What is the ‘negro’? Who qualifies? What is its Arabic equivalent? And, what did pre-modern writers mean by it? There is a common belief that the ‘negro’ refers to any “black” person of sub-Saharan African heritage. Historians, however, often differentiate between the Moor, the Nubian, the Ethiopian, the Kushite, and the Negro. Why this distinction if all “black” Africans and those of African heritage presumably belong to a common pedigree? This book’s author, Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, argues that the ‘Negro’ or ‘Zanj’ as perceived by premodern Arab historians, theologians, and jurists was not only a geographical population. It was also one perceived to be culturally inferior to all other known ‘races.’ For Arab climatic theorists like Al-Mas’udi and Ibn Khaldun, this phenomenon could easily be explained by the fact that the ‘Negroes’ (al-Zunuj) lived at the extreme southern regions of the Earth which brought with it a lack of industriousness and urbanisation (‘umran) similar to what one might find as he/she travels closer to civilisation’s center, the Mediterranean. A particular aim of this work is to underscore how racial conceptions and perceptions can and have influenced aesthetic standards, social inclusion, and legal norms. The work also demands that its reader reconsider any preset ideas about reified races, which contributes to confusion about the dynamics of race and racism in current times.
What is the ‘negro’? Who qualifies? What is its Arabic equivalent? And, what did pre-modern writers mean by it? There is a common belief that the ‘negro’ refers to any “black” person of sub-Saharan African heritage. Historians, however, often differentiate between the Moor, the Nubian, the Ethiopian, the Kushite, and the Negro. Why this distinction if all “black” Africans and those of African heritage presumably belong to a common pedigree? This book’s author, Dr. Abdullah bin Hamid Ali, argues that the ‘Negro’ or ‘Zanj’ as perceived by premodern Arab historians, theologians, and jurists was not only a geographical population. It was also one perceived to be culturally inferior to all other known ‘races.’ For Arab climatic theorists like Al-Mas’udi and Ibn Khaldun, this phenomenon could easily be explained by the fact that the ‘Negroes’ (al-Zunuj) lived at the extreme southern regions of the Earth which brought with it a lack of industriousness and urbanisation (‘umran) similar to what one might find as he/she travels closer to civilisation’s center, the Mediterranean. A particular aim of this work is to underscore how racial conceptions and perceptions can and have influenced aesthetic standards, social inclusion, and legal norms. The work also demands that its reader reconsider any preset ideas about reified races, which contributes to confusion about the dynamics of race and racism in current times.
This book is the first to provide a complete overview of Islamic extremism in Kuwait. It traces the development of Islamist fundamentalist groups in Kuwait, both Shiite and Sunni, from the beginning of the twentieth century. It outlines the nature and origins of the many different groups, considers their ideology and organization, shows how their activities are intertwined with the wider economy, society and politics to the extent that they are now a strong part of society, and discusses their armed activities, including terrorist activities. Although focusing on Kuwait, it includes overage of the activities of Islamist groups in other Gulf States. It also discusses the relation between Ruling Families with Islamist political groups, thereby demonstrating that the intertwining of Islamic ideology and armed activities with politics is not a new development in the region.
In recent years, an internal debate has arisen in Saudi Arabia on the legitimacy of Saudi religion and the foundations of Islam. Sparked by concerns such as the absence of divine intervention in the Syrian civil war, the question of the Muslim monopoly on heaven, and politically subversive differentiations between "Saudi religion" and Islam, the challenge within Saudi Arabia to religious orthodoxy has never been greater. Tweeted Heresies explores the emergence of these patterns of non-belief and the responses to them from the Salafi-Wahhabi religious institutions. Previous studies have focused on formal institutions and their role in religious change. Abdullah Hamidaddin focuses on individuals who took advantage of social media during a period of relative freedom of expression to criticize religion and question the most fundamental aspects of Saudi society: its politics, religion, social justice, gender and sexual relations, and the future of the country. These individuals mounted a direct challenge to religious orthodoxy, whether through calls for religious reform or, even more provocatively, debates over concepts of deity, morality, and duty to Allah. For the foreseeable future criticism is limited to virtual spaces, and the conversation was especially active on Twitter. Tweeted Heresies examines a large body of tweets, as well as interviews with Saudis about how their understanding and critique of religion have developed over the course of their lives. The result is a uniquely revealing portrait of an otherwise hidden current of religious change that promises to ultimately transform Saudi society.
The Algerian Islamist Abdullah Anas, 'perhaps the greatest warrior of the Afghan Arabs', fought the Soviet Union for a decade. As one of the earliest Arabs to join the Afghan jihad, he counted as brothers-in-arms the future icons of Al-Qaeda's global war, from Abdullah Azzam to Osama bin Laden to Omar Abdel-Rahman, and befriended key Afghan jihadi figures such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir. To the Mountains is an intimate portrait of this brutal war, tracing Anas's involvement in the conflict, as well as his experiences of the Algerian civil war (1992-8) and his sojourn in 'Londonistan'. Brushing shoulders with everyone from Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi to Jalaluddin Haqqani, Anas opted for his own independent route, seeking to persuade the Afghan Arabs that they should not be distracted by attacks on the West. Paradoxically, he remains committed to the broader Islamist movement, believing that jihad will continue till the end of time, yet has also spent years talking to the Taliban, seeking to build a lasting peace in Afghanistan. This is his story. Co-written with investigative journalist Tam Hussein, Anas's memoir will doubtless become a seminal primary source on the rise of global jihadism.
The Algerian Islamist Abdullah Anas, 'perhaps the greatest warrior of the Afghan Arabs', fought the Soviet Union for a decade. As one of the earliest Arabs to join the Afghan jihad, he counted as brothers-in-arms the future icons of Al-Qaeda's global war, from Abdullah Azzam to Osama bin Laden to Omar Abdel-Rahman, and befriended key Afghan jihadi figures such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir. To the Mountains is an intimate portrait of this brutal war, tracing Anas's involvement in the conflict, as well as his experiences of the Algerian civil war (1992-8) and his sojourn in 'Londonistan'. Brushing shoulders with everyone from Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi to Jalaluddin Haqqani, Anas opted for his own independent route, seeking to persuade the Afghan Arabs that they should not be distracted by attacks on the West. Paradoxically, he remains committed to the broader Islamist movement, believing that jihad will continue till the end of time, yet has also spent years talking to the Taliban, seeking to build a lasting peace in Afghanistan. This is his story. Co-written with investigative journalist Tam Hussein, Anas's memoir will doubtless become a seminal primary source on the rise of global jihadism.
This book provides an in-depth analysis of authority structures in Saudi Arabia during the twentieth century, as presented in two leading Western newspapers, The London Times and The New York Times. Beginning with a history of Saudi Arabia – from the building of the Kingdom in 1901, when Ibn Saud left his exile in Kuwait to recover Riyadh back from Al-Rasheed’s rule, until the death of King Fahd in 2005 – the author then outlines the theoretical framework of the book, specifically Weber’s original conception of authority. Weber’s notion of authority as having three types – traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal – is applied to an analysis of the two newspapers over the course of the twentieth century. A timeline is devised to aid this analysis, based on significant turning points in Saudi history, including Ibn Saud’s declaration of the Kingdom in 1932 and King Faisal’s assassination in 1975. Ultimately, this analysis discloses the many ways in which conceptions of authority in the Middle East were presented to Western audiences, whilst illuminating the political agendas inherent to this coverage in the UK and the US. This book is vital reading for anyone interested in Saudi Arabian history, Western perspectives of the Middle East, and the sociology of media.
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