Dark Matter and the History of the Middle East

2018 ◽  
pp. 491-504
Author(s):  
Jack Tannous
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
The People ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Intercultural Exchange ◽  
History Of ◽  
Rich History

This concluding chapter argues that late Roman Syria was a place where linguistic frontiers did not translate into cultural boundaries. The Arab conquests of the seventh century did not change this; instead, the prestige their new scripture enjoyed added a third literary language, Arabic, to the mix of a region with an already rich history of intercultural exchange. Moreover, religious dynamics continued as they had for centuries—viewed against the background of post-Chalcedonian Christian–Christian interaction, the scope and nature of Christian–Muslim interaction looks very familiar. Ultimately, in trying to place the existence of the Middle East's population of simple Christians not just into this story, but at its center, this book has attempted to capture some of the excitement and interest of this process in a way that does justice to all of the people living there, not just a small subset of them.

Humanism in the Middle East

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khurram Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
European Renaissance

This chapter is an exploration of the concept and practice of humanism in the Muslim Middle East, from the seventh-century Prophetic dispensation to the present times. Humanism has often been described as the peculiar fruit of the European Renaissance. The chapter challenges this claim by investigating the incidence of humanism in the Middle East around a three-tiered axis. First, humanism as a focus on this-worldly rather than other-worldly matters is not only compatible with the “worldliness” of an Islamic ethos but was historically encouraged by it. Second, modernist reformers portray humanism as an earlier “modern” age in the history of the Middle East that they now seek to renew. Finally, inasmuch as humanism is a form of anthropocentrism, theological ideas like al-insān al-kāmil, the perfect man, allow for such humanism to be embedded within a broader Islamic theocentrism. The chapter concludes with possible humanistic futures in the Middle East.

Karabakh is Azerbaijan - the national-historical culture of the country, where history and modernity meet

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (05) ◽  
pp. 53-56
Author(s):  
Məhbubə Sarxan qızı Fətullayeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Culture ◽  
Cultural Monuments ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Rich History

The article tells about the history of the Karabakh region, its cultural monuments, rich literature, art and musical culture. Considered the cradle of Azerbaijani culture, Karabakh is described as a land where history and modernity meet, describing the richness of the region's beautiful nature, climate and natural resources. It is explained that the cultural values of the ancient land are the result of the centuries-old traditions of the people of this land, the mysterious nature of the region, the wealth of natural resources, which has a positive effect on artistic thinking and creativity. Thanks to the work of the Karabakh people, the folk art of Karabakh, which is widely used in the life of the region, has a long and rich history. Key words: Karabakh, cultural monuments, Shusha fortress, Karabakh horses, national-historical culture

Iranian Expanse

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Canepa
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Achaemenid Empire ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
Early Islam ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ritual Activity ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
Rich History

The product of a decade of research, The Iranian Expanse is a study of the natural and built environments of power in Persia and the ancient Iranian world from the consolidation of the Achaemenid Empire in the sixth century BCE to the fall of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century CE. It analyzes the formation and development of some of the most enduring expressions of power in Persia and the ancient Iranian world: palaces, paradise gardens and hunting enclosures, royal cities, sanctuaries and landscapes marked with a rich history of rock art and ritual activity. It explores how these structures, landscapes and urban spaces constructed and transformed Iranian imperial cosmologies, royal identities, and understandings of the past. While previous studies have often noted startling continuities between the traditions of the Achaemenids and the art and architecture of medieval or Early Modern Islam, they have routinely downplayed or ignored the tumultuous millennium between Alexander and Islam. The first study of its kind, the Iranian Expanse shows how the Seleucids, Arsacids and Sasanians played a transformative role in the development of a new Iranian royal culture that impacted early Islam and the wider Persianate world of such dynasties as the Il-Khans, Safavids, Timurids and Mughals.

SEA, COMMUNITY AND LANGUAGE: A STUDY ON THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ARABI- MALAYALAM LANGUAGE OF MAPPILA MUSLIMS OF MALABAR

2019 ◽  
pp. 406-416
Author(s):  
Musadhique Kottaparamban
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Written Language ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Specificity ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Malayalam Language ◽  
Muslim Culture ◽  
Rich History

Mappila Muslim culture is a mixture of Indian and Arabian traditions and its origin can be traced back to pre-Islamic Arabia. There are many references for tracing Mappilas origin into pre Islamic Arabia. It is believed that Arab Merchants travel to Malabar frequently even before Islam emerged in Arabia. Their historical specificity granted them a unique language, culture, religion, and social life. Cultural assimilation was one of the most notable aspect in Mappila history. The marriage of Hindu women to the Arabs historically helped to form a new progeny called Mappila. When Islam was introduced into the Kerala coast, the people who are known as Mappila did not change totally, they did not accept Arabic as their mother tongue and they did not want to give up Malayalam. Instead they invented a new language, Arabi-Malayalam, to community within the community. This new language played an important role in shaping and negotiating Mappila identity. They faced immense crisis of both the identities of Arab and Malayalam. When they faced a crisis to accommodate both into the community and the larger Malabar, Mappila invented a new way to express and share identity. This is Arabi- Malayalam language which was a religious necessity for Mappila. The rich tradition of this community written language reflects a rich history of cultural interactions, as it is a sensitive barometer of social and historical conditions of the Mappila community.

Conducting Research in Lebanon: An Overview of Historical Sources in Beirut (Part I)

2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-81
Author(s):  
Sara Scalenghe ◽  
Nadya Sbaiti
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Rich History ◽  
Shed Light

Nearly two decades of war in Lebanon crippled possibilities for historical research during a period when scholarship underwent significant theoretical and methodological developments. The last several years, however, have seen a renewed vigor to preserve, catalog, and promote all types of sources that could possibly shed light on the rich history of the country and of the Middle East in general. Sources and resources in Lebanon are largely decentralized, rendering the country something of a logistical labyrinth that can cost scholars considerable expenditures of time and energy. This article is a modest attempt to facilitate research in Beirut. Although mostly geared towards historians, we hope that this article may prove useful to scholars from other fields as well. It is slightly slanted towards the British and American academies, particularly since the Francophone world has been so much more embedded in the intellectual and scholarly atmosphere of the country.

Arabic in contact with English in Asia

English Today ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azirah Hashim ◽  
Gerhard Leitner ◽  
Mohammed Al Aqad
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
South Asia ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Trade Network ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global Language ◽  
The Impact

Arabic has a long history of contact with languages outside the Middle East (Lapidus, 2015; Beg, 1979). In Asia, the spread of Arabic began with the trade network that connected the Middle East with South Asia, South-East, East Asia and East Africa from the fifth century. It intensified with the rise of Islam from the seventh century onwards (Morgan & Reid, 2010; Azirah & Leitner, 2016). In this paper we investigate the impact of Arabic on today's English in the context of Asian Englishes. More specifically we ask if the contact of Arabic with English in Asia has led to the creation of an Arabic-Islamic layer of English in countries that have a majority or a significant minority of Muslims. Would such a layer add a new dimension to the texture of English and be integrative across national Englishes? Or would it be divisive inside individual countries? In order to explore such issues we created a corpus of Arabic loanwords in Asian Englishes. Such a database will contribute to a better coverage of the impact of Arabic in dictionaries and to the study of English as a (multiple) national, regional and global language.

scholarly journals A History of the Modern Middle East, 4th ed.

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-124
Author(s):  
Amr G. E. Sabet
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Good Measure ◽  
Current Status ◽  
American Military ◽  
Military Involvement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Core Issues ◽  
The Continuum

This extensive and lucid book provides a laudable introduction to the politicalhistory of the Middle East, tracing its development from Islam’s rise inthe seventh century to the recent direct American military involvement inIraq and Afghanistan. While the opening chapters start with Islam’s “rise andexpansion,” however, the book’s main chronological focus centers on thelate eighteenth century onward. This only adds to its current status. The geographicalarea covered is from Egypt to Iran, and from Turkey to the ArabianPeninsula. Some omission, however, was necessary (e.g., western NorthAfrica, Sudan, and Afghanistan) in order to keep the book manageable (p.xiii). While extensiveness and generality frequently lead to unavoidable simplificationand superficiality, this book nevertheless contains an insightfulanalysis of the continuum of events and transformations that have helpedshape the region’s history and geography. The authors are to be praised fortheir grasp and clear conceptualization of core issues, as well as for theireffort to maintain a good measure of narrative neutrality and thus eschewingthe usual prejudices and biases ...

scholarly journals Meretas Jejak Sufisme Di Nusantara

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-335
Author(s):  
Firdaus Firdaus
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Strategic Position

Sufism that came and flourished on the archipelago was a saga that had been first formulated by the Sufis in the Middle East. The Sufis who spread the teachings of Sufism in the archipelago lived to adapt to the needs and desires of the people. The Sufis had come from abroad to preach in the archipelago and some of the area's sons studied directly in the Middle East and returned to their homeland to further their teachings. History of Sufism in Indonesia, Aceh occupies the first and strategic position, as it will eventually color the development of Sufism in the archipelago as a whole. Searching for this stream in the archipelago does not detract from the influence of those who study in the Middle East. Among the pioneers in the development of the Sufism flow in the archipelago, as mentioned in some of the literature are: Hamzah Fansuri, Syamsudin Sumatrani, Nuruddin al-Raniri Nuruddin Ar Raniri (died 1658 AD), Abdur Rauf As Sinkili (1615-1616 AD), Muhammad Yusuf Al magazine (1629-1699 M). Abdus Shamad al Palimbani. Sufis or Sufis from the beginning to Indonesia introduced the teachings of Sufism as well as various polemics that took place and prolonged it, but it was not the subject of public debate.

From Metaphor to Theology

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-319
Author(s):  
Leslie Brisman
Keyword(s):  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Animal Sacrifice ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich History ◽  
Suffering Servant

Theological change suffers under the obligation to seem—and the danger of seeming—both consistent with what has come before and genuinely new. Where does the idea of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 come from? Leaving aside those acts of warfare and violence against the innocent, which seem more matters of brute aggression than symbolic atonement, we can find well-acknowledged roots for the doctrine of a suffering servant in the practice of symbolic animal sacrifice and in the figure of the prophet who suffers with, and perhaps for, the people. But there is a third root as well that goes back to the language of the divine attributes and to the ambiguous Hebrew idiom of noseh avon, bearing sin or forgiving sin. If the servant of God bears iniquity, he can be imagined not just to remove sin from the head or shoulders of many but also to carry what he removes; he himself can “bear” it. And when all the people in the Gospel of Matthew call down the blood of Jesus on their heads, they “own” (own up to, but also claim for their own) the rich history of ambiguous responsibility and atonement.

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