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The ‘Alawis, or Alawites, are a prominent religious minority in northern Syria, Lebanon, and southern Turkey, best known today for enjoying disproportionate political power in war-torn Syria. In this book, Stefan Winter offers a complete history of the community, from the birth of the ‘Alawi (Nusayri) sect in the tenth century to just after World War I, the establishment of the French mandate over Syria, and the early years of the Turkish republic. Winter draws on a wealth of Ottoman archival records and other sources to show that the ‘Alawis were not historically persecuted as is often claimed, but rather were a fundamental part of Syrian and Turkish provincial society. Winter argues ...
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.
Aleppo and its Hinterland in the Ottoman Period comprises eleven essays in English and French by leading scholars of Ottoman Syria which draw on new research in Turkish, Levantine and other archival sources. Focusing on both the city and its place in the wider region, the collection examines trade guilds and Christian settlement in Aleppo, Turkmen and Bedouin tribes in Aleppo’s interior, international trade and the establishment of an Ottoman commercial tribunal in the Tanzimat period, Aleppo and the rise of the millet system, the Belgian consular presence, Sufi networks in the province of Aleppo, the countryside of Antioch under the Egyptian occupation, and the urban revolt of 1850. With contributions from Enver Çakar, Elyse Semerdjian, Charles Wilkins, Stefan Winter, Mary Momdjian, Bruce Masters, Sylvain Cornac, Mafalda Ade, Feras Krimsti, Nicolas Jodoin, Stefan Knost.
Survivors from pre-revolutionary times, American limousines line the streets of Cuba, adding to the Caribbean island's undeniable charm. Havana is the best place of all to admire these classic automobiles. Star photographer Robert Polidori presents a brilliant photographic exhibition of these fascinating relics, some lovingly maintained, some in decay, which do so much to define the street scene of the Cuban capital. Music CD's: Accompanied by original Cuban music - including the stars from Buena Vista Social Club Company Segundo, and Omara Portuodo; The Book summons up mellow memories of glamorous days in old Havana.
Much has been published on sectarianism in the Middle East but few writers have separated received wisdom from the facts, as Haddad does in this book.
The authoritative account of the sectarian division that for centuries has shaped events in the Middle East and the Islamic world. In 632, soon after the prophet Muhammad died, a struggle broke out among his followers as to who would succeed him. The majority argued that the new leader of Islam should be elected by the community's elite. Others believed only members of Muhammad's family could lead. This dispute over whoshould guide Muslims, the appointed Caliph or the bloodline Imam, marks the origin of the Sunni-Shii split in Islam. Toby Matthiesen explores this hugely significant division from its origins to thepresent day. Moving chronologically, his book sheds light on the many ways that...
Publisher description
The book is organized by professors Miguel Mahfoud and André Miatello, containing 16 articles by specialists from Lebanon, Brazil, the United States, Egypt, Italy, and Argentina. Its objective is to contribute to the current international debate on Lebanon's identity as a multicultural and multi-religious coexistence and its resulting state of neutrality, recognized by the local and international community as determining factors in addressing the current economic and political crisis, favoring the leading role of the Land of Cedars in the constant and tense construction of regional and global peace. The authors come from various religious groups that constitute Lebanon's complex society (Ch...
The ʿAlawi community constitutes one of the oldest secret communities originating in what is known today as the Middle East. Today, the community members are scattered over many different countries around the world. The first ʿAlawis came to Germany as Gastarbeiter (guest workers) in the 1960s following bilateral labour agreements between Turkey and Germany. The present book explores the multifaceted experiences of ʿAlawiness during the post-migration period in Germany. The book demonstrates the pervasiveness of the practice of secrecy in the various spheres of ʿAlawi migrant life in Germany. Throughout this book, it becomes evident that living at the nexus of being an ʿAlawi and a migr...
Articles collected in Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1450-c. 1750 engage with the idea that “Sunnism” itself has a history and trace how particular Islamic genres—ranging from prayer manuals, heresiographies, creeds, hadith and fatwa collections, legal and theological treatises, and historiography to mosques and Sufi convents—developed and were reinterpreted in the Ottoman Empire between c. 1450 and c. 1750. The volume epitomizes the growing scholarly interest in historicizing Islamic discourses and practices of the post-classical era, which has heretofore been styled as a period of decline, reflecting critically on the concepts of ‘tradition’, ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘orthopraxy’ as they were conceived and debated in the context of building and maintaining the longest-lasting Muslim-ruled empire. Contributors: Helen Pfeifer; Nabil al-Tikriti; Derin Terzioğlu; Tijana Krstić; Nir Shafir; Guy Burak; Çiğdem Kafesçioğlu; Grigor Boykov; H. Evren Sünnetçioğlu; Ünver Rüstem; Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer; Vefa Erginbaş; Selim Güngörürler.