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Gulen echoes the great teacher Rumi by telling is not to ignore the doctrine of causes, not to sit around heedlessly waiting for God's favor, but rather to continuously exert ourselves in order to transform this broken world into a world of peace and justice, in accordance with the Will of God. He neither denies reality by turning his back on modernity, nor does he fall into bitterness, incomprehension and fury. His message is essentially a message of peace and hope, a message that is best conveyed in The Statue of Our Souls.
Presents the political, social, and cultural context behind Ottoman charity.
Using a wealth of contemporary Ottoman sources, this book recreates the social history of Istanbul, a huge, cosmopolitan metropolis and imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire. Seat of the Sultan and an opulent international emporium, Istanbul was also a city of violence shaken regularly by natural disasters and by the turmoil of sultanic politics and violent revolt. Its inhabitants, entertained by imperial festivities and cared for by the great pious foundations which touched every aspect of their lives, also amused themselves in the numerous pleasure gardens and the many public baths of the city. While the book is focused on Istanbul, it presents a broad picture of Ottoman society, how it was structured and how it developed and transformed across four centuries. As such, the book offers an exciting alternative to the more traditional histories of the Ottoman Empire.
The Qur’an is believed by Muslims to be the final word of God revealed to humanity through Prophet Muhammad speaking to all humans for all times. This nature of Islam’s holy book brings along a continuous study of it so that its injunctions are reinterpreted according to constantly changing times and conditions of our world. This book presents such interpretations from a respected Muslim scholar who explains verses for the modern age. Gülen is well-informed of the classical exegetical discipline; nevertheless in this book he keeps his explanations short and to the point, not to tire away readers. The book does not cover all the verses of the Qur’an, but selected ones, those relate most to the human existence on earth, life after death, and stories revealed in the holy book
This is a concise survey of the economy of the Byzantine Empire from the fourth century AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Organised chronologically, the book addresses key themes such as demography, agriculture, manufacturing and the urban economy, trade, monetary developments, and the role of the state and ideology. It provides a comprehensive overview of the economy with an emphasis on the economic actions of the state and the productive role of the city and non-economic actors, such as landlords, artisans and money-changers. The final chapter compares the Byzantine economy with the economies of western Europe and concludes that the Byzantine economy was one of the most successful examples of a mixed economy in the pre-industrial world. This is the only concise general history of the Byzantine economy and will be essential reading for students of economic history, Byzantine history and medieval history more generally.
This unique record charts the important archaeological finds over 18 years at Ziyaret Tepe in southeast Turkey - site of Tushan, a provincial capital of the Assyrian Empire dating back to the 9th century BC. Informative, scholarly, copiously illustrated, personal and extremely readable, this groundbreaking book sets a new benchmark in the field.
Contested States examines how hegemony is created and facilitated through law as well as how people use legal arenas to resist oppression. The essays, written by anthropologists and historians, offer rich historical and ethnographic detail as they engage these themes in such contexts as: colonial and post-colonial courts in Kenya, India, Uganda and the Caribbean; bureaucracies in Tonga and Turkey; and judicial processes in the historical and contemporary United States. Contested States contributes to the new focus on power and social process in legal studies and argues that while states encode and enforce law, a crucial part of the power of law is its very contestability. The book demonstrates that theoretical insights learned in legal arenas can deepen one's overall understanding of sociocultural order and the processes of historical and legal change.
Introduction: Goldilocks in Byzantium 1. The Challenge: A Framework for Collapse 2. Beliefs, Narratives, and the Moral Universe 3. Identities, Divisions, and Solidarities 4. Elites and Interests 5. Regional Variation and Resistance 6. Some Environmental Factors 7. Organization, Cohesion, and Survival A Conclusion.
The site of medieval Euchaïta, on the northern edge of the central Anatolian plateau, was the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro ('the Recruit'). Unlike most excavated or surveyed urban centres of the Byzantine period, Euchaïta was never a major metropolis, cultural centre or extensive urban site, although it had a military function from the seventh to ninth centuries. Its significance lies precisely in the fact that as a small provincial town, something of a backwater, it was probably more typical of the 'average' provincial Anatolian urban settlement, yet almost nothing is known about such sites. This volume represents the results of a collaborative project that integrates archaeological survey work with other disciplines in a unified approach to the region both to enhance understanding of the history of Byzantine provincial society and to illustrate the application of innovative approaches to field survey.
This book provides both a detailed introduction to the vivid and exciting period of `late antiquity' and a direct challenge to conventional views of the end of the Empire.