Islamic Middle East Research Articles

Eastern Horsefly: Implications of Fatima Mernissi's Work on the Islamic Ethos

This study comprises Fatima Mernissi's discourse analyses on the Islamic ethos and examines how these narratives can be traced in history, providing an archaeological method of research. It explains the conditions under which Islamic normative attitudes, which are replicated through ancient narratives like 1001 Nights Tales, Hosrev and Shirin, Kerem and Asli, become effective. Mernissi challenges the mindset of Western Orientalists' understanding through her observations on the Islamic Middle East in Moroccan culture. The Islamic Middle East, with harem nights and concubines, has always been an element of fantasy for Westerners. However, when the harems are reconsidered through Mernissi's analyses, far beyond what is assumed, harems were a field of exchange where women were not passive but active agents displaying various forms of resistance. The Islamic Middle East defines male-female dynamics with reference to the holy book, the Qur'an, and hadiths of Islam while maintaining its close contact with modernity. Mernissi highlights the search for power resources within the context of gender roles by both men and women in their engagement with modernity. This study examines Mernissi's Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems through her arguments on how Scheherazade, the character of 1001 Nights Tales, is instrumentalised to reproduce Islamic normative attitudes in the context of gender roles.

Art and Science in LACMA’s Cosmologies Exhibition

This paper presents an overview of the Cosmologies exhibition that will be presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in late 2024 – early 2025. Created in collaboration with scientists at the Carnegie Observatories and the Griffith Observatory, and a global array of consulting scholars, Cosmologies presents a group of one hundred twenty rare artworks, stone, ceramic, and metal sculptures; paintings; works on paper; manuscripts; astronomical instruments; and computer visualizations. The exhibition’s goal is to explore the variety of human attempts to explain the universe’s origins, mechanics, and meaning. Cosmologies is an aesthetically and intellectually ambitious exhibition that explores the history of multiple cosmologies around the globe from the Neolithic period to the present day, as they have developed across a wide range of regions and cultures, including Indigenous North and South America, Mesoamerica, Neolithic Europe, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan), the Islamic Middle East, Europe, and the United States, ending with an exploration of the current and future state of cosmology. The exhibition explores the development of cosmologies not only as scientific (i.e., astronomical and observable) systems of understanding, but also as ontological systems of belief that provided models for human beings’ place and purpose in the cosmos.

A Study of Islamic Portfolio Diversification Opportunities for Investors of Pakistan in various stock holding periods

This study attempts to find out the possible opportunities for the investors of Pakistan Islamic market to maximize the benefits of divergence. Dow Jones Islamic market returns (DJIMR) of four different regions named as Dow Jones Islamic Americas, Dow Jones Islamic European, Dow Jones Islamic Asian Pacific and Dow Jones Islamic Middle East and North Africa Regions across the Pakistan Karachi Meezan Index-30 have been used to capture the approach of diversification benefits. According to objectives, Multivariate GARCH— Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) model is applied and it is suggested that local investors of Pakistan should prefer to invest in Asian pacific region, then to Americas region and further Middle East and North Africa region and least preference should be given to European region to maximize benefits from diversification. In order to capture the change in diversification benefits during various stock holding horizons, Continuous wavelet transformation- CWT is applied and results have indicated insignificant relationship/correlation between two markets (local and international markets of all regions) for short period of holdings rather medium and long term holdings period. Indeed, this study has focused on advance concept of incorporating the role of stock holding horizons while determining the benefits of diversification which has greater implications in the field of portfolio diversification

A Study on the Status of Shīʿa and Shiites in Today's Middle East Islamic Geography

İtikadî İslâm mezheplerinin önde gelenlerinden biri olan ve özellikle hilafet konusundaki görüşleriyle diğer İslâm fırkalarından ayrılan Şîa, günümüzde dünyanın pek çok yerinde mensubu bulunmakla birlikte Irak bölgesinde ortaya çıktığı ilk dönemden bugüne özellikle Ortadoğu İslâm coğrafyasında yayılmıştır. Birçok ülkede nüfus bakımından çoğunluğu teşkil etmeseler de Şiîlerin yaşadıkları ülkelerin veya bölgenin son dönemlerde yaşadığı siyasi ve dini hareketlilikte etkin ve hatta bazen olayların merkezinde oldukları görülmektedir. Bu sebeple bu makalenin amacı, Ortadoğu İslâm dünyasında Şîa’nın mevcut durumunu tespit etmek ve bu coğrafyada Şîa merkezli olarak ortaya çıkan sorunlara işaret etmektir. Girişte Şiîlerin dünyadaki Müslüman nüfusuna oranı bağlamında genel bir çerçeve çizilmiş daha sonra Şiîlerin yaşadığı İran, Suriye, Irak, Lübnan, Suudi Arabistan, Körfez Ülkeleri, Azerbaycan, Afganistan ve Pakistan’da son dönemlerdeki durumları araştırma ve yayın etiği ilkelerine uygun olarak ele alınmıştır. Sonuç bölümünde ise konuyla ilgili değerlendirmelerimize yer verilmiştir.

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East. A Historical Perspective, written by Daniella Talmon-Heller

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East. A Historical Perspective, written by Daniella Talmon-Heller

Islamic Middle East: Characteristics and Some Features of Modern Transformations of Political Identity

The subject of the study is the modern transformation of political identity in the Middle Eastern states and communities that profess Islam. The author examines in detail the complex of identifications that exist in the Middle East region. Particular attention is paid to the interaction and harmonization of religious, imperial, national and ethno-cultural identities. Regional features of identification transformations are considered both in the context of transformations in the global system of international relations, and taking into account the regional specifics of political processes and the general originality of the socio-cultural space. The general tendencies typical for all communities of the region under consideration are analyzed, as well as particular features of identity transformations as a factor of state policy on the example of Turkey and Iran. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of transnational identification transformations in the Middle East region in the context of global trends towards the growing role of transnational identity in international relations and world politics. The author's special contribution to the study of the topic is the combination of fundamental theoretical approaches to the study of identity with the methodology of system analysis, which allows to more accurately describe the complex multi-level structure of modern identities, based on the current works of Russian, Western and Middle Eastern researchers. The main results of the study are the determination of general and particular features of identification transformations in the Middle East region, as well as the definition of the functions of religious and imperial identities in the system of identifications.

ORTADOĞU’DAN ÇEVİRİ ARACILIĞIYLA AKTARILAN İSLAMCI GÖRÜŞLERİN TOPLUMSAL KÜLTÜRE ETKİSİ

The political and social transformations that took place in Turkey and in the world after 1960 had important effects on broadcasting and translation life. The environment brought by the libertarian constitutional arrangements based on the post-1960s also led to a break in publishing and translation activities, which were harsh compared to previous years. Especially among the youth in Turkey, different ideas have started to find value and ground. Each group started to translate works that could serve as a source for their own worldviews. These studies have become tools for proving their ideas and ideologies to the groups against them and even persuading them. The aim of an Islamic social transformation by translating the foreign resources needed for religious social life into Turkish has led to the formation of a new social paradigm in Turkey. The thought of Islamism in Turkey, which is one of the intellectual movements affected by the political and social events taking place abroad, started to enter our country in different ways through translations in this process. A full understanding of the scope and content of translations of Islamic works from the Middle East Islamic World after the 1960s will enable a more efficient understanding of this period. Islamist movements, which were very different and new from the traditional Islamic culture that had settled in the Anatolian geography until this period, rapidly changed the perception of Islam in Turkey. The effects of Islamist movements transmitted through translation on Turkey's social and political life have been continuing for years. In the study, the purpose of the translations, the nature of the organizations that made the translations and the experiences of publishing houses from different groups in the translation process were examined from the perspective we presented above. As a result, with this study, the contribution of Islamist formations in Turkey to Turkey's accumulation through translations as a result of their interaction with the Islamic world has been tried to be conveyed.

Daniella Talmon-Heller. Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Daniella Talmon-Heller. Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective By Daniella Talmon-Heller

<i>Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective</i> By Daniella Talmon-Heller

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective, by Daniella Talmon-Heller.

Sacred Place and Sacred Time in the Medieval Islamic Middle East: A Historical Perspective, by Daniella Talmon-Heller. Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture, Edinburgh University Press, 2020. 279pp., 28 illustrations, 1 additional map, index. Hb. £80. ISBN-13: 9781474460965.

Spiritualism versus materialism: can religiosity reduce conspicuous consumption?

PurposeDue to economic growth and increasing the population of Islamic societies in the world, marketing studies have become more essential in these societies. This paper aims to study the relationship between Islamic religiosity and conspicuous consumption in Mashhad, the second-most populous city in the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a case of Islamic societies in the Middle East.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected by a survey of 534 respondents in Mashhad and stratified random sampling was applied.FindingsUnlike the majority of former investigations, the results showed that there is a positive relationship between Islamic religious commitment and conspicuous consumption. Furthermore, gender, social media and income are important factors in explaining the extent of conspicuous consumption.Practical implicationsLuxury companies can use the results of this research to invest in Islamic countries where there is a great demand for luxury items. Additionally, it is recommended for these companies to use the potential opportunity of social media which is extremely popular in Muslim countries to advertise their products to a large population at a low price.Originality/valueThe results of this study can challenge the conventional understanding of the relationship between Islamic religiosity and conspicuous consumption. According to the results of this paper, in the Middle East Islamic rich countries, it seems that Muslims have a positive attitude toward conspicuous consumption, although Islam disapproves consuming excessively by the notion of Israf.

Notes on a Neoinstitutionalist Contribution to the Analysis of Underdevelopment in the Islamic Middle East

Notes on a Neoinstitutionalist Contribution to the Analysis of Underdevelopment in the Islamic Middle East Fernando LópezCastellano Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/rhps.v9n1a1

The Middle East in World History: Spatial and Temporal Reorderings

In addition to my primary research specialty in Ottoman history, I prepared to teach the history of the Islamic Middle East from my first year in graduate school onward, and I did so throughout my academic career, including preparing graduate students to teach Ottoman and modern Middle Eastern history. My start in world history came later. Around the time I got tenure, my department decided, for comically bad reasons, to create a single world history course on the twentieth century. Having never witnessed creation ex nihilo in a department meeting before, I volunteered for the course. The department's reasons for creating the course were farcical, but I recognized it as a valuable intellectual property. In the existing state of the pedagogical literature, no one had paused to analyze the issues that made the twentieth century into more than the last chapter of a comprehensive world history book. A couple of years later, just as we finished teaching the course for the first time, an editor came along and asked if I had ever thought about writing a textbook. Yes, I had thought about it. Only I had assumed many years would pass before anyone would ask. Such were the origins of my coauthored Twentieth-Century World, having gone through seven editions from 1986 until 2010. It would be an understatement to say that radical revisions were required for each new edition, given not only the lengthening chronology but also the often radical revisions and improvements in the literature. If this presentation sounds more like a memoir than a research paper, the reason is that my dual lives in Middle Eastern and world history interacted in the pedagogical realm, raising issues that redirected my basic research and theoretical inquiries along the way.

Terrorist threat in Poland – the assessment of the phenomenon and the measures of counteracting attacks in 2010–2016

Modern terrorism is often associated with Middle East Islamic fundamentalists. This association is a result of violent terrorist attacks that have been carried out in the past few years, in various forms and according to diverse methods. As a consequence, terrorism started to be perceived as a serious problem by the public. It is also the case in Poland, where real terrorist threats occur. The paper presents a multi-faceted assessment, with respect to substantive law and statistics, of the level of terrorist threats in Poland in the years 2010–2016, regarding specific threats as well as the response of special services. The results show that the level of terrorist threat in Poland is not high, even though terrorism encompasses a whole range of crimes penalised in many legal statutes. The high efficiency of Polish special services and the Polish police in this field results from them using in an effective way legally allowed measures of counteracting terrorism.

Pembiayaan Perumahan Berasaskan Komoditi Murabahah: Kajian Kes di CIMB Islamic Bank

Commodity of Murabahah and Tawarruq are the concept that was applied in the products of home financing (Flexi Home Financing-i) at CIMB Islamic Bank. This product is one of products which is offered by CIMB Islamic Bank. Before of this, there are several concepts such as Bay’ Bithamanil Ajil (BBA) and Bay’ Inah have been applied in the products of home financing by Islamic Banks where it causes some controversies. The using of BBA and Inah as a contract in home financing’s product have been criticized by some of the Islamic scholars especially from the Middle East Islamic scholars. Through the descriptive analysis, a case studies were conducted by collecting the data through an interviews. The study was found that a scheme of home financing through product called Flexi Home Financing-i offered by CIMB Islamic Bank is one form of innovative products in order to make the financing products offered to customers free from the elements of Riba. Additionally, it was alternative from using al-Inah which is controversies among the scholars. This study also found that this product is line up with the Shariah compliance and ability to stand up with the value of moral and ethics which is compliance with principles of Shariah.

Landscapes of the Islamic World: Archaeology, History and Ethnography, ed. Stephen McPhillips and Paul D. Wordsworth

The aim of this volume, summed up in the concluding remarks by Alan Walmsley, is to highlight the importance of looking at the entirety of rural landscapes—not just the sites with tangible remains but also the wide spaces in between. By doing so, what was considered barren becomes visible. For the world of Islam, such a perspective is crucial, given the perceived importance of the desert and of transhumant societies in Islamic history. But it is also a task that is beyond any one discipline. The texts available to historians have a marked urban bias, and ethnography distorts the past. It is therefore the archaeologists who are taking the lead, as they do in this volume, edited by Stephen McPhillips and Paul D. Wordsworth, which contains a series of case-studies focusing on small settlements and agricultural and transhumant communities from the Islamic Middle East in the medieval and the early modern periods.

Historicizing Slavery in the Medieval Islamic World

As Nadia Maria El Cheikh has said of the harem in western scholarship on the premodern Islamic world, slavery and the slave trade have yet to be fully historicized. While scholars of Abbasid-era slavery have made tremendous contributions in this regard over the last two decades, there remain ample opportunities to expand the chronological and geographic scope of their work. What does it mean to historicize slavery in the medieval Islamic Middle East and why is it worth doing?

Horse Armour in the Medieval Islamic Middle East

L’idée commune suivant laquelle la barde ne fut pas en usage au début de la période islamique dans le Moyen Orient est fausse. Quasi absente des sources iconographiques, l’armure de cheval est explicitement mentionnée dans la documentation écrite et est également attestée par l’archéologie. Toutefois, le domaine demeure énigmatique et peu étudié. Par ailleurs, il est souvent difficile de faire la distinction entre un équipement ayant une fonction de protection ou non. Cette contribution réunit et interprète la documentation disponible de ce point de vue, en portant l’accent sur la péninsule Arabique et les régions voisines.