Search Results

Ibn al-Mubārak, Traditionist

Christopher Melchert

in Modern Hadith Studies: Continuing Debates and New Approaches

Christopher Melchert. surveys modern scholarship in Arabic and English concerning this prominent eighth-century traditionist. The fullest is a book by Muḥammad Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad Bukhārī (2003). He ... More

Christopher Melchert. surveys modern scholarship in Arabic and English concerning this prominent eighth-century traditionist. The fullest is a book by Muḥammad Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad Bukhārī (2003). He goes on to review where Ibn al-Mubārak collected hadith, his tendency in law, and and his personal stances as to various controversies of his time, such as Shiʿism and the value of voluntary poverty. It also regretfully observes that later collectors such as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and al-Bukhārī reproduced hadith from such early figures as Ibn al-Mubārak according to their own convenience, as by providing them with short isnāds back to the Prophet. It was not their purpose to present a random sample of anyone’s learning, so we are limited in what we can infer from collections like theirs concerning the special activities and interests of traditionists a century before.Less

The Judicial Authority and Civil Society

al-Sayyed Mustapha Kamel

in Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

This chapter demonstrates how judges, acting as an arm of the state, curb the freedom of civil society institutions. It discusses the judges' involvement as a professional association through their ... More

This chapter demonstrates how judges, acting as an arm of the state, curb the freedom of civil society institutions. It discusses the judges' involvement as a professional association through their clubs in the fight by civil society organizations for more autonomy. It shows how certain judicial institutions strive to move civil and political liberties forward in order to expand the range of freedoms available to civil society organizations. It also surveys some of the ways civil society organizations have tried to win the judiciary to their side and get them to support their struggle for more respect for the civil and political rights of citizens. The period covered by this study is the duration of the Mubarak presidency, or twenty-six years at the time of writing, encompassing four presidential terms and two years of his fifth term.Less

My Eighteen Days

Walter Armbrust

in Martyrs and Tricksters: An Ethnography of the Egyptian Revolution

This chapter explains that the first eighteen days of the Egyptian Revolution culminating in the downfall of Hosni Mubarak were important because they created a fund of symbolic resources—stories ... More

This chapter explains that the first eighteen days of the Egyptian Revolution culminating in the downfall of Hosni Mubarak were important because they created a fund of symbolic resources—stories people told about where they were and what they did, and mass mediation of narratives and images, both during and after the events. It then narrates some of the author's stories. They resonate with the widely felt process of entering into a liminal void, and they help establish some of the places and people who will feature in subsequent chapters. At the very beginning of the revolution, the author often spent his days working in a rented flat, which was not far from Tahrir Square. He spent his days there attempting to read various materials relevant to his research on the history of Egyptian mass media. After January 25, trying to glean insights on the history of radio and television from old magazines was an exercise in futility, not because the magazines were not rich sources for his research, but because the revolution taking place in the streets below was a constant distraction.Less

Negotiating Political Landscapes: (Pope Shenouda III, 1971–)

Nelly van Doorn-Harder

in The Emergence of the Modern Coptic Papacy: The Popes of Egypt: A History of the Coptic Church and Its Patriarchs, Volume 3

Pope Shenouda III, 1971–, is the 117th pope of Egypt and has guided the Coptic community into an era far more complex then the church had ever previously faced.

The Role of Human Security in the Contest between the Egyptian Government and the Muslim Brotherhood, 1980–2010

Charles McDaniel

in Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective

This chapter describes the evolution of competition between the secular Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood. It discusses the ways in which repression has inspired the Muslim Brotherhood ... More

This chapter describes the evolution of competition between the secular Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood. It discusses the ways in which repression has inspired the Muslim Brotherhood to provide social services the state has proven unable to provide. Initially welcoming the Brotherhood's retreat from violence and politics, the government has come to fear the organization's growing political power. The chapter stresses that the war between the Brotherhood and the Egyptian state evolved during the Mubarak era so that the two groups, who were once locked in violent conflict, have increasingly come to compete as visible providers of human security.Less

Targeted and Widespread Repression in Authoritarian Regimes

Elizabeth R. Nugent

in After Repression: How Polarization Derails Democratic Transition

This chapter examines the nature of repression under authoritarian regimes. It first presents a typology of authoritarian repertoires of repression before turning to the authoritarian party systems ... More

This chapter examines the nature of repression under authoritarian regimes. It first presents a typology of authoritarian repertoires of repression before turning to the authoritarian party systems in Egypt and Tunisia. The chapter then outlines the ruling parties in Tunisia and Egypt and what constituted the democratic opposition under the regimes of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak. The opposition categories are intended to demonstrate that both countries' opposition included parties representing a wide array of political platforms across the religious–secular axis. Finally, the chapter documents the different repertoires of repression used by each regime against its democratic opposition. The divergences have important implications for the categorization of Tunisia as a widespread repressive regime and of Egypt as a targeted repressive regime.Less

Regional Leadership: Balancing off Costs and Dividends in the Foreign Policy of Egypt

Bahgat Korany and Ali E. Hillal Dessouki

in The Foreign Policies of Arab States: The Challenge of Globalization

Egyptian foreign policy under Hosni Mubarak has been characterized by stability, moderation, and predictability. With the exception of participation in the international coalition for the liberation ... More

Egyptian foreign policy under Hosni Mubarak has been characterized by stability, moderation, and predictability. With the exception of participation in the international coalition for the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Egypt has not engaged in armed conflict during his quarter century-long rule, the longest nonwar period in Egypt's modern history. Mubarak succeeded in protecting Egypt from the waves of instability prevailing in the region. The price has been, according to critics, a retreat from Egypt's regional leadership role. The regional role of Egypt, its requirements, and its costs are once again the focus of discussion and contestation in the first decade of the twenty-first century.Less

Introduction

Samia Mehrez

in Egypt's Culture Wars: Politics and Practice

This volume maps out some of the most significant cultural battles in Egypt focusing specifically on the Mubarak era that has witnessed significant and often contradictory changes within the cultural ... More

This volume maps out some of the most significant cultural battles in Egypt focusing specifically on the Mubarak era that has witnessed significant and often contradictory changes within the cultural field in an increasingly globalized context. This book explores the values, paradoxes, and battles that have shaped the Egyptian cultural field at both the local and global levels at the turn of the century. The individual chapters deal with different aspects of both the cultural and the educational fields including literature, film, and mass media as well as the academy. Bringing these individual pieces together in the context of this volume provides for an overview of the cultural politics in Egypt as well as the contests over power, legitimacy, knowledge, language, and representation.Less

Prologue Take them out of the ball game - Egypt's cultural players in crisis

Samia Mehrez

in Egypt's Culture Wars: Politics and Practice

The moment of confrontation between political and cultural figures in Egypt encapsulates the nature of their mutually dependent relationship since Muhammad Ali's modernization project (1805–49) and ... More

The moment of confrontation between political and cultural figures in Egypt encapsulates the nature of their mutually dependent relationship since Muhammad Ali's modernization project (1805–49) and the ensuing years of the nahda—the cultural “awakening” in Egypt and the Arab world. To transform Egypt from an Ottoman province into a modern regional power, Muhammad Ali initiated a series of modern Western institutions within a traditional, Islamic cultural context that had been dominated by its religious rite, the ulama. For Egyptian cultural figures, this history has meant that the cultural is the handmaiden of the political and must always abide by its rules. The cultural has always been dependent largely on the space it is granted by the political field in the latter's own calculations of power. The end result is the weakness of a modernist paradigm that is developed and sustained from within the cultural field itself.Less

Continuity and Change in Islamist Political Thought and Behavior: the Transformations of Armed Islamist Movements in Egypt and Algeria

Bahgat Korany

in The Changing Middle East: A New Look at Regional Dynamics

The “historical leadership” in July 1997, of al-Jama'a al-Islamiya — the largest armed Islamist movement in Egypt during the 1980s and 1990s — declared a unilateral ceasefire. The declaration ran ... More

The “historical leadership” in July 1997, of al-Jama'a al-Islamiya — the largest armed Islamist movement in Egypt during the 1980s and 1990s — declared a unilateral ceasefire. The declaration ran against the group's traditionally militant literature, the previous vows of its leaders to continue armed struggle until the Mubarak regime had been toppled, and the increasingly violent tactics used by IG affiliates since the late 1970s. The phenomenon of deradicalization has not been confined to Egypt and Algeria, nor has it been confined to the Middle East. It took place in several other countries, albeit on a relatively smaller scale. Additionally, deradicalization processes and programs have influenced several British and other European Islamist leaders (Ashour 2009, 14–18).Less

Of Drama and Performance: Transformative Discourses of the Revolution

Laura Gribbon and Sarah Hawas

in Translating Egypt's Revolution: The Language of Tahrir (A Tahrir Studies Edition)

Translates some of the most decisive and influential discursive and performative moments that shaped the early drama of the unfolding text of Egypt's uprising. By drawing on analytical tools from the ... More

Translates some of the most decisive and influential discursive and performative moments that shaped the early drama of the unfolding text of Egypt's uprising. By drawing on analytical tools from the fields of translation, performance, and gender studies, as well as social movement theory, the authors translate at both the linguistic and semiotic levels selections from these transformative moments that impacted millions of Egyptians on social and conventional media networks by such diverse actors as activists Asmaa Mahfouz and Wael Ghoneim, former president Hosni Mubarak and General Mohsen al-Fangari. The authors read these discursive interventions as theatrical performances, the impact of which can only be understood through a thick translation that attends not just to the linguistic but to the affective, emotive, and semiotic levels of these transformative discourses.Less

The People and the Army Are One Hand: Myths and Their Translations

Sarah Hawas

in Translating Egypt's Revolution: The Language of Tahrir (A Tahrir Studies Edition)

Addresses the question of how to translate the use of slogans in simultaneous support and opposition to the army from January well into the time of writing in August 2011. Through the varying terms ... More

Addresses the question of how to translate the use of slogans in simultaneous support and opposition to the army from January well into the time of writing in August 2011. Through the varying terms of language (slogans, gestures, songs, and images) the author maps out how the fetishized myth of “the army and the people are one hand” is historically constructed and gradually undone even as demonstrators continue to make a difference between the army as “family” with its historic allegiance to the people and the authoritarian SCAF that is generally viewed as part of Mubarak's regime that continues to ally itself to the interests of the US and Israel instead of the demands of the people.Less

Ibn Al-Mubarak’s Kitāb Al-Jihād and Early Renunciant Literature

Christopher Melchert

in Violence in Islamic Thought from the Qur'an to the Mongols

ʿAbd Allāh b. al‑Mubārak (d. 181/797) was a famous traditionist, born in Marv in 118/736–7 or 119/737.1 He was a client to the Banī Ḥanẓala, and the Kufan traditionist al‑ Aʿmash is said to have ... More

ʿAbd Allāh b. al‑Mubārak (d. 181/797) was a famous traditionist, born in Marv in 118/736–7 or 119/737.1 He was a client to the Banī Ḥanẓala, and the Kufan traditionist al‑ Aʿmash is said to have declared: ‘I will not relate ḥadīth to a group that includes this Turk.’2 (This story may have come from speculation as to why he related so little of al‑Aʿmash, yet be nonetheless accurate as to his ethnic identity and prejudice against it.) He first visited Iraq in 141/758–9 in his early twenties.3 He collected ḥadīth in Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Basra and Kufa. Several stories of his munificence indicate that he was a wealthy trader.4 Numerous stories indicate an early adherence to Kufan jurisprudence or Abū Ḥanīfa in particular, from which he broke off late in life; for example, half of the biography of al‑ʿIjlī (d. 261/874–5) is taken up by evidence of Ibn al‑Mubārak’s having renounced his early acceptance of nabīdh (date wine) – a notorious Kufan position.5Less

Days of Rage

Wafaa EL Sadik and Rüdiger Heimlich

in Protecting Pharaoh's Treasures: My Life in Egyptology

This introductory chapter details the last time the author met Hosni Mubarak in October 2010 in Rome when she was instructed to put together a list of 190 treasures from Cairo's museums for an ... More

This introductory chapter details the last time the author met Hosni Mubarak in October 2010 in Rome when she was instructed to put together a list of 190 treasures from Cairo's museums for an exhibition of treasures from Egyptian history. It also looks at the revolutionary events in Tahrir Square and the plundering of the Egyptian Museum in 2011. The author then describes how she dealt with the challenges of corruption as she assumed a management position in the antiquities service in the Egyptian Museum. On that “day of rage” in Tahrir Square, she determined that she would be betraying herself and the youth of Egypt if she were to become the director of a museum founded by people who torture young people and beat them to death, and decided to do no more work that had any connection to Mubarak, his wife, and the regime.Less

Morality

Herman T. Salton

in Dangerous Diplomacy: Bureaucracy, Power Politics, and the Role of the UN Secretariat in Rwanda

This chapter traces the link between the muscular approach to peacekeeping advocated by Boutros-Ghali early in his term, the ‘moral’ purpose he attached to his role as Secretary-General, his ... More

This chapter traces the link between the muscular approach to peacekeeping advocated by Boutros-Ghali early in his term, the ‘moral’ purpose he attached to his role as Secretary-General, his predilection for DPA over DPKO, and his performance in Rwanda. Following a chronological trajectory from 1990 to 1994, the chapter considers that link by exploring the idea of UN ‘moral authority’ and the reasons behind Boutros-Ghali’s support for it. The chapter then contrasts such an idea with Boutros-Ghali’s relations with Presidents Mitterrand of France, Habyarimana of Rwanda, and Mubarak of Egypt. Three questions arise: did Boutros-Ghali’s proximity to one side of Rwanda’s ethnic divide (the Hutus) prior to becoming SG affect his relations with the other (the Tutsis)? Did such proximity compromise his independence, neutrality, and impartiality—three sources of the SG’s moral authority? And was his conduct compatible with his ‘moral’ view of the UN?Less

Conclusion: Balancing the Brotherhood

Lawrence Rubin

in Islam in the Balance: Ideational Threats in Arab Politics

This concluding chapter examines how the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and UAE pursued ideational balancing strategies in response to the rise of an Islamist regime in Egypt. It also discusses Turkey's ... More

This concluding chapter examines how the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and UAE pursued ideational balancing strategies in response to the rise of an Islamist regime in Egypt. It also discusses Turkey's role, an interesting case of a regional power, governed by a liberal Islamist party that did not aggressively project its ideational power. The second part of the chapter provides a summary of the findings in this book.Less

Local and Regional Sectarian Narratives

Caroleen Marji Sayej

in Patriotic Ayatollahs: Nationalism in Post-Saddam Iraq

This chapter challenges the narrative that conflict in Iraq was sectarian in nature. Conflict was the product of local and regional sectarian narratives that dominated the Iraqi landscape, and helped ... More

This chapter challenges the narrative that conflict in Iraq was sectarian in nature. Conflict was the product of local and regional sectarian narratives that dominated the Iraqi landscape, and helped to justify the violence on the ground. The ayatollahs tackled this rhetoric head on. They rejected both the sectarian interpretation of Iraqi history and its implications for Iraq’s present and future. They appealed to pan-Iraqi unity and nationalism. They worked hard to undo the narrative that held Iraq to be a “patchwork” of incommensurable groups. They instead offered a counter-narrative of unity and harmony and issued decrees about the harm of communal violence. Most importantly, the ayatollahs wrote extensively about the need for a centralized state and a redefinition of citizenship away from sectarian notions. This chapter focuses on the writings of Ayatollahs Sistani, Saeed al-Hakim and Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayyad.Less