It is one of the first books of its kind, one that investigates the role of mythology, technology and politics/ideology/materiality in Indian Science Fiction. Reads Science Fiction as existing in a flux generated by socio-historical forces, technological advances, and a mythological tradition, which leads to a more holistic understanding of Science Fiction and the society in which it is produced and consumed. It connects the world of the Science fiction text with the world(s) of the writer/reader, which generates Suvinian ‘cognitive estrangement’. It hybridises viewpoints from across the world, whether creative (i.e. it borrows from author interviews given to the writer) or critical perspectives (i.e. it transposes and fuses globally established theories/frameworks on Science Fiction).
The year is 2014. Pakistan is now a full-fledged democracy and beginning to reconcile with India. However, there are forces working against this fragile peace. A Pakistani jihadi leader, Yasser Basheer, travels to the Red Corridor and enlists the support of an Indian Naxalite commander. Their plan: to unleash Pralay, India's experimental intercontinental ballistic missile, on the subcontinent. As the missile changes course en route, it hits Pakistan and causes collateral damage. In response, Pakistan declares war on India. As the web of politics, deceit and treachery deepens, it turns out there are larger interests at stake and bigger players involved in a confrontation that threatens to destabilize the entire subcontinent. In this gripping thriller, Sami Ahmad Khan explores the consequences of an Indo-Pak war and its devastating effects on South Asia.
It is one of the first books of its kind, one that investigates the role of mythology, technology and politics/ideology/materiality in Indian Science Fiction. Reads Science Fiction as existing in a flux generated by socio-historical forces, technological advances, and a mythological tradition, which leads to a more holistic understanding of Science Fiction and the society in which it is produced and consumed. It connects the world of the Science fiction text with the world(s) of the writer/reader, which generates Suvinian ‘cognitive estrangement’. It hybridises viewpoints from across the world, whether creative (i.e. it borrows from author interviews given to the writer) or critical perspectives (i.e. it transposes and fuses globally established theories/frameworks on Science Fiction).
Preface It was shortly after I had graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1980, with a PhD Degree specializing in fracture mechanics and failure analysis of materials and structures, that I discovered the dire need for this book. This undertaking began to take shape in the early 1980s with the Middle East aflame, devastated by what some viewed as a holy war, and with millennialists prophesying the end of days by the year 2000 C. E. After publishing and co-authoring 87 scientific and industrial reports, and technical papers, many of which were in national and international magazines on the subject of failure analysis of metals and fracture mechanics of aircraft structures, I came to realize that consequences of failures of the human spirit are far more devastating than failures of metals and aircraft structures. But now at the outset of the 21st century the world is still experiencing turmoil and devastation by wars spreading like wildfire, with Jews, Christians and Moslems at each other's throats in seemingly never ending battles and ugly strife. Some call it war on terror, others speak of wars of clashing cultures, crusades, jihad, etc., etc., etc. One cant help but wonder how this saga of 99% misery and 1% heroism will ever come to an end. Only the gullible would attempt to explain the ongoing world conflict among People of the Book: Jews, Christians and Moslems, based on the course of events during the past few years, or even the past few decades. This is where this book comes in with a rigorous, rationalized, and hopefully convincing critical assessment of a never-before-explored, most innate aspect of the human nature, and that is its obsession with hijacking of the religion of God. For better understanding of the root cause of the ongoing conflict among People of the Book, who are supposed to be worshipping the same God, we need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and reflect rationally, while ignoring all rhetoric and emotional bias in researching the past three thousand years of religious history. And this is exactly what I did in writing this three-volume book. More specifically, this book is addressing the religion of God to whom every human being from among the so-called People of the Book today turns in prayer. Whether soldiers or civilians, when they are caught in the midst of the ongoing grisly and devastating wars, some would pray to Yahweh, others call upon Jesus Christ, while Moslem brethren whisper the name of Allah upon taking their last breath. Who is that God? And why is He so shrouded with mystery? Is He truly One and the Same God for all these people? Or are we suffering from some self-delusions and possibly hallucinations that may be the senseless products of our ancient religious fabrications and mythmaking. Going back in time three thousand years brings us to one very special night, when God was said to have come down in person onto Mount Sinai to have a close encounter with human beings through direct speech. This three-volume book examines the course of religious events from that magic and apocalyptic moment onwards till this day. It took me twenty years of research to show that men who practiced hijacking long before they had wings have been quite active over the past three thousand years engaging in the lucrative business of hijacking the religion of God. All three religious persuasions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam suffered the dire consequences of miserably failing to heed the words of our Merciful and Patient God. No irony intended here in calling it a business, and indeed a lucrative one, because it brings the hijackers: power, enormous wealth, and often glory, all of which, in the sight of God translate, respectively into: arrogance, greed, and most certainly infamy. In developing the extensive critical review of religion presented herein, detailing the respective histories of the selected thre
Interrogating the development and conceptual framework of economic thought in the Islamic tradition pertaining to ethical, philosophical, and theological ideas, this book provides a critique of modern Islamic economics as a hybrid economic system. From the outset, Sami Al-Daghistani is concerned with the polyvalent methodology of studying the phenomenon of Islamic economic thought as a human science in that it nurtures a complex plentitude of meanings and interpretations associated with the moral self. By studying legal scholars, theologians, and Sufis in the classical period, Al-Daghistani looks at economic thought in the context of Sharī'a's moral law. Alongside critiquing modern developments of Islamic economics, he puts forward an idea for a plural epistemology of Islam's moral economy, which advocates for a multifaceted hermeneutical reading of the subject in light of a moral law, embedded in a particular cosmology of human relationality, metaphysical intelligibility, and economic subjectivity.
In this magisterial work, Sami Zubaida draws on a distinguished career's worth of experience trying to understand the region to address the fundamental question in Middle East studies: what is the Middle East? He argues, controversially, that to see it through the prism of Islam, as it is conventionally viewed, is to completely misunderstand it. Many of what we think of as the 'Islamic' characteristics of the region are products of culture and society, not religion.To think of Islam itself as an essential, anti-modern force in the region rather than something shaped by specific historical-economic processes is, Zubaida argues, a mistake. Instead, he offers us an alternative view of the region, its historic cosmpolitanism, its religious and cultural diversity, its rapid adoption of new media cultures, which reveals a multi-faceted and complex region teeming with multiple identities. Wide-ranging, erudite and powerfully argued, Zubaida's work will be essential reading for future generations of students of this fascinating region.
Despite nearly being killed by a kangaroo and almost lynched and run out of town after his comedy was taken far too seriously, Sami Shah is very happy to be living in Australia. He has fronted his own satirical show on TV in Karachi, worked as a journalist and been a highly regarded newspaper columnist - all dangerous occupations to be involved in - when the combination of seeing the aftermaths of a devastating bomb attack and being the target of death threats convinced him to leave Pakistan. Under the terms of their Australian migration visa, Sami and his wife and young daughter were obliged to settle in a rural area, and so they moved to Northam in Western Australia. Now Sami is battling a crippling addiction to meat pies, but at least is no longer constantly mistaken for an escaped asylum seeker from the nearby detention centre. He has also been the star of Australian Story, the subject of an article in The New York Times, and has performed countless comedy shows to ever-growing and appreciative audiences. I, Migrant tells the hilarious and moving story of what it's like to leave the home you love to start a new life in another country so your child can be safe and grow up with a limitless future. Australia is lucky to have Sami Shah. Read I, Migrant, and laugh till you cry.
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