Aisha’s Cushion

Aisha’s Cushion PDF Author: Jamal J. Elias
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674070666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Media coverage of the Danish cartoon crisis and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan left Westerners with a strong impression that Islam does not countenance depiction of religious imagery. Jamal J. Elias corrects this view by revealing the complexity of Islamic attitudes toward representational religious art. Aisha’s Cushion emphasizes Islam’s perceptual and intellectual modes and in so doing offers the reader both insight into Islamic visual culture and a unique way of seeing the world. Aisha’s Cushion evaluates the controversies surrounding blasphemy and iconoclasm by exploring Islamic societies at the time of Muhammad and the birth of Islam; during early contact between Arab Muslims and Byzantine Christians; in medieval Anatolia and India; and in modern times. Elias’s inquiry then goes further, to situate Islamic religious art in a global context. His comparisons with Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu attitudes toward religious art show them to be as contradictory as those of Islam. Contemporary theories about art’s place in society inform Elias’s investigation of how religious objects have been understood across time and in different cultures. Elias contends that Islamic perspectives on representation and perception should be sought not only in theological writings or aesthetic treatises but in a range of Islamic works in areas as diverse as optics, alchemy, dreaming, calligraphy, literature, vehicle and home decoration, and Sufi metaphysics. Unearthing shades of meaning in Islamic thought throughout history, Elias offers fresh insight into the relations among religion, art, and perception across a broad range of cultures.

Aisha’s Cushion

Aisha’s Cushion PDF Author: Jamal J. Elias
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674070666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Get Book

Book Description
Media coverage of the Danish cartoon crisis and the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan left Westerners with a strong impression that Islam does not countenance depiction of religious imagery. Jamal J. Elias corrects this view by revealing the complexity of Islamic attitudes toward representational religious art. Aisha’s Cushion emphasizes Islam’s perceptual and intellectual modes and in so doing offers the reader both insight into Islamic visual culture and a unique way of seeing the world. Aisha’s Cushion evaluates the controversies surrounding blasphemy and iconoclasm by exploring Islamic societies at the time of Muhammad and the birth of Islam; during early contact between Arab Muslims and Byzantine Christians; in medieval Anatolia and India; and in modern times. Elias’s inquiry then goes further, to situate Islamic religious art in a global context. His comparisons with Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu attitudes toward religious art show them to be as contradictory as those of Islam. Contemporary theories about art’s place in society inform Elias’s investigation of how religious objects have been understood across time and in different cultures. Elias contends that Islamic perspectives on representation and perception should be sought not only in theological writings or aesthetic treatises but in a range of Islamic works in areas as diverse as optics, alchemy, dreaming, calligraphy, literature, vehicle and home decoration, and Sufi metaphysics. Unearthing shades of meaning in Islamic thought throughout history, Elias offers fresh insight into the relations among religion, art, and perception across a broad range of cultures.

The Lives of Muhammad

The Lives of Muhammad PDF Author: Kecia Ali
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674050606
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Kecia Ali delves into the many ways the Prophet’s life story has been told from the earliest days of Islam to the present, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Emphasizing the major transformations since the nineteenth century, she shows that far from being mutually opposed, these various perspectives have become increasingly interdependent.

Islam and the Future of Tolerance

Islam and the Future of Tolerance PDF Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674737067
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 75

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Book Description
In this dialogue between a famous atheist and a former radical, Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz invite you to join an urgently needed conversation: Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem drawn to extremism? The authors demonstrate how two people with very different views can find common ground.

Written in the Stars

Written in the Stars PDF Author: Aisha Saeed
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
ISBN: 0399171703
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
"Naila's vacation to visit relatives in Pakistan turns into a nightmare when she discovers her parents want to force her to marry a man she's never met"--

Jewish and Islamic Law

Jewish and Islamic Law PDF Author: Gideon Libson
Publisher: Islamic Legal Studies Program @ Harvard Law School
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
This is the first attempt to present a comprehensive comparative study of Jewish-Islamic law on a particular topic during the early Middle Ages. Libson's in-depth study of Islamic law, together with his expertise in the wide range of geonic and rabbinic literature, enable him to determine the influence of Muslim practice on geonic custom.

Aisha's Cushion

Aisha's Cushion PDF Author: Jamal J. Elias
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674067398
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
Westerners have a strong impression that Islam does not allow religious imagery. Elias corrects this view. Unearthing shades of meaning in Islamic thought throughout history, he argues that Islamic perspectives on representation and perception should be sought in diverse areas such as optics, alchemy, dreaming, vehicle decoration, Sufi metaphysics.

Red, White, and Muslim

Red, White, and Muslim PDF Author: Asma Gull Hasan
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061971421
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
An Inspiring Account of One Woman's Journey to Reclaim Her Spiritual and Cultural Identity For Asma Hasan, being a Muslim is not merely a matter of birth, but a matter of choice and faith. Hasan's personal relationship with her religion was, and continues to be, a defining element of her life, and through her writing she inspires a new understanding and appreciation of a frequently misunderstood tradition. This is her American story.

Hajj

Hajj PDF Author: Venetia Porter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780674062184
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Hajj is the largest pilgrimage in the world today and a sacred duty for all Muslims. With contributions from renowned experts, this book opens out onto the full sweep of the Hajj: as a sacred path walked by early Islamic devotees, as a sumptuous site of worship under the care of sultans, and as an expression of faith in the modern world.

The Muslim Jesus

The Muslim Jesus PDF Author: Tarif Khalidi
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674011155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This work presents in English translation the largest collection ever assembled of the sayings and stories of Jesus in Arabic Islamic literature. In doing so, it traces a tradition of love and reverence for Jesus that has characterized Islamic thought for more than a thousand years. An invaluable resource for the history of religions, the collection documents how one culture, that of Islam, assimilated the towering religious figure of another, that of Christianity. As such, it is a work of great significance for the understanding of both, and of profound implications for modern-day intersectarian relations and ecumenical dialogue. Tarif Khalidi’s introduction and commentaries place the sayings and stories in their historical context, showing how and why this “gospel” arose and the function it served within Muslim devotion. The Jesus that emerges here is a compelling figure of deep and life-giving spirituality. The sayings and stories, some 300 in number and arranged in chronological order, show us how the image of this Jesus evolved throughout a millennium of Islamic history.

Sayyid Qutb

Sayyid Qutb PDF Author: James Toth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199969604
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Sayyid Qutb is widely considered the guiding intellectual of radical Islam, with a direct line connecting him to Osama bin Laden. But Qutb has too often been treated maliciously or reductively-"the Philosopher of Islamic Terror," as Paul Berman famously put it in the New York Times Magazine. James Toth offers an even-handed account of Sayyid Qutb and shows him to be a much more complex figure than the many one-dimensional portraits would have us believe. Qutb first gained notice as a novelist, literary critic, and poet but then turned to religious and political criticism aimed at the Egyptian government and Muslims he deemed insufficiently pious. After a two-year sojourn in the U.S., he returned to Egypt even more radicalized and joined the Muslim Brotherhood, eventually taking charge of its propaganda operation. When Brotherhood members were accused of assassinating Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the group was outlawed and Qutb imprisoned. He was executed in 1966, becoming the first martyr to the Islamist cause. Using an analytical approach that investigates without passing judgment, Toth traces the life and thought of Qutb, giving attention not only to his well-known Signposts on the Road, but also to his less-studied works like Social Justice in Islam and his 30-volume Qur'anic commentary, In the Shade of the Qur'an. Toth's aim is to give Qutb's ideas a fair hearing, to measure their impact, and to treat him like other intellectuals who inspire revolutions, however unpopular they may be. In offering a more nuanced account of Qutb, one that moves beyond the cartoonish depictions of him as the evil genius lurking behind today's terrorists, Sayyid Qutb deepens our understanding of a central figure of radical Islam and, indeed, our understanding of radical Islam itself.