"Behind the clamorous headlines of militant and political Islam lies the more serene and cultivated form that is traditional Islam, which now is increasingly under threat from both fundamentalists and modern secularists. Author Jean-Louis Michon unveils this lesser-known dimension of Islam while capturing the essence and beauty of this often misinterpreted religion, which has over 1.5 billion adherents (about a quarter of the world's population)." "Illustrated with over 270 color photographs, Introduction to Traditional Islam is divided into four parts: 1: the foundations of Islam, which highlights the pillars of the faith as well as the traditional Islamic city and its holistic vision of life; 2: the message of Islamic art; 3: music and spirituality; and 4: the way of Sufism, the inward or mystical dimension of Islam."--BOOK JACKET.

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"Muqarnas" is sponsored by The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Muqarnas" 26 contains articles on a variety of topics that span and transcend the geographic and temporal boundaries that have traditionally defined the history of Islamic art and architecture. Contributors include Robert McChesney, Mattia Guidetti, Marcus Schadl, Christian Gruber, Katia Cytryn-Silverman, Doris Abouseif, Olga Bush, Emine Fetvaci, Moya Carey, Bernard O'Kane, Hadi Maktabi, Nadia Erzini and Stephen Vernoit.

Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the intimate writings made during life that were not necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to a formal book-length autobiography. Reading an autobiography can offer a unique insight into a world and experience very different from your own — and these real-life stories are even more entertaining, and stranger, than fiction. Take a glimpse into the lives of some of the world's most inspiring and successful celebrities from ancient times to the present day. 1. The Life of Flavius Josephus 2. “De Bello Gallico” and Other Commentaries by Julius Caesar 3. The Confessions of St. Augustine by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine 4. The Autobiography of St. Ignatius by Saint of Loyola Ignatius 5. Letters to His Son, Complete by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield 6. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 7. Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant 8. An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt 9. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie 10. My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla 11. Henry Ford: Highlights of His Life 12. The Autobiography of Goethe by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 13. The Memoirs of Victor Hugo 14. Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth

This carefully researched monograph is a historical investigation of the illustrated Aratea astronomical manuscript and its many interpretations over the centuries. Aratus' 270 B.C.E. Greek poem describing the constellations and astrological phenomena was translated and copied over 800 years into illuminated manuscripts that preserved and illustrated these ancient stories about the constellations. The Aratea survives in its entirety due to multiple translations from Greek to Latin and even to Arabic, with many illuminated versions being commissioned over the ages. The survey encompasses four interrelated disciplines: history of literature, history of myth, history of science, and history of art. Aratea manuscripts by their nature are a meeting place of these distinct branches, and the culling of information from historical literature and from the manuscripts themselves focuses on a wider, holistic view; a narrow approach could not provide a proper prospective. What is most essential to know about this work is that because of its successive incarnations it has survived and been reinterpreted through the centuries, which speaks to its importance in all of these disciplines. This book brings a better understanding of the history, changes and transmission of the original astronomical Phaenomena poem. Historians, art historians, astronomy lovers, and historians of astronomy will learn more specialized details concerning the Aratea and how the tradition survived from the Middle Ages. It is a credit to the poetry of Aratus and the later interpreters of the text that its pagan aspects were not edited nor removed, but respected and maintained in the exact same form despite the fact that all sixty Aratea manuscripts mentioned in this study were produced under the rule of Christianity.

Islam.

This fascinating edited collection of art historian Titus Burckhardt's most important writings on Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist art is lavishly illustrated with 140 superb examples of Oriental art, architecture, statuary, and painting.

A “well-organized and interesting” overview of science in the Muslim world in the seventh through seventeenth centuries, with over 100 illustrations (The Middle East Journal). During the Golden Age of Islam, in the seventh through seventeenth centuries A. D., Muslim philosophers and poets, artists and scientists, princes and laborers created a unique culture that has influenced societies on every continent. This book offers a fully illustrated, highly accessible introduction to an important aspect of that culture: the scientific achievements of medieval Islam. Howard Turner, who curated the subject for a major traveling exhibition, opens with a historical overview of the spread of Islamic civilization from the Arabian peninsula eastward to India and westward across northern Africa into Spain. He describes how a passion for knowledge led the Muslims during their centuries of empire-building to assimilate and expand the scientific knowledge of older cultures, including those of Greece, India, and China. He explores medieval Islamic accomplishments in cosmology, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, geography, medicine, natural sciences, alchemy, and optics. He also indicates the ways in which Muslim scientific achievement influenced the advance of science in the Western world from the Renaissance to the modern era. This survey of historic Muslim scientific achievements offers students and other readers a window into one of the world’s great cultures, one which is experiencing a remarkable resurgence as a religious, political, and social force in our own time.

This work examines the relevance of traditional Islamic thought and practices for a lasting solution to the current environmental crisis. Quadir describes how Seyyed Hossein Nasr challenges Muslims to reclaim their traditional intellectual and Sufi heritage as powerful means toward a most thoughtful approach to the crisis. In so doing, Nasr urges us to take a critical look at the consequences of the worldviews generated by modern science and technology and offers bold solutions for a more caring relationship between man and nature. The book argues that only a revival of the traditional worldview which perceives all entities of nature as signs of God can effectively respond to the crisis our planet faces.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is the most comprehensive reference work in this complex and diverse area of art history. Built on the acclaimed scholarship of the Grove Dictionary of Art, this work offers over 1,600 up-to-date entries on Islamic art and architecture ranging from the Middle East to Central and South Asia, Africa, and Europe and spans over a thousand years of history. Recent changes in Islamic art in areas such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq are elucidated here by distinguished scholars. Entries provide in-depth art historical and cultural information about dynasties, art forms, artists, architecture, rulers, monuments, archaeological sites and stylistic developments. In addition, over 500 illustrations of sculpture, mosaic, painting, ceramics, architecture, metalwork and calligraphy illuminate the rich artistic tradition of the Islamic world. With the fundamental understanding that Islamic art is not limited to a particular region, or to a defined period of time, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture offers pathways into Islamic culture through its art.