Saurabh Mishra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198070603
- eISBN:
- 9780199080007
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070603.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This book studies the organization and meanings of the Haj from India during colonial times and analyses it from political, commercial, and medical perspectives — between 1860, the year of the first ...
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This book studies the organization and meanings of the Haj from India during colonial times and analyses it from political, commercial, and medical perspectives — between 1860, the year of the first outbreak of cholera epidemic in Mecca, and 1920, when the subject of holy places of Islam became a powerful political symbol in the Indian subcontinent. Contrary to the general belief about colonial policy of non-intervention into religious subjects, it is argued that the state, in fact, kept a close watch on the pilgrimage. The book examines the ‘medicalization’ of Mecca through cholera outbreaks and the intrusion of European medical regulations. It underscores how the Haj played an important role in shaping medical policies and practices, debates and disease definitions. It explores how the Indian Hajis perceived, negotiated, and resisted colonial pilgrimage and medical policies in their quest of an intense spiritual experience. The author recovers the hitherto unexplored perspective of pilgrims' voices — in travelogues, memoirs, newspaper reports, and journals — to present a nuanced analysis of the interaction between religious faith and colonial public health policies during the age of steamships and empire.Less
This book studies the organization and meanings of the Haj from India during colonial times and analyses it from political, commercial, and medical perspectives — between 1860, the year of the first outbreak of cholera epidemic in Mecca, and 1920, when the subject of holy places of Islam became a powerful political symbol in the Indian subcontinent. Contrary to the general belief about colonial policy of non-intervention into religious subjects, it is argued that the state, in fact, kept a close watch on the pilgrimage. The book examines the ‘medicalization’ of Mecca through cholera outbreaks and the intrusion of European medical regulations. It underscores how the Haj played an important role in shaping medical policies and practices, debates and disease definitions. It explores how the Indian Hajis perceived, negotiated, and resisted colonial pilgrimage and medical policies in their quest of an intense spiritual experience. The author recovers the hitherto unexplored perspective of pilgrims' voices — in travelogues, memoirs, newspaper reports, and journals — to present a nuanced analysis of the interaction between religious faith and colonial public health policies during the age of steamships and empire.
Daniel C. Peterson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380040
- eISBN:
- 9780199869077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380040.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
Stories about the antemortal existence, conception, gestation, and birth of the Prophet Muhammad, absent from the Qur’an, began to circulate in the decades after his death. They served a political ...
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Stories about the antemortal existence, conception, gestation, and birth of the Prophet Muhammad, absent from the Qur’an, began to circulate in the decades after his death. They served a political purpose, to glorify Muhammad and Islam in the ideological competition, first with Arabian paganism and then with the world faiths (chiefly Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and, even more important, Christianity) that confronted Muslims during and after the Arab expansion. In contrast to certain other religious founders, the fetal Muhammad is never represented as speaking or acting, and indeed he is essentially devoid of human personality. He is a symbol, representing Islam’s claim to be the final and definitive revelation from God and its parallel assertion of universal political sovereignty.Less
Stories about the antemortal existence, conception, gestation, and birth of the Prophet Muhammad, absent from the Qur’an, began to circulate in the decades after his death. They served a political purpose, to glorify Muhammad and Islam in the ideological competition, first with Arabian paganism and then with the world faiths (chiefly Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and, even more important, Christianity) that confronted Muslims during and after the Arab expansion. In contrast to certain other religious founders, the fetal Muhammad is never represented as speaking or acting, and indeed he is essentially devoid of human personality. He is a symbol, representing Islam’s claim to be the final and definitive revelation from God and its parallel assertion of universal political sovereignty.
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.
F. E. Peters
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199747467
- eISBN:
- 9780199894796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747467.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter explores the good deal we know of the settings, Galilee and Judea, of Jesus’ life and much too of the varieties of Second Temple Judaism that shaped his message and his movement, its ...
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This chapter explores the good deal we know of the settings, Galilee and Judea, of Jesus’ life and much too of the varieties of Second Temple Judaism that shaped his message and his movement, its social, political, and religious, often apocalyptic, expectations. Not so for Muhammad. The Western Arabian background of his career and prophetic message is unclear to us since contemporary sources are either silent or nonexistent and life of his native Mecca is only uncertainly reconstructed from later sources.Less
This chapter explores the good deal we know of the settings, Galilee and Judea, of Jesus’ life and much too of the varieties of Second Temple Judaism that shaped his message and his movement, its social, political, and religious, often apocalyptic, expectations. Not so for Muhammad. The Western Arabian background of his career and prophetic message is unclear to us since contemporary sources are either silent or nonexistent and life of his native Mecca is only uncertainly reconstructed from later sources.
F. E. Peters
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199747467
- eISBN:
- 9780199894796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747467.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter flows from the proposition that critical history attempts to apply criteria of facticity to literary texts and that redaction criticism in particular looks for traces of editorial ...
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This chapter flows from the proposition that critical history attempts to apply criteria of facticity to literary texts and that redaction criticism in particular looks for traces of editorial activity — redactional fingerprints — on the work. Two cases in point: the Gospels’ Infancy Narratives dealing with Jesus’ birth and early years and the parallel passages in Muhammad’s Life concerning the Prophet’s earliest years in Mecca. Both the supernatural elements and the tendentiousness in the texts indicate that in both instances the reader is in the presence of myth and legend rather than history.Less
This chapter flows from the proposition that critical history attempts to apply criteria of facticity to literary texts and that redaction criticism in particular looks for traces of editorial activity — redactional fingerprints — on the work. Two cases in point: the Gospels’ Infancy Narratives dealing with Jesus’ birth and early years and the parallel passages in Muhammad’s Life concerning the Prophet’s earliest years in Mecca. Both the supernatural elements and the tendentiousness in the texts indicate that in both instances the reader is in the presence of myth and legend rather than history.
F. E. Peters
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199747467
- eISBN:
- 9780199894796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199747467.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The chapter explores Muhammad’s message as it unfolds in the Quran. It had come to him directly from God, he said, through the agency of an angel. It too has an eschatological focus and is familiarly ...
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The chapter explores Muhammad’s message as it unfolds in the Quran. It had come to him directly from God, he said, through the agency of an angel. It too has an eschatological focus and is familiarly Biblical: Muhammad presents himself as a prophet — the last, in fact — in the Biblical tradition. The heart of the message is an appeal to embrace a pristine monotheism, the “religion of Abraham,” and a call to ethical reform. Muhammad’s message, like Jesus’ “Good News,” provoked opposition, a hometown hostility that plotted, and nearly achieved, his death.Less
The chapter explores Muhammad’s message as it unfolds in the Quran. It had come to him directly from God, he said, through the agency of an angel. It too has an eschatological focus and is familiarly Biblical: Muhammad presents himself as a prophet — the last, in fact — in the Biblical tradition. The heart of the message is an appeal to embrace a pristine monotheism, the “religion of Abraham,” and a call to ethical reform. Muhammad’s message, like Jesus’ “Good News,” provoked opposition, a hometown hostility that plotted, and nearly achieved, his death.
Robert R. Bianchi
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195171075
- eISBN:
- 9780199835102
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195171071.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Each year, more than two million pilgrims from over 100 countries converge on the holy city of Mecca to reenact the ritual dramas that Muslims have been performing for centuries. While it is first ...
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Each year, more than two million pilgrims from over 100 countries converge on the holy city of Mecca to reenact the ritual dramas that Muslims have been performing for centuries. While it is first and foremost a religious festival, the hajj is also a major political event. The Muslim world's leading multinational organization, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, has established the first international regime explicitly devoted to pilgrimage. Every large Muslim nation has developed a comprehensive hajj policy and a powerful bureaucracy to enforce it. Yet no authority–secular or religious, national or international–can really control the hajj. Pilgrims believe that they are entitled to travel freely to Mecca as "Guests of God"–not as guests of any nation or organization that might wish to restrict or profit from their efforts to fulfill a fundamental religious obligation. Blending social science with the humanities and international law,Guests of God tells the stories of hajjis and hajj managers from Nigeria, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia exploring one of the greatest human experiences of our time.Less
Each year, more than two million pilgrims from over 100 countries converge on the holy city of Mecca to reenact the ritual dramas that Muslims have been performing for centuries. While it is first and foremost a religious festival, the hajj is also a major political event. The Muslim world's leading multinational organization, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, has established the first international regime explicitly devoted to pilgrimage. Every large Muslim nation has developed a comprehensive hajj policy and a powerful bureaucracy to enforce it. Yet no authority–secular or religious, national or international–can really control the hajj. Pilgrims believe that they are entitled to travel freely to Mecca as "Guests of God"–not as guests of any nation or organization that might wish to restrict or profit from their efforts to fulfill a fundamental religious obligation. Blending social science with the humanities and international law,Guests of God tells the stories of hajjis and hajj managers from Nigeria, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia exploring one of the greatest human experiences of our time.
James Howard-Johnston
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199208593
- eISBN:
- 9780191594182
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208593.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
The principal witnesses to the rise of Islam are examined, first contemporary and near‐contemporary non‐Muslims, then later writers with access to good sources of information, and finally the ...
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The principal witnesses to the rise of Islam are examined, first contemporary and near‐contemporary non‐Muslims, then later writers with access to good sources of information, and finally the canonical Islamic accounts. As information is extracted from each successive witness, the extraordinary history of the seventh century in the Middle East—the human equivalent of the Big Bang—is gradually pieced together. Key events are securely dated for the first time—the surrender of Jerusalem (late in 634 or early 635), the decisive defeat of Persian forces at Qadisiyya (6 January 638), the assassination of ‘Ali (658), and the death of Husayn at Karbala (661). Others are observed clearly for the first time—three years of widespread fighting and bloodshed after the death of ‘Ali (658–61), the plot hatched at Damascus in 668 to assassinate the Byzantine Emperor Constans II (carried out in Syracuse on 15 July 669), Byzantium's Trafalgar fought off the coast of Lycia in 674, and the subsequent dangerous Christian insurgency in the Middle East. The final three chapters gather together all the testimonies into a continuous narrative, and seek out explanations for Muslim success. Muhammad's controversial decision to replace the Holy City, Jerusalem, with the pagan cult centre of Mecca as the focus of Muslim worship, and to incorporate the annual pagan pilgrimage into the new religion, is identified as a key moment in world history, in that it married the dynamism of the new faith with the organizational capability of a powerful city‐state.Less
The principal witnesses to the rise of Islam are examined, first contemporary and near‐contemporary non‐Muslims, then later writers with access to good sources of information, and finally the canonical Islamic accounts. As information is extracted from each successive witness, the extraordinary history of the seventh century in the Middle East—the human equivalent of the Big Bang—is gradually pieced together. Key events are securely dated for the first time—the surrender of Jerusalem (late in 634 or early 635), the decisive defeat of Persian forces at Qadisiyya (6 January 638), the assassination of ‘Ali (658), and the death of Husayn at Karbala (661). Others are observed clearly for the first time—three years of widespread fighting and bloodshed after the death of ‘Ali (658–61), the plot hatched at Damascus in 668 to assassinate the Byzantine Emperor Constans II (carried out in Syracuse on 15 July 669), Byzantium's Trafalgar fought off the coast of Lycia in 674, and the subsequent dangerous Christian insurgency in the Middle East. The final three chapters gather together all the testimonies into a continuous narrative, and seek out explanations for Muslim success. Muhammad's controversial decision to replace the Holy City, Jerusalem, with the pagan cult centre of Mecca as the focus of Muslim worship, and to incorporate the annual pagan pilgrimage into the new religion, is identified as a key moment in world history, in that it married the dynamism of the new faith with the organizational capability of a powerful city‐state.
Michael Laffan
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145303
- eISBN:
- 9781400839995
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145303.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This introductory chapter documents what is known of the process of Islamization across Indonesia and argues that the present knowledge is informed in large part by the acceptance of the ...
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This introductory chapter documents what is known of the process of Islamization across Indonesia and argues that the present knowledge is informed in large part by the acceptance of the retrospective framings and validations of seventeenth-century Sufi teachings that emphasized a mystical connection between the Prophet and a learned elite patronized by regal authorities. Numerous difficulties beset any attempt at plotting a straightforward history of the conversion and Islamization of Indonesia's many diverse peoples up to the middle of the eighteenth century. What does emerge is a sense that certain key courts took on the mantle of defenders of Islam and regularly sought validation from beyond their shores, most preferably from the person of the Prophet's lineal descendants in Mecca and the scholars associated with them. Regardless of how it was achieved or subsequently justified, Islamization brought the power of international connections that linked the Indian Ocean and China Sea ever more closely together.Less
This introductory chapter documents what is known of the process of Islamization across Indonesia and argues that the present knowledge is informed in large part by the acceptance of the retrospective framings and validations of seventeenth-century Sufi teachings that emphasized a mystical connection between the Prophet and a learned elite patronized by regal authorities. Numerous difficulties beset any attempt at plotting a straightforward history of the conversion and Islamization of Indonesia's many diverse peoples up to the middle of the eighteenth century. What does emerge is a sense that certain key courts took on the mantle of defenders of Islam and regularly sought validation from beyond their shores, most preferably from the person of the Prophet's lineal descendants in Mecca and the scholars associated with them. Regardless of how it was achieved or subsequently justified, Islamization brought the power of international connections that linked the Indian Ocean and China Sea ever more closely together.
Rusmir Mahmutćehajić
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823225842
- eISBN:
- 9780823237159
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823225842.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter presents Islamic teachings about the Virgin Mary. The innermost part of every mosque is its mihrab—the niche in the wall that faces toward Mecca. Every mosque has at least one door ...
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This chapter presents Islamic teachings about the Virgin Mary. The innermost part of every mosque is its mihrab—the niche in the wall that faces toward Mecca. Every mosque has at least one door through which it may be entered physically; but the mihrab can be described as the door which all the signs within the mosque speak of, and which all its paths lead toward. In saying that all provisions are from God, Mary confirms her testimony to Oneness. She is defined by the testimony that there is no god but God and that, as a result, praising Him is humanity's supreme potential. For her, the Holy Mosque, as the center of the outward world, is the image of the human heart. This is the duality that manifests and confirms Oneness, and Mary's testimony of it is what makes her chosen.Less
This chapter presents Islamic teachings about the Virgin Mary. The innermost part of every mosque is its mihrab—the niche in the wall that faces toward Mecca. Every mosque has at least one door through which it may be entered physically; but the mihrab can be described as the door which all the signs within the mosque speak of, and which all its paths lead toward. In saying that all provisions are from God, Mary confirms her testimony to Oneness. She is defined by the testimony that there is no god but God and that, as a result, praising Him is humanity's supreme potential. For her, the Holy Mosque, as the center of the outward world, is the image of the human heart. This is the duality that manifests and confirms Oneness, and Mary's testimony of it is what makes her chosen.
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/9780195331417.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter describes the emergence of a conspiracy-thinking culture in the postwar British imperial state. As intelligence agents from the Middle East slipped into administrative roles in the ...
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This chapter describes the emergence of a conspiracy-thinking culture in the postwar British imperial state. As intelligence agents from the Middle East slipped into administrative roles in the postwar Middle Eastern empire, they applied their intuitive mode and conception of Middle Eastern space to the official task of understanding the postwar series of periods of anticolonial unrest. The theories were notable for their vagueness and ineffability. The conspiracy mode was intensified by the competing claims to expertise of the old guard of amateur agents and an emerging group of professionals. The British state became captive to a paranoid mode of understanding political events in the Middle East. The chapter closes with a discussion of the ramifications of this mode, namely the excuse it provided for continued British presence in the region.Less
This chapter describes the emergence of a conspiracy-thinking culture in the postwar British imperial state. As intelligence agents from the Middle East slipped into administrative roles in the postwar Middle Eastern empire, they applied their intuitive mode and conception of Middle Eastern space to the official task of understanding the postwar series of periods of anticolonial unrest. The theories were notable for their vagueness and ineffability. The conspiracy mode was intensified by the competing claims to expertise of the old guard of amateur agents and an emerging group of professionals. The British state became captive to a paranoid mode of understanding political events in the Middle East. The chapter closes with a discussion of the ramifications of this mode, namely the excuse it provided for continued British presence in the region.
Saurabh Mishra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198070603
- eISBN:
- 9780199080007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070603.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The study of sanitary regulations around the Haj has shown that, by the late nineteenth century, Mecca became deeply embedded within medical debates. It was discussed all over the world and found a ...
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The study of sanitary regulations around the Haj has shown that, by the late nineteenth century, Mecca became deeply embedded within medical debates. It was discussed all over the world and found a place within medical journals, periodicals, newspapers, international sanitary conferences, and debates within European parliaments. This chapter begins by discussing how the British medical press made Mecca the focal point for discussions on the cholera outbreaks in Arabia. It details European sanitary and medical authorities' call for tighter control of the pilgrimage network within India and how Mecca and the pilgrimage began to be ‘medicalized’ to an increasing degree. It also shows that medical restrictions, such as quarantines, had little impact on pilgrims, with many viewing these as a necessary evil en route to paradise.Less
The study of sanitary regulations around the Haj has shown that, by the late nineteenth century, Mecca became deeply embedded within medical debates. It was discussed all over the world and found a place within medical journals, periodicals, newspapers, international sanitary conferences, and debates within European parliaments. This chapter begins by discussing how the British medical press made Mecca the focal point for discussions on the cholera outbreaks in Arabia. It details European sanitary and medical authorities' call for tighter control of the pilgrimage network within India and how Mecca and the pilgrimage began to be ‘medicalized’ to an increasing degree. It also shows that medical restrictions, such as quarantines, had little impact on pilgrims, with many viewing these as a necessary evil en route to paradise.
Saurabh Mishra
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198070603
- eISBN:
- 9780199080007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070603.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The last few decades of the nineteenth century heralded a period of intense anti-British Muslim politics in the subcontinent, and Mecca was at the centre of real or perceived insurgent activities. ...
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The last few decades of the nineteenth century heralded a period of intense anti-British Muslim politics in the subcontinent, and Mecca was at the centre of real or perceived insurgent activities. Subjects such as the pilgrimage to Mecca were discussed extensively and debated intensely, but the veneer of inactivity (in terms of the status quo maintained with regard to actual policies) camouflaged the many seething apprehensions. A close watch was kept on the pilgrimage arrangements, and the situation within ‘Arabia’ in general, but this did not appear to lead to any concrete interventionist measures. As the politics of pan-Islamism intensified, the colonial state appeared almost to be in a state of semi-paralysis as far as deeply religious subjects were concerned. This chapter explores the dynamics of this inactivity and reveals the frenzy that caused this paralysis.Less
The last few decades of the nineteenth century heralded a period of intense anti-British Muslim politics in the subcontinent, and Mecca was at the centre of real or perceived insurgent activities. Subjects such as the pilgrimage to Mecca were discussed extensively and debated intensely, but the veneer of inactivity (in terms of the status quo maintained with regard to actual policies) camouflaged the many seething apprehensions. A close watch was kept on the pilgrimage arrangements, and the situation within ‘Arabia’ in general, but this did not appear to lead to any concrete interventionist measures. As the politics of pan-Islamism intensified, the colonial state appeared almost to be in a state of semi-paralysis as far as deeply religious subjects were concerned. This chapter explores the dynamics of this inactivity and reveals the frenzy that caused this paralysis.
Eileen Kane
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801454233
- eISBN:
- 9781501701313
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801454233.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. This book, the first in ...
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In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. This book, the first in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule, tells the story of how tsarist officials struggled to control and co-opt Russia's mass hajj traffic, seeing it not only as a liability, but also an opportunity. To support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to Russia's policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border, migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials' fears of infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but the book argues that it also generated new thinking within the government about the utility of the empire's Muslims and their global networks. The book reveals for the first time Russia's sprawling international hajj infrastructure, complete with lodging houses, consulates, “Hejaz steamships,” and direct rail service. It argues that Russia built its hajj infrastructure not simply to control and limit the pilgrimage, as previous scholars have claimed, but to channel it to benefit the state and empire. Russian patronage of the hajj was also about capitalizing on human mobility to capture new revenues for the state and its transport companies and laying claim to Islamic networks to justify Russian expansion.Less
In the late nineteenth century, as a consequence of imperial conquest and a mobility revolution, Russia became a crossroads of the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. This book, the first in any language on the hajj under tsarist and Soviet rule, tells the story of how tsarist officials struggled to control and co-opt Russia's mass hajj traffic, seeing it not only as a liability, but also an opportunity. To support the hajj as a matter of state surveillance and control was controversial, given the preeminent position of the Orthodox Church. But nor could the hajj be ignored, or banned, due to Russia's policy of toleration of Islam. As a cross-border, migratory phenomenon, the hajj stoked officials' fears of infectious disease, Islamic revolt, and interethnic conflict, but the book argues that it also generated new thinking within the government about the utility of the empire's Muslims and their global networks. The book reveals for the first time Russia's sprawling international hajj infrastructure, complete with lodging houses, consulates, “Hejaz steamships,” and direct rail service. It argues that Russia built its hajj infrastructure not simply to control and limit the pilgrimage, as previous scholars have claimed, but to channel it to benefit the state and empire. Russian patronage of the hajj was also about capitalizing on human mobility to capture new revenues for the state and its transport companies and laying claim to Islamic networks to justify Russian expansion.
Angelika Neuwirth
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0025
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Three honorary titles are assigned to Jerusalem in Islam: It is “the first of the two directions of prayer”, the “second of the two sanctuaries (for temples)”, and the “third [important sacred site] ...
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Three honorary titles are assigned to Jerusalem in Islam: It is “the first of the two directions of prayer”, the “second of the two sanctuaries (for temples)”, and the “third [important sacred site] after the two places of pilgrimage”. These three honorifics summarize the ambivalent position of Jerusalem in Islam, and the sequence of the titles marks a process of successive demotions of Jerusalem from its inherited primacy as a central place of monotheistic worship. The problem of the relevance of Jerusalem as the nucleus of significant religious institutions developed in the two older “book religions” is in no way solved. By reconsidering some hadīth evidence, this chapter examines the significance of the initial orientation toward Jerusalem and provides the background of its later abrogation in favor of a qibla toward Mecca. It also discusses the verse Q 17:1 and its exegesis, as well as the corpus of sūra 17 (Q 17:2–111) as a commentary on Q 17:1.Less
Three honorary titles are assigned to Jerusalem in Islam: It is “the first of the two directions of prayer”, the “second of the two sanctuaries (for temples)”, and the “third [important sacred site] after the two places of pilgrimage”. These three honorifics summarize the ambivalent position of Jerusalem in Islam, and the sequence of the titles marks a process of successive demotions of Jerusalem from its inherited primacy as a central place of monotheistic worship. The problem of the relevance of Jerusalem as the nucleus of significant religious institutions developed in the two older “book religions” is in no way solved. By reconsidering some hadīth evidence, this chapter examines the significance of the initial orientation toward Jerusalem and provides the background of its later abrogation in favor of a qibla toward Mecca. It also discusses the verse Q 17:1 and its exegesis, as well as the corpus of sūra 17 (Q 17:2–111) as a commentary on Q 17:1.
Gerald Hawting
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137279
- eISBN:
- 9780199849482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137279.003.0026
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
One of the fundamental ingredients of Qurʼānic commentaries is elucidation of who is addressed or referred to in the various passages of the scripture. For example, Q 2:6–7 refers to a group that ...
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One of the fundamental ingredients of Qurʼānic commentaries is elucidation of who is addressed or referred to in the various passages of the scripture. For example, Q 2:6–7 refers to a group that disbelieves and that will continue to refuse to believe, whether “you” warn them or not. It is the commentators who identify for us the “you” and the group of unbelievers. There is unanimity that the “you” addressed is the prophet Muhammad, but disagreement about the unbelievers: some commentators understood it as a reference to the Jews of Medina, some to the pagans of Mecca. Traditional exegesis establishes not only the possibilities for the interpretation of the various parts of the Qurʼān but also the limits within which those possibilities are confined. The Qurʼān presents a two-sided general image of the opponents: on the one hand vocabulary with connotations of idolatry and polytheism is applied to them; on the other, they appear to know about the one God and to share some of the concepts of the monotheist religion, especially the eschatological ones.Less
One of the fundamental ingredients of Qurʼānic commentaries is elucidation of who is addressed or referred to in the various passages of the scripture. For example, Q 2:6–7 refers to a group that disbelieves and that will continue to refuse to believe, whether “you” warn them or not. It is the commentators who identify for us the “you” and the group of unbelievers. There is unanimity that the “you” addressed is the prophet Muhammad, but disagreement about the unbelievers: some commentators understood it as a reference to the Jews of Medina, some to the pagans of Mecca. Traditional exegesis establishes not only the possibilities for the interpretation of the various parts of the Qurʼān but also the limits within which those possibilities are confined. The Qurʼān presents a two-sided general image of the opponents: on the one hand vocabulary with connotations of idolatry and polytheism is applied to them; on the other, they appear to know about the one God and to share some of the concepts of the monotheist religion, especially the eschatological ones.
Barbara Freyer Stowasser
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195111484
- eISBN:
- 9780199853397
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195111484.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The first generation of Muslims surely heralded the Prophet's manner and way of life as an example they want to follow, because he was God's chosen one in their midst and the appointed leader to whom ...
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The first generation of Muslims surely heralded the Prophet's manner and way of life as an example they want to follow, because he was God's chosen one in their midst and the appointed leader to whom they had pledge loyalty and allegiance. The view of the Prophet's peerlessness expanded and strengthened after his death when successful wars and conquests led to the birth of a huge Muslim empire. Later generation of Muslims came to see the Prophet in terms of a personal infallibility that has been perceived by his companions in Mecca and Medina. The Hadith is both a proof of record of what Muhammad actually stated and did and what his community in the first two centuries. Thus, the Hadith has been referred to “a guide to understanding the historical Muhammad as well as a guide to understanding the evolution of Muslim piety....”Less
The first generation of Muslims surely heralded the Prophet's manner and way of life as an example they want to follow, because he was God's chosen one in their midst and the appointed leader to whom they had pledge loyalty and allegiance. The view of the Prophet's peerlessness expanded and strengthened after his death when successful wars and conquests led to the birth of a huge Muslim empire. Later generation of Muslims came to see the Prophet in terms of a personal infallibility that has been perceived by his companions in Mecca and Medina. The Hadith is both a proof of record of what Muhammad actually stated and did and what his community in the first two centuries. Thus, the Hadith has been referred to “a guide to understanding the historical Muhammad as well as a guide to understanding the evolution of Muslim piety....”
Reuven Firestone
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195154948
- eISBN:
- 9780199849239
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154948.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter examines biographical writings about Muḥammad from which cultural and historical data are extracted for comparison with that retrieved from the Qurʾān and Hadīth, and for examining the ...
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This chapter examines biographical writings about Muḥammad from which cultural and historical data are extracted for comparison with that retrieved from the Qurʾān and Hadīth, and for examining the relationship between formation of the new Muslim community (Umma) out of the old social systems of pre-Islamic Arabia and the development of religiously sanctioned war. The sīra literature is a genre of the hadīth literature that was edited into the form of a biography of Muḥammad. It is organized in chronological order in relation to the history of Muḥammad's mission. Meanwhile, the Medina Agreement marked the transition from the old pre-Islamic kinship system to the new Muslim Umma. It represented a middle position between the two institutions, exhibiting a certain fluidity between kinship relations and religious alliance.Less
This chapter examines biographical writings about Muḥammad from which cultural and historical data are extracted for comparison with that retrieved from the Qurʾān and Hadīth, and for examining the relationship between formation of the new Muslim community (Umma) out of the old social systems of pre-Islamic Arabia and the development of religiously sanctioned war. The sīra literature is a genre of the hadīth literature that was edited into the form of a biography of Muḥammad. It is organized in chronological order in relation to the history of Muḥammad's mission. Meanwhile, the Medina Agreement marked the transition from the old pre-Islamic kinship system to the new Muslim Umma. It represented a middle position between the two institutions, exhibiting a certain fluidity between kinship relations and religious alliance.
