This volume envisions social practices surrounding mosques, shrines and public spaces in urban contexts as a window on the diverse ways in which Muslims in different regional and historical settings imagine, experience, and inhabit places and spaces as »sacred«. Unlike most studies on Muslim communities, this volume focuses on cultural, material and sensuous practices and urban everyday experience. Drawing on a range of analytical perspectives, the contributions examine spatial practices in Muslim societies from an interdisciplinary perspective, an approach which has been widely neglected both in Islamic studies and social sciences.

This book contains articles on historic cities of the Islamic world, ranging from West Africa to Malaysia, which over the centuries have been centres of culture and learning and of economic and commercial life, and which have contributed much to the consolidation of Islam as a faith and as a social and political institution. The articles have been taken from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, completed in 2004, but in many cases expanded and rewritten. All have been updated to include fresh historical information, with note of contemporary social developments and population statistics. The book thus delineates the urban background of Islam has it has evolved up to the present day, highlighting the role of such great cities as Cairo, Istanbul, Baghdad and Delhi in Islamic history, and also brings them together in a rich panorama illustrating one of mankind's greatest achievements, the living organism of the city.

Writing in the cosmopolitan metropolis of Baghdad, Alfarabi (870-950) is unique in the history of premodern political philosophy for his extensive discussion of the nation, or Umma in Arabic. The term Umma may be traced back to the Qur'ān and signifies, then and now, both the Islamic religious community as a whole and the various ethnic nations of which that community is composed, such as the Turks, Persians, and Arabs. Examining Alfarabi's political writings as well as parts of his logical commentaries, his book on music, and other treatises, Alexander Orwin contends that the connections and tensions between ethnic and religious Ummas explored by Alfarabi in his time persist today in the ongoing political and cultural disputes among the various nationalities within Islam. According to Orwin, Alfarabi strove to recast the Islamic Umma as a community in both a religious and cultural sense, encompassing art and poetry as well as law and piety. By proposing to acknowledge and accommodate diverse Ummas rather than ignoring or suppressing them, Alfarabi anticipated the contemporary concept of "Islamic civilization," which emphasizes culture at least as much as religion. Enlisting language experts, jurists, theologians, artists, and rulers in his philosophic enterprise, Alfarabi argued for a new Umma that would be less rigid and more creative than the Muslim community as it has often been understood, and therefore less inclined to force disparate ethnic and religious communities into a single mold. Redefining the Muslim Community demonstrates how Alfarabi's judicious combination of cultural pluralism, religious flexibility, and political prudence could provide a blueprint for reducing communal strife in a region that continues to be plagued by it today.

An Introduction to Islam, Fourth Edition, provides students with a thorough, unified and topical introduction to the global religious community of Islam. In addition, the author's extensive field work, experience, and scholarship combined with his engaging writing style and passion for the subject also sets his text apart. An Introduction to Islam places Islam within a cultural, political, social, and religious context, and examines its connections with Judeo-Christian morals. Its integration of the doctrinal and devotional elements of Islam enables readers to see how Muslims think and live, engendering understanding and breaking down stereotypes. This text also reviews pre-Islamic history, so readers can see how Islam developed historically.

“Remarkable insight and sensitivity . . . deepen[s] our understanding of human resilience and how people rebuild their lives from tragic circumstances.” —KENNETH ROTH, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch “The stories in this book are eloquently and poignantly recounted, and offer a vital, complex portrait of what the long road to peace looks like.” —DINAW MENGESTU, author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and How to Read the Air “Profound . . . Rarely do we get the opportunity to delve into the thoughts of the young caught up in such a tragedy—and meet them not just once in their lives but again years later.” —TIM JUDAH, Europe correspondent for Bloomberg World View, Balkans correspondent for The Economist, and author of The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia Imagine you are nine years old. Your best friend’s father is arrested, half your classmates disappear from school, and someone burns down the house across the road. Imagine you are ten years old and have to cross a snow-covered mountain range at night in order to escape the soldiers who are trying to kill you. How would you deal with these memories five, ten, or twenty years later once you are an adult? Jones, a relief worker and child psychiatrist, interviewed over forty Serb and Muslim children who came of age during the Bosnian War and now returns, twenty years after the war began, to discover the adults they have become. A must-read for anyone interested in human rights, children’s issues, and the psychological fallout from war, this engaging book addresses the continuing debate about PTSD, the roots of ethnic identity and nationalism, the sources of global conflict, the best paths toward peacemaking and reconciliation, and the resilience of the human spirit. Lynne Jones was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her work in child psychiatry in conflict-affected areas of Central Europe and has established and directed mental health programs in areas of conflict and natural disaster throughout Latin America, the Balkans, East and West Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Her field diaries have been published in O, The Oprah Magazine and London Review of Books, and her audio diaries have been broadcast on the BBC World Service.

Hard Questions This Book Answers What is causing the backward transformation that Europeans are experiencing, bringing parts of Europe back to almost the same state of terrorism and loss of freedom when they were once shackled under NAZI and Communist occupations? What has happened to Christianity in Europe? How many churches are now standing empty, being turned into museums or concert halls, or being sold as mosques? What has happened to the demographics of Europeans now in such decline? How soon will original Europeans no longer exist, replaced by the souring populations of Muslims? What is the true history of Islam and the ideology driving their acts of terrorism? Why is this being whitewashed in the media and in European and American public schools as the schools are promoting pure Islam propaganda? How is the USA following the same pattern set for us in Europe with their massive influx of immigrants and refugees? Who are the various secular and non-secular groups driving the refugee program, and how much money is being made by them? What are the huge numbers of immigrants and refugees doing to our own country? How are small town and communities and their schools suffering with such a huge influx of migrants who do not share a common culture, language, traditions, or religion? What can we learn from this book before it is too late?

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt represents the largest Christian community in the Middle East today, but few works have appeared that discuss the situation of the contemporary Church. The Coptic Church has preserved ancient Christian traditions in a unique way. Not only has it survived centuries of living in a predominantly Muslim environment, but it has also managed to renew itself continuously during its long history. This book covers, for the first time, the most important aspects of the contemporary Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt and in the diaspora, bringing together new knowledge which would otherwise remain largely inaccessible except to a small number of specialists.

There is strong demand for current, accurate, and objective information about Islamic societies and Muslims around the world. This is the first survey for a general audience of key current topics in 16 countries with significant Muslim populations. Each chapter covering a country contains the following narrative elements: Overview (statistics, demographics of followers, brief history of their life there); Political Impact; Women's Status; Special Issues in the News; Notable People (biographical profiles); and Resource Guide, with Suggested Reading, Films/Videos, Websites, and Organizations. The content ties in to World History standards to help analyze connections between globalizing trends in culture in the late 20th century and dynamic assertions of traditional cultural identity and distinctiveness, as well as to the Global Connections part of Social Studies standards. This will be essential reading for those desiring a one-volume resource about hot spots in the news today. Countries profiled include Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Photos and maps help to put the narrative in perspective.

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. We bear witness that Muhammad of 1400 years ago (PBUH) is Allah's last Prophet. Peace! Peace! I am Field Supreme Minister, Ali Mahdi Muhammad. Spiritual Leader of the New World Nation of Islam. The Field Supreme Staff was commissioned Saviour's Day, February 26, 1960. That was the same day that our Father, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad told tens of thousands of His followers and announced to the world that He, Elijah was Allah, God. He, Elijah said, "I have been made equal in knowledge with Allah. I control the winds and the seas. I have power over the sun, moon and stars. I have waited 379 years for this day." The Commissioning of the Field Supreme Staff was witnessed by twenty of the Nation of Islam's Ministers at the Minister's Meeting that day-Saviour's Day, 1960. When Elijah (My God, Your Messenger) said He is equal to Allah many people walked out of the auditorium. But we, the Field Staff believed every word he said. He began to teach us the secrets of God being among us and what we must do the build the House of Our Father's Desires. (1 Chronicles 28:5-15) We, the New World Nation of Islam, are the original followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We are that infant nation, a nation within a nation, born to build a New World. The History in this book is the True and Untold Story of the Nation of Islam by the people who actually lived it.