Reuven Firestone
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195154948
- eISBN:
- 9780199849239
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154948.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. ...
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While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. This book focuses on why and how such a seemingly radical development took place. Basing the hypothesis on evidence from the Qurʾān and early Islamic literary sources, this book locates the origin of Islamic holy war and traces its evolution as a response to the changes affecting the new community of Muslims in its transition from ancient Arabian culture to the religious civilization of Islam.Less
While there is no evidence to date that the indigenous inhabitants of Arabia knew of holy war prior to Islam, holy war ideas and behaviors appear already among Muslims during the first generation. This book focuses on why and how such a seemingly radical development took place. Basing the hypothesis on evidence from the Qurʾān and early Islamic literary sources, this book locates the origin of Islamic holy war and traces its evolution as a response to the changes affecting the new community of Muslims in its transition from ancient Arabian culture to the religious civilization of Islam.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious ...
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Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? This book looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture. The book presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Hamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. It examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, the book considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, the book shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.Less
Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? This book looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture. The book presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Hamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. It examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, the book considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, the book shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.
Ferhad Ibrahim
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199249589
- eISBN:
- 9780191600029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924958X.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Reference
As no elections and referendums have been held in Saudi Arabia, the chapter gives an overview of the political institutions and history of the Saudi kingdom. The developments leading to the ...
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As no elections and referendums have been held in Saudi Arabia, the chapter gives an overview of the political institutions and history of the Saudi kingdom. The developments leading to the establishment of the appointed Consultative Council and the legal provisions governing the activities of the Council are presented in detail.Less
As no elections and referendums have been held in Saudi Arabia, the chapter gives an overview of the political institutions and history of the Saudi kingdom. The developments leading to the establishment of the appointed Consultative Council and the legal provisions governing the activities of the Council are presented in detail.
Thomas F. Farr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195179958
- eISBN:
- 9780199869749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179958.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The story behind the nomination and confirmation of John Hanford as IRF ambassador brings credit on no one, least of all the IRF supporters who opposed Hanford; the Bush administration which let the ...
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The story behind the nomination and confirmation of John Hanford as IRF ambassador brings credit on no one, least of all the IRF supporters who opposed Hanford; the Bush administration which let the wrangling proceed too long; or Hanford himself, who delayed in taking his position even after Senate confirmation. When he finally arrived in May 2002, the Bush-Powell team had been operating well over a year and Hanford had to fight even to maintain authority over his own staff. He quickly discovered what his predecessor had learned: IRF was not a mainstream concern at Foggy Bottom. But John Hanford had a certain comfort level with this arrangement. He preferred to oppose persecution rather than advancing religious freedom. The results over the next few years were decidedly mixed, especially in China, but his work in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia was potentially ground-breaking.Less
The story behind the nomination and confirmation of John Hanford as IRF ambassador brings credit on no one, least of all the IRF supporters who opposed Hanford; the Bush administration which let the wrangling proceed too long; or Hanford himself, who delayed in taking his position even after Senate confirmation. When he finally arrived in May 2002, the Bush-Powell team had been operating well over a year and Hanford had to fight even to maintain authority over his own staff. He quickly discovered what his predecessor had learned: IRF was not a mainstream concern at Foggy Bottom. But John Hanford had a certain comfort level with this arrangement. He preferred to oppose persecution rather than advancing religious freedom. The results over the next few years were decidedly mixed, especially in China, but his work in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia was potentially ground-breaking.
Thomas F. Farr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195179958
- eISBN:
- 9780199869749
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179958.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the ...
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Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the Nadj region, the home of Mohammed bin Abd al-Wahhab and the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden. The chapter explores the tensions between the two kingdoms, and the connections between Islam and Islamist extremism, especially as manifested in Saudi understandings of jihad and tawhid. It traces the pernicious Wahhabi public theology from its origins in the 13th century to its ideological covenant with the House of Saud. The author's experiences with Saudi officials, religious minorities in the kingdom, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the State Department lead him to conclude that Wahhabism will remain a source of terrorism, and a threat to U.S. national security, until the Saudis contain or destroy it via political reform grounded in religious freedom.Less
Chapter 8 is woven around the author's trip to Saudi Arabia six months prior to 9/11. There are two faces of Saudi Arabia: Mecca, the birthplace of Islam and the prophet Mohammed, and Riyadh in the Nadj region, the home of Mohammed bin Abd al-Wahhab and the birthplace of Osama Bin Laden. The chapter explores the tensions between the two kingdoms, and the connections between Islam and Islamist extremism, especially as manifested in Saudi understandings of jihad and tawhid. It traces the pernicious Wahhabi public theology from its origins in the 13th century to its ideological covenant with the House of Saud. The author's experiences with Saudi officials, religious minorities in the kingdom, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the State Department lead him to conclude that Wahhabism will remain a source of terrorism, and a threat to U.S. national security, until the Saudis contain or destroy it via political reform grounded in religious freedom.
Paul Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195374360
- eISBN:
- 9780199871902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195374360.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes Islamist terrorists’ developed ideology and how to them this explains and justifies their brutalities. It then contrasts their stated motives and rationales with press coverage ...
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This chapter describes Islamist terrorists’ developed ideology and how to them this explains and justifies their brutalities. It then contrasts their stated motives and rationales with press coverage of their attacks in Yemen, Bali, Iraq, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, seeking to show that both the terrorists’ goals and the identity of their victims are repeatedly misstated. Whereas Al Qaeda consistently describes its intended targets in religious loaded terms—as Christians, Jews, Crusaders, followers of the cross, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates, idolaters, infidels, and polytheists—and will frequently spare people, even Americans, if they are Muslims, many journalists consistently describe Al Qaeda strikes as attacks on “westerners,” “non-Arabs,” or “Americans” and their allies. Consequently, the connection between Australian and United Nations actions in East Timor and the bombings in Bali and of the UN compound in Baghdad were missed almost entirely.Less
This chapter describes Islamist terrorists’ developed ideology and how to them this explains and justifies their brutalities. It then contrasts their stated motives and rationales with press coverage of their attacks in Yemen, Bali, Iraq, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, seeking to show that both the terrorists’ goals and the identity of their victims are repeatedly misstated. Whereas Al Qaeda consistently describes its intended targets in religious loaded terms—as Christians, Jews, Crusaders, followers of the cross, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates, idolaters, infidels, and polytheists—and will frequently spare people, even Americans, if they are Muslims, many journalists consistently describe Al Qaeda strikes as attacks on “westerners,” “non-Arabs,” or “Americans” and their allies. Consequently, the connection between Australian and United Nations actions in East Timor and the bombings in Bali and of the UN compound in Baghdad were missed almost entirely.
Ondrej Beránek and Pavel Tupek
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474417570
- eISBN:
- 9781474444774
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474417570.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In various parts of the Islamic world over the past decades, virulent attacks have targeted Islamic funeral and sacral architecture. Rather than being random acts of vandalism, these are associated ...
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In various parts of the Islamic world over the past decades, virulent attacks have targeted Islamic funeral and sacral architecture. Rather than being random acts of vandalism, these are associated with the idea of performing one’s religious duty as attested to in the Salafi/Wahhabi tradition and texts. Graves, shrines and tombs are regarded by some Muslims as having the potential to tempt a believer to polytheism. Hence the duty to level the graves to the ground (taswiyat al-qubūr). In illuminating the ideology behind these acts, this book explains the current destruction of graves in the Islamic world and traces the ideological sources of iconoclasm in their historical perspective, from medieval theological and legal debates to contemporary Islamist movements including ISIS. The authors look at the destruction of graves in various parts of the Islamic world including the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, and trace the ideological roots of Salafi iconoclasm and its shifts and mutations in an historical perspective. The book contains case studies, among others, on Ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the Saudi religious establishment, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and ISIS and the destruction of monuments.Less
In various parts of the Islamic world over the past decades, virulent attacks have targeted Islamic funeral and sacral architecture. Rather than being random acts of vandalism, these are associated with the idea of performing one’s religious duty as attested to in the Salafi/Wahhabi tradition and texts. Graves, shrines and tombs are regarded by some Muslims as having the potential to tempt a believer to polytheism. Hence the duty to level the graves to the ground (taswiyat al-qubūr). In illuminating the ideology behind these acts, this book explains the current destruction of graves in the Islamic world and traces the ideological sources of iconoclasm in their historical perspective, from medieval theological and legal debates to contemporary Islamist movements including ISIS. The authors look at the destruction of graves in various parts of the Islamic world including the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, and trace the ideological roots of Salafi iconoclasm and its shifts and mutations in an historical perspective. The book contains case studies, among others, on Ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab, the Saudi religious establishment, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and ISIS and the destruction of monuments.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and ...
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This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and despite the unprecedented material transformation of Saudi society in the oil age. It considers what accounts for the compulsion to affirm tribal belonging in modern Saudi Arabia by focusing on verse 49:13 of the Quran and the multiple contexts in which it is embedded in the kingdom. More specifically, the book asks why this verse is interpreted by so many Saudis as a license to assert their particularist tribal identities, while its ostensibly equalizing final clause is dismissed as an afterthought. It also explores the politicization of the Arabian oral culture by documenting the life and work of the Arabian genealogist and historian Hamad al-Jāsir.Less
This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and despite the unprecedented material transformation of Saudi society in the oil age. It considers what accounts for the compulsion to affirm tribal belonging in modern Saudi Arabia by focusing on verse 49:13 of the Quran and the multiple contexts in which it is embedded in the kingdom. More specifically, the book asks why this verse is interpreted by so many Saudis as a license to assert their particularist tribal identities, while its ostensibly equalizing final clause is dismissed as an afterthought. It also explores the politicization of the Arabian oral culture by documenting the life and work of the Arabian genealogist and historian Hamad al-Jāsir.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses the twentieth-century history of Saudi Arabia through the biography of Hamad al-Jāsir. More than any other single person, al-Jāsir was responsible for shaping the modern ...
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This chapter discusses the twentieth-century history of Saudi Arabia through the biography of Hamad al-Jāsir. More than any other single person, al-Jāsir was responsible for shaping the modern genealogical culture of Saudi Arabia. The chapter examines al-Jāsir's life from his birth in 1909 in a central Arabian village to the beginnings of his genealogical project in the 1970s. It considers al-Jāsir's sometimes tumultuous relationship with his patrons in the Wahhabi religious establishment, his contributions to the development of the Saudi press and public culture, and his views on Arabia's bedouin populations and on the Arabic language. It also explores al-Jāsir's turn toward scholarship and the documenting of Saudi lineages in the last third of his life.Less
This chapter discusses the twentieth-century history of Saudi Arabia through the biography of Hamad al-Jāsir. More than any other single person, al-Jāsir was responsible for shaping the modern genealogical culture of Saudi Arabia. The chapter examines al-Jāsir's life from his birth in 1909 in a central Arabian village to the beginnings of his genealogical project in the 1970s. It considers al-Jāsir's sometimes tumultuous relationship with his patrons in the Wahhabi religious establishment, his contributions to the development of the Saudi press and public culture, and his views on Arabia's bedouin populations and on the Arabic language. It also explores al-Jāsir's turn toward scholarship and the documenting of Saudi lineages in the last third of his life.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth ...
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This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth century. It explains how these policies and techniques combine to produce a genealogical rule of governance that underpins political practice in Saudi Arabia. It also considers how the Saudi state's efforts to standardize citizen identities according to genealogical criteria through identification papers called tūbiʻiyya, promote lineal authentication as a core political function, and privilege kinship as a dominant symbol of Āl-Saʻud rule have made genealogy a pervasive aspect of social and political life in the modern kingdom. The chapter concludes by analyzing the territorial dispute over the oasis of Buraymī.Less
This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth century. It explains how these policies and techniques combine to produce a genealogical rule of governance that underpins political practice in Saudi Arabia. It also considers how the Saudi state's efforts to standardize citizen identities according to genealogical criteria through identification papers called tūbiʻiyya, promote lineal authentication as a core political function, and privilege kinship as a dominant symbol of Āl-Saʻud rule have made genealogy a pervasive aspect of social and political life in the modern kingdom. The chapter concludes by analyzing the territorial dispute over the oasis of Buraymī.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This concluding chapter examines the notion that a genealogical rule of governance pervades Saudi Arabia in relation to Wahhabism and Islam. It suggests that Saudi Arabia's modern genealogical ...
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This concluding chapter examines the notion that a genealogical rule of governance pervades Saudi Arabia in relation to Wahhabism and Islam. It suggests that Saudi Arabia's modern genealogical culture is a direct consequence of the rise of Salaf religiosity in the kingdom and that the acute genealogical consciousness of modern Saudi society is a form of bedouin tribal vengeance against modernity. Just as the economic paternalism of the Saudi state has influenced the discourse and strategies of al-Qaeda, the kingdom's economic model has played an important role in shaping its modern genealogical culture as well. The chapter also discusses Hamad al-Jāsir's genealogical project, which preceded the wholesale politicization of the Saudi oral culture, and argues that the attachment to the Arabian past that drove such project was real and visceral, rather than an ideological fetish encouraged or manufactured by the Saudi state.Less
This concluding chapter examines the notion that a genealogical rule of governance pervades Saudi Arabia in relation to Wahhabism and Islam. It suggests that Saudi Arabia's modern genealogical culture is a direct consequence of the rise of Salaf religiosity in the kingdom and that the acute genealogical consciousness of modern Saudi society is a form of bedouin tribal vengeance against modernity. Just as the economic paternalism of the Saudi state has influenced the discourse and strategies of al-Qaeda, the kingdom's economic model has played an important role in shaping its modern genealogical culture as well. The chapter also discusses Hamad al-Jāsir's genealogical project, which preceded the wholesale politicization of the Saudi oral culture, and argues that the attachment to the Arabian past that drove such project was real and visceral, rather than an ideological fetish encouraged or manufactured by the Saudi state.
Abdullah al-Otaibi and Pascal Ménoret
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195369212
- eISBN:
- 9780199871179
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369212.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Islam
This chapter analyses a particularly daring and dangerous yet common practice among male youth in Saudi Arabian cities: car skidding at high speed, or tafhit. It aims first to give a somewhat ...
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This chapter analyses a particularly daring and dangerous yet common practice among male youth in Saudi Arabian cities: car skidding at high speed, or tafhit. It aims first to give a somewhat different reading of processes of politicization of male youth in the Middle East. Analyzing the criminalized practice of tafhit as a long-term and low-scale mob action, it shows that politicization may result from processes of deviance and desocialization. It then endeavors to break down the walls that, in the literature on politics in the Middle East, divide the Islamic movements from their environment. It eventually tries to retrace the narratives that allow young people to engage in an extremely dangerous and seemingly absurd activism.Less
This chapter analyses a particularly daring and dangerous yet common practice among male youth in Saudi Arabian cities: car skidding at high speed, or tafhit. It aims first to give a somewhat different reading of processes of politicization of male youth in the Middle East. Analyzing the criminalized practice of tafhit as a long-term and low-scale mob action, it shows that politicization may result from processes of deviance and desocialization. It then endeavors to break down the walls that, in the literature on politics in the Middle East, divide the Islamic movements from their environment. It eventually tries to retrace the narratives that allow young people to engage in an extremely dangerous and seemingly absurd activism.
James Howard‐Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199208593
- eISBN:
- 9780191594182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208593.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
Islamic traditions about pre‐Islamic Arabia are tested in relation to three episodes which are independently covered by non‐Islamic sources—a massacre of Christians in Najran in 523, an attack from ...
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Islamic traditions about pre‐Islamic Arabia are tested in relation to three episodes which are independently covered by non‐Islamic sources—a massacre of Christians in Najran in 523, an attack from the south on Mecca in 552, and the conquest of Yemen by a Persian expeditionary force c. 571. The tests proving positive, it is possible to venture with some confidence into the canonical version of the life of the Prophet (the sira) and to accept the picture presented of Mecca as a major cult and commercial centre. Corroboration is to hand in the Qur'an, a document embedded in the sira (the Constitution of Medina), and anthologies of verse collected in the sira. Special attention is paid to the accommodation reached at Hudaybiya in 628 between the Muslims and the Quraysh of Mecca, and to the subsequent concealment of the great concession made by the Prophet.Less
Islamic traditions about pre‐Islamic Arabia are tested in relation to three episodes which are independently covered by non‐Islamic sources—a massacre of Christians in Najran in 523, an attack from the south on Mecca in 552, and the conquest of Yemen by a Persian expeditionary force c. 571. The tests proving positive, it is possible to venture with some confidence into the canonical version of the life of the Prophet (the sira) and to accept the picture presented of Mecca as a major cult and commercial centre. Corroboration is to hand in the Qur'an, a document embedded in the sira (the Constitution of Medina), and anthologies of verse collected in the sira. Special attention is paid to the accommodation reached at Hudaybiya in 628 between the Muslims and the Quraysh of Mecca, and to the subsequent concealment of the great concession made by the Prophet.
James Howard‐Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199208593
- eISBN:
- 9780191594182
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208593.003.00015
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
Attention is turned first to the Persians' near‐destruction of the east Roman empire (603–26), and the Romans' near‐miraculous recovery (626–8). Arabia can be seen to have been affected in two ways: ...
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Attention is turned first to the Persians' near‐destruction of the east Roman empire (603–26), and the Romans' near‐miraculous recovery (626–8). Arabia can be seen to have been affected in two ways: a unitary client‐management system under new leadership was introduced in the north, once the Persians were confident of gaining control of the whole of the Fertile Crescent; and eschatological anxiety percolated into Arabia. Muhammad's Prophetic career is then traced before and after the hijra (emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622). Key elements in the message which he conveyed to mankind are picked out. The spotlight is then trained on the great crisis in the early history of the umma (Muslim community) following the Meccan siege of Medina in 627 and the difficult decision to incorporate the pagan Meccan sanctuary into the new religion, taken by Muhammad as the only way to achieve a reconciliation with his home city.Less
Attention is turned first to the Persians' near‐destruction of the east Roman empire (603–26), and the Romans' near‐miraculous recovery (626–8). Arabia can be seen to have been affected in two ways: a unitary client‐management system under new leadership was introduced in the north, once the Persians were confident of gaining control of the whole of the Fertile Crescent; and eschatological anxiety percolated into Arabia. Muhammad's Prophetic career is then traced before and after the hijra (emigration from Mecca to Medina in 622). Key elements in the message which he conveyed to mankind are picked out. The spotlight is then trained on the great crisis in the early history of the umma (Muslim community) following the Meccan siege of Medina in 627 and the difficult decision to incorporate the pagan Meccan sanctuary into the new religion, taken by Muhammad as the only way to achieve a reconciliation with his home city.
Priya Satia
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331417
- eISBN:
- 9780199868070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331417.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
The introduction provides an overview of the historical questions at stake in the book: the relationship between culture and how a state sees; the relationship between colonial violence and ...
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The introduction provides an overview of the historical questions at stake in the book: the relationship between culture and how a state sees; the relationship between colonial violence and metropolitan culture; between orientalism and colonial administration; the distinction between covert empire versus indirect rule; the place of the world war in the story; the place of paranoid politics in British history. It explains the uniqueness of British intelligence–gathering in the Middle East as compared to other regions and the usefulness of this subject in understanding the workings of modern empire more generally. Finally, it explains the author's methodology and the periodization of the book with reference to both British and Middle Eastern history and defines key terms.Less
The introduction provides an overview of the historical questions at stake in the book: the relationship between culture and how a state sees; the relationship between colonial violence and metropolitan culture; between orientalism and colonial administration; the distinction between covert empire versus indirect rule; the place of the world war in the story; the place of paranoid politics in British history. It explains the uniqueness of British intelligence–gathering in the Middle East as compared to other regions and the usefulness of this subject in understanding the workings of modern empire more generally. Finally, it explains the author's methodology and the periodization of the book with reference to both British and Middle Eastern history and defines key terms.
Priya Satia
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331417
- eISBN:
- 9780199868070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331417.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter describes the cultural legacy of the Middle Eastern campaigns. It argues that they offered the hope of some continuity with the past, undercutting the sense of total rupture produced by ...
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This chapter describes the cultural legacy of the Middle Eastern campaigns. It argues that they offered the hope of some continuity with the past, undercutting the sense of total rupture produced by the Western front. They offered a vision of a glamorous, biblical, Arabian‐Nights theater in which the old, adventurous, mobile sort of warfare still worked. The Kut disaster of the Mesopotamia campaign produced a redemptive vision of empire as a tool of colonial development. This helped package the new Middle East empire as a selfless endeavor in the increasingly anti‐imperialist postwar world. Central in the romantic image of these campaigns were the heroic figures that participated in them, including Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, and others, who acquired positions of enormous political and cultural influence after the war. Their celebrity was a product of an increasingly democratic public sphere fascinated with Arabia and struggling with changing notions of Englishness.Less
This chapter describes the cultural legacy of the Middle Eastern campaigns. It argues that they offered the hope of some continuity with the past, undercutting the sense of total rupture produced by the Western front. They offered a vision of a glamorous, biblical, Arabian‐Nights theater in which the old, adventurous, mobile sort of warfare still worked. The Kut disaster of the Mesopotamia campaign produced a redemptive vision of empire as a tool of colonial development. This helped package the new Middle East empire as a selfless endeavor in the increasingly anti‐imperialist postwar world. Central in the romantic image of these campaigns were the heroic figures that participated in them, including Lawrence, Gertrude Bell, and others, who acquired positions of enormous political and cultural influence after the war. Their celebrity was a product of an increasingly democratic public sphere fascinated with Arabia and struggling with changing notions of Englishness.
Amaney A. Jamal
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149646
- eISBN:
- 9781400845477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149646.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter provides an overview of book's main themes. This book explores Kuwait and Jordan as two states that have similar clientelistic ties to the United States. Both are monarchies holding ...
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This chapter provides an overview of book's main themes. This book explores Kuwait and Jordan as two states that have similar clientelistic ties to the United States. Both are monarchies holding parliamentary elections, and each has similar levels of support for its Islamist opposition movements. However, the two states vary in their levels of anti-American sentiment among these Islamist opposition forces. This core difference reveals how concerns about a country's international relations shape state–society relations more broadly. Although the book builds its argument by focusing on the cases of Kuwait and Jordan, it also draws on evidence from two other monarchies that have varying degrees of anti-American sentiment among their Islamist opposition as well: Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Further, it extends the findings to Palestine's democratic experience, which resulted in Hamas' parliamentary victory in 2006.Less
This chapter provides an overview of book's main themes. This book explores Kuwait and Jordan as two states that have similar clientelistic ties to the United States. Both are monarchies holding parliamentary elections, and each has similar levels of support for its Islamist opposition movements. However, the two states vary in their levels of anti-American sentiment among these Islamist opposition forces. This core difference reveals how concerns about a country's international relations shape state–society relations more broadly. Although the book builds its argument by focusing on the cases of Kuwait and Jordan, it also draws on evidence from two other monarchies that have varying degrees of anti-American sentiment among their Islamist opposition as well: Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Further, it extends the findings to Palestine's democratic experience, which resulted in Hamas' parliamentary victory in 2006.
Harry Munt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474417129
- eISBN:
- 9781474434980
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474417129.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In a late seventh- or very early eighth-century Coptic homily anachronistically attributed to the church father Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373), it is lamented that, following the Arab conquest of ...
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In a late seventh- or very early eighth-century Coptic homily anachronistically attributed to the church father Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373), it is lamented that, following the Arab conquest of Egypt in the early 640s, ‘many Christians, Barbarians, Greeks, Syrians and from all tribes will go and join them in their faith’.1 This prophecy comes across as somewhat hysterical to many modern observers – at least within its seventh-or eighth-century context – since it is now the generally accepted consensus of historians that the processes through which the inhabitants of the conquered territories of the Middle East converted to Islam were extremely gradual and persisted for centuries. Monumental changes to the political, social and religious life of many communities in this region came in the decades and centuries after the conquests – developments to which many non-Muslims fully contributed – but Muslim-majority populations are not thought to have emerged widely until the ninth or tenth centuries at the very earliest.Less
In a late seventh- or very early eighth-century Coptic homily anachronistically attributed to the church father Athanasius of Alexandria (d. 373), it is lamented that, following the Arab conquest of Egypt in the early 640s, ‘many Christians, Barbarians, Greeks, Syrians and from all tribes will go and join them in their faith’.1 This prophecy comes across as somewhat hysterical to many modern observers – at least within its seventh-or eighth-century context – since it is now the generally accepted consensus of historians that the processes through which the inhabitants of the conquered territories of the Middle East converted to Islam were extremely gradual and persisted for centuries. Monumental changes to the political, social and religious life of many communities in this region came in the decades and centuries after the conquests – developments to which many non-Muslims fully contributed – but Muslim-majority populations are not thought to have emerged widely until the ninth or tenth centuries at the very earliest.
Laila Makboul
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474467476
- eISBN:
- 9781474491204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474467476.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines the phenomenon of female intellectual preachers (dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt) in Saudi Arabia, their engagement in the new media and by extension their participation in the public ...
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This chapter examines the phenomenon of female intellectual preachers (dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt) in Saudi Arabia, their engagement in the new media and by extension their participation in the public sphere. Having their public participation conditioned on preserving strict physical gender segregation, this chapter argues that the new media have facilitated the engagement and presence of the dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt in the wider public on an unprecedented level. However, new challenges in terms of transgressions of constructed gender norms and exposure to increased public criticism and political vulnerability have also followed their presence in the new media. Consequently, this chapter contends that although the new media has been utilized to permeate the public sphere and, in many ways, has revolutionized their public participation, it has also altered the engagement of dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt in profound ways and ultimately exposed them to greater social and political vulnerability.Less
This chapter examines the phenomenon of female intellectual preachers (dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt) in Saudi Arabia, their engagement in the new media and by extension their participation in the public sphere. Having their public participation conditioned on preserving strict physical gender segregation, this chapter argues that the new media have facilitated the engagement and presence of the dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt in the wider public on an unprecedented level. However, new challenges in terms of transgressions of constructed gender norms and exposure to increased public criticism and political vulnerability have also followed their presence in the new media. Consequently, this chapter contends that although the new media has been utilized to permeate the public sphere and, in many ways, has revolutionized their public participation, it has also altered the engagement of dāʿiyāt muthaqqafāt in profound ways and ultimately exposed them to greater social and political vulnerability.
ADAM ROBERTS
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264904
- eISBN:
- 9780191754081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264904.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Fred Halliday was a writer, teacher and public intellectual whose work spanned two closely related fields: the post-colonial societies of the Middle East; and international relations. His first major ...
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Fred Halliday was a writer, teacher and public intellectual whose work spanned two closely related fields: the post-colonial societies of the Middle East; and international relations. His first major book, published in 1974, was Arabia without Sultans, although he gained a wider readership with Threat from the East?, published in paperback in 1982. In 1975, Halliday was appointed as Fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and then, in 1983, he moved to the London School of Economics. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002. Obituary by Adam Roberts FBA.Less
Fred Halliday was a writer, teacher and public intellectual whose work spanned two closely related fields: the post-colonial societies of the Middle East; and international relations. His first major book, published in 1974, was Arabia without Sultans, although he gained a wider readership with Threat from the East?, published in paperback in 1982. In 1975, Halliday was appointed as Fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and then, in 1983, he moved to the London School of Economics. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002. Obituary by Adam Roberts FBA.
