Since the Mediterranean connects cultures, Mediterranean studies have by definition an intercultural focus. Throughout the modern era, the Ottoman Empire has had a lasting impact on the cultures and societies of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. However, the modern Balkans are usually studied within the context of European history, the southern Mediterranean within the context of Islam. Although it makes sense to connect both regions, this is a vast field and requires a command of different languages not necessarily related to each other. Investigating both Greek and Arabic sources, this book will shed some light on the significance of ideas in the political transitions of their time and how the proponents of these transitions often became so overwhelmed by the events that they helped trigger adjustments to their own ideas. Also, the discourses in Greek and Arabic reflect the provinces of the Ottoman Empire and it is instructive to see their differences and commonalities which helps explain contemporary politics.

Ziauddin Sardar is a prolific writer and an insightful cultural commentator. His book, "Why Do People Hate America?", has been a regular feature in bestseller lists in several countries. In the UK, he is known as a leading intellectual and his regular contributions to the "Observer", the "Independent" and the "New Statesman" have brought his writings to a wide audience. As a high-profile Muslim intellectual, he has also become an increasingly important voice in the media since the events of September 11th 2001.This is a collection of his writings that offers a comprehensive introduction to his thought. Starting with his analysis of his own position as a British Muslim and a writer, it goes on to explore issues of Islam and cultural change, education, identity, post-modernism and the future. Drawn from a broad range of his work in scholarly journals as well as from his many books on aspects of culture and society, it includes his most frequently cited papers and makes an ideal introduction to the immense scope of his work in cultural studies.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and up to and beyond Osama bin Laden's death, al-Qaeda has come to embody the new enigmatic face of terrorism, dominating discussions of national and international security. Yet in spite of the attention it receives, conflicting assumptions about the group abound. Is al-Qaeda a rigidly structured organization, a global network of semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an idea whose time has come? What is meant by talk of the "global Salafi jihad" that is confronting the West? What are the implications of bin Laden's death? Christina Hellmich offers a critical examination of the widely-held notions regarding the origins and manifestations of al-Qaeda and the sources on which they rely, mapping the organization's alleged transition from what began as a regional struggle against the Soviets in Afghanistan to the increasingly leaderless jihad of the post-9/11 world. Rather than just providing yet another biography of al-Qaeda, Hellmich forensically examines discrepancies between the most common explanations and to the limits of what can realistically be known. Drawing on Arabic-language sources - some of them previously unavailable in English - "Al-Qaeda: From Global Network to Local Franchise" offers a penetrating insight into an organization which, for all its notoriety, is one of the least-understood of our time.

What's it like to be a Muslim living in the West today? And how different is it to the experiences of Muslims who lived in Western countries many generations ago? It is a difficult time right now for the Muslim diaspora throughout the United States and Europe. George W. Bush's 'war on terror' is seen through much of the Muslim world as a war on Islam. This has complex repercussions for Muslims living in the West. Tensions and anxieties are running high as many Muslims in America and Europe are caught in a climate of social unrest, much of it compounded by living in the spotlight of the media. This book generates a fresh perspective on the problematic relationships between Islam, the West and so-called modernity -- in the light of an increasingly vocal Muslim diaspora in Europe and the United States. This is not the first time that conflict has arisen between Muslims in the West and their other communities -- this book examines a long history of volatile social relations based on extensive travels and research across four continents. Iftikhar H. Malik offers a wealth of case studies ranging from Muslim Spain and the Ottoman Empire to the present day; from the eruptions of anti-Islamic feeling over the Salman Rushdie affair to the demonisation of Islam currently running high on the agenda of the 'war on terror'.

In this social history of African American Muslim polygyny, Debra Majeed sheds light on the struggles of families whose form and function conflict with U.S. civil law. While all forms of polygamy are banned in the United States, polygyny has steadily emerged as an alternative force to the low numbers of marriageable African American men and the high number of female-led households in black America. Majeed situates African American Muslims in the center of this dialogue on polygyny, examining the choices available to women in these relationships and the scope of their rights. She calls attention to the efficacy of marital choice and the ways in which interpretationsof Islam's primary sources are authorized or legitimated to control the rights of Muslim women. Exploring how women share motivations, rationales, and consequences of living in polygynous families, Majeed highlights the legal, emotional, and communal implications while encouraging Muslim communities to develop formal measures that ensure the welfare of women and children who are otherwise not recognized by the state.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Why the conventional wisdom about the Arab Spring is wrong The Arab Spring promised to end dictatorship and bring self-government to people across the Middle East. Yet everywhere except Tunisia it led to either renewed dictatorship, civil war, extremist terror, or all three. In The Arab Winter, Noah Feldman argues that the Arab Spring was nevertheless not an unmitigated failure, much less an inevitable one. Rather, it was a noble, tragic series of events in which, for the first time in recent Middle Eastern history, Arabic-speaking peoples took free, collective political action as they sought to achieve self-determination. Focusing on the Egyptian revolution and counterrevolution, the Syrian civil war, the rise and fall of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and the Tunisian struggle toward Islamic constitutionalism, Feldman provides an original account of the political consequences of the Arab Spring, including the reaffirmation of pan-Arab identity, the devastation of Arab nationalisms, and the death of political Islam with the collapse of ISIS. He also challenges commentators who say that the Arab Spring was never truly transformative, that Arab popular self-determination was a mirage, and even that Arabs or Muslims are less capable of democracy than other peoples. Above all, The Arab Winter shows that we must not let the tragic outcome of the Arab Spring disguise its inherent human worth. People whose political lives had been determined from the outside tried, and for a time succeeded, in making politics for themselves. That this did not result in constitutional democracy or a better life for most of those affected doesn't mean the effort didn't matter. To the contrary, it matters for history-and it matters for the future.

Following Spains democratic transition during the late 1970s, political and business elites strategically exploited Spains rich Islamic heritage in order to further projects of national redefinition, tourist promotion, and urban revitalization. Large and ornate mosques were built in several Spanish regions, and the State granted Muslim communities an extensive array of rights and privileges that was arguably without parallel in Europe. Toward the onset of the 21st century, however, tensions surrounding Islams growing presence in Spain became increasingly common, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia. These tensions centered largely around the presence, or proposed establishment, of mosques in Barcelona and its greater metropolitan area. This book examines how Islam went from being an aspect of Spains national heritage to be recovered and commemorated to a pressing social problem to be managed and controlled. It traces the events and developments that gave rise to this transformation, the diverse actors involved in the process, and the manner in which disputes over Muslim incorporation have become entangled with deeply-divisive debates over churchstate relations and territorial autonomy. The core of Rebuilding Islam in Contemporary Spain centers on the shifting political and social dynamics surrounding the establishment of mosques, and the question of why anti-mosque mobilizations have been more prevalent and intense in Catalonia than other Spanish regions.

This volume focuses on Muslims in Finland, Greece, Ireland and Portugal. It highlights how Muslim experiences can be understood in relation to country's particular historical routes, political economies, and post-colonial legacies. It also reveals that country particularities shaping European Muslim experiences cannot be understood independently of global dynamics.

In Ibadi Texts from the 2nd/8th Century Abdulrahman Al-Salimi and Wilferd Madelung present an edition of fourteen Ibadi religious texts and explain their contents and extraordinary source value for the early history of Islam. The Ibadis constitutes the moderate wing of the Kharijite opposition movement to the Umayyad and 'Abbasid caliphates. The texts edited are mostly polemical letters to opponents or exhortatory to followers by 'Abd Allah b. Ibad , Abu l-'Ubayda Muslim b. Abi Karima and other Ibadi leaders in Basra, Oman and Hadramawt. An epistle detailing the offences of the caliph 'Uthman is by the early Kufan historiographer al-Haytham b. 'Adi. By their early date and independence of the mainstream historical tradition these txts offer the modern historian of Islam an invaluable complement to the well-known literary sources.

In the early Islamic world, Arabic erotic compendia and sex manuals were a popular literary genre. Although primarily written by male authors, the erotic publications from this era often emphasised the sexual needs of women and the importance of female romantic fulfilment. Pernilla Myrne here explores this phenomenon, examining a range of Arabic literature to shed fresh light onto the complexities of female sexuality under the Abbasids and the Buyids. Based on an impressive array of neglected medical, religious-legal, literary and entertainment sources, Myrne elucidates the tension between depictions of women's strong sexual agency and their subordinated social role in various contexts. In the process she uncovers a great diversity of approaches from the 9th to the 11th century, including the sexual handbook the Encyclopedia of Pleasure (Jawami' al-ladhdha), which portrayed the diversity of female desires, asserting the importance of mutual satisfaction through lively poems and stories. This is the first in-depth, comprehensive analysis of female sexuality in the early Islamic world and is essential reading for all scholars of Middle Eastern history and Arabic literature.

The present English translation reproduces the original German of Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL) as accurately as possible. In the interest of user-friendliness the following emendations have been made in the translation: Personal names are written out in full, except b. for ibn; Brockelmann's transliteration of Arabic has been adapted to comply with modern standards for English-language publications; modern English equivalents are given for place names, e.g. Damascus, Cairo, Jerusalem, etc.; several erroneous dates have been corrected, and the page references to the two German editions have been retained in the margin, except in the Supplement volumes, where new references to the first two English volumes have been inserted.

This book not only makes a significant contribution to the literature but, by breaking new ground, seeks to create a new frame of reference for further studies of the Mediterranean. Alcalay has pulled together many strands of scholarship to present a view of the Middle East that is starkly at odds with that put forth in the establishment press and academic journals - while taking care not to sacrifice the erudition and research, whether literary critical, historical or linguistic, that have traditionally sanctioned the orientalists' version of Levantine history in the service of Western control over the region. Ammiel Alcalay is a writer, translator, and poet living in New York City. Currently an associate professor of Classical and Oriental Literatures at Queens College (CUNY), he has written many articles on literary and historical politics in the cultures of the Mediterranean. "Ammiel Alcalay is a writer, translator, and poet living in New York City. Currently an associate professor of Classical and Oriental Literatures at Queens College (CUNY), he has written many articles on literary and historical politics in the cultures of the Mediterranean.".

Although the West denounces the spread of radical Islam in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, it tends to overlook the development of Islamic extremism in its own societies. Over the past several decades, groups like al-Qaeda have been supported by thousands of citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western democracies. Rejecting their national identity, they have heeded international calls to 'jihad' and formed extremist groups to fight their own countries. This groundbreaking book represents one of the first systematic attempts to explain why Westerners join radical Islamic groups. Quintan Wiktorowicz details the mechanisms that attract potential recruits, the instruments of persuasion that convince them that radical groups represent 'real Islam,' and the socialization process that prods them to engage in risky extremism. Throughout, he traces the subtle process that can turn seemingly unreligious people into supporters of religious violence. The author's invaluable insights are based upon nearly unprecedented access to a radical Islamic group in the West. His extraordinary fieldwork forms the basis of a detailed case study of al-Muhajiroun, a transnational movement based in London that supports Bin Laden and other Islamic terrorists. Through its rich empirical detail, this book explains why ordinary people join extremist movements.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Historically, countering terrorism has been something that security services have carried out on behalf of the state, without community consultation or consent. Since 9/11 however, this tradition has increasingly been questioned and the idea that communities have the potential to defeat al Qaeda - related or influenced terrorism has gained ascendency across policy, security and other contexts. Based on research in the US, Britain and Northern Ireland, this book examines the involvement of Muslim and other communities in terror crime prevention work, exploring the complexities of community involvement as well as its advantages and examining how trusting relationships between police, security services and communities can be built.

The present English translation reproduces the original German of Carl Brockelmann's Geschichte der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL) as accurately as possible. In the interest of user-friendliness the following emendations have been made in the translation: Personal names are written out in full, except b. for ibn; Brockelmann's transliteration of Arabic has been adapted to comply with modern standards for English-language publications; modern English equivalents are given for place names, e.g. Damascus, Cairo, Jerusalem, etc.; several erroneous dates have been corrected, and the page references to the two German editions have been retained in the margin, except in the Supplement volumes, where new references to the first two English volumes have been inserted.

This book explores the position of Muslim schools in contemporary Britain. A Critical Race Theory approach is used to consider some of the specific issues faced by Muslim schools, in particular those looking to become state-funded. The book provides a critically considered and meaningful application of a theory of 'race' to Muslims as a religious community, without restricting the analysis to minority ethnic Muslim groups; it also provides a counter-narrative which contests assumptions about Muslim schools presented in the media and in public debates more generally. These insights are positioned against current political climates within which Muslims have been consistently subjected to surveillance and suspicion. The book draws on first-hand research carried out inside Muslim schools to offer insights into the ways that these schools cater to diverse and locally-specific needs. It concludes by arguing that independent Islamic schools represent ideal models of community need. Therefore, bringing such schools into the state sector, in a way that allows them to retain autonomy, represents an ideal strategy for the educational and political enfranchisement of British Muslims. Muslim schooling represents an opportunity for increased state investment in Muslim interests as a strategy for offsetting the ways in which Muslim communities have been marginalised more generally in contemporary political climates. The book will make compelling reading for students and researchers in the fields of Education, Sociology, and Religious Studies, particularly those with an interest in faith schools, Islam, and Critical Race Theory.

A clear, intelligently-written guide to a crucial period of Spanish history Written in the same tradition as John Julius Norwich's engrossing accounts of Venice and Byzantium, Richard Fletcher's Moorish Spain entertains even as it enlightens. He tells the story of a vital period in Spanish history which transformed the culture and society, not only of Spain, but of the rest of Europe as well. Moorish influence transformed the architecture, art, literature and learning and Fletcher combines this analysis with a crisp account of the wars, politics and sociological changes of the time.

At the 900th anniversary of the Crusader capture of Jerusalem, it is timely to reflect on how the phenomenon of the Crusades influenced the Muslim world, then and now, militarily, culturally and psychologically. This book discusses a group of themes designed to highlight how Muslims reacted to the alien presence of the Crusaders in the heart of traditional Muslim territory. Ideological concerns are examined and the importance of the jihad is assessed in the context of the gradual recovery of the Holy Land and the expulsion of the Crusaders. Two chapters are devoted to an analysis of warfare - arms, battles, sieges, fortifications - on the basis of written sources and extant works of art, and the neglected aspect of the navy is brought into prominence. One chapter deals with the complex issue of the interaction between Muslims and Crusaders in a social, economic and cultural setting. The epilogue traces in outline the profound impact of the Crusades on Muslim consciousness until the present day. This is not a chronological survey of the events of the period 1099 to 1291and even beyond, for that has already been done several times. Instead, this is a general book intended to introduce some of the wider aspects of the history of the Crusades from the Muslim side. Accordingly, as a deliberate policy, an attempt is made here to view the phenomenon of the Crusades entirely through the prism of medieval Muslim sources. This naturally involves bias, but such a bias is salutary given the cumulative impact of centuries of Eurocentric scholarship in this field and it should help to create a more balanced picture of this fascinating and momentous period of Christian/Muslim confrontation and interaction.

Considers the question: what does it mean to be Muslim and American? In Islam Is a Foreign Country, Zareena Grewal explores some of the most pressing debates about and among American Muslims: what does it mean to be Muslim and American? Who has the authority to speak for Islam and to lead the stunningly diverse population of American Muslims? Do their ties to the larger Muslim world undermine their efforts to make Islam an American religion? Offering rich insights into these questions and more, Grewal follows the journeys of American Muslim youth who travel in global, underground Islamic networks. Devoutly religious and often politically disaffected, these young men and women are in search of a home for themselves and their tradition. Through their stories, Grewal captures the multiple directions of the global flows of people, practices, and ideas that connect U.S. mosques to the Muslim world. By examining the tension between American Muslims' ambivalence toward the American mainstream and their desire to enter it, Grewal puts contemporary debates about Islam in the context of a long history of American racial and religious exclusions. Probing the competing obligations of American Muslims to the nation and to the umma (the global community of Muslim believers), Islam is a Foreign Country investigates the meaning of American citizenship and the place of Islam in a global age.

When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, in December 2010, sparking a wave of popular uprisings that would topple dictatorial regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, observers hailed the onset of a great Arab Awakening.

But this wasn t the first time people in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere across the region had taken to the streets demanding fundamental change. An earlier generation, in the 1950s and 1960s, rose against Arab governments that were doing the bidding of colonial powers. A generation later, many of these revolutionary heroes and their inheritors had themselves become murderous tyrants, leading the people to rebel a second time.

In The Second Arab Awakening, distinguished academic and writer Adeed Dawisha brings a deep historical perspective to the recent Arab uprisings, tracing the fledgling and uncertain progress so far of these revolutions and the Islamist challenge that has emerged in their wake. Elegantly written, detailed yet concise, Dawisha s illuminating exploration of the threats and opportunities facing the victorious revolutionaries provides necessary perspective on a fast-changing political landscape."

Writer, doctor and militant, Nawal el Saadawi has had a major influence on the lives of women and men globally. Author of many books, both fiction and non-fiction, which challenge our thinking about the politics of sex, Third World development, the Arab world and writing itself, she has been a constant thorn in the side of the class and patriarchal systems.
This collection of her non-fiction writing since the publication of her seminal book on Arab women "The Hidden Face of Eve" (Zed Books, 1980) presents the full range of her extraordinary work. She explores a host of topics from women's oppression at the hands of recent interpretations of Islam to the role of women in African literature, from the sexual politics of development initiatives to tourism in a 'post-colonial'age, from the nature of cultural identity to the subversive potential of creativity, from the fight against female genital mutilation to problems facing the internationalization of the women's movement. Throughout her writing, she sheds new light on the power of women in resistance - against poverty, racism, fundamentalism, and inequality of all kinds.
Showing the intellectual and political development of an important thinker for the late twentieth century, this book is essential reading for students and lecturers in women's studies, development studies and social theory. It is also a book anyone who wants to understand current global politics - in their widest sense - can not do without.

Veiling in Fashion enters the worlds of women who wear the hijab, both as an aspect of their religious observance and community belonging, and as a fashion statement, drawing upon global Islamic fashion history. The book uses rich ethnographic investigation of everyday veiling practices among Muslim women in the city of Helsinki as a lens through which to reflect on and advance understanding of matters concerning Muslim dress in international Muslim minority contexts. The book provides an innovative approach to studying veiling by connecting varied realms of practice, demonstrating how domains as apparently separate as fashion, materiality, city spaces, private life, religious beliefs, and cosmopolitan social conditions are all tightly bound up together in ways that only a sensitive multi-disciplinary approach can reveal. It will appeal to scholars and students in fashion, gender, religion, material cultures, and the construction of space.

This edited collection brings together international leading scholars to explore why the education of Muslim students is globally associated with radicalisation, extremism and securitisation. The chapters address a wide range of topics, including neoliberal education policy and globalization; faith-based communities and Islamophobia; social mobility and inequality; securitisation and counter terrorism; and shifting youth representations. Educational sectors from a wide range of national settings are discussed, including the US, China, Turkey, Canada, Germany and the UK; this international focus enables comparative insights into emerging identities and subjectivities among young Muslim men and women across different educational institutions, and introduces the reader to the global diversity of a new generation of Muslim students who are creatively engaging with a rapidly changing twenty-first century education system. The book will appeal to those with an interest in race/ethnicity, Islamophobia, faith and multiculturalism, identity, and broader questions of education and social and global change.

This book provides a concise yet panoramic overview of Islam, unlike most introductory books, which focus mainly on the development of Islamic institutions in the classical period.

To place Islam in perspective, Neal Robinson discusses the problems raised by Western perceptions of Islam and provides a brief account of Islamic history down to the present. He then explains major topics in Islamic worship to help readers understand it as a living faith. Appendices guide the novice through the structure of Arabic names, transliteration, and the Islamic calendar and festivals.

Ce livre offre une nouvelle lecture de la question de la maturation de la calligraphie et des arts du livre arabo-persan vers des formes et des statuts qui deviendront classiques a partir de la periode ilkhanide et djalayiride. This book proposes a new reading of the question of the maturation of calligraphy and the arts of the book in Arabic and Persian towards forms and statuses that will become classical from the Ilkhanid and Djalayirid period.