The Idea of Iran" addresses the astonishing impact made by Islam during and after the Arab conquest of Iran in the middle of the seventh century. As the Sasanian dynasty crumbled before the invaders' triumphant onslaught, its state religion of Zoroastrianism was unceremoniously dismantled to make way for the new faith of the victorious desert warriors. Yet why, if Iran jettisoned its indigenous religion, did it still manage to retain its Persian language and distinctive Iranian identity once Muslim governance took hold? These, and other intriguing questions, are addressed by the book, which includes distinguished contributions from world-renowned scholars such as Hugh Kennedy, Edmund Bosworth, Robert Hillenbrand and Ehsan Yarshater. Discussing a large variety of subjects which covers the whole spectrum of life in early Islamic Iran, the volume offers one of the most ambitious perspectives on Persian religion, society and culture to be published to date. It will be consulted by all students of Iranian history, and will be regarded as essential reading for scholars of Islam, the Middle East and medieval religion alike.

This study into both reformism and mysticism demonstrates both that mystical rhetoric appeared regularly in supposedly anti-mystical modernist writing and that nineteenth- and twentieth-century Sufis actually addressed questions of intellectual and political reform in their writing, despite the common assertion that they were irrationally traditional and politically quietist.

Tuan Guru – founder of South Africa’s first mosque and madrasah – had been in his grave for half a century. The Cape Muslim population had exploded in size, but was sliding into decline. Many of the imams, lacking education, had become ignorant and entitled. There was unending conflict in the community, which was fought out in the Cape High Court.

In the same year, a group of concerned community elders made a call for a teacher to be sent to the Cape from Istanbul. No-one knows who these people were, but it was their intervention that saw the arrival of Shaykh Abu-Bakr Effendi, an Ottoman scholar, in early 1863.

Welcomed by those keen to learn, he faced abuse from a coterie of imams who felt threatened by him. Sadly, it is their malcontent that has so jaundiced his story for over 140 years. In this well-researched biography, Shafiq Morton reveals for the first time the true story of Shaykh Abu-Bakr Effendi, one of the stand-out historical figures in the growth of Islam at the foot of Africa.

Religion and Democratization is a comparative study of how regime types and religion-state arrangements frame questions of religious and political identities in Muslim and Catholic societies. The book proposes a theory for modeling the dynamics of "religiously friendly democratization " processes in which states institutionally favor specific religious values and organizations and allow religious political parties to contest elections. Religiously friendly democratization has a transformative effect on both the democratic politics and religious life of society. As this book demonstrates, it affects the political goals of religious leaders and the political salience of the religious identities of religious individuals. In a religiously charged national setting, religiously friendly democratization can generate more support for democracy among religious actors. By embedding religious ideas and values into its institutions, however, it also mediates the effects of secularization on national religious markets, creating more favorable conditions for the emergence of public religions and new trajectories of religious life. The book anchors its theoretical claims in case studies of Italy and Algeria, integrating original qualitative evidence and statistical data on voters' political and religious attitudes. It also considers the dynamics of religiously friendly democratization across the Muslim world today, through a comparative analysis of Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Indonesia. Finally, the book examines the theory's wider relevance through a large-N quantitative analysis, employing cross-national databases on religion-state relationships created by Grim and Finke and Fox.

Too often we are tempted into thinking how wrong other people's religions and scriptures are, rather than focusing on what's right about our own.

We act like some of our politicians during election campaigns rather than following the teachings of our own holy books. Breaking the trend, author Dr. Ejaz Naqvi provides an objective, topic-by-topic review of the two most read books in the world-the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran.

"The Quran: With or Against the Bible? "addresses the key themes of the Quran and answers commonly asked questions in search of finding common ground: Who wrote the Quran?
Who is the "God" of the Quran?
What is the Quranic view of the prophets, especially Moses and Jesus?
What does the Quran teach about interfaith relations?
Does the Quran promote peace and harmony between Muslims and the People of the Book, or does it promote violence?
How does the Quran compare to the Bible on important themes like worshipping God, the prophets, human rights, moral values, and fighting for justice and human dignity?
Does the Quran render women as second-class citizens?

Dispelling major myths, "The Quran: With or Against the Bible?" systematically analyzes and compares the similarities in the paths of guidance the two scriptures have bestowed upon mankind.

This is the first biography of Lord Headley, who made international headlines in 1913 when he defied convention by publicly converting to Islam. Drawing on previously unpublished archival sources, this book focuses on Headley's religious beliefs, conversion to Islam, and work as a Muslim leader during and after the First World War. Lord Headley slipped into obscurity following his death in 1935, but there is growing recognition globally that he is a pivotal figure in the history of Western Islam and Muslim-Christian relations; this book evaluates the strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures of the man and his work, and considers his significance for contemporary understandings of Islam in the Global West.

Sunni Islam has played an ambivalent role in Turkey's Kurdish conflict-both as a conflict resolution tool and as a tool of resistance. Under the Banner of Islam uses Turkey as a case study to understand how religious, ethnic, and national identities converge in ethnic conflicts between co-religionists. Gulay Turkmen asks a question that informs the way we understand religiously homogeneous ethnic conflicts today: Is it possible for religion to act as a resolution tool in these often-violent conflicts? In search for answers to this question, in Under the Banner of Islam, Turkmen journeys into the inner circles of religious elites from different backgrounds: non-state-appointed local Kurdish meles, state-appointed Kurdish and Turkish imams, heads of religious NGOs, and members of religious orders. Blending interview data with a detailed historical analysis that goes back as far as the nineteenth century, she argues that the strength of Turkish and Kurdish nationalisms, the symbiotic relationship between Turkey's religious and political fields, the religious elites' varying conceptualizations of religious and ethnic identities, and the recent political developments in the region (particularly in Syria) all contribute to the complex role religion plays in the Kurdish conflict in Turkey. Under the Banner of Islam is a specific story of religion, ethnicity, and nationalism in Turkey's Kurdish conflict, but it also tracks a broader narrative of how ethnic and religious identities are negotiated when resolving conflicts.

Does Islamic law allow Muslims to live under the rule of non-Muslims? Can there be an authentic Islam where the Shari`ah cannot be enforced? This anthology includes translations of some of the key Islamic voices on these issues from the fourteenth century to the present, from medieval Spanish Christians and the Mongol world in the medieval period to the African territories of European empires in the nineteenth century. It ends with a fatwa addressed to Muslims living in the United States at the end of the twentieth century.