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Religion, Language and Power shows that the language of ‘religion’ is far from neutral, and that the packaging and naming of what English speakers call ‘religious’ groups or identities is imbued with the play of power. Religious Studies has all too often served to amplify voices from other centers of power, whether scripturalist or otherwise normative and dominant. This book’s de-centering of English classifications goes beyond the remit of most postcolonial studies in that it explores the classifications used in a range of languages — including Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Greek and English — to achieve a comparative survey of the roles of language and power in the making of ‘religion’ . In contextualizing these uses of language, the ten contributors explore how labels are either imposed or emerge interactively through discursive struggles between dominant and marginal groups. In dealing with the interplay of religion, language and power, there is no other book with the breadth of this volume.
Based throughout on original Persian and Arabic sources, most in manuscript, this is an exhaustive overview of Babi history and doctrine. Alongside Amanat's "Resurrection and Renewal," this distillation of a lifetime's work on the movement brings Babi studies into the twentieth century.
Since its inception, Islam and its civilization have been in continuous relationships with other religions, cultures, and civilizations, including not only different forms of Christianity and Judaism inside and outside the Middle East, Zoroastrianism and Manicheism, Hinduism and even Buddhism, but also tribal religions in West and East Africa, in South Russia and in Central Asia, including Tibet. The essays collected here examine the many texts that have come down to us about these cultures and their religions, from Muslim theologians and jurists, travelers and historians, and men of letters and of culture.
I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies Muhammad b. Abd al-Karim al-Shahrastani was one of the most learned and enigmatic scholars of medieval Islam. In his work, 'Kitab al-Musara'a' ('Struggling with the Philosopher'), which is published here in English translation (together with its original Arabic text) for the first time, al-Shahrastani gives a detailed critique of the metaphysics of the great Persian philosopher Avicenna. The greater part of his 'intellectual wrestling match' ('musara'a') is devoted to refuting Avicenna's interpretation of the 'Necessary Being' which, he argues, compromises the absolute transcendence of God. For al-Shahrastani, God is beyond hum...
Muslims Have Been Provided By Allah A Complete Code Of Conduct In The Form Of Holy Quran. In Quran There Are Two Types Of Verses I.E. Allegorial (Mutashabiat) And Categorical (Mukhamat). The Mutashabiat Verses Of Quran Are Mostly Pertaining To The Essence Of Allah And His Attributes, Predestination, Soul And Life Here After Death Etc. Etc. Since These Verses Are Outside The Purview Of Human Reasoning, Much Hair Splitting And Question Begging Has Not Been Encouraged In This Regard. Yet Many Of The Muslim Thinkers And Philosophers Have Ventured To Enter Into Detailed Discussions In These Matters.
Friedman offers new and updated research on the Nusayr - Alaw sect, today a leading group in Syria, covering a variety of aspects and focusing on the Middle Ages. A century after Dussaud's "Histoire et religion des Nosair s" (1900), he reviews the history and religion of the sect in the light of old documents used by orientalists in the nineteenth century, documents that became available in the twentieth century, and later sources of the Nu ayr - Alaw sect published most recently in Lebanon. Also studied in depth for the first time is the question of the identity of the sect through the Alaw -Sunn -Sh triangle.