scholarly journals The Motif of the Angel(s) of Death in Islamic Foundational Sources as an Element of Cultural Diffusion

Verbum Vitae ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1233-1261
Author(s):  
Bożena Prochwicz-Studnicka ◽  
Andrzej Mrozek
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Limited Extent ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Cultural Diffusion ◽  
Textual Traditions

The article harks back to the publication entitled “The Motif of the Angel(s) of Death in Islamic Foundational Sources” (VV 38/2 [2020]), which was devoted to the analysis of the eponymous theme in the foundational sources of Islam: the Quran and the sunna of the Prophet Muhammad. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the motif of angel(s) may have been borrowed from two monotheistic traditions that came before. The verification of the thesis that the motif of the angel(s) of death underwent diffusion was carried out in several steps. First, the motif was identified in the textual traditions of Judaism and early Christianity (i.e. sets of texts that were known and, in all likelihood, widespread in the Middle East during the formative period of Islam). As a result of the analysis, most of the themes recognised in the foundational texts of Islam were found. The next step was to identify possible routes of their transmission and percolation into the Islamic tradition and to determine the “ideological demand” for the motif of the angel(s) of death in the burgeoning Islam. Although Jewish and Christian imagery and beliefs about angels are an important (if not the primary) source of influence on Muslim angelology, there was most likely a two-way interaction between the monotheistic traditions, albeit to a limited extent.

scholarly journals Menjadi Juru Kunci Islam Nusantara: Peran Perpustakaan dalam Melestarikan Naskah Islam Nusantara

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-282
Author(s):  
Parhan Hidayat
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Branding Strategy ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Original Source ◽  
The World

Abstrak Indonesia adalah negara dengan komunitas Muslim terbanyak di dunia. Corak keislaman di Indonesia juga memilik kekhasan tersendiri, yang berbeda dengan sumber aslinya di Timur Tengah. Salah satu cara memahami corak keislaman Indonesia adalah dengan mempelajari naskah-naskah Islam Nusantara yang tersebar di Indonesa, sampai ke negara-negara tetangga. Keberadaan naskah itu tentu menjadi kekayaan tak ternilai untuk bangsa kita, sehingga sangat perlu untuk dilestarikan. Perpustakaan sebagai lembaga yang berfungsi untuk mengumpulkan, mengelola, dan menyebarkan informasi, perannya dalam pelestarian naskah Islam Nusantara sudah pasti sangat diperlukan. Perpustakaan bahkan dapat menjadikan kekayaan naskah Islam Nusantara tersebut sebagai strategi branding untuk bersaing dengan perpustakaan lainnya. Selain mengumpulkan informasi tentang naskah, mengolah dan menyebarkan informasi tentang naskah Islam Nusantara, perpustakaan juga harus memiliki pustakawan-pustakawan yang handal dan mumpuni dalam melestarikan naskah Islam Nusantara. Keberadaan Database Sumber Primer Islam Nusantara yang nantinya akan diintegrasikan dengan sistem otomasi di perpustakaan Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora (FAH) UIN Jakarta, akan menjadikan perpustakaan FAH sebagai perpustakaan yang memiliki distingsi dan keunggulan tersendiri dibanding perpustakaan lainnya.---Abstract Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim community in the world. Islamic pattern in Indonesia also picks its own peculiarities, which is different from the original source in the Middle East. One way to understand the Indonesian Islamic style is by studying Islamic texts of archipelago scattered Indonesa, even to neighboring countries. The existence of the manuscript that will become invaluable wealth for our nation needs to be preserved. The library as an institution whose function is to collect, manage, and disseminate information, its role in the preservation of Islamic manuscripts archipelago is definitely indispensable. Libraries can even make the wealth of the archipelago of Islamic texts as a branding strategy to compete with other libraries. In addition to collecting information about the script, process and disseminate information on Islam Nusantara manuscripts, the library must also have librarians who are reliable and qualified in preserving texts of Islam Nusantara.  The existenceof primary source databases of Islam Nusantara which will be integrated into the automation system in the library of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities (FAH) UIN Jakarta, will make FAH library as a library that has its own distinctions and advantages compared to other libraries.

5. Oil and Political Economy in the International Relations of the Middle East

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-131
Author(s):  
Giacomo Luciani
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Rentier States

This chapter looks at the role of oil in the political economy and the international relations of the Middle East. Oil is commonly considered a political commodity. Because of its pivotal importance as a primary source of energy, governments are concerned with its continued availability and seek to minimize import dependence. Historically, interest in oil — especially in the United Kingdom and the United States — strongly influenced attitudes towards the Middle East and the formation of the state system in the region, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Oil also affects the power balance within the region. The polarization in the region between oil-rich and oil-poor states is thus an essential tool of analysis. The parallel distinction between rentier and non-rentier states helps to explain how oil affects the domestic political development of the oil-rich states and influences their regional relations.

“The Romans Will Win!” Q 30:2‒7 in Light of 7th c. Political Eschatology

Der Islam ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Tommaso Tesei
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Q 30 ◽  
Eventual Outcome

Abstract: This article addresses a prophecy found in vv. 2‒7 of the thirtieth Qurʾānic sūra, known as al-Rūm (“The Romans”). These verses report on the Romans’ (al-Rūm) involvement in a conflict against an unnamed enemy and predict its eventual outcome. The passage refers to the conflict between the Byzantines and Sasanians that lasted for about thirty years during the first three decades of the 7th c. (602‒628 CE). These verses are usually considered to be the only Qurʾānic allusion to a historical event that can be confirmed by sources external to the Islamic tradition. In this study I will argue that the prophecy on the Rūm has close parallels with other prophecies on the war that were circulating in the Middle East in the first half of the 7th c. The contextualization and comparison with other 7th c. prophecies will provide us with a better understanding of the Qurʾānic passage.

scholarly journals An Introduction to Islam

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-420
Author(s):  
Yasien Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Western Scholar ◽  
Western Hegemony ◽  
Muslim Scholars

David Waines, Islamic lecturer at Lancaster University, divides AnIntroduction to Islam into three parts. Part 1 deals with the Qur'an and theSunnah in the formative period, and part 2 is devoted to Islamic teachingsand practices, including separate chapters on Islamic law, theology, Sufism,and Shi'ism. The connecting thread in these first two parts is the ways inwhich Muslim scholars have explored "revelation and the experience oftheir Prophet, Muhammad" (p. 3). Part 3 treats Islam in the modern world,recounting the period over the last two centuries during which Muslimshave been challenged by western hegemony and have sought to establish amodem sense of Islamic identity.This is a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and up-to-date treatment ofIslamic history and culture. It is by no means the only recent introductionon Islam by a western scholar: Victor Danner's The Islamic Tradition: AnIntroduction (1988) deals with the Islamic intellectual and spiritual traditionwithin the context of other religious traditions. Frederick M. Dermy'sAn Introduction to Islam (1985) offers a comprehensive, simple account ofIslam, and Annemarie Schinunels' Islam: An Introduction is a concise and ...

scholarly journals Influences of Egyptian Lotus Symbolism and Ritualistic Practices on Sacral Tree Worship in the Fertile Crescent from 1500 BCE to 200 CE

Religions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Water Lily ◽  
Eternal Recurrence ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Cultural Diffusion ◽  
Fertile Crescent

Many conventional features of world tree motifs in the ancient Near East—including stalked palmettes, aureoles of water lily palmettes connected by pliant stems, floral rosettes, winged disks and bud-and-blossom motifs—trace largely from Egyptian practices in lotus symbolism around 2500 BCE, more than a millennium before they appear, migrate and dominate plant symbolism across the Fertile Crescent from 1500 BCE to 200 CE. Several of these motifs were associated singularly or collectively with the Egyptian sema-taui and ankh signs to symbolize the eternal recurrence and everlasting lives of Nilotic lotus deities and deceased pharaohs. The widespread use of lotus imagery in iconographic records on both sides of the Red Sea indicates strong currents of cultural diffusion between Nilotic and Mesopotamian civilizations, as does the use of lotus flowers in religious rituals and the practice of kingship, evidence for which is supported by iconographic, cuneiform and biblical records. This perspective provides new insights into sacral tree symbolism and its role in mythic legacies of Egypt and the Middle East before and during the advent of Christianity. Closer scholarly scrutiny is still needed to fully comprehend the underlying meaning of immortalizing plants in the mythic traditions of Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniella Talmon-Heller
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Sacred Places ◽  
Sacred Place ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Mamluk Period

Focusing on the construction of sanctity and its manifestations in individual devotions, formal ceremonies and communal rites, this book offers a fresh perspective on religious culture in the medieval Middle East. It investigates Islamic thinking about and practice in sacred places and times through the detailed research of two contested case-studies: the shrine(s) in honour of the head of al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAli, and the (arguably) holy month of Rajab. The narrative spans the formative period of Islam until the late Mamluk period, attuned to changing political contexts and sectarian affiliations, and to the input of the social sciences and the study of religion. The juxtaposition of sacred place and time reveals that the two expanses were regarded as complementary venues for similar religious devotions, and imagined by a common vocabulary.

Leading with a Fist: A History of the Salafi Beard in the 20th-Century Middle East

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Rock-Singer
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Facial Hair ◽  
Daily Newspapers ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Visual Markers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interpretative Approach

Abstract Salafism is a global religious movement whose male participants often distinguish themselves from their co-religionists by a particular style of facial hair. Historians have focused largely on this movement’s engagement with questions of theology and politics, while anthropologists have assumed that Salafi practice reflects a longer Islamic tradition. In this article, I move beyond both approaches by tracing the gradual formation of a distinctly Salafi beard in the 20th century Middle East. Drawing on Salafi scholarly compendia, leading journals, popular pamphlets, and daily newspapers produced primarily in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I argue that Salafi elites revived a longer Islamic legal tradition in order to distinguish their flock from secular nationalist projects of communal identity and Islamic activists alike. In doing so, I cast light on Salafism’s interpretative approach, the dynamics that define its development as a social movement, and the broader significance of visual markers in modern projects of Islamic piety.

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