Islamic World and Near East History Commons^™

Power, Piety, And Rebellion In Al-Andalus: The Reception And Influence Of Al-Ghazali's Political Philosophy In Islamic Iberia, Patrick Harris

The Hilltop Review

Dissident Muslims have utilized discourses of pious rulership to justify their revolt against centralized authority at least as far back as the Kharijite rebellion in the 1st/7th century, which, in turn, resulted in the first major schism within the Islamic community. One may, indeed, interpret the very founding of Islam, in part, as a pietist response to a Meccan regime which fostered an environment of injustice and iniquity. Thus, the need for a pious rulership has been at the heart of Islamic political sensibility, if not from its very foundation, then at least from its first division. Rebels and reformers …

Coffee And Dates: Perceptions Of Life In The Modern Middle East, Patrick Edward Thevenow

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Old men were everywhere. The Nizwa Souq was crawling with them as they wandered through the labyrinth of shops to converse, eat dates, and drink coffee. Instantly, scenes from Wilfred Thesiger's "Arabian Sands" came to mind as the old men of the souq went about their daily business. This was the first time I had truly been on my own in Oman-away from my school and the Americans there, away from the modern conveniences of Muscat-yet as my initial sense of bewilderment subsided, I began to realize this research was going to change the course of my life. The men …

A Spectacle Of Great Beauty: The Changing Faces Of Hagia Sophia, Victoria M. Villano

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Contemporary Islamic House, Hanna Ibrahim

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Architectural design thesis-- proposes a contemporary house that is a manifestation of the practices of the Islamic religion.

The Bionic Self: Unveiling The Phantom Of The East, Christopher J. Jarmark

English Theses

The existence of Palestine is a question that has haunted the East ever since Israel’s occupation laid roots there in the mid-twentieth century. Occupation allowed for Israel not only to conquer the land of Palestine for itself but also, through bloodied battles and harsh socio-political expectations, to squeeze the essence of cultural identity from the Palestinians. As the occupation stripped the cultural heritage from the Palestinians, they were placed into roles of refugees and exiles, leaving them to wander blankly with only the painfully scarred memories of what used to be their home and culture. Ghassan Kanafani and Sahar Khalifeh …

The Problem With Nuclear Diplomacy: Jimmy Carter And Pakistan's Nuclear Program, Brittany Raymer

Masters Theses

A detailed history of Pakistan's attempt to build the atomic bomb in the 1970s and Jimmy Carter's reaction to the tense diplomatic situation.

Creating A Nation In Adversity: Advent Of Egyptian Nationalism In British Occupation, Kathryn Louise James

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nationalism is the process through which the groupings of ethnicity, nationhood, and statehood successfully merge into a nation-state. This study seeks to identify the cause of nationalism in Egypt and its characteristics.

Islam In Central Asia: A Religion And A Heritage, Jordan Pahl

Young Historians Conference

Despite the growing relevance of the Central Asian region to modern-day foreign affairs, little is generally understood by the public about these countries. Few people can name the five Central Asian republics and even fewer understand the complicated social, political, and religious history of the region. This paper explores the prevalence of Islam in the Central Asian states and the influence of the former Soviet Union's anti-religious policies on the region. Through extensive research as well as interviews conducted with modern-day Central Asian students living in the region, the unexpected implications of the anti-religious policies are revealed, and the current …

The Sociology Of Harriet Martineau In Eastern Life, Present And Past: The Foundations Of The Islamic Sociology Of Religion, Deborah A. Ruigh

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper is a critical analysis of Harriet Martineau’s philosophical stance and epistemological modes, her systematic sociological methodology, her use of this methodology, and her sociology of religion. How to Observe Morals and Manners (1838), Eastern Life, Present and Past (1848), and other relevant works will be used to examine Martineau’s evolving epistemological modes as well as her sociology of religion. How to Observe, Martineau’s treatise on systematic sociological methodology and cultural relativism, will serve as an exemplar for analysis of Martineau’s methodological practice as evidenced in Eastern Life. The research problem herein is three-fold: (1) to examine …

Off The Edge Of The Map: The Search For Portuguese Influence On The Piri Reis Map Of 1513, Robert S. Bridges

Student Publications

Left tattered after centuries of ware, hidden in the walls of Topkapı Sarayı, the 1513 map of the Ottoman cartographer Hacı Ahmed Muhiddin Piri has not been properly contextualized in light of Portuguese cartography of the time. In the map’s colophon, Piri Reis indicated that he utilized Portuguese charts as his sources for cartographic depictions of India and China. Scholars have not inspected the full range of contemporaneous Portuguese charts that depict the Indian Ocean Basin in light of the Piri Reis map. My contribution is to examine several late 14th and early 15th century Portuguese cartographical sources and references …

The Long Road: An Analysis Of The 1557 Book Of Mirrors By Seydi Ali Reis, Julian N. Weiss

Student Publications

In 1552, Piri Reis was relieved from the Admiralty of the Ottoman Imperial Navy. Seydi Ali Reis was appointed to replace him and his assignment was to return fifteen galleys from Basra to Egypt. This should have been a relatively short journey. Seydi failed miserably, however. He lost most of the ships in battle with the Portuguese and bad weather, which he documents in his travelogue The Mirror of Countries. With nowhere left to turn, he sold the remaining ships in Surat on the west coast of India. To make matters worse, he took the long road home to Istanbul: …

The Life And Works Of Rashīd Al-Dīn: Jewish Vizier In The Mongol Ilkhanid Court, Sienna Z. Jackson

Featured Research

In this paper I wish to illuminate the life of historian and author Rashīd al-Dīn Fadhl-allāh Hamadānī, a Jewish vizier during the rule of the Mongol Ilkhans in Iran. By gaining a better grasp of the man’s personal biography, I hope to give insight into his life’s most notable work: the Jami al-Tawarikh, or the Compendium of Chronicles (ca. 1305-06), the first comprehensive world history of its kind ever produced and Rashid al-Din’s greatest contribution to Ilkhanid literary space. It serves as our best source for understanding the Pax Mongolica of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that embraced Iran, and …

Formation Of Public Sphere(S) In The Aftermath Of The 1908 Revolution Among Armenians, Arabs, And Jews, Bedross Der Matossian

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Revolutionary theories are most useful when they attempt to define and interpret the causes and mechanisms of revolutions. However, when they attempt to forecast the outcomes and the impact of revolutions on their indigenous societies, they are largely unsuccessful. This article deals with the impact of the Young Turk revolution on three non-dominant ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Arabs, and Jews. It will argue that the revolution resulted in the creation of a multiplicity of public spheres among the ethnic groupS.1 This multiplicity of public spheres became the main medium through which these ethnic groups internalized the Young …

An Architectural Reflection Of Community : A Study Of The Patriarchal Churches In Constnatinople/Istanbul As A Reflection Of The Relationship Of Christians And Muslims In The Ottoman Empire, Greta Steeber

Master of Arts Theses

No abstract provided.

Democratic Transitions In Divided States: The Case Of Iraq, Kara Leigh Kingma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many theorists have posited that democratic transitions in states divided along ethnic, racial, or religious lines are accompanied by violent conflict and thus unlikely to succeed. The end of authoritarian rule in Iraq and the introduction of democracy by the United States has been followed by many such challenges, and it has been argued that the artificial Iraqi state and its Kurdish, Sunni, and Shia communities does not possess the unity as required by democratic government. However, an informed analysis of Iraqi democracy requires attention to the role of its authoritarian leaders and war and economic hardships in making Iraq's …

The Development Of Political Secularism In A Nascent State, Tabassum Farooqui

Theses Digitization Project

This study will explore the rise, fall and revival of political secularism in Bangladesh. The exclusion or inclusion of political secularism is a controversial issue in many nascent states, because political groups often use religion as a political tool to manipulate the masses. In some newly-independent states, religious sentiment of citizens may be manipulated by different regimes; yet, the unique style of adopting religion may or may not increase religious tolerance in government.

Volume 4: Cosmopolitanisms In Muslim Contexts : Perspectives From The Past, Derryl N. Maclean, Sikeena Karmali Ahmed

Exploring Muslim Contexts

Cosmopolitanism is a key concept in social and political thought, standing in opposition to closed human group ideologies such as tribalism, nationalism and fundamentalism. Much recent discussion of this concept has been situated within Western self-perceptions, with little inclusion of information from Muslim contexts.

This volume redresses the balance by focusing attention on instances in world history when cosmopolitan ideas and actions pervaded specific Muslim societies and cultures, exploring the tensions between regional cultures, isolated enclaves and modern nation-states. Models are chosen from four geographic areas: The Swahili coast, the Ottoman empire/Turkey, Iran and Indo-Pakistan.

Volume 3: Ethnographies Of Islam : Ritual Performances And Everyday Practices, Baudouin Dupret, Thomas Pierret, Paulo G. Pinto, Kathryn Spellman-Poots

Exploring Muslim Contexts

This comparative approach to the various uses of the ethnographic method in research about Islam in anthropology and other social sciences is particularly relevant in the current climate. Political discourses and stereotypical media portrayals of Islam as a monolithic civilisation have prevented the emergence of cultural pluralism and individual freedom.

This book counters such discourses by showing the diversity and plurality of Muslim societies and by promoting reflection on how the ethnographic method allows the description, representation and analysis of the social and cultural complexity of Muslim societies in the discourse of anthropology.

The Construction Of Belief : Reflections On The Thought Of Mohammed Arkoun, Abdou Filali-Ansari, Aziz Esmail

Independent Volumes

Mohammed Arkoun was one of the most prominent and influential Arab intellectuals of his day. During a career spanning more than thirty years, he was revered as an outstanding research scholar, a bold critic of the theoretical tensions embedded within Islamic studies and an outspoken public figure, upholding political, social and cultural modernism.

This festschrift honours Mohammed Arkoun’s scholarship, bringing together the contributions of eleven distinguished scholars of history, religious studies and philosophy. It offers a comprehensive selection of critical engagements with Arkoun’s work, reflecting on his considerable influence on contemporary thinking about Islam and its ideological, philosophical and theological …

Interpretations Of Law And Ethics In Muslim Contexts, Aptin Khanbaghi

Muslim Civilisations Abstracts

Law within Muslim societies is not uniform; even within Muslim majority regions it can be interpreted differently according to different denominations and legal traditions. As law forms an integral part of normative social practice, reflecting the moral and ethical principles of a society, it is important to highlight the diversity of interpretations to better enable the study of law along with the ethical principles of a community.

Volume 2 of the MCA series brings together some of the many unheard voices of scholars studying law and ethics in languages other than English. It features 200 abstracts with bibliographical details in …