During the 1940s and 1950s, Islamic reformism flourished in Iran. This book examines how Iranian Islamic groups came to rethink traditional accounts of religion and nurture a politicized version of Islam. The author shows how similar social and political circumstances, but different family and educational backgrounds gave rise to socialist, democratic/scientific and fundamentalist/militant reinterpretations of Islam. What was common among these groups was a tendency towards politicizing the religion. A significant contribution to discussions of contemporary political thought in Iran, this book will be of interest to researchers and academics of Islamic political though and Iranian politics and history.
Bangladesh is a country of paradoxes. The eighth most populous country of the world, it has attracted considerable attention from the international media and western policy-makers in recent years, often for the wrong reasons: corruption, natural disasters caused by its precarious geographical location, and volatile political situations with several military coups, following its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Institutional corruption, growing religious intolerance and Islamist militancy have reflected the weakness of the state and undermined its capacity. Yet the country has demonstrated significant economic potential and has achieved successes in areas such as female education, population control and reductions in child mortality. Ali Riaz here examines the political processes which engendered these paradoxical tendencies, taking into account the problems of democratization and the effects this has had, and will continue to have, in the wider South Asian region. This comprehensive and unique overview of political and historical developments in Bangladesh since 1971 will provide essential reading for observers of Bangladesh and South Asia.
The history of Afghanistan is largely military history. From the Persians and Greeks of antiquity to the British, Soviet, and American powers in modern times, outsiders have led military conquests into the mountains and plains of Afghanistan, leaving their indelible marks on this ancient land at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In this book Ali Ahmad Jalali, a former interior minister of Afghanistan, taps a deep understanding of his country's distant and recent past to explore Afghanistan's military history during the last two hundred years. With an introductory chapter highlighting the major military developments from early times to the foundation of the modern Afghan state, Jalali's account focuses primarily on the era of British conquest and Anglo-Afghan wars; the Soviet invasion; the civil war and the rise of the Taliban; and the subsequent U.S. invasion. Looking beyond persistent stereotypes and generalizations—e.g., the "graveyard of empires" designation emerging from the Anglo-Afghan wars of the 19th century and the Soviet experience of the 1980s—Jalali offers a nuanced and comprehensive portrayal of the way of war pursued by both state and non-state actors in Afghanistan against different domestic and foreign enemies, under changing social, political, and technological conditions. He reveals how the structure of states, tribes, and social communities in Afghanistan, along with the scope of their controlled space, has shaped their modes of fighting throughout history. In particular, his account shows how dynastic wars and foreign conquests differ in principle, strategy, and method from wars initiated by non-state actors including tribal and community militias against foreign invasions or repressive government. Written by a professional soldier, politician, and noted scholar with a keen analytical grasp of his country's military and political history, this magisterial work offers unique insight into the military history of Afghanistan—and thus, into Afghanistan itself.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, discussions on ties between Islamic religious education institutions, namely madrassahs, and transnational terrorist groups have featured prominently in the Western media. The first book to examine these institutions and their roles in relation to current international politics, Faithful Education will be of interest to policy-makers, researchers, political analysts, and media-pundits. It will also be important reading for undergraduate and graduate students of political science, international affairs, history, South Asian studies, religious studies, and journalism."--BOOK JACKET.
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.....The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have tormented the lives of millions. Tariq was amongst those whose parents were killed in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. An American couple consisting of Dave, a journalist, and Sarah, a therapist, adopts Tariq. While growing up in New York City, Tariq’s life is continually turned upside-down, but he overcomes every obstacle in his life, aided by the love and companionship of his girlfriend, Jennifer. The story turns in a new direction when Tariq finds out that a warlord in Afghanistan has abducted his sister. To obtain the freedom of his sister, Tariq goes back to Afghanistan, but once he arrives he’s wooed by Al Qaeda operatives to join their ranks and fight against the U.S. This is a novel that is full of romance and sequences of love after love, that thrills the human heart and stirs the mind. The warmth of wit that touches all description and is in every character keeps replenishing the flood of excitement forever and ever.
After the trauma of mass violence and massive population movements around the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, both new nation states faced the enormous challenge of creating new national narratives, symbols, and histories, as well as a new framework for their political life. While leadership in India claimed the anti-colonial movement, Gandhi, and a civilizational legacy in the subcontinent, the new political elite in Pakistan were faced with a more complex task: to carve out a separate and distinct Muslim history and political tradition from a millennium long history of cultural and religious interaction, mixing, and coexistence. Drawing on a rich archive of diverse sources, Ali Qasmi traces the complex development of ideas of citizenship and national belonging in the postcolonial Muslim state, offering a nuanced and sweeping history of the country's formative period. Qasmi paints a rich picture of the long, arduous, and often conflict-ridden process of writing a democratic constitution of Pakistan, while simultaneously narrating the invention of a range of new rituals of state—such as the exact color of the flag, the precise date of birth of the national poet of Pakistan, and the observation of Eid as a "national festival"—providing an illuminating analysis of the practices of being Pakistani, and a new portrait of Muslim history in the subcontinent.
Pakistan today stands at a critical juncture in its short history of existence. While muchhas been written about Pakistan, little is known about Communism or left-leaning politicsin the country post-Partition which played a key role in shaping Pakistani politics today. KamranAsdar Ali here presents the first extensive look at Pakistan's communist and working class movement.The author critically engages with the history of Pakistan's early years while paying special attentionto the rise and fall of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), from Partition in 1947 to theaftermath of Bangladeshi independence in 1971. Since its formation in 1947 as a homeland for SouthAsian Muslims, Pakistan has been a configuration of shifting alliances and competing political and social ideologies. Pakistan has experienced three military takeovers and is plagued with geopolitical conflict - from Kashmir to Baluchistan, Waziristan - and while these aspects of Pakistan make headlines, in order to understand the complexities of these events, it is vital to understand the state's relationship throughout history with its divergent political and ethnic voices.One dominant feature of the state, along with its emphasis on the Islamic nature of its polity, has been the non-resolution of its ethnic problem - while the history of Pakistan is often viewed through the lense of unified Muslim nationalism, the author here also explores the history of Pakistan's often tense relationship with its various ethnic groups - Baluch, Pathan, Sindhis, Punjabis and Bengalis. Shedding light on a vital and little-researched aspect of Pakistani history, this book shows that military coups, Islamic radicalization and terrorist activities do not constitute the sum total of Pakistan's history; that it, too, has had a history that included the activities of communist intellectuals and activists.
Afghanistan: A Military History from the Ancient Empires to the Great Game covers the military history of a region encompassing Afghanistan, Central and South Asia, and West Asia, over some 2,500 years. This is the first comprehensive study in any language published on the millennia-long competition for domination and influence in one of the key regions of the Eurasian continent. Jalali’s work covers some of the most important events and figures in world military history, including the armies commanded by Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, the Muslim conquerors, Chinggis Khan, Tamerlane, and Babur. Afghanistan was the site of their campaigns and the numerous military conquests that facilitated exchange of military culture and technology that influenced military developments far beyond the region. An enduring theme throughout Afghanistan is the strong influence of the geography and the often extreme nature of the local terrain. Invaders mostly failed because the locals outmaneuvered them in an unforgiving environment. Important segments include Alexander the Great, remembered to this day as a great victor, though not a grand builder; the rise of Islam in the early seventh century in the Arabian Peninsula and the monumental and enduring shift in the social and political map of the world brought by its conquering armies; the medieval Islamic era, when the constant rise and fall of ruling dynasties and the prevalence of an unstable security environment reinforced localism in political, social, and military life; the centuries-long impact of the destruction caused by Chinggis Khan’s thirteenth century; early eighteenth century, when the Afghans achieved a remarkable military victory with extremely limited means leading to the downfall of the Persian Safavid dynasty; and the Battle of Panipat (1761), where Afghan Emperor Ahmad Shah Abdali decisively routed the Hindu confederacy under Maratha leadership, widely considered as one of the decisive battles of the world. It was in this period when the Afghans founded their modern state and a vast empire under Ahmad Shah Durrani, which shaped the environment for the arrival of the European powers and the Great Game.
In this first-hand account of the Iranian Revolution, Mirsepassi deftly weaves together his memories of provincial life and radical activism in 1960s and 1970s Iran with insights gleaned in his subsequent career as a sociologist of Iran.
This volume seeks to revise the Saidian analytical framework which dominated research on the subject of colonial knowledge for almost two decades, which emphasized colonial knowledge as a series of representations of colonial hegemony. It seeks to contribute to research in the field by analyzing knowledge in colonial India as a dynamic process.
Some times, I ask myself if I have not dreamt this entire incredible love story myself. I then have to open once again my familial photo album to see the jovial Khan smiling back at me with his confident, glittering eyes and the Princess, smiling too, seated in her comfortable armchair and dressed in full Qashqai tribal regalia to make sure that the whole story was not, after all, just one of those extraordinary dreams of mine Iran's backbone is the Zagros mountain chain-a real paradise on Earth that is dominated by lofty peaks and water cascading down all of its steep valleys. It is also populated by millions of oak trees and inhabited by the oldest tribe on Earth: the Bakhtiaris. The tribal name Bakhtiari literally means the "companions of good fortune." And the twentieth-century discovery of crude oil in this paradise seems to confirm the meaning. An elite family, founded by the great Haydar, has ruled the Bakhtiaris for the past four hundred years. Their leaders marched on Tehran in 1909 to save the young, fragile Constitution and reopen the Parliament. Among those in command was Morteza Quli Khan, a rather unique individual with an extraordinary life. The Last of the Khans recounts his, and the ancient tribe's, great heritage.
Internationally renowned, Muzaffar Ali has donned many hats in his lifetime. The scion of the princely house of Kotwara, the boy Muzaffar was shaped by the changing post-Partition India. Having studied science at Aligarh University, he started his career in an advertisement agency in Calcutta, worked with the nascent Air India and then ventured on a journey that produced cinematic masterpieces like Umrao Jaan. Along the way, his path collided with many-from Satyajit Ray to Faiz Ahmad Faiz-and he has cultivated many a passion, whether for cars or couture. His autobiography is a peek into this wealth of experience-a close look at Ali, prince, poet, philosopher, film-maker, automobile aficionado and artist. Zikr is also a rich interior portrait of an artist, as Ali takes us behind the scenes of films like Anjuman and Gaman, speaking of the sensibilities that shaped them and the influences on his work. Above all, this is a book that resounds with a deep love for life. Whether you're looking for inspiration, seeking to venture off the beaten track of Bollywood or wishing to bite into a slice of erstwhile Awadhi culture, Zikr has something to offer all.
There are sections of Islamic History which mention Hasan-i-Sabbah briefly but no writer treats the subject in details. Hodgson and Lewis published under a misleading title of Assassinsand more recently F. Daftary wrote a general history of the Ismailis. Thus there is a need of a book covering the topic in greater depth and details. Hasan Sabbah; His life and thought, covers the history of the Middle East Crusade Period. It also deals with the founder of the Nizari Ismaili State in the North Iran and Syria and against the powerful Seljuks and the Sunni Caliphate of Islam.
In this powerful and inspiring memoir, a Pakistani immigrant shares his story of finding new freedoms and a new faith in America. It’s easy to talk about freedom. But unless someone has lived in a world that suffocates freedom, it’s difficult to appreciate the liberty found in America. This is the true story of a Pakistani Muslim who immigrates to the United States for college and discovers five transformational freedoms along the way: the freedom to fail and start over, to love, to choose one’s faith, to be an entrepreneur, and to self-govern. Contrasting these precious freedoms with the life he lived in Pakistan, Ali’s story reveals that God is the true source of liberty as He works in people’s lives to bring about redemption. A call to value and preserve American freedoms, Beyond the Golden Door is also an invitation for readers to consider ultimate freedom in Jesus Christ.
On 8 February 1971, Marxist revolutionaries attacked the gendarmerie outpost at the village of Siyahkal in Iran’s Gilan province. Barely two months later, the Iranian People’s Fada’i Guerrillas officially announced their existence and began a long, drawn-out urban guerrilla war against the Shah’s regime. In Call to Arms, Ali Rahnema provides a comprehensive history of the Fada’is, beginning by asking why so many of Iran’s best and brightest chose revolutionary Marxism in the face of absolutist rule. He traces how radicalised university students from different ideological backgrounds morphed into the Marxist Fada’is in 1971, and sheds light on their theory, practice and evolution. While the Fada’is failed to directly bring about the fall of the Shah, Rahnema shows they had a lasting impact on society and they ultimately saw their objective achieved.
From the rise of constitutionalism during the rule of despotic Qajars, foreign invasions, the Pahlavi regimes' destructive politics, economic, cultural and social modernization efforts and the oil nationalization movement, to the Iranian Revolution, its high hopes, broken promises, repression and intolerance causing national discontent and another socio-political upheaval today, the history of modern Iran has been eventful, unstable and turbulent. In this textbook, Ali Rahnema draws on his experience teaching and researching on modern Iran to render one hundred years of modern Iranian politics and history into easy-to-follow episodic chapters. Step by step, and taking a chronological approach, students are given the core information, analysis, and critical assessment to understand the flow of contemporary Iranian history. This is a comprehensive and exhaustive guide for undergraduate and graduate level courses on modern Iranian history and politics. The textbook is complete with the following pedagogical features: * An initial chapter on how to study Iranian history and how to approach historiography * Images of key individuals discussed in each chapter * Text boxes throughout to highlight key episodes, concepts, and ideas *Three types of exam questions; factual and analytical, seminar, and discussion at the end of each chapter * Glossaries at the end of each chapter *A comprehensive timeline Topics covered include: party formations; the flourishing of the press; the expansion or reduction of political and civil rights; repression and human right abuses; foreign intervention and influence; obsessions over conspiracies; the influence of Western ideologies, the role of nationalism, cultural and historical Persian chauvinism; and Shi'i Islam and competing Shiisms.
Nyla Ali Khan, the granddaughter of the first Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, gives an insider's analysis on the political and social turmoil that has eroded the ethos and fabric of Kasmiri culture. She monitors the effects of nationalist, militant, and religious discourses and praxes on a gender-based hierarchy.
The second largest branch of Islam, with between 130 and 190 million adherents across the globe, Shi'i Islam is becoming an increasingly significant force in contemporary politics, especially in the Middle East. This makes an informed understanding of its fundamental spiritual beliefs and practices both necessary and timely. Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi is one of the most distinguished scholars of Shi'i history and theology, and in this volume he offers a wide-ranging and engaging survey of the core texts of Shi'i Islam. Examining in turn the origins and later developments of Shi'i spirituality, the author reveals the profoundly esoteric nature of the beliefs which accrued to the figures of the early Imams, and which became associated with their interaction between the material and spiritual worlds. Many of these beliefs have remained much misunderstood even within the wider Muslim world. Furthermore, Western scholarship has tended to follow the lead of the earlier orientalists and critics, viewing Shi'i teachings as marginal. In this study the author shows, by contrast, how central and creative the very nature of spirituality was to the development of Shi'i Islam, as well as to classical Muslim civilisation as a whole. In this comprehensive treatment, the esoteric nature of Shi'i spirituality emerges as an essential phenomenon for understanding Shi'i Islam.
The relationship between public and private spheres is one of the key concerns of the modern society. This book investigates this relationship, especially as manifested in the urban space with its social and psychological significance. Through theoretical and historical examination, it explores how and why the space of human socities is subdivided into public and private sections. It starts with the private, interior space of the mind and moves step by step, through the body, home, neighborhood and the city, outwards to the most public, impersonal spaces, exploring the nature of each realm and their complex, interdependent realtionships. A stimulating and thought provoking book for any architect, architectural historian, urban planner or designer.
The inspiration for Elixir of the Heart started years ago when life threw a few unexpected turns. I found an Inner peace when the pen danced with the paper. I let the words and emotions take its own path, where it lead to beautiful places and happy faces. This book could not be possible without the collaboration of R.H. Ali, who brought some of the most talented poets, models and photographers from all around the beautiful island of Trinidad, West Indies. Every author in this book brings a piece of their cultural heritage and language from as far as Trinidad to Guyana, London to India and New York City to Puerto Rico, Jamaica to Haiti, and Panama to the Philippines. Every page tells a story so surreal that it comes alive. As an added extra this book contains a children section which captures the innocence of young artist, painters and poets from the tender age of 6 to 10. Come sail on a voyage or travel down memory lane...where paths lead to trails and rivers flow to oceans. Where nights are filled with joy and laughter and days are filled with excitement and adventures. Photography so alive, so breathtaking that they leap from every page. Each poem tells a story, every story tells a volume one which peaks your interest to finding more hidden secrets. When you finally think you know where the words will lead you, a last it becomes a twist. The added surprise in this book is the works of the children of tomorrow. You see and read their innocence. Writing about their puppy or baking a cake, creating a class painting or a simply smile that would lighten up your face. So begin your journey, stare at a photo or sit by the ocean and soak up the sun. Wherever the book takes you...it will be most adventurous.
A leading advocate for social justice excavates the history of forced migration in the twelve American towns she’s called home, revealing how White supremacy has fundamentally shaped the nation. “At a time when many would rather ban or bury the truth, Ali-Khan bravely faces it in this bracing and necessary book.”—Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Homeland Elegies Sofia Ali-Khan’s parents emigrated from Pakistan to America, believing it would be a good country. With a nerdy interest in American folk history and a devotion to the rule of law, Ali-Khan would pursue a career in social justice, serving some of America’s most vulnerable communities. By the time she had children of her own—having lived, worked, and worshipped in twelve different towns across the nation—Ali-Khan felt deeply American, maybe even a little extra American for having seen so much of the country. But in the wake of 9/11, and on the cusp of the 2016 election, Ali-Khan’s dream of a good life felt under constant threat. As the vitriolic attacks on Islam and Muslims intensified, she wondered if the American dream had ever applied to families like her own, and if she had gravely misunderstood her home. In A Good Country, Ali-Khan revisits the color lines in each of her twelve towns, unearthing the half-buried histories of forced migration that still shape every state, town, and reservation in America today. From the surprising origins of America’s Chinatowns, the expulsion of Maroon and Seminole people during the conquest of Florida, to Virginia’s stake in breeding humans for sale, Ali-Khan reveals how America’s settler colonial origins have defined the law and landscape to maintain a White America. She braids this historical exploration with her own story, providing an intimate perspective on the modern racialization of American Muslims and why she chose to leave the United States. Equal parts memoir, history, and current events, A Good Country presents a vital portrait of our nation, its people, and the pathway to a better future.
This Book Brings Into Focus The Immigration Of Africans Into The Deccan (Including Modern Maharashtra, Karnataka And Andhra Pradesh) A Phenomenon That Has Not Been Examined Before With Emphasis On Their Assimilation And Integration With The Various South Indian Communities As Also Their Contributions In The History Of The Deccan.
Offers historical information about India and its people from earliest times through the days of the Mughal empire, including home life, religion, leisure, and warfare, and suggests a variety of craft projects.
This book examines Modern Iran through an interdisciplinary analysis of its cultural norms, history and institutional environment. The goal is to underline strengths and weaknesses of Iranian society as a whole, and to illustrate less prescriptive explanations for the way Iran is seen through a lens of persistent collective conduct rather than erratic historical occurrences. Throughout its history, Iran has been subject to many studies, all of which have diagnosed the country’s problem and prescribed solutions based on certain theoretical grounds. This book intends to look inward, seeking cultural explanations for Iran’s perpetual inability to improve its society. The theme in this book is based on the eloquent words of Nasir Khusrau, a great Iranian poet: “az mast ki bar mast”. The words are from a poem describing a self-adoring eagle that sees its life abruptly ended by an arrow winged with its own feathers—the bird is doomed by its own vanity. The closest interpretation of this idiom in Western Christian culture is “you reap what you sow”, which conveys a similar message that underlines one’s responsibility in the sense that, sooner or later, we must face the choices we make. This would enable us to confront – and live up to – what Iran’s history and culture have taught us.
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