Islamic Way Of Life Research Articles

Islamic awakening and its role in Islamic solidarity in Egypt

Islamic revivalism led to the development of Islamic awakening throughout the Muslim world by uniting the Muslim society. In the process of liberating the Muslim countries from the colonists, all Muslims felt the necessity of unity, including the traditionalists and secularists. Historically, Islamic awakening brought about the spirit of establishing principles of Islam in all affairs of the country, including the establishment of Islamic state and implementation of Islamic laws. In the case of Egypt, the Islamic awakening resulted in the emergence of three distinct Muslim groups, namely – moderate Muslims, secularists, and radicals. This paper concentrates on the moderate Muslims, because in our view they are able to successfully incorporate Islamic principles at the grassroot level. The Islamic organization which is established by the moderate Muslims are actively involved in social services and charity activities, such as al-IkhwÉn al-MuslimËn (the Muslim Brotherhood). This movement is also very successful in establishing economic prosperity, such as the investment company called al-RayyÉn. The Islamic awakening in Malaysia brought about the consciousness of adopting and practicing the Islamic way of life. The process of implementing the principles of Islam was based on a gradual evolutionary process, rather than drastic method. Therefore, the implementation of Islamic law is carried out smoothly, and it is accepted by the Muslims and non-Muslims alike. For that reason, various institutions have been established, such as, Islamic universities, Islamic banking and insurance, and other Islamic organizations and institutions.

Migration to the bars of Bombay: Women, village religion and sustainability

This article deals with the migration of Bangladeshi village women to the bars of Bombay. For about twelve years (1992 to 2003), ladies' bars provided a lucrative source of income for young women from villages of Jessore and Satkhira. With the money they earned, families were enriched and village economies were invigorated. From being burdens to their families because of the dowry required for their marriage, daughters became assets; wives provided for their husbands, daughters-in-law sustained parents-in-law and sisters established their siblings. No one could deny the widespread benefits of women's migration to Bombay. But how could their activity be reconciled with village norms requiring women to restrain their movements, show modesty and remain under the authority of guardians? How could women's migration be accommodated with village religion and principles of life held to be fundamental to an Islamic way of life and to the good order of society? How could women's earnings be enjoyed without reprobation or disturbances?

Spatial Anthropology of Traditional Thai-Islamic Dwellings in Eastern Bangkok

Accelerated urbanization and the tremendous effort in achieving a state of modernization have significantly transformed the Bangkok cityscape over the past few decades. This situation inevitably accounts for the demise of traditional Thai dwellings, or ruan thai, the inherited tradition and the dwellers′ way of life rooted in an agrarian society. Among the existing ruan thai in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, it is remarkable that there are not only Thai residents but also those from diverse cultural groups such as Muslims, the Mon and Laotians. This paper is a study of the spatial anthropology of the ruan thai resided in by Thai Muslims in the east of Bangkok. Based on field surveys and oral history, its central goal is to examine the spatial characteristics of Thai-Islamic dwellings, which reflect a dialogical relationship between the socio-cultural and spatio-temporal dimensions. Grounded in the context of a matriarchal society, the case studies constitute several spatial aspects shared by typical Thai dwellings. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the Islamic way of life plays a crucial role in the way the dwellers use space, particularly in terms of the invisible, yet fixed-feature, sphere.

Therapeutic Interventions: an Islamic Perspective

Disease and its healing in most of the therapeutic strategies are mainly based either on physical or metaphysical aspects. Therapeutic strategies in Islam, on the other hand, are based on a combination of spiritual, psychological, and material means. It is, therefore, important to analyze current therapeutic strategies according to the Qur’an and Sunnah and their relation to other medical models, as many options aiming at better health outcomes are now being used throughout the world. This paper examines how the guidelines and principles of the Qur’an and Sunnah may contribute to the understanding and evaluation of different therapeutic interventions. A successful activation of the Islamic therapeutic model and its furtherance apart from the use of limited therapeutic strategies on the individual level can take place only within a reactivation of an authentic Islamic way of life.

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

The arrival of Islam in the United States ofAmerica has been dated backto the coming of slaves fromAfrica. During this unfortunate trade in humancargo from the African mainland, many Muslim men and women came tothese shores. Some of these men and women were more visible than others;some were more literate in Arabic than the others; and some were betterremembered by their generations than the others. Despite these multiple differencesbetween the Muslim slaves and their brethren from various parts oftheAfrican continent, the fact still remains that their Islam and their self-confidencedid not save them from the oppressive chains of slave masters. Thereligion of Islam survived only during the lifetime of individual believerswho tried desperately to maintain their Islamic way of life. Among theMuslims who came in ante bellum times intoAmerica one can include YorroMahmud (erroneously anglicized as Yarrow Mamout), Ayub Ibn SulaymanDiallo (known to Anglo-Saxons as Job ben Solomon), Abdul Rahman(known as Abdul Rahahman in the Western sources) and countless otherswhose Islamic ritual practices were prevented from surfacing in public.1Besides these Muslim slaves of ante bellumAmerica, there were otherswho came to these shores without the handicap of slavery. They came fromSouthern Europe, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. TheseMuslimswere immigrants to America at the end of the Nineteenth Century andthe beginning of the Twentieth Century. Motivated by the desire to come toa land of opportunity and strike it rich, many of these men and women laterfound out that the United States ofAmerica was destined to be their permanenthomeland. In the search for identity and cultural security in their newenvironment, these Muslim immigrants began to consolidate their culturalresources by building mosques and organizing national and local groups forthe purpose of social welfare and solidarity. These developments among theMuslims contributed to the emergence of various cultural and religious ...

Islam and Democracy from Tahtawi to Ghannouchi

This article explores the development of Islamic democratic thought over the past two centuries. Triggered by the European encroachment on Muslim lands and fueled by a sense of frustration precipitated by centuries of decline and backwardness, democracy continues to be a controversial concept seen by some Islamists as the therapy for Muslim sickness and by others as the illness itself. The main cause of the disagreement has been the definition of the concept: those that defend it see it as a set of procedures aimed at curbing the tendency to abuse political power and those that reject it see it as a philosophy that undermines the Islamic faith and threatens the Islamic way of life. The article argues that, even though the intellectual debate has to a large extent been settled in favour of the defenders of democracy, the main obstacle hindering democratization in Muslim lands continues to be an external one.

The phenomenon of Muslim law in modern religious-legal systems

Islam is not only a religious system that boils down to dogma and worship, but is a set of principles and norms that underpin the organization and activities of the authorities and regulate the behavior of Muslims. The status of a Muslim consists of two interconnected components: his rights and responsibilities as a believer and as a subject of civil relations. A special and main feature of Muslim law, as a part of Islam, is the interaction of religious and secular, rational and irrational, spiritual and material, mainly as a system of legal norms, which is an important element of the Islamic way of life.

Prevention and Treatment of Obesity - An Over View

Five major approaches namely dietary, exercise, behavior, combination and pharmacy therapies are used for treatment and control of obesity. In dietary therapy, low-calorie diet (LCD), which provides 800 to 1500 kcal of energy daily; a very-low-calorie diet (VLCD), which provides 250-800 kcal of energy daily and an energy-restricted or hypo caloric diet (HCD), which is based on a person's estimated daily energy requirement. LCDs can reduce total body weight by an average of 8 percent and help reduce abdominal fat content over a period of approximately 6 months. VLCDs are not recommended for weight loss therapy because the deficits are too great, and nutritional inadequacies will occur unless VLCDs are supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Regular exercise/physical activity should be an integral part of weight loss therapy and weight maintenance. A daily regimen of 30-45 minutes of walking, bicycling or working around the house conveys physical activity's positive effects on the muscolo-skeletal, cardiovascular, respiratory and endocrine systems, reduces risk of premature mortality, coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes. Exercise should be initiated slowly, and the intensity should be increased gradually; starting from small tasks of daily living such as taking the stairs or walking or swimming at a slow pace leading to the more strenuous activities like brisk walking, cycling, exercise, rope jumping and Jogging. Behavior therapy provides methods for overcoming barriers to compliance with dietary and exercise therapies. Combined intervention of an LCD, increased physical activity, and behavior therapy provides the most successful therapy for weight loss and weight maintenance. Islamic way of life (directional eating) and lifestyle (worship schedule) is the most efficient method for prevention and control of obesity and is one of the best example of combination of diet and exercise therapies. Pharmacotherapy or medication should be the last approach for obesity control.

Fourth IIGS International Conference on the Muslim World

The Fourth International Conference on the Muslim World, organizedby the International Islamic Geographic Society, was hosted by Al al-BaytUniversity, Amman, Jordan. This four-day conference brought together adistinguished international gathering of geographers and social scientiststo discuss issues of concern to Muslim countries. The conference was heldin a very pleasant, cordial, and hospitable environment, and the excursiontrip at its end, which provided an opportunity to visit historical places andarchaeological sites, made it all the more enjoyable and memorable.The conference was comprised of five regular sessions and featuredsixteen presentations before a select audience of no more than fifty individuals.Mohammad Adnan Al-Bakhit, president of Al al-Bayt University,gave the welcoming address. He greeted the participants wannly andexpressed the hope that this conference would promote research and motivateyoung Muslim geographers to undertake scholarly pursuits. He saidthat the university is committed to promoting scientific research, with anIslamic outlook, in all fields of knowledge. Mushtaqur Rehman, IIGS secretaryand prominent Muslim geographer and anthropologist, pronouncedthe conference's theme, highlighted its multidisciplinary dimensions, andelaborated on its significance to the Muslim world, which has seriousdevelopmental problems.The first session, chaired by Rehman, started with Hussain A. Amery'sinsightful examination of water management in the geopolitical context ofthe Middle East. He emphasized the need for cooperation among theregion's Muslim states and the use of new technologies for harvesting waterand treating waste water for reuse. A. R. Hamideh focused on the issue ofpopulation growth in Muslim countries and refuted categorically the argumentof Western anthropologists that the Islamic value system is a majorobstacle in dealing with demographic issues.Session two was chaired by Hani D. Tabba and featured three presentations.A. Hussain examined the nation-state in a historical perspective aRdargued that unless Muslim countries abandon this structure, they will beunable to establish an Islamic Common Market and will not achieve economicdevelopment. Abdel Bagi investigated the socioeconomic problemsof rural-urban migration, largely due to desertification, in Sudan. He suggestedthe formulation of policies designed to revitalize the rural economy422and thereby reverse this migration. Salman Abu Settah examined thePalestinian Holocaust of 1984 and deplored the media’s efforts to keep theJewish Holocaust alive while largely ignoring Palestinian massacres, suffering,and humiliation which has been forgotten by the world. Rasheed Al-Feel discussed Muslim problems in a geographical context and concludedthat they could be molved by mobilizing resources and promoting inter-Muslim trade.Session three was chaired by Omar Shadaifat and included two presentations.Rue1 Hanks gave an objective assessment of Uzbekistan’s contemporarysociopolitical environment and concluded that the presentIslamist-secular confrontation will soon end, marking a clear victory forthose committed deeply to an Islamic way of life. Ahmad Agala examinedJordan’s political system and observed that popular participation in Jordanis far higher than in many Muslim republics. Yaser M. Najjar evaluatedJordan’s development planning and remarked that a capital-poor countrylike Jordan cannot achieve industrialization without borrowing high-costcapital and technology from abroad. He suggested that economic cooperationamong Muslim countries could help resolve the problem of capitalscarcity. S. Ali Khan investigated the process of development from the capitalistand Islamic perspectives. He pointed out that material well-being iscapitalism’s only goal, whereas the Islamic approach stresses the realizationof both material and spiritual well-being. He also stated that the realizationof both goals is possible only through restructuring the existing politicaland economic institutions within the context of an Islamic social order ...

Islamic Perspectives on Sustainable Development

Economic progress in the twentieth century has been spectacular bycommon Statistical standards. Along with this enviable record have cometwo important realizations: the immense material wealth has not madepeople happier than they were before,' and it has resulted in a gradual depledonand, in some cases, an outright destruction of scarce ecologicaland other resources. This has forced many social scientists to rethjnk thenecessity-even the desirability-of indiscriminate economic progress. Noother single topic of discussion seems to manifest these concerns morethan that of sustainable development.This paper looks at sustainable development from an Islamic perspective.Its theoretical arguments proceed as follows: Islam means peaceand harmony and, therefore, the Islamic way of life entails living in peaceand harmony. An active promotion of the harmonization of indi-vidual,social, and ecological intensts would ensure sustainable development.The discussion is then framed in the context of the ordained role ofhuman beings as God's trustees. Under this arrangement, God is the realowner of all resources, and humanity is allowed to use them to itsadvantage as long as this trust is not violated. The paper concludes thatin a truly Islamic society, sustainable development is a logical outcomeof a normal life and that there is thus no need for a separate strategy ofsustainable development. The rest of the paper deals with the concept ofsustainable development and highlights its multifaceted nature, explainsthe endogeneity of sustainable development in Islam, examines theIslamic characterization of the role of human beings and shows how sucha role conforms to the requirements of sustainable development, and endswith some concluding remarks ...

An Outline On Tunisian Taxation and Investment Incentives

Like its North African neighbours, Morocco, Algeria and Libya, Tunisia is an Arabic-speaking, traditionally Moslem country. It was nominally part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire until the latter part of the nineteenth century, although the real ruler was the local prince known as the Bey of Tunis. In 1881 France invaded the country from Algeria and established a protectorate, with the Bey remaining the nominal ruler but France exercising real control over all areas of government. French rule continued until 1956, apart from a brief interruption during the Second World War when the country was under first German and then Allied (British and American) control. In 1956 Tunisia achieved independence under the leadership of Habib Bourguiba. Bourguiba adopted moderate economic policies, non-aligned foreign policy involving the retention of close links with the former colonial power, and revolutionary social policies designed to end the traditional Islamic way of life and replace it by one modelled on modern European values. Universal primary education was introduced for boys and girls, wearing of the veil was banned, and women were encouraged to play an acove part in public life. Bourguiba exercised power through the Neo-Destour Party and for most of his presidency the country was in praciice a one-party state. In 1987 Bourguiba, who was in his eighties and in poor health, was removed on medical grounds, and replaced by the current President Zine E1 Abidine Ben Ali. The main features of the current presidency have been: (1) Strong moves to encourage trade, develop free market policies, and remove bureaucratic rigidities and obstacles; (2) Continuing moves toward the introduction of Parliamentary democracy.

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article: Orthodox Christians and Muslims.* Edited by N.M. Vaporis. Brookline, Massachusetts: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1986. ix plus 203 pp. $10.00. Christianity/Islam: Essays on Esoteric Ecumenism. By Frithjof Schuon. Translated by Gustavo Polit. Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom Books, 1985. vii plus 270 pp. n.p. (First published in 1981 by Archè Milano as Christianisme/Islam.) A Muslim Theologian's Response to Christianity: Ibn Taymiyya's al‐Jawb al‐a$. Edited and translated by Thomas F. Michel. Delma, New York: Caravan Books, 1984. ix plus 465 pp. Bibliography. Glosary. Index. n.p. The Maronites in History. By Matti Moosa. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1986. 352 pp. Index. $35.00, cloth. Islamic Spirituality: Foundations. Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. [Vol. 19 of World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest]. New York: Crossroad, 1987. 450 pp. Illustrations. $49.50, hardcover. The Islamic Concept of God. By Mohammed Zia Ullah. London, Boston and Melbourne: Kegan Paul International, 1984. xi plus 115 pp. Index. $26.95. The Islamic Way of Life. By Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi, edited and translated by Khurshid Ahmad and Khurram Murad. Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1986. 80 pp. Index of Quranic verses cited. n.p. Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History. By Ahmad V. al‐Hassan and Donald Hill. Cambridge and Paris: Cambridge University Press and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1986. xiv plus 304 pp. Photographs. Illustrations. Selected Bibliography. Index. $39.50. From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms. By Mircea Eliade. [A History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 3.] Translated by Alf Hiltebeitel and Diane Apostolos‐Cappadona. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985. xii plus 360 pp. Bibliography. Index. $27.50. Early Muslim Dogma: A Source‐critical Study. By Michael Cook. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. xi plus 242 pp. $49.50. Islam in a World of Nation‐States. By James P. Piscatori. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. viii plus 193 pp. Illustrations; Chronology of the Muslim World; Glossary; Notes; Index. $39.50. Islam and Politics. By John L. Esposito. Foreword by Hermann Frederick Eilts. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1984. xiv plus 273 pp. n.p. Israeli Arabism: The Latest Incarnation of Orientalism. By Shukri Abed with an introduction by Eli Zureik. [Occasional Paper No. 6; Series Editors: Fouad Moughrabi and Elia Zureik]. Washington, D.C.: Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada and the International Center for Research and Public Policy, 1986. n.p. n.p. The Palestinians in Israeli Social Science Writings. By Aziz Haidar. [Occasional Paper No. 9; Series Editors: Fouad Moughrabi and Elia Zureik]. Washington, D.C.: Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada and the International Center for Research and Public Policy, 1986. n.p. n.p. Sand in the Snow: Images of the Middle East in Canadian English‐Language Literature and Commentary. By Mordecai Briemberg. [Occasional Paper No. 8; Series Editors: Fouad Moughrabi and Elia Zureik]. Washington, D.C.: Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada and the International Center for Research and Public Policy, 1986, n.p. n.p. Palestinian Rights: Affirmation and Denial. Edited by Ibrahim Abu Lughod. Wilmette, Illinois: Medina Press, 1982. 225 pp. $17.95, cloth; $7.95, paper. Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa. By Labelle Prussin. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. xxiii plus 306 pp. Figures. Plates. Maps. Index. $75.00. The Qashqai of Iran. By Lois Beck. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986. xvi plus 384 pp. Photographs. Maps. Bibliography. Index. $30.00. Islam under the Double Eagle: The Muslims of Bosnia and Hercegovina, 1878‐1914. By Robert J. Donia. [East European Monographs No. LXXVIII.] Boulder: East European Monographs, 1981. xix plus 237 pp. $17.50. The Contemporary Muslim Movement in the Philippines. By Cesar Adib Majul. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1985. 162 pp. Appendixes. Bibliography. Maps. $5.95. The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century. By Zeynep $CLelik. [Publications on the Near East 2. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1987. 202 pp. 103 Illustration; 17 Maps; Bibliography; Index. $25.00. Bureaucrat and Intellectural in the Ottoman Empire. The Historian Mustafa Ali (1541‐1600). By Cornell H. Fleischer. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Glossary; Bibliography; Index. 363 pp. Muslims of the Soviet Empire. A Guide. By Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. xvi plus 294 pp. Maps. Glossary. Bibliography. Index. $29.95. A History of the Sikhs, Volume I: 1469‐1839, Volume II: 1839‐1964, reprint ed. By Khushwant Singh. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984 (orig. ed., 1963‐1966). Vol. I: xiii plus 419 pp.; Vol. II: xi plus 395 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Appendices. Bibliography. Indices. n.p.

Malaysia: Islamic Resurgence and the Question of Development

Islamic resurgence or the rising again of Islam is a description of the endeavour to re-establish Islamic values, practices, institutions, laws, indeed Islam in its entirety, in the lives of Muslims everywhere.1 It is an attempt to re-create an Islamic ethos and social order at the vortex of which is the Islamic human being, guided by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The signs of Islamic resurgence in Malaysia are everywhere. The rapid diffusion of what is regarded as Islamic attire among a significant segment of the Muslim female population in urban areas in particular is but the most obvious of these signs.2 It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that a good 60 to 70 per cent of all Muslim females above adolescence wear such apparel. A number of Muslim males too put on what they perceive to be religiously-sanctioned attire. Many of them also grow beards as their way of emulating the Prophet and his companions. With this change in dress form, there has also been a decline in social intercourse between the sexes. Muslim males and females who claim to be conforming to an Islamic way of life often operate in separate spheres of activity. Women who are part of the resurgence have far less significant public roles compared to their male counterparts. Besides clothing, male-female roles and relationships, Islamic resurgence is also expressing itself through other little ways like the penchant for what is popularly accepted as the Islamic form of greeting. Islamic in effect Arabic terminology frills the speech of the resurgents. Even in their ordinary conversations there is a sprinkling of Arabic words. At the same time, there is much more overt concern about

Legal Logic and Equity in Islamic Law

Islamic law is the epitome of Islamic thought, the most typical manifestation of the Islamic way of life, the core and kernel of Islam itself. The very term fickh, 'knowledge', shows that early Islam regarded knowledge of the sacred Law as the knowledge par exellence.1 This characterization of Islamic law is commonly accepted among Islamists,2 but a strange and mistaken image of the Islamic judge (qadi) persists in American legal circles. U.S. judges have offhandedly used the term qadi justice to symbolize a total denial of the law, namely, unprincipled, expedient and arbitrary lawmaking. When Judge Dobie of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to construe the words of a Virginia statute against its legislative intent, he stated,

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

The arrival of Islam in the United States of America has been datedback to the coming of slaves from Africa. During this unfortunate tradein human cargo from the African mainland many Muslim men andwomen came to these shores. Some of these men and women were morevisible than others; some were more literate in Arabic than the others:and some were better remembered by their generations than the others.Despite these multiple differences between the Muslim slaves andtheir brethren from various parts of the African continent, the fact stillremains that their Islam and their self-confidence did not save them fromthe oppressive chains of slave masters. The religion of Islam survivedonly during the lifetime of individual believers who tried desperately tomaintain their Islamic way of life. Among the Muslims who came in antebellum times in America one can include Yorro Mahmud (erroneouslyanglicised as Yarrow Mamout), Ayub Ibn Sulayman Diallo (known toAnglo-Saxons as Job ben Solomon), Abdul Rahman (known as AbdulRahahman in the Western sources) and countless others whose Islamicritual practices were prevented from surfacing in public.Besides these Muslim slaves of the ante bellum America, there wereothers who came to these shores without the handicap of slavery. Theycame from Southern Europe, the Middle East and the IndianSubcontinent. These Muslims were immigrants to America at the end ofthe Nineteenth Century and the beginning of the Twentieth Century.Motivated by the desire to come to a land of opportunity and strike it rich,many of these men and women later found out that the United States ofAmerica was destined to be their permanent homeland. In the search foridentity and cultural security in their new environment, these Muslimimmigrants began to consolidate their cultural resources by, buildingmosques and organising national and local groups for the purpose ofsocial welfare and solidarity. These developments among the Muslimscontributed to the emergence of various cultural and religious bodiesamong the American Muslims. In the drive for self-preservation and ...

Ğadidism at the turn of the twentieth century : A view from within

Edward J. Lazzerini, Ğadidism at the turn of the twentieth century: a view from within. Ismail Bey Gasprinskii, one of the leaders of the movement for the reform and renovation of the Islamic way of life among Russian Muslims (ğadidism) , wrote an informative essay in 1901 that sought to survey the broad cultural advancement that had taken place in Russian Islam between 1880 and the turn of the twentieth century. The essay, translated here, provides an insider's view of the progress made and offers the historian a convenient and concise source for an understanding of what Gasprinskii, and by extension, other ğadidists understood to be the weaknesses in the Muslim way of life that required remedy. The bibliography that Gasprinskii appended to his essay is of paramount importance in its own right as a listing of those works which, from the ğadidist viewpoint, constituted a body of knowledge which should be imparted to the Muslim people as an aid to achieving further progress. Extensive notes and commentaries serve to increase the value of both the essay and the bibliography.

British Economic, Geographical, Sociological and related studies in Libya 1943-1971

The military administration which controlled what was known formerly as Tripolitania and Cyrenaica showed considerable initiative in preparing publications which still have great value in presenting statistical and other background data of a precision comparable with and sometimes better than more recent work.Duncan Cumming (now Sir Duncan Cumming and the President of the Society for Libyan Studies) came from the Sudan administration with considerable Middle Eastern experience, a knowledge of Arabic and a sensitivity for the Islamic way of life, to run the military administration in Cyrenaica. He had the good fortune to find amongst his staff a number of technical specialists and scholars whom he stimulated to write and publish an excellent introductory account of the eastern part of Libya. This Handbook of Cyrenaica (1944–47) includes sections on the physical character of the area with a summary of geological knowledge based mainly on Italian sources, by O. H. Little, as well as sections outlining the history of Cyrenaica by the editor, and a sociological contribution by E. E. Evans-Pritchard (now Professor Evans-Pritchard) in Habitat and Way of Life—Tribes and Their Divisions. The work carried out in preparing the latter was to prove the basis of much more important and comprehensive studies by Evans-Pritchard. The Sanusiya Order was treated by C. C. Adams in the handbook, which also contained probably the only published account in English of the period of Italian colonization in eastern Libya, compiled by D. H. Weir, as well as a description of the famous southern oasis and shrine of Kufra by K. D. Bell.

The Qur'an as a Factor in the Islamic Way of Life

The Qur'an as a Factor in the Islamic Way of Life