The Alevis in Turkey Shankland, David
2003, 20031208, 2003-09-01, 2003-12-08, 20070101
eBook
This is the only volume dedicated to the Alevis available in English and based on sustained fieldwork in Turkey. The Alevis now have an increasingly high profile for those interested in the diverse ...cultures of contemporary Turkey, and in the role of Islam in the modern world. As a heterodox Islamic group, the Alevis have no established doctrine. This book reveals that as the Alevi move from rural to urban sites, they grow increasingly secular, and their religious life becomes more a guiding moral culture than a religious message to be followed literally. But the study shows that there is nothing inherently secular-proof within Islam, and that belief depends upon a range of contexts.
Introduction 1. Setting the Scene: Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey 2. The Alevis and their Place in the Republic: An Overview 3. An Alevi Community 4. Religion, Ritual and Belief among Alevis 5. Social Change and the Alevi Communities 6. The Alevi, the State, and the Future 7. Theoretical and Comparative Reflections Appendices: Primary Material on the Alevis
David Shankland lectures in the Dept of Social Anthropology at the Univeristy of Wales, Lampeter, and was formerly Assistant and Acting Director of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, Turkey. For many years a specialist on Turkey, he has published widely on the subject.
The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule provides an original perspective on the history of the Shiites as a constituent of Lebanese society. Winter presents a history of the community before the ...19th century, based primarily on Ottoman Turkish documents. From these, he examines how local Shiites were well integrated in the Ottoman system of rule, and that Lebanon as an autonomous entity only developed in the course of the 18th century through the marginalization and then violent elimination of the indigenous Shiite leaderships by an increasingly powerful Druze-Maronite emirate. As such the book recovers the Ottoman-era history of a group which has always been neglected in chronicle-based works, and in doing so, fundamentally calls into question the historic place within 'Lebanon' of what has today become the country's largest and most activist sectarian community.
The siege of Aleppo by the crusaders posed a threat to the city’s security, livelihood, and economy. The inefficiency of the city’s rulers brought Aleppo to the brink of collapse. In response, Shiite ...families and Imami judges in Aleppo worked to eliminate this threat. This study aims to examine the role of Shiite judges in creating security in Aleppo. The findings of this study reveal that the judges in Aleppo utilized their social and divine influence to invite powerful Sunni rulers, such as the Artuqids and the rulers of Mosul, to restore political, livelihood, and economic security in Aleppo. The judges’ political actions were primarily focused on military attacks, famine, disease, and the shutting down of trade. Therefore, this study examines the political, social, and economic context of Aleppo to understand the actions of these judges.
Charts the history of Twelver Shi`ism and the processes underlying the development of its key distinctive doctrines and practices, which ensured its survival in the face of repeated internal and ...external challenges.
The Huthi rebels in Yemen are a resistance movement going back decades. Their revolution against Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2015—and the subsequent proxy war between Iran, Saudi Arabia, ...and the Huthis—has brought absolute devastation to the country. But who are the Huthis and how can we understand the group away from armed conflict and war? What has motivated their social movement to fundamentally re-shape Yemen, and what are the group’s local and regional ambitions? This book provides the first comprehensive critical analysis dedicated to the Huthis. Across four parts and 17 chapters, the book examines how the movement is challenging traditional religious authority, re-shaping tribal values and roles in Yemen, constructing new collective memories and identities, and infusing Yemen’s mediascape with their ideological creed. In examining the movement’s specific ways of thinking and beliefs, the book also highlights its foreign policy within a regional policy of resistance to the United States, and it points towards what its impact on both Yemen and the security of the Arab Gulf region will be. The book brings together the leading experts on Yemen from diverse disciplines to provide readers with a nuanced and multi-layered approach to understanding the Huthi movement.
The article attempts to analyze the specifics of the position of the Shiiteclergy in Iraq, associated with the traditional Islamic worldview of Shiites, who traditionally occupied a subordinate ...position in the Sunni political hierarchy. The article focuses on the period of the formation and strengthening of Saddam Hussein’s sole power, when he took the initiative to appease Shiites and Ulama, combining the policy of “carrot and stick”, considering Shiites as a potential threat to his secular power.
Hezbollah Avon, Dominique; Khatchadourian, Anaїs-Trissa; Todd, Jane Marie
09/2012
eBook
Hezbollah’s revolutionary role in global politics has invited lionization and vilification, rather than a clear-eyed view of its place in history. Now that the party is in power, how will Hezbollah ...reconcile its regional obligations with its religious beliefs? This nonpartisan account offers insights that Western media have missed or misunderstood.
A Treasury of Virtues is a collection of sayings, sermons, and teachings attributed to 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40H/661AD), cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, first Shi'a Imam and fourth ...Sunni Caliph. 'Ali was an acknowledged master of Arabic eloquence and a renowned sage of Islamic wisdom. Through proverbs and aphorisms, sermons and speeches, prayers and supplications, epistles and contracts, testimonials and homilies, verse and dialogues, it provides instruction on how to be a decent human being. And it combines these ethical teachings with religious exhortations and preparation for eternal life in the hereafter. Moreover, the lessons of the text are clothed in the cadenced parallelisms of a consummate oral culture, and the vivid metaphors of the Arabian desert. Appealing to the addressee's higher nature, they also beguile his aesthetic sensibilities, integrating art and edification in an exquisite package of verbal ingenuity. Of the many compilations of 'Ali's words, A Treasury of Virtues arguably possesses the broadest compass of genres, and the largest variety of themes. The shorter One Hundred Proverbs is also a compilation of 'Ali's words. Attributed to al-Jahiz ("the father of Arabic prose"), it has a celebrity status in its own category and its pithy one-liners are quotable quotes of the finest order. This volume presents the first English translation of both these important texts, with a new critical edition based on several original manuscripts.
This article aims to analyze the methods used by Ibn ‘Arabi al-Ma’rifi in order to reject all the theological concepts of Shia, the second Islamic sect after Sunni based on his book al-‘Awasim wa ...al-Qawasim. This article used qualitative methods based on library research by reading the book of the author and analyse the methodological point of the author in his critics. The life of Imam Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi al-Ma’afari - may God have mercy on him - was full of knowledge since his childhood, as he grew up in a house of knowledge and righteousness, and his journey to the countries of the Orient had the greatest impact on his brilliance in the types of sciences and knowledge. With the breadth of his knowledge and the length of his sale, he is an investigator and an auditor. He is a Sunni scholar keen on the Book and the Sunnah. Imam Abu Bakr bin al-Arabi al-Ma’afari, may God have mercy on him, followed the method of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah in criticizing the beliefs of the Shiites. His clear position in responding to Ali's succession, may God be pleased with him, in the belief of the Shiites, and his eminent response, may God have mercy on him, to their suspicions about the Companions.
