Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Language Of God: Understanding The Qur'an, Daniel C. Peterson

BYU Studies Quarterly

The faith of Islam, one of the three great "Abrahamic" religions, as they might be called, is closely akin to the other two, Judaism and Christianity. It is tightly bound to and thoroughly permeated by its holy book, the Qur'an. Strangely, though, despite the historical and contemporary importance of Islam and despite Islam's kinship with the faith that has dominated Western civilization, neither Islam in general nor the Qur'an in particular is well known in the West. Nor do Westerners typically know very much about the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad. Yet the story of Muhammad is a dramatic …

Behind The Arabesque: Understanding Islamic Art And Architecture, Cynthia Finlayson

BYU Studies Quarterly

God is the light of the heavens and the earth. A likeness of His light is as a pillar on which is a lamp—the lamp is in a glass, the glass is as it were a brightly shining star—lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof gives light, though fire touch it not—light upon light. God guides to His light whom He pleases. And God sets forth parables for men, and God is Knower of all things.

—Qur'an 24:35

Al-Ghazali, A Muslim Seeker Of Truth, Brian M. Hauglid

BYU Studies Quarterly

In conjunction with some noted Islamicists and under the leadership of Daniel C. Peterson, associate professor of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at BYU, several significant Islamic texts are being or will be translated into English and published in order to make these texts available to the West. The first published volume of the Islamic Translation Series: Philosophy, Theology, and Mysticism is The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-Falasifa), written by al-Ghazali (d. 1111). It seems fitting to begin such a series with a work by al-Ghazali, as he holds an esteemed place in the Islamic world. However, Latter-day …

Muslim Perspectives On The Military Orders During The Crusades, William J. Hamblin

BYU Studies Quarterly

On July 4, 1187, the armies of Saladin, sultan of Egypt and Syria, surrounded thousands of Crusaders surmounting the Horns of Hattin (fig. 1) near Tiberias in Galilee. Exhausted by heat, thirst, and days of marching and fighting, the Crusaders were forced to surrender. Thousands of the resulting prisoners were sold into slavery, but not all. While King Guy and the Frankish aristocrats who had led their followers to disaster were allowed for the most part to ransom themselves, the knights of the Military Orders faced a different fate. After his triumphant victory, Saladin singled out the captive Templars and …

Photographs Of Jerusalem, 1903, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Thomas R. Wells

BYU Studies Quarterly

In 1903, just before the dramatic changes of the last century engulfed Palestine, Salt Lake City photographer Charles Ellis Johnson (1857-1926) found himself in Jerusalem, Johnson was the earliest Mormon professional photographer to capture views of the city and its inhabitants and thus freeze a unique, peaceful moment in time.

Medieval Texts For A Modern Audience: The Islamic Translation Series At Byu In Light Of Two Early Antecedents, D. Morgan Davis

BYU Studies Quarterly

Since the publication of its first volume in 1997, the Islamic Translation Series at Brigham Young University has gained recognition as a significant academic endeavor. From a historical perspective, however, the series, which seeks to make available to a new audience texts from the medieval efflorescence of Islamic civilization, is hardly unprecedented. Indeed, when compared with past undertakings, it is quite modest. This essay traces the outlines of two earlier translation movements, one centered in Baghdad from the mid-eighth to the tenth centuries C.E., the other in Spain during the twelfth century. These movements resulted in the transference and augmentation …

The Incoherence Of The Philosophers: A Parallel English-Arabic Text Translated, Introduced, And Annotated By Michael E. Marmura Al-Ghazali, David Paulsen, Eric Madsen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers: A Parallel English-Arabic Text Translated, Introduced, and Annotated by Michael E. Marmura. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2000. xxxi, 258 pp. Notes, index. $29.95.

Brief Notices, Morgan Davis, Steven Bitner, Doris R. Dant

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Index, Byu Studies

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Byu Studies

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Byu Studies

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Byu Studies

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Islam: An Introduction And Bibliography, James A. Toronto, Cynthia Finlayson

BYU Studies Quarterly

Long before the events of September 11, 2001, BYU Studies began working on this special issue focusing on Islam. The authors and editors who worked on this issue have tried to capture the spirit of a religion that provides guidance to the lives of millions of people worldwide. The ever expanding influence of Islam extends to the prominent and often controversial role that Islam plays in contemporary politics. In addition, Muslim theology, scripture, art, science, and communal values have made significant contributions to world civilization. And in quiet yet significant ways, dialogue and contact between Latter-day Saints and Muslims have …

Many Voices, One Umma: Sociopolitical Debate In The Muslim Community, James A. Toronto

BYU Studies Quarterly

As a religion expands beyond its original setting, it encounters new historical, economic, social, and geopolitical forces. The resulting clash between sacred truth and secular reality created ideological tensions within a religious community that lead its followers to engage in a process of dialogue, reform, and reconciliation. This process of dialectical exchange occurs both between members of the community and between the community and outside forces. Often it gives rise to traumatic, even violent, conflict and frequently leads to schisms and the establishment of break-away religious movements. The history of religion provides abundant evidence that the ability of a nascent …

Jerusalem's Role As A Holy City For Muslims, Chad F. Emmett

BYU Studies Quarterly

When Pope John Paul II made his historic March 2000 pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he did so with the hopes of building bridges and fostering peace. While in Jerusalem, he scheduled a meeting with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders to symbolize his ongoing desire for religious reconciliation. The meeting turned out to be less than conciliatory, especially in regard to Jerusalem. When Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau of Israel's Ashkenazic community praised the pope for his "'recognition of Jerusalem as its united, eternal capital'," some audience members shouted out that the pope had not recognized Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. …

Tradition Amid Social Upheaval: The Palestinian Muslim Family, Bruce A. Chadwick, Camille Fronk, Ray Huntington, Tim B. Heaton, Brian K. Barber

BYU Studies Quarterly

In 1994 and 1995, a research team from Brigham Young University conducted a survey of residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Motivated in part by our strong interest as Latter-day Saints in understanding and strengthening family life, we wished to study several aspects of the Palestinian family including prominence of marriage, family size, gender roles, education of women, marriage between relatives, and location of residence after marriage. By comparing our data with that of earlier surveys, we can ascertain changes occurring in the Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia: The Islamic State, Frederick W. Axelgard

BYU Studies Quarterly

In the two decades since Iran's Islamic revolution, the rapid pace of change in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa has focused attention on the societies there that proclaim loyalty to Islam. Is Islam on a collision course with Western civilization? Can adherence to its principles be reconciled with living and governing in a modernizing world? How will extremists that speak in the name of Islam affect the future of the Middle Est and neighboring regions? These and many similar questions have been debated at length. Yet, after volumes of political, social, and doctrinal analysis, the impression remains that exaggerated …

Mormonism And Islam Through The Eyes Of A “Universal Historian”, James K. Lyon

BYU Studies Quarterly

In 1912 the internationally known German historian Eduard Meyer published a book that ranked as a curiosity among his writings to that point. In it this remarkably prolific scholar, who in the previous thirty years had published a monumental five-volume history of the ancient world and 274 other books, treatises, and articles, explored two topics that were so alien to the mainstream of his previous work that it baffled his learned peers. Those topics were Mormonism and Islam. Entitled Ursprung und Geschichte der Mormonen, mit Exkursen über die Anfänge des Islâms und des Christentums (The origin and history of the …

Mormonism And Islam: From Polemics To Mutual Respect And Cooperation, Arnold H. Green

BYU Studies Quarterly

The world's fastest growing religion is either Islam (if considering annual growth in total numbers) or Mormonism (if considering annual growth in percentage terms). These two rapidly expanding global faiths are certain to increase interactions with each other. Already, in the minds of some clergymen, the two faiths have become associated in several ways, including Mormonism's being called "the Islam of America." While Muslim leaders have so far paid little attention to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church's General Authorities have expressed opinions about Islam. At first, they reacted negatively to being equated with it. Later, …

Respect For Life: Abortion In Islam And The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Donna Lee Bowen

BYU Studies Quarterly

While the indiscriminate taking of life is condemned by major religions and ethical systems worldwide, killing in some well-defined situations is less clearly condemned. For example, most major religious traditions put killing in war in a separate category. Euthanasia, which the Netherlands legalized in 2000, is passionately debated. Probably today's most debated means of taking life is abortion, for the purposes of this discussion abortion means not the unintentional loss of a fetus but a purposeful termination of pregnancy.

End Matter, Byu Studies

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Day The “Brave Sons Of Mohamed” Saved A Group Of Mormons, David P. Charles

BYU Studies Quarterly

On March 13, 1899, a small number of Latter-day Saints visited the Armenian cemetery of Aintab (modern Gaziantep), a then-provincial town in what is today southern central Turkey. In this group were two American missionaries, Philip S. Maycock and Joseph W. Booth, and several Armenian converts. Many of the area's Christians were observing Shrove Monday (the first day of Lent), and the cemetery, following Armenian tradition, was crowded with people picnicking and commemorating the loss of loved ones. Recognizing the situation as an opportunity to preach the gospel, the Saints gathered with some friends in a small ravine nearby, where …

“All Hail To Christmas”: Mormon Pioneer Holiday Celebrations, Richard Ian Kimball

BYU Studies Quarterly

To Mormon historians and members of the Church generally, Christmas is not a particularly "Mormon" holiday. Though contemporary Latter-day Saints throughout the world embrace a variety of traditions that commemorate the holiday, no major body of distinctively Mormon tradition surrounds the day in December traditionally reserved for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Mormons celebrate the holiday like most other Christians—reading from the nativity account in Luke, exchanging presents, and spending time with family and friends. Santa Claus, decorated trees, and the redemptive story of Ebenezer Scrooge all are staples of the winter holiday for Mormons in the …

Culture Carol: Dickens's Influence On Lds Christmas Fiction, Rosalynde Frandsen Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

During the festive weeks before Christmas feasts, everybody loves to hate Scrooge. That's how it always was in the household of my childhood. On the first Sunday afternoon of December, my father would gather the children in the family room and ceremonially produce our green hardbound edition of A Christmas Carol. He worked his way through the five staves of the Carol during that afternoon and the Sunday afternoons that followed, in order to complete the reading before Christmas Day. Although the younger children would fidget and the older children would complain, we needed the annual retelling of the …

The Evacuation Of The Czechoslovak And German Missions At The Outbreak Of World War Ii, David F. Boone

BYU Studies Quarterly

The evacuation of Latter-day Saint missionaries from Europe at the outbreak of World War II was truly a unique event in Church history. At the beginning of World War I, a few American missionaries serving in Europe were moved to areas of safety, but until 1939 there had never been a large-scale evacuation of missionaries as a result of their being endangered by impending war (fig. 1). As the threat of war gathered over Europe in the late 1930s, Latter-day Saint Church leaders in Salt Lake City watched anxiously. In August 1939, there were missionaries laboring in Great Britain, Germany, …

A Joseph Smith For The Twenty-First Century, Richard Lyman Bushman

BYU Studies Quarterly

Since Henry Caswall published The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century in 1843, a year before Joseph Smith's death, nineteen book-length biographies of the Prophet have appeared in print, more than half of them since 1940. They differ wildly in tone and perspective, as might be imagined. Several are still worth considering by serious students of Joseph Smith's life. Among the more notable, I. Woodbridge Riley's The Founder of Mormonism is severely critical but ingenious and original, the first biography to attempt a scientific explanation of Joseph Smith's revelations. Fawn Brodie's No Man Knows My History is a magnificent piece of …

Can Science Be Faith-Promoting? Sterling B. Talmage, Noel L. Owen

BYU Studies Quarterly

Sterling B. Talmage. Can Science Be Faith-Promoting? Ed. Stan Larson. Salt Lake City: Blue Ribbon Books, 2001. lxiv; 253 pp. Bibliography, index. $18.95.

Remembering Christmas Past: Presidents Of The Church Celebrate The Birth Of The Son Of Man And Remember His Servant Joseph Smith, Larry C. Porter

BYU Studies Quarterly

At Christmastime the story of the sojourn of Jesus Christ from Bethlehem to Calvary enjoys a resurgence among countless millions. For Latter-day Saints there is a second tradition associated with this special season—remembering the Prophet Joseph Smith and the course of events in his life from Sharon, Vermont, to Carthage, Illinois. As we commemorate anew these two births, we have cause to turn back time and review selected Christmas memories and moments from the lives of the fifteen Presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Night Before My Baptism, Mark Bennion

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Nobody Can, Marilyn Bushman-Carlton

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.