Pathways of Islamist Mobilization against the State in the Middle East and Central Asia

Author(s):  
Frédéric Volpi
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Benthall

This Chapter republishes a review of Amelia Fauzia’s book Faith and the State: Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia, originally published in the Asian Journal of Social Science in 2014. Most research published in English since 2000 on Islamic philanthropy and humanitarianism has concentrated on the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Europe and the USA. Fauzia’s impressive monograph on Indonesia bears comparison with any of this research. She explores how zakat (the Islamic tithe) and sadaqa (optional charity) have been implemented in various ways in Indonesia. Her guiding theme is the tension between the private or personal imperatives of the Islamic revelation and public conduct where persuasion or coercion can be effective, including that exerted by the modern state. She gives special attention to the “modernist” Muhammadiyah, founded in 1912. The Chapter proposes an angle for historical research: to what extent did Christian institutions introduced by colonial powers affect the development of Islamic charities in Indonesia and elsewhere?


Author(s):  
Svetlana Cebotari ◽  

Modern Eurasia, forming the basis of international security, plays a balancing role in world processes. When analyzing the security features of Central Asia in the Eurasian relations system, account should be taken of the situation in Afghanistan, which provides a complete picture of the manifestation and interconnection of security threats. Being a state located in the central-southern part of Asia, Afghanistan has an important geo-strategic location. It is the state that connects East and West Asia or the Middle East. Afghanistan has focused on its territory the main security and crime challenges of the last seventy years. This article highlights the main threats to Afghanistan and their impact on regional security.


2018 ◽  
Vol 934 (4) ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
S. Yu. Maslikov

The «Geodesy» tractate written by prominent encyclopedic scientist Abu Rayhan Mu?ammad ibn Ahmad Al-Biruni in 1018–1025, is in fact the instruction on the instruments and methodology of astronomical determinations of latitudes and longitudes of cities, measurements of distances between cities and specifying the Earth size. In the same tractate al-Biruni demonstrates the practical appliance of the described methodology to the determination of coordinates of certain localities situated now at the territories of several Middle-East and Central Asia states. For that purpose, the geodetic polygon of around 5400 km in perimeter was devised by al-Biruni with Bagdad as its starting point. Using the Nishapur city lying inside the polygon as the example, al-Biruni shows the possibility of further thickening of the geodetic network. The polygon in whole is bound to the point of Alexandria in Egypt being well-known astronomical center of the antiquity. Described in the tractate are several terms and methods that closely correspond to the modern instructions for devising the state geodetic network. The practical part of the tractate has never been investigated by the researches, and the tractate as a whole is the important source for the history of geodesy, especially in connection with the millennium jubilee of its creation.


Infolib ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
Shamsiddin Kamoliddin ◽  

The article discusses the use of the term “Uzbek” and the toponym “Uzbekistan” in medieval written sources. The name Uzbek is first encountered in the sources of the 12th century; this name was borne by some of the Turkic rulers of the Near and Middle East. The origin of the toponym Uzbekistan is associated with the name of the ruler of the Golden Horde, Uzbekkhan. In the fourteenth century. the name of Uzbekistan was understood as the Golden Horde. In the fifteenth century. after the collapse of the Golden Horde into several khanates, the name Uzbekistan was attached to the Uzbek Ulus, i.e. the state of nomadic Uzbeks, formed in the eastern part of the Golden Horde. From the beginning. XVI century the toponym Uzbekistan began to be applied to the whole of Central Asia, on the territory of which the state of the Shaybanids was formed. This name was used as a synonym for the place names Turan and Turkestan up to 1865, when Central Asia was conquered by the Russian Empire. Based on these data, we have every reason to believe that the toponym Uzbekistan, used for 365 years (from the beginning of the 16th century to 1965) in relation to the whole of Central Asia, was one of the historical names of the region.


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