Four Central Asian Shrines documents the social history of four long-standing Muslim shrines—at Samarqand, Balkh, Mazar-i Sharif, and Qandahar—and the evolution of their architecture as depicted in the written record and through a century and a quarter of photographs.
Waqfs, or religious endowments, have long been at the very center of daily Islamic life, establishing religious, cultural, and welfare institutions and serving as a legal means to keep family property intact through several generations. In this book R. D. McChesney focuses on the major Muslim shrine at Balkh--once a flourishing city on an ancient trade route in what is now northern Afghanistan--and provides a detailed study of the political, economic, and social conditions that influenced, and were influenced by, the development of a single religious endowment. From its founding in 1480 until 1889, when the Afghan government took control of it, the waqf at Balkh was a formidable economic force in a financially dynamic region, particularly during those times when the endowment's sacred character and the tax privileges it acquired gave its managers considerable financial security. This study sheds new light on the legal institution of waqf within Muslim society and on how political conditions affected the development of socio-religious institutions throughout Central Asia over a period of four hundred years. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
In 1894 Great Britain invited 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, the amir of Afghanistan, to England for a state visit. Then at the height of its imperial might, Britain sought to strengthen ties with the strategically important Afghanistan, which shared a long frontier, not yet a border, with British India. The amir's aim for the visit was to secure permission for an Afghan legation (embassy) in London while the British, unaware of this goal, hoped to overawe the amir with displays of military and industrial might as well as performances to show the strength and unity of British civil society. The amir, citing illness, ultimately declined the invitation but, in a calculated snub, sent his second son, Prince Nasr Allah Khan, in his place. This book narrates the events of the prince's mission in a number of revealing ways. Using both British and Afghan sources, including the journal of a senior member of the Afghan contingent, McChesney places the visit in its international and historical context and analyzes the internal dynamics of the prince's delegation, the seventy members of whom represented Afghanistan but included two Englishmen and two Englishwomen. A further twenty members, representing the Government of (British) India, were as multi-ethnic and multilingual as the members of the Afghan delegation. This bilateral and complex mission left India in April 1895 and remained together for the next six months. From the beginning it was riven by incidents of misogyny, racism, and class conflict that affected its ability to perform its diplomatic functions. The reader gains insights into the goals and tactics of two asymmetrical yet competing powers as well as a rare look at the human element in this cross-cultural diplomatic encounter.
The Sir?j al-taw?r?kh is the most important history of Afghanistan ever written. This pinnacle of the rich Afghan historiographic tradition is available in English translation, annotated, fully indexed, including an introduction, eight appendices, Persian-English and English-Persian glossaries, and bibliography.
The most important history of Afghanistan ever written (originally written in Persian), Sirāj al-tavārīkh or The History of Afghanistan. It was commissioned as an official national history by the Afghan prince, later amir, Habib Allah Khan (reigned 1901-1919). The author, Fayz Muhammad Khan, better known as "Katib" (The Writer), was a scribe at the royal court. For more than twenty years, he had full access to government archives and oral sources and thus presents an unparalleled picture of the country from its founding in 1747 until the end of the nineteenth century. The roots of much of the fabric of Afghanistan's society today--tribe and state relations, the rule of law, gender issues, and the economy--are elegantly and minutely detailed in this immense work.
In 1894 Great Britain invited 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, the amir of Afghanistan, to England for a state visit. Then at the height of its imperial might, Britain sought to strengthen ties with the strategically important Afghanistan, which shared a long frontier, not yet a border, with British India. The amir's aim for the visit was to secure permission for an Afghan legation (embassy) in London while the British, unaware of this goal, hoped to overawe the amir with displays of military and industrial might as well as performances to show the strength and unity of British civil society. The amir, citing illness, ultimately declined the invitation but, in a calculated snub, sent his second son, Prince Nasr Allah Khan, in his place. This book narrates the events of the prince's mission in a number of revealing ways. Using both British and Afghan sources, including the journal of a senior member of the Afghan contingent, McChesney places the visit in its international and historical context and analyzes the internal dynamics of the prince's delegation, the seventy members of whom represented Afghanistan but included two Englishmen and two Englishwomen. A further twenty members, representing the Government of (British) India, were as multi-ethnic and multilingual as the members of the Afghan delegation. This bilateral and complex mission left India in April 1895 and remained together for the next six months. From the beginning it was riven by incidents of misogyny, racism, and class conflict that affected its ability to perform its diplomatic functions. The reader gains insights into the goals and tactics of two asymmetrical yet competing powers as well as a rare look at the human element in this cross-cultural diplomatic encounter.
Waqfs, or religious endowments, have long been at the very center of daily Islamic life, establishing religious, cultural, and welfare institutions and serving as a legal means to keep family property intact through several generations. In this book R. D. McChesney focuses on the major Muslim shrine at Balkh--once a flourishing city on an ancient trade route in what is now northern Afghanistan--and provides a detailed study of the political, economic, and social conditions that influenced, and were influenced by, the development of a single religious endowment. From its founding in 1480 until 1889, when the Afghan government took control of it, the waqf at Balkh was a formidable economic force in a financially dynamic region, particularly during those times when the endowment's sacred character and the tax privileges it acquired gave its managers considerable financial security. This study sheds new light on the legal institution of waqf within Muslim society and on how political conditions affected the development of socio-religious institutions throughout Central Asia over a period of four hundred years. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
The quest for benefit from existing wealth or by seeking privileged benefit through influence over policy is known as rent seeking. Much rent seeking activity involves government and political decisions and is therefore in the domain of political econo
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