Download or read book The Pre Islamic Middle East written by Martin Sicker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2000-04-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sicker explores the political history of the Middle East from antiquity to the Arab conquest from a geopolitical perspective. He argues that there are a number of relatively constant environmental factors that have helped condition-not determine-the course of Middle Eastern political history from ancient times to the present. These factors, primarily, but not exclusively geography and topography, contributed heavily to establishing the patterns of state development and interstate relations in the Middle East that have remained remarkably consistent throughout the troubled history of the region. In addition to geography and topography, the implications of which are explored in depth, religion has also played a major political role in conditioning the pattern of Middle Eastern history. The Greeks first introduced the politicization of religious belief into the region in the form of pan-Hellenism, which essentially sought to impose Greek forms of popular religion and culture on the indigenous peoples of the region as a means of solidifying Greek political control. This ultimately led to religious persecution as a state policy. Subsequently, the Persian Sassanid Empire adopted Zoroastrianism as the state religion for the same purpose and with the same result. Later, when Armenia adopted Christianity as the state religion, followed soon after by the Roman Empire, religion and the intolerance it tended to breed became fundamental ingredients, in regional politics and have remained such ever since. Sicker shows that the political history of the pre-Islamic Middle East provides ample evidence that the geopolitical and religious factors conditioning political decision-making tended to promote military solutions to political problems, making conflict resolution through war the norm, with the peaceful settlement of disputes quite rare. A sweeping synthesis that will be of considerable interest to scholars, students, and others concerned with Middle East history and politics as well as international relations and ancient history.
Download or read book Arabia and the Arabs written by Robert G. Hoyland and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before Muhammed preached the religion of Islam, the inhabitants of his native Arabia had played an important role in world history as both merchants and warriors Arabia and the Arabs provides the only up-to-date, one-volume survey of the region and its peoples, from prehistory to the coming of Islam Using a wide range of sources - inscriptions, poetry, histories, and archaeological evidence - Robert Hoyland explores the main cultural areas of Arabia, from ancient Sheba in the south, to the deserts and oases of the north. He then examines the major themes of *the economy *society *religion *art, architecture and artefacts *language and literature *Arabhood and Arabisation The volume is illustrated with more than 50 photographs, drawings and maps.
Download or read book Arabs and Empires Before Islam written by Greg Fisher and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arabs and Empires before Islam collates nearly 250 translated extracts from an extensive array of ancient sources which, from a variety of different perspectives, illuminate the history of the Arabs before the emergence of Islam.
Download or read book The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre Islamic Arabia written by Ahmad Al-Jallad and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-03-21 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book approaches the religion and rituals of the pre-Islamic Arabian nomads using the Safaitic inscriptions. Unlike Islamic-period literary sources, this material was produced by practitioners of traditional Arabian religion; the inscriptions are eyewitnesses to the religious life of Arabian nomads prior to the spread of Judaism and Christianity across Arabia. The author attempts to reconstruct this world using the original words of its inhabitants, interpreted through comparative philology, pre-Islamic and Islamic-period literary sources, and the archaeological context.
Download or read book Women in Pre Islamic Arabia written by Hatūn Ajwād Fāsī and published by BAR International Series. This book was released on 2007 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first centuries BC-AD see a huge increase in Nabatean depictions of women, and using inscriptions, coins and archaeological studies this book looks at the reasons for this trend, which represents a clear rise in women's status at that time - with women becoming involved in business, and enjoying a certain amount of legal independence.
Download or read book Literacy and Identity in Pre Islamic Arabia written by M.C.A. Macdonald and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-02-24 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these studies Michael Macdonald examines the extraordinary flowering of literacy in both the settled and nomadic populations of western Arabia in the 1500 years before the birth of Islam, when a larger proportion of the population could read and write than in any other part of the ancient Near East, and possibly any other part of the ancient world. Even among the nomads there seems to have been almost universal literacy in some regions. The scores of thousands of inscriptions and graffiti they left paint a vivid picture of the way-of-life, social systems, and personal emotions of their authors, information which is not available for any other non-élite population in the ancient Near East outside Egypt. This abundance of inscriptions has enabled Michael Macdonald to explore in detail some of the - often surprising - ways in which reading and writing were used in the literate and non-literate communities of ancient Arabia. He describes the many different languages and the distinct family of alphabets used in ancient Arabia, and discusses the connections between the use of particular languages or scripts and expressions of personal and communal identity. The problem of how ancient perceptions of ethnicity in this region can be identified in the sources is another theme of these papers; more specifically, they deal from several different perspectives with the question of what ancient writers meant when they applied the term 'Arab' to a wide variety of peoples throughout the ancient Near East.
Download or read book No god but God The Origins and Evolution of Islam written by Reza Aslan and published by Ember. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking, No god but God is a persuasive, elegantly written, and accessible introduction for young readers to a faith that for much of the West remains shrouded in ignorance and fear. Adapted for young readers from No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, this exploration of Islam by Reza Aslan, internationally acclaimed scholar of comparative religion, delves into the rituals and traditions of a religion that is largely misunderstood by the West. It covers the religion’s origins—the revelation of Muhammad as Prophet and the subsequent uprising against him, and the emergence of his successors—as well as Islam’s complex history. No god but God is sure to stimulate discussion and encourage understanding of the Islamic faith and the people who follow it. Praise for No god But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam of Islam “This welcome addition to Islamic studies provides a valuable context for reflection about the origins of issues facing Muslims and their neighbors today.”—Publishers Weekly “An introduction to Islam as evocative as it is provocative.”—Kirkus Reviews “Wise and passionate book.”—New York Times Financial Times Best Book of the Year
Download or read book A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture written by Finbarr Barry Flood and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-06-16 with total page 1448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The two-volume Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture bridges the gap between monograph and survey text by providing a new level of access and interpretation to Islamic art. The more than 50 newly commissioned essays revisit canonical topics, and include original approaches and scholarship on neglected aspects of the field. This two-volume Companion showcases more than 50 specially commissioned essays and an introduction that survey Islamic art and architecture in all its traditional grandeur Essays are organized according to a new chronological-geographical paradigm that remaps the unprecedented expansion of the field and reflects the nuances of major artistic and political developments during the 1400-year span The Companion represents recent developments in the field, and encourages future horizons by commissioning innovative essays that provide fresh perspectives on canonical subjects, such as early Islamic art, sacred spaces, palaces, urbanism, ornament, arts of the book, and the portable arts while introducing others that have been previously neglected, including unexplored geographies and periods, transregional connectivities, talismans and magic, consumption and networks of portability, museums and collecting, and contemporary art worlds; the essays entail strong comparative and historiographic dimensions The volumes are accompanied by a map, and each subsection is preceded by a brief outline of the main cultural and historical developments during the period in question The volumes include periods and regions typically excluded from survey books including modern and contemporary art-architecture; China, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sicily, the New World (Americas)
Download or read book Christian Martyrs Under Islam written by Christian C. Sahner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A look at the developing conflicts in Christian-Muslim relations during late antiquity and the early Islamic era How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across the early Islamic caliphate slowly converted to the faith of the Arab conquerors and how small groups of individuals rejected this faith through dramatic acts of resistance, including apostasy and blasphemy. Using previously untapped sources in a range of Middle Eastern languages, Christian Sahner introduces an unknown group of martyrs who were executed at the hands of Muslim officials between the seventh and ninth centuries CE. Found in places as diverse as Syria, Spain, Egypt, and Armenia, they include an alleged descendant of Muhammad who converted to Christianity, high-ranking Christian secretaries of the Muslim state who viciously insulted the Prophet, and the children of mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians. Sahner argues that Christians never experienced systematic persecution under the early caliphs, and indeed, they remained the largest portion of the population in the greater Middle East for centuries after the Arab conquest. Still, episodes of ferocious violence contributed to the spread of Islam within Christian societies, and memories of this bloodshed played a key role in shaping Christian identity in the new Islamic empire. Christian Martyrs under Islam examines how violence against Christians ended the age of porous religious boundaries and laid the foundations for more antagonistic Muslim-Christian relations in the centuries to come.
Download or read book The Qur n in Context written by Angelika Neuwirth and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009-10-26 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although recent scholarship has increasingly situated the Qur'ān in the historical context of Late Antiquity, such a perspective is only rarely accompanied by the kind of microstructural literary analysis routinely applied to the Bible. The present volume seeks to redress this lack of contact between literary and historical studies. Contributions to the first part of the volume address various general aspects of the Qur’an’s political, economic, linguistic, and cultural context, while the second part contains a number of close readings of specific Qur’ānic passages in the light of Judeo-Christian tradition and ancient Arabic poetry, as well as discussions of the Qur’ān’s internal chronology and transmission history. Throughout, special emphasis is given to methodological questions.
Download or read book Rome Persia and Arabia written by Greg Fisher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-27 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rome, Persia, and Arabia traces the enormous impact that the Great Powers of antiquity exerted on Arabia and the Arabs, between the arrival of Roman forces in the Middle East in 63 BC and the death of the Prophet Muhammad in AD 632. Richly illustrated and covering a vast area from the fertile lands of South Arabia to the bleak deserts of Iraq and Syria, this book provides a detailed and captivating narrative of the way that the empires of antiquity affected the politics, culture, and religion of the Arabs. It examines Rome’s first tentative contacts in the Syrian steppe and the controversial mission of Aelius Gallus to Yemen, and takes in the city states, kingdoms, and tribes caught up in the struggle for supremacy between Rome and Persia, including the city state of Hatra, one of the many archaeological sites in the Middle East that have suffered deliberate vandalism at the hands of the ‘Islamic State’. The development of an Arab Christianity spanning the Middle East, the emergence of Arab fiefdoms at the edges of imperial power, and the crucial appearance of strong Arab leadership in the century before Islam provide a clear picture of the importance of pre-Islamic Arabia and the Arabs to understanding world and regional history. Rome, Persia, and Arabia includes discussions of heritage destruction in the Middle East, the emergence of Islam, and modern research into the anthropology of ancient tribal societies and their relationship with the states around them. This comprehensive and wide-ranging book delivers an authoritative chronicle of a crucial but little known era in world history, and is for any reader with an interest in the ancient Middle East, Arabia, and the Roman and Persian empires.
Download or read book Business Practice Before Islam in Arabia written by Irfan Shahid and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business Practice before the advent of Islam is a comprehensive book which provides detail accounts of the trading customs of the Arab. Arab countries are mostly situated in the desert region. A limited area of land was fertile for agriculture and farming. Majority population were engaged in the business. Trade caravan would travel south to north through the Arabian Peninsula. Before Islam, numerous trade methods were prevalent in Arabia, which was part of their culture. These methods were dubious and based on cheating and fraud. Most of the time, fraudulent trade practice were found the bone of contention among various Arab tribes which continued generation after generation. A brief history of trade and business practice of Islam is included in this book. Various Bazar (Local Markets) organised in the Arabian Peninsula is discussed in detail. The Islamic principle of trade, source of Islamic commercial law, business ethics, several business contracts used in Islamic finance and the latest theory of international trade are also discussed in the book.
Download or read book Ancient South Arabia through History written by George Hatke and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Arabia, an area encompassing all of today’s Yemen and neighboring regions in Saudi Arabia and Oman, is one of the least-known parts of the Near East. However, it is primarily due to its remoteness, coupled with the difficulty of access, that South Arabia remains under-researched, for this region was, in fact, very important during pre-Islamic times. By virtue of its location at the crossroads of caravan and maritime routes, pre-Islamic South Arabia linked the Near East with Africa and the Mediterranean with India. The region is also unique in that it has a written history extending as far back as the early first millennium BCE—a far longer history, indeed, than any other part of the Arabian Peninsula. The papers collected in this volume make a number of important contributions to the study of the history and languages of ancient South Arabia, as well as the history of the modern study of South Arabia’s past, which will be of interest to scholars and laypeople alike.
Download or read book Arabia and the Arabs written by Robert G. Hoyland and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a wide range of sources – inscriptions, poetry, histories, and archaeological evidence – Robert G. Hoyland explores the main cultural areas of Arabia, from ancient Sheba in the South, to the deserts and oases of the north.
Download or read book The Holy City of Medina written by Thomas Henry Robert Munt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the emergence of Medina as a holy city, focusing on the historical developments of the first three Islamic centuries.
Download or read book Revolutionizing a World written by Mark Altaweel and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates the long-term continuity of large-scale states and empires, and its effect on the Near East’s social fabric, including the fundamental changes that occurred to major social institutions. Its geographical coverage spans, from east to west, modern-day Libya and Egypt to Central Asia, and from north to south, Anatolia to southern Arabia, incorporating modern-day Oman and Yemen. Its temporal coverage spans from the late eighth century BCE to the seventh century CE during the rise of Islam and collapse of the Sasanian Empire. The authors argue that the persistence of large states and empires starting in the eighth/seventh centuries BCE, which continued for many centuries, led to new socio-political structures and institutions emerging in the Near East. The primary processes that enabled this emergence were large-scale and long-distance movements, or population migrations. These patterns of social developments are analysed under different aspects: settlement patterns, urban structure, material culture, trade, governance, language spread and religion, all pointing at movement as the main catalyst for social change. This book’s argument is framed within a larger theoretical framework termed as ‘universalism’, a theory that explains many of the social transformations that happened to societies in the Near East, starting from the Neo-Assyrian period and continuing for centuries. Among other influences, the effects of these transformations are today manifested in modern languages, concepts of government, universal religions and monetized and globalized economies.
Download or read book Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century written by Ira M. Lapidus and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-10-22 with total page 795 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1988, Ira Lapidus' A History of Islamic Societies has become a classic in the field, enlightening students, scholars, and others with a thirst for knowledge about one of the world's great civilizations. This book, based on fully revised and updated parts one and two of this monumental work,describes the transformations of Islamic societies from their beginning in the seventh century, through their diffusion across the globe, into the challenges of the nineteenth century. The story focuses on the organization of families and tribes, religious groups and states, showing how they were transformed by their interactions with other religious and political communities. The book concludes with the European commercial and imperial interventions that initiated a new set of transformations in the Islamic world, and the onset of the modern era. Organized in narrative sections for the history of each major region, with innovative, analytic summary introductions and conclusions, this book is a unique endeavour.
