Islamic History

Islamic warfare

by Gabor Agoston

Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, 5 volumes Ed., McNeill William H. (Great Barrington, Mass., 2005, 2nd revised edition, 2010), vol., 5, pp. 2718-2722.

Sulayman b. Nasir al-Lamki and German colonial policies towards Muslim communities in German East Africa

by Michael Pesek

published in n Islam in Africa, edited by Thomas Bierschenk and Georg Stauth. 211-229. Münster: LIT, 2002

Annus Hegiræ vel Annus (H)Agarorum? Etymologische und vergleichende Anmerkungen zum Anfang der islamischen Jahreszählung

by Robert Kerr

To appear in Die Entstehung einer Weltreligion III (Schiler 2012).

DOCUMENTACIÓN ARQUEOLÓGICA DE UNA CIUDAD ALMOHADE DE LA MESETA: CALATRAVA

by Manuel Retuerce Velasco

Manuel Retuerce (1996): "Documentación arqueológica de una ciudad almohade de la Meseta: Calatrava". Alarcos, 1195. Actas del Congreso Internacional conmemorativo del VIII Centenario de la batalla de Alarcos. (Ciudad Real, 1995), p. 211-222. Ciudad Real.

Introduction to Islam

by David Drennan

La Trobe Journal, no. 89 (2012): 9-19

This brief article aims to give a thorough overview of Islamic beliefs and practices for those unfamiliar with the... more This brief article aims to give a thorough overview of Islamic beliefs and practices for those unfamiliar with the religious tradition. It also aims to allow the opportunity for further reading on the subject, citing a wide variety of scholarly texts written for non-specialist audiences.

The article is divided into sections giving a brief overview of early Islamic history and Muhammad's lifetime, the primary Islamic religious sources, namely, the Qur'an and Sunna, the Five Pillars of Islamic practice, foundational Islamic creedal beliefs, the Shari'a, and finally, Sufism.

The pre-edited version of the paper is included here.

The Craft of Fatwa: A Window into Contemporary Islamic Juristic Thought

by David Drennan

Law has long been studied as a social and cultural force and we can discover the socio-political concerns of jurists... more Law has long been studied as a social and cultural force and we can discover the socio-political concerns of jurists and lawyers through linguistic analysis of their texts. This attentiveness to ‘linguistic practice’ is common in studying Western law through the ‘law and literature’ movement; however, it is an underdeveloped area in the study of Islamic juristic literature. Furthermore, little focus has been given to the role of muftis and fatwas in Muslim societies since colonialism and the heralding of ‘modernity’ in the Muslim world.

In this paper I look at the genre of adab al-mufti (juristic etiquette), which is a neglected resource for understanding the relationship between the mufti and his fatwas in the contemporary context. Studying the adab al-mufti genre gives us a further avenue towards understanding the intellectual and institutional changes within the Islamic religious tradition caused in no small part by the onset of colonialism and modernity.

I argue that the concerns of the ulama have demonstrated a fundamental shift in authority, from the ulama being part of an established intellectual and legal system (the madhahib) in Muslim societies, to having persuasive moral authority among individuals and communities only. Furthermore, with the decline of both endowments and the madhāhib as structured institutional authorities in the modern age, the interpretative approach taken by modern scholars tends to be redefined. It is comparative and principle-based, focusing on universal legal maxims and the objectives of the shari'a as interpretive tools rather than strict adherence to their specific madhhab alone. This is seen most clearly in the context of Muslim-minority communities in Western societies, which allows no official institutionalised structure for Muslim authority.

Sacred history beyond history: some reflections on the Kitāb Maqtal al-Ḥusayn by Abū Mikhnaf

by Francesco Stermotich Cappellari

Between One God: the Tenth-century Byzantine-Arab Frontier and Comparative Monotheist Empire

by Paul Mumm

Requires SPIonic font for proper display of Greek text. Available at http://www.monachos.net/content/component/content/article/406

Mazhab In Islamic Economics (Indonesian Language)

by Ali Muhayatsyah

Ada tiga sudut pandang/mazhab atau corak pemikiran dalam mengkaji ilmu Ekonomi Islam. Mazhab tersebut adalah Mazhab... more Ada tiga sudut pandang/mazhab atau corak pemikiran dalam mengkaji ilmu Ekonomi Islam. Mazhab tersebut adalah Mazhab Baqir as-Sadr, Mazhab Mainstream, Mazhab Alternatif Kritis.

Women before the qāḍī under the Abbasids

by Mathieu Tillier

Published in: Islamic Law and Society, 16 (2009), p. 280-301.

In this article, I examine the appearance of Muslim women before the judge during the Abbasid period... more In this article, I examine the appearance of Muslim women before the judge during the Abbasid period (132-334/750-945), both in theory and practice. The cases involving women found in law books suggest that they came freely to the court, especially for familial or marital purposes, and that the judges employed some women as court auxiliaries. However, a comparison of judicial manuals and the biographical literature shows that a woman's appearance before the judge could create a social disturbance and that not all women were allowed to appear in court. I argue that the social distinction between those who could leave their houses—and thus come before the judge—and those who could not correlated with the social hierarchy.

Qāḍī-s and the political use of the maẓālim jurisdiction under the ʿAbbāsids

by Mathieu Tillier

Published in: Christian Lange et Maribel Fierro (éd.), Public Violence in Islamic Societies: Power, Discipline, and the Construction of the Public Sphere, 7th—18th Centuries CE, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2009, p. 42-66.

Saudi imams warn against mixing of sports, politics and protest

by James M. Dorsey

By James M. Dorsey

Saudi and ultra-conservative imams have warned in separate statements against the mixing... more By James M. Dorsey

Saudi and ultra-conservative imams have warned in separate statements against the mixing of sports and politics and protests against autocratic regimes, which, according to some, results from of the mingling of the sexes in sports.

The warnings come against the backdrop of Saudi efforts to shield the Gulf from the wave of popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, renewed focus on the role of militant soccer fans opposing military rule in Egypt and pressure on the kingdom to allow women to compete for the first time in an international tournament during the London Olympics.

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh quoted in the kingdom's Al Watan newspaper warned that the protests that have already toppled the leaders of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen and brought Syria to the brink of civil war were sinful. "The schism, instability, the malfunctioning of security and the breakdown of unity that Islamic countries are facing these days is a result of the sins of the public and their transgressions," Sheikh Abdulaziz said.

Such sins include, according to Imam Abu Abdellah of As-Sunnah mosque in Kissimee, Florida, speaking in a video posted on the Internet, the mixing of the sexes at sports events. “In the past it was only men, now it is almost half half (in stadiums). Allah knows what happens afterwards. Either way it is bad. Either people go out, they are sensing and partying and drinking and all that, so that’s negative. And if they don’t, they go out and they demonstrate and they’re angry and they destroy property and they destroy cars and they destroy people’s business. Either way its haram (forbidden), things have to be done in moderation. These are the things that are associated with sports that the believers have to be careful with,” Abu Abedallah said.

“So there is nothing wrong with watching and practicing your favourite sport as long as you adhere to the norms. When it comes to the way you dress and the way you behave, where you’re going to be, what are you going to be listening to; are you going to be mingling in crowds you are not supposed to be mingling with? All of those things do matter when you are practicing or you are watching your favourite sport,” the imam said.

The clerics’ statements came as Saudi Arabia prepares for a summit of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in which it hopes to foist closer political and military cooperation on its largely reluctant co-members Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE. Bahrain, which last year brutally squashed with Saudi assistance an uprising against its minority Sunni Muslin rulers, is likely to be the only GCC state to fully endorse the notion of a political union.

The statements also come as International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge is under pressure to make good on his pledges earlier this year to stand for gender equality by banning Saudi Arabia from this year’s London Olympics if it fails to field women athletes. A Human Rights Watch report released in February, called on Saudi Arabia to protect women's equal right to sports and urged the IOC to live up to its charter, which prohibits discrimination, or face a ban similar to that imposed on Afghanistan in 1999 partly for its exclusion of female athletes.

With Qatar and Brunei expected to have women athletes for the first time this year in their delegations, Saudi Arabia would be the only country in the world that still refuses to allow women to compete. The kingdom has recently hinted that it would not stand against Saudi women living abroad competing, but would not field athletes from the kingdom itself.

In separate statements, two Saudi religious scholars admonished soccer players that bad behaviour could lead to a ban on public attendance of matches. It was not immediately clear what incidents of bad behaviour they were referring to.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Suleiman Al Manei, a member of the Gulf Kingdom’s supreme scholars committee and an advisor to King Abdullah warned that “the spread of such (bad) acts on play fields is a clear indicator of a decline in moral values and the transformation of sport from fair competition into bigotry. The continuation of these bad phenomena which pose a threat to the ethical values of our sons makes the attendance of these matches a hateful thing. This means that going to these matches could become prohibited because what is happening there has a strong negative impact on the society.”

In a statement of his own, Sheikh Abdullah Al Mutlaq, another member of the supreme committee, denounced players for allegedly faking incidents in a bid to get a referee to award a penalty in their team’s favour. “These are acts of deception, which is hated and forbidden in Islam…..the sin becomes worse when the player swears by Allah falsely…players should refrain from such wrong acts as they have become a bad example for the young generation,” Sheikh Al Mutlaq said without reference to specific incidents.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer, and a consultant to geopolitical consulting firm Wikistrat.

The Relevance and Role Played by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's Doctrines on the Al-Qaida Ideology and the Problematic Nature of Attempting to Define the Relationship

by Nadim Pabani

The purpose of this essay is to address the issue regarding the role played by Wahhabi thought in Al-Qaida’s discourse... more The purpose of this essay is to address the issue regarding the role played by Wahhabi thought in Al-Qaida’s discourse and ideology as well as whether we are able to tackle this issue appropriately.

The author hopes to demonstrate that both, Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab ’s Wahhabi movements were shaped by the circumstances in which they developed; products of their time, and consequently, although overlapping in some areas, at the core of each movement, the essence and motivations upon which both were founded, differ quite markedly.

Early and Medieval Jihad Doctrine and Its Relevance in Understandng Contemporary Islamic Fundamentalism

by Nadim Pabani

This paper attempts to uncover the relationship, if any, between the early and medieval doctrine of Jihad in... more This paper attempts to uncover the relationship, if any, between the early and medieval doctrine of Jihad in understanding the actions of contemporary Islamic fundamentalism.

We suggest that early writings on the doctrine of Jihad and warfare are of little relevance unless studied alongside and in conjunction with a study of the specific individuals and contexts involved.

Imam Ja‘far’s Legacy to the Community - The Formulation of the Doctrine of Imamate

by Nadim Pabani

Imam Jafar al-Sadiq’s importance extended in the sphere of law and jurisprudence amongst all Muslim communities but... more Imam Jafar al-Sadiq’s importance extended in the sphere of law and jurisprudence amongst all Muslim communities but for Shias he was the final authority on Earth in matters pertaining to faith and Sharia. In this piece, we situate Imam Jafar in his historical and socio-political context whilst also addressing the key principles which were developed during his Imamat including the the doctrine of Imamat, and the principles of nass, ilm and taqiya.

Ghulūww and the Ghulāt in Early Imāmi Shī'ism, A Brief Survey of Beliefs and Doctrines

by Nadim Pabani

The term ghulūww is commonly translated as “extremism” or “exaggeration” and denotes certain religious and doctrinal... more The term ghulūww is commonly translated as “extremism” or “exaggeration” and denotes certain religious and doctrinal views which could be classed as exceeding the bounds of ‘proper’ belief with those holding these extreme views being called ghulāt (sing. ghāli) or “exaggerators”. The ghulāt tended to be associated with certain beliefs deemed ‘deviant’ or ‘heretical’ enough so that they were, in some cases, viewed as falling beyond the pale of Muslim orthodoxy and Islam.

The purpose of this paper will be to illustrate the evolutionary nature of this concept, whilst also surveying certain doctrines associated with the ghulāt.

Abu Mikhnaf's Kitab Maqtal al-Husayn - A Product of Its Time

by Nadim Pabani

The focus of this paper will be a text known as the Kiṭāb Maqtal al-Ḥusayn (from here on in referred to as the Kiṭāb);... more The focus of this paper will be a text known as the Kiṭāb Maqtal al-Ḥusayn (from here on in referred to as the Kiṭāb); a compilation of reports surrounding the death of the third Shi'i Imam Ḥusayn ibn. Ali ibn. Abū Talib, who was martyred on the plains of Kerbala on the tenth day of Muharram, 680 C.E. The historian responsible for the Kiṭāb was a Kufan man by the name of Abū Mikhnaf (d.774) and this paper will assess the milieu which gave rise to the Kiṭāb and attempt to show how the Kiṭāb was a product of the time in which it was compiled.

Vivre en prison à l’époque abbasside

by Mathieu Tillier

Published in: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 52 (2009), p. 635-659.

In this article, we investigate the conditions of life in jail under the Abbasids. A comparative study of chronicles,... more In this article, we investigate the conditions of life in jail under the Abbasids. A comparative study of chronicles, biographical dictionaries, adab and legal literature allows a reconstruction of the main features of prison life. We argue that prisoners were supplied with the bare necessities by the prison institution and highly depended on their relatives or on public charity. The degree of promiscuity, hunger and dirtiness was quite similar in the politico-military prisons and in those of qādīs; in the first type of jail it played a major role in the criminals' punishment, in the second one it was part of the pressure put on debtors.

Nous proposons dans cet article d'examiner les conditions de vie dans les prisons à l'époque abbasside. Le croisement des chroniques, des dictionnaires biographiques, de l'adab et de la littérature juridique permet de reconstituer les principales caractéristiques de l'univers carcéral. Il apparaît que les détenus n'étaient entretenus qu'a minima par l'institution carcérale et dépendaient dans une large mesure de leurs familles ou de la charité publique. La promiscuité, la faim et la saleté, d'un degré comparable dans les prisons du pouvoir politico-militaire et dans celles des cadis, contribuait au châtiment des malfaiteurs dans les premières et à la pression exercée sur les débiteurs dans les secondes.

The Metaphysics of the Common Word: A Dialogue of Eckhartian and Isma'ili Gnosis (Part 2)

by Khalil Andani

This article, the conclusion of a two-part series (the first part was published in Volume 26 of this journal) presents... more This article, the conclusion of a two-part series (the first part was published in Volume 26 of this journal) presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity as taught by Meister Eckhart and the metaphysics of Islam as elucidated in Shi'a Isma'ili theosophy, in which the three Persons of the Christian Trinity are compared with the three highest hypostases of Isma'ili gnosis. In this second instalment, the author continues the metaphysical dialogue by comparing Eckhart's concept of the Son and the Isma'ili notion of the Universal Intellect (al-'Aql al-Kull) in light of concept of the Divine Intellect. The author then explores the relationship between the Father and the Son as understood by Meister Eckhart and compares this to the relationship between the Divine Command and Universal Intellect as conceived in Isma'ili gnosis. This is followed by a comparison of Eckhart's concept of the Holy Spirit and the Isma'ili concept of the Universal Soul (al-Nafs al-Kull) in relation to the notion of Divine Love. The author also highlights the correspondence between the figures of Christ and his Virgin Mother in Christianity and the figures of the Imam and his Hujjah in Isma'ili Islam. The article concludes by exploring how metaphysical commonalities can inform and enlighten the Christian and Muslim dialogues in the modern world.

The Metaphysics of the Common Word: A Dialogue of Eckhartian and Isma'ili Gnosis (Part 1)

by Khalil Andani

This essay—the first of two parts—presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity... more This essay—the first of two parts—presents a comparative dialogue between the Trinitarian metaphysics of Christianity as taught by Meister Eckhart and the metaphysics of Islam as elucidated in Shi'a Isma'ili theosophy. This important study, which we believe to be the first of its kind, compares the three Persons of the Christian Trinity with the three highest hypostases of Isma'ili gnosis. In this first installment, the author puts forth the premises for a metaphysical dialogue and outlines the correspondence between the degrees of Beyond-Being and Being as described by Meister Eckhart and the Isma'ili theosophers. This is followed by a detailed comparison of the Eckhartian notion of the Godhead (Gottheit) and the Isma'ili concept of the Divine Essence or the Originator (al-Mubdi) as well as their respective apophatic discourses on the nature of the Ultimate Reality. The first part concludes with a comparison of Eckhart's concept of the Father and the Isma'ili concept of the Divine Command (Amr) in light of the concept of Pure Being. The second installment, which will continue the metaphysical and hypostatic comparisons, is to be published in volume 27 of Sacred Web.