Eastern History Research Articles

Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Iranian Revolutionary Community in Syria and Lebanon in the 1970s.

The article is devoted to the comprehensive sociodemographic analysis of the local community of Iranian Islamists acting in Syria and Lebanon in the decade preceding the Islamic revolution of 1978-79. Thus far, history of everyday life and the multitudinous activities of the Iranian Islamic opposition in Syria and Lebanon in the 1970s has never become the principal subject of a historic research and has barely received attention from Western specialists in the history of the Islamic Revolution and modern Middle Eastern history, as well as from Iranian historians, scholars and researchers working in the field of the modern history of Iran. However, for a more comprehensive understanding of the Islamic Revolution, revolutionary processes and their logical premises and outcomes, it is highly necessary to carefully consider the sociodemographic characteristics of the active representatives of the Iranian opposition movement in the pre-revolutionary period namely in the 1970s. Throughout the comparative historical analysis of the reliable memories of longtime supporters of the Iranian Islamic movement acting in Syria and Lebanon, the fundamental sociodemographic characteristics of the active members of Iranian revolutionary movement abroad (e.g. gender, age, birthplace and place of living, educational and religious background, social marital status, etc.) are thoroughly highlighted, properly described and analyzed and their sociodemographic portrait is carefully created. The received sociohistorical data may properly serve as a valuable source on the social history of the Iranian society in the pre-revolutionary period, as well as on the complex history of Iranian revolutionary movement and the modern history of the Middle East region.

Dispensable and Inconsequential? Reflections on the Value of Tolerance in Interreligious Relations and Dialogue

In current intellectual discourse, some scholars believe tolerance is unnecessary to interreligious interaction, viewing it either as veiled indifference toward others and their religious idiosyncrasies, or as crude relativism rooted in denial of the truthclaims and moral obligations of religious traditions. This essay addresses these ideas, and explores the possible connotations and hermeneutics of tolerance, providing a fresh reading of its role and value within interreligious relations and dialogue. It proposes a new status for tolerance, by exploring its potential meanings and values in perception of the self, and not just of the other. It then examines Christian-Muslim relations in Middle Eastern history and their notion of tolerance and reinterprets it in light of the Qur’anic notion of ‘la ikrah’. A re-conception of tolerance is proposed, which invokes a new understanding of religiosity and religious affiliation: being tolerant in interreligious relations and dialogue means being one’s true religious self.

Muḥammad und Cædmon und die Siebenschläferlegende. Zur Verbindung zwischen Palästina und Canterbury im 7. Jahrhundert

Abstract There are strong parallels between the popular description of Muḥammad’s first revelation in the Sīra of Ibn Isḥāq and a depiction of a seventh-century Northumbrian monk Cædmon in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum by Bede Venerabilis. There has been some debate about whether these parallels are more or less coincidental, but very good arguments for a relation between the two texts have been put forward. This article adds to this line of research by providing a concrete model of how a Middle Eastern Vorlage might have traveled to Bede Venerabilis. It is argued that the archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus (d. 690), played a key role in this transfer. His biography puts into focus the transposition of Greek-Palestinian and -Egyptian monk congregations including relics and texts to Italy and especially Rome during the seventh century. The relevance of the surviving texts from the school of Canterbury for the study of seventh-century Middle Eastern history is then further illustrated with a version of the so-called legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesos recorded in Theodore’s biblical exegesis. Theodore’s specific version of that legend overlaps significantly with the version contained in the Qurʾān in Sura 18 (al-Kahf, “The cave”). It has always been clear that Sūrat al-Kahf refers to the Christian Seven Sleepers legend. However, since all other hitherto known versions of the story differed significantly from the Qurʾān version, the connection between the versions was usually imagined within a model of “oral transmission.” The version recorded from Theodore’s seventh century teaching sessions now allow us to draw a more nuanced picture in which this specific version of the legend can be situated in seventh-century Palestine. Possibly it was linked to the veneration of Lot in that region, drawing a parallel between Lot’s wife, who had supposedly been transformed into a pillar of salt, but was apparently thought to not have died, and the unnaturally long sleep of the Seven Sleepers over centuries.

Pandemic Studies in Middle Eastern History and Qur’anic Verse Interpretation of the Plague

In the past two years, the world has been excited by the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. This plague, in fact, has successfully paralysed many people in the world. Paralysis due to the spread of the virus, whose effect is not only to make many people in the world fall ill and must be treated specifically (quarantine), is mainly due to a number of factors that lead to death. This study aims to elaborate on the history of the pandemic in Islamic literature. Historically, the first plague (Ṭā’ūn) occurred in Ancient Egypt, based on the records of the Ancient Egyptians on papyrus sheets. Imam as-Suyuthi wrote that ṭā’ūn in Egypt occurred during the time of the Prophet Musa and Pharaoh. After that, the Islamic world experienced a plague pandemic that took thousands of Muslim lives. This paper aims to provide Muslims with an understanding that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a new thing in the Islamic world.

Хятад баруун орноо анх нэвтэрсэн түүх хийгээд Жан Чянь-ий хоёр удаагийн баруунш зорчсон аян

Since 2014, when president Xi Jinping introduced “Belt and Road” initiative studies of ancient silk road, history of western world, cultural studies have attracted again attention of Mongolian and foreign researchers and there is a necessity to develop further such studies.
 As four cultural peaks of civilization Chinese culture which follows Confucian ideology, Indian culture which is a cradle of Buddhism, Arab-Persian culture which consentrates Islam and Greek-Roman culture which originates Christianity all of them passed through “western region” into China and other Asian countries, delving and developing in natives’ livelihood, cultural relations, becoming unexhaustive cultural heritage of civilization of mankind. Regardless if we study western or eastern history and culture, we will come into contact of “western region’s history, geography and culture. Thus, history and culture study of “western region” is still popular subject for research until present. The purpose of my brief article is to illustrate the geography of the western world and to discuss the historical role of Zhang Qian when China entered western regions.

Transgressive moderns: social relations and cultural institutions in Middle Eastern History

Transgressive moderns: social relations and cultural institutions in Middle Eastern History

Outside the Pale: Marginality and Liminality in the Bronze Age Near East. Introduction

Abstract Studies of the Bronze Age in the ancient world traditionally have focused on mainstream populations, together with their social organization, and the economic subsistence strategies implemented by them. As a result, those people who lived on the edges of society, whether defined geographically, socially, demographically, or economically, have received correspondingly less attention. Yet, peoples on the margins of mainstream populations fulfilled roles integral to the primary economic and social systems in Bronze Age cultures in the ancient Near Eastern and North African world. This concept of marginal and/or liminal groups in the ancient world, the importance of examining them, and different methods of addressing them, are presented here, as the introduction to the collected papers on marginality and liminality in the Bronze Age world of the ancient Near East and North Africa in this special issue of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History.

A Monument to Medieval Syrian Book Culture: The Library of Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi

A Monument to Medieval Syrian Book Culture: The Library of Ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi

The Syro-Anatolian City-States: An Iron Age Culture

The Syro-Anatolian City-States: An Iron Age Culture

Influence of enlightenment literature on Indian and Kazakh society

Literature is the writer's ink manifestation of the art of expression. Fiction is the most important form of art. In the flow of communication, the synthesis of culture and literature has always been present. The influence of the concept of enlightenment in literature on culture is the subject of this article. The concept of enlightenment ushered in a period of cultural modernization in society, which was accompanied by advances in scientific, metaphysical, and social thought. The Enlightenment is regarded as one of the most pivotal times in Western and Eastern history. It was a time of intellectual movement, of liberation from darkness, of liberation from oppression by revolution, and of a shift in the social category based on rationalism and free thought. The aim of this article is to compare the harmony in the artistic heritage of Indian and Kazakh authors, who are great representatives of national culture in the dialogue of civilizations, to examine the manifestation of the concept of enlightenment in society in literature, and to demonstrate that this time brought significant social changes. Keywords: enlightenment period, enlightenment idea, literature, revolution, intellectual movement, modernization, society, realism.

Jihadi Audiovisuality and Its Entanglements: Meanings, Aesthetics, Appropriations

Jihadi Audiovisuality and Its Entanglements: Meanings, Aesthetics, Appropriations

Educating Palestine: Teaching and Learning History under the Mandate

Educating Palestine: Teaching and Learning History under the Mandate

Comparative and Integrative History in Ottoman and Turkish Women’s and Gender Studies

Comparative and Integrative History in Ottoman and Turkish Women’s and Gender Studies

Qatari genomes provide insight into Middle Eastern history

Qatari genomes provide insight into Middle Eastern history

East India Company Strategies in the Development of Singapore

Singapore in the Malay Peninsula was targeted by the British East India Company (EIC) to be the epicentre of their direct rule in Southeast Asia. Seeking new sources of revenue at the end of the 18th century, after attaining domination in India, the Company sought to extend its reach into China, and Malaya was the natural region to do this, extending outposts to Penang and Singapore. The latter was first identified as a key site by Stamford Raffles. The EIC Governor General Marquess Hastings (r. 1813-1823) planned to facilitate Raffle’s attention on the Malay Peninsula from Sumatra. Raffles’ plan for Singapore was approved by the EIC’s Bengal Government. The modern system of administration came into the Straits Settlements under the EIC’s Bengal Presidency. In 1819 in Singapore, Raffles established an Anglo-Oriental College (AOC) for the study of Eastern languages, literature, history, and science. The AOC was intended firstly to be the centre of local research and secondly to increase inter-cultural knowledge of the East and West. Besides Raffles’ efforts, the EIC developed political and socio-economic systems for Singapore. The most important aspects of the social development of Singapore were proper accommodation for migrants, poverty eradication, health care, a new system of education, and women’s rights. The free trade introduced by Francis Light (and later Stamford Raffles) in Penang and Singapore respectively gave enormous opportunities for approved merchants to expand their commerce from Burma to Australia and from Java to China. Before the termination of the China trade in 1833 Singapore developed tremendously, and cemented the role of the European trading paradigm in the East.

Persian/American Exceptionalism: Post-9/11 Strategies of Belonging in the Iranian Diaspora through Cultural Production

ABSTRACT Since 9/11, Iranian Americans have challenged their racialization as troublesome terrorists through cultural productions that emphasize how they belong in a multicultural America. In this paper, I argue that these Iranian Americans perform “Persian/American exceptionalism,” a representational strategy that embraces capitalist conspicuous consumption and touts universalist notions of freedom. In so doing, they attempt to erase post-revolutionary Iran and its association with political Islam from the U.S. imaginary as part of an effort to distance themselves from two major flashpoints in U.S.-Middle Eastern history – the Iran Hostage Crisis and September 11th.

Presentation of the Dossier - The royalty in the ancient Eastern world: Textual and image narratives

The idea of organizing a dossier on Eastern Antiquity has haunted us for some years. As scholars of Eastern history and archeology, it is our duty to provoke debate and reflection on the ancient Near East in its various temporalities and regions. Thus emerged the thematic proposal on royalty in the ancient oriental world.

Presentation of the Dossier - The royalty in the ancient Eastern world: Textual and image narratives

The idea of organizing a dossier on Eastern Antiquity has haunted us for some years. As scholars of Eastern history and archeology, it is our duty to provoke debate and reflection on the ancient Near East in its various temporalities and regions. Thus emerged the thematic proposal on royalty in the ancient oriental world.

The history of public health in the modern Middle East: The environmental–medical turn

AbstractThe field of Middle Eastern history began as an attempt to understand how Europeans came to dominate the region. As a result, when medicine and the environment were discussed, they were used to highlight European technological and scientific advances in these fields, and describe the processes through which Islamic medical and scientific concepts were replaced. The first wave of scholarship on the history of medicine in the region focused primarily on 19th‐century Egypt, where the state sponsored the development of a public health system to protect military readiness and combat epidemic diseases such as cholera and plague. This article highlights recent scholarship in the history of health, medicine, and the environment during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and illustrates how this lens (the “environmental‐medical turn”) provides new perspectives on the social and political history of the Middle East. I argue that the environmental‐medical turn provides a new avenue for locating illiterate members of society—the peasant and middle classes—in the archive; by exploring moments of crisis leading to protest and rebellion, and examining data revealing hardship and suffering, Middle Eastern historians can explore the complex roots of social and political events, and historians of medicine and the environment can include the region in transnational and comparative studies.

Expressive Arts Therapy with Chinese Calligraphy Elements as a Working Approach

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2020) 6(2):179–186 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2020/6/2 Expressive Arts Therapy with Chinese Calligraphy Elements as a Working Approach 中國書法元素融入表達藝術治療作實踐模式 Abstract The properties of Chinese calligraphy and its beauty have captured the imagination and expression of artists throughout the Eastern history. Although some in the Chinese world still practice Chinese calligraphy as an art today, many first encounter it as part of the literacy education in primary school curriculum. Repetitive mimicking is often emphasized in the process without much creative element. As a Chinese calligrapher who aspires to reflect on the creative aspect of the art form, this author chose to integrate elements of Chinese calligraphy with other art modalities in work with teenagers in school setting. This article will look at applying Chinese calligraphy elements to a framework called the expressive therapies continuumin group therapy setting. Keywords: Chinese calligraphy, Expressive therapies continuum, Expressive arts therapy 摘要 中國書法的特性及其美麗捕捉了整個東方歷史藝術家的想像力和表達。在華人社會中有不少人仍將中國書法視作為藝術來實踐，但許多初次接觸中國書法卻是小學課程中練字課程內。在教學過程中通常會強調重複模仿，而沒有太多創意元素。作為一位反思藝術形式創造性方面的中國書法愛好者，作家選擇將中國書法的元素與其他藝術形式相結合，並與學校中的青少年一起實踐。本文將探討如何將中國書法元素應用於團體治療中，並探討在表達性治療連續系統框架下的應用。 關鍵詞：中國書法，表達性治療連續系統，表達藝術治療