Muslim Authors Research Articles

With Ibn Ḫaldūn in His Workshop: What He Read in Ibn al-ʿAmīd, What He Retained, and Why

Abstract Ibn Ḫaldūn spent the last 24 years of his life in Egypt. There he enlarged the scope of his history, venturing beyond the boundaries of his own civilization. In this process, three authors played a crucial role: the Copto-Arabic historian Ibn al-ʿAmīd al-Makīn, the Josippon, and the Arabic translation of Orosius. Adopting a “coring method”, and based on Ibn al-ʿAmīd’s forthcoming edition, this article studies the use of the Coptic historian in a very limited, but significant, sample of Ibn Ḫaldūn’s history, i.e., the passage devoted to the Achaemenids. The comparison between the two texts allows to draw some conclusions regarding the process of transmission of historical materials from late antiquity to Islam. First, historiography was perceived by Ibn Ḫaldūn and several other Muslim authors as a discipline in which non-Muslims could participate, and the Bible was generally considered as a reliable source of information. Second, the accounts on pre-Islamic history which were more likely to be preserved shared three traits: they were mostly understandable, relevant to the readers, and non-controversial.

Families as A Guideline for Children According to Tarbiyahtul Aulad Fil Islam

This study aims to examine the role of families in children using the approach found in Kitab Tarbiyatul Aulad Fil Islam. This analysis was conducted by looking at the characters of family members found in the novel “....Rahsia Dhia!” by Mustapha which is the winning novel of the Hadiah Sastera Perdana Malaysia (HSPM). The importance of this study is because the children are easily influenced by the treatment of family members when they see something good or bad in their lives. The act of imitating this behavior can also occur during the reading process of children especially through novels that are known to have a very significant impact on the reader compared to other literary genres. In this regard, this study will also apply the approach of education of children according to Islam expressed by Ulwan in the book Tarbiyatul Aulad Fil Islam as a form of guidance to family members in educating children's behavior. The selection of this approach is seen to coincide with the need for a framework based on Islam to evaluate novels written by Muslim authors, as well as read by the majority of Muslims. This approach demonstrates five family roles to be analyzed which are examples of noble character, examples of humility, examples of worship, exemplary conduct, and physical examples. Thus, every aspect of the novel proves that the role of families presented in children's novels is following the norms of the life of children in Malaysia.

„Jestem Serbem, serbskim dzieckiem” – miejsce pisarzy wyznających islam na łamach czasopisma „Bosanska vila” (1885–1914)

The aim of the article is to answer the question of whether the Muslim writers (Mustafa Hilmi, Riza-beg Kapetanović, Savfet-beg Bagašević, Salih Kazazović, Osman Đikić, Avdo Karabegović, Avdo Karabegović Hasanbegov, Omer-beg Sulejmanpašić-Despotović, Musa Ćatim Ćatić and Šaćir Karabegović Hasanbegov) who submitted their poetry to “Bosanska vila” – Sarajevo’s periodical of Bosnian Serbs published in the years 18851914, participated in the promotion of Serbian national identity. “Bosanska vila” was the first journalism platform enabling the Muslim authors to make a literary debut – this was a strategy used by Serbs to show that Islamic literary output is part of the Serbian linguistic and literary heritage, and by extension, that the Muslims are in fact Serbs. Some of these authors contributed to the propagation efforts in that they revealed their Serbian national sentiment, others were discouraged by the magazine’s policies from further cooperation with the Serbs both literary and otherwise. The analysis of the poems presented in the article can point to which authors actually embraced their Serb identity and who amongst them opposed national declarations altogether.

Formy ústní a písemné fixace qur´ánského textu: Přehled islámských a Západních perspektiv

The study addresses the question of the historicity of the Qur´ān, the central religious text of Islam, and provides an overview of important Islamic and Western views on its formation, notation, and the specifics of oral transmission. To this end, it reflects on traditional Muslim discourse and draws primarily on the classical works of Muslim authors, which refer to important stages in the development of the sacred Scripture. It also points to some of the perspectives and approaches of Western scientists, who have entered the debate on the historicity and authenticity of the text more significantly, especially since the nineteenth century. It focuses on newer methods of research that analyze preserved manuscripts through modern technologies and thus shed light on the circumstances of the origin of the text, which according to tradition was formed from the early beginning of the seventh century AD.

Islamic Studies of Korea in Medieval Scripts: Medieval Muslims’ perception of Korea “as a Muslims’ Paradise” and the Influence of Ancient Civilizations’ Golden Island in the Sea East of the Eastern End of the World

Silla was one of two places in East Asia frequently described by medieval Muslim writers from the mid ninth-century onwards. The earliest study of Silla in antique documents can be traced back to eighteenth-century Arabists who attached a short note to the word “Sīlā” when editing or translating manuscripts.1 From the nineteenth century, not only in quantitative terms but also qualitatively, Muslim authors’ eagerness to catalogue their knowledge about Silla caught the attention of contemporary scholars in both the East and West. In addition to Europeans, Japanese academics attempted to study the definition of Silla at this time, and owing to the colonization of Korea, Silla came to be considered not only as part of Korean, but also Japanese “history.” From the early twentieth century, pioneering Korean scholars were also challenged by the task of deciphering medieval Muslim knowledge of Silla, often in conjunction with Arabic researchers.

THE ROLE OF FRENCH ISLAMIC STUDIES AND ARABIC STUDIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

French Islamic studies, which have traditionally been at the forefront of humanitarian knowledge, have experienced their ups and downs: Orientalism generated by the era of the Crusades, colonial politics and the postcolonial period of the crisis of recovery, in which migrants live, “border” on the once advanced concept of multiculturalism, the search for an inclusive education and tolerant social and labor policies. Scientists note that the historiographic works of the early 20th century authored by French researchers focus on the negative consequences of the Arab-Muslim conquests for the development of the classical culture of the North African region. Later, with the study of the intellectual heritage of Muslim cultural figures, scientific knowledge came to understand the role of Islamic culture in ensuring the preservation of ancient traditions and the continuous development of humanistic thought. Historiographic and geopolitical work has been replaced by interdisciplinary research based on a cross-cultural approach. In this regard, Islamic scholarly discourse is enriched by the research of Muslim authors who speak Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, who are able to reveal the problems under study related to Islam from the inside, and not from the standpoint of subject-object relations.

Muslim Printing in Late Imperial China: Woodblocks, Networks, and Creation of Chinese Islamic Knowledge

When books existed mainly as manuscripts in the Islamic world, Muslims in late imperial China were making use of woodblock printing to publish their Islamic translations and treatises written in the Chinese language. In that way, they developed their own Chinese Islamic canon of texts—Han Kitab. Contemporary scholars have been exploring how Han Kitab reconciled Confucian and Buddhist ideas with Islamic teachings. Nonetheless, the social aspect—whether and how those works made real impact among Muslims in Chinese society—is yet to be examined. This paper argues that it was owing to Muslims’ active participation in the bourgeoning Chinese print culture that Han Kitab was able to be widely published and circulated across the Chinese territory. Through networks of Muslim authors, publishers, merchants, and officials, etc., many Han Kitab were printed, reprinted, and carried around. Some were gradually received as authoritative, serving as the cornerstone on which particular “Chinese Islamic” knowledge was established. Printing thus allowed dispersed Muslims in China proper to have shared knowledge, discourse, and memory, and contributed to a rising sense of collectivity among them.

Academic Materials on Hinduism in Urdu: A Thematic Bibliography

Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a) scriptures and the classical texts that are available mostly in Sanskrit b) works in the English language produced by orientalists, religious studies scholars, and some modern Hindu religious leaders themselves, and c) writings of colonial/post-colonial Hindu and Muslim scholars on Hinduism in Hindi/Urdu language that is understood by a vast majority of the population in South Asia. Many Hindu authors used to write on their religion in Urdu using the Perso-Arabic script in colonial India. Similarly, some Muslim authors also produced scholarly works on Hinduism in Urdu, which could open up better Hindu-Muslim understanding. However, Urdu ceased to be the medium of such writings when religion and language surfaced as two vital factors in national identity constructions in the changing sociopolitical milieu, a process through which the Urdu language became associated with Muslim culture and religion. As a result, the number of Urdu works on Hinduism decreased sharply after British India's partition along religious lines. Nevertheless, this body of Urdu literature is an essential part of the history of modern Hinduism. Keeping this in view, we have produced a comprehensive thematic bibliography of Urdu works on Hinduism, including books, dissertations, and journal articles, which would help preserve the history of the indigenous study of Hinduism in modern times.

Альтернативный исламский дискурс: автобиография как инструмент трансформации представлений о религиозном атворитете

The article is based on a discursive analysis of autobiographical Islamic narratives that tell about the practices of challenging male religious authority by Muslim women in Afghanistan and Libya in the late XX - early XXI centuries. The research focuses on the authors' speech strategies, which are a tool for changing public perceptions about the right of women to interpret religious, political, and social practices. As a basic theoretical concept, it is proposed to consider an alternative Islamic discourse, which includes the problem of gender identification in Islamic communities. This article presents a hypothesis that modern practices of challenging religious authority and authority by women's Islamic communities are implemented not at the level of doctrinal discussions, but in social, educational and cultural contexts. The main format of the speeches of Muslim speakers is presented by video materials posted on open Internet platforms. The speeches of the Muslim authors under consideration are based on the idea of ideological control over the practice of interpreting religious norms. Distortions in the interpretation of religious texts and practices have taken root in the public consciousness of Muslims through traditions. According to the presented materials the leading role in the transformation of ideas is played by the institution of education. Within the framework of this study the transformation of social ideas is understood as a process aimed at overcoming dominance by a group or individuals who are aware of their starting position from the position of subordinates. Particular attention is paid to the concept of power as a subjective position of actors and the right to implement behavioral models in accordance with the requirements of the present.

Nāṣir-i Xusrav and his Raušanāīnāmeh (“The Book of Enlightenment”)

The article is a publication of the first commented translation into Russian of a large part of the philosophical and didactic poem (masnavi) Raušanāī-nāmeh – “The Book of Enlightenment” by the great Tajik-Persian poet and philosopher Nāṣir-i Xusrav (Nasir-i Khusrav). Nāṣir-i Xusrav (b. 1004 AD Kobadian d. 1072 AD Yumgan) later in his life adopted the teachings of Isma’ilism (a branch of Shi`a Islam). After traveling to the Middle East, he returned to Khorasan as da’i or Khujjat (the official preacher of Isma‘ilism). He had to hide from persecution in the mountain village of Yumgan. There he spent the last years of his life and wrote his main poetic and philosophical works, viz. Zād al-musāfirīn, Jāmi‘ al-ḥikmatayn and (masnavi) Raušanāī-nāmeh. The latter although comprises the main ideas of the two previous treatises, however, conveys them in a popular form. Nāṣir-i Xusrav’s mostly poetical heritage has already received sufficient attention of the Russian scholars of the 20th century (E. Bertels, V. Nikitina, A. Edelman and A. E. Bertels), however the translation into Russian of his philosophic works remains a desideratum. The translation offered in this article is an attempt to redress the balance. The authors offer a “philological translation”. Contrary to the “literary” translation, this type of translation in the most accurate way conveys the meaning and style of the original in particular, the lexical components, as well as the style. Out of the total 594 beyts the authors had published 162 beyts, which comprise the translation of the al-Ḥamd and the Faṣl fi al-naṣīḥat. The next 58 beyts were translated by M. Shakarbekova. Here we propose the translation of the the following 100 beyts. Nāṣir-i Xusrav deals there with the four elements, the three kingdoms of nature and the origin of the human body from these kingdoms. According to A. E. Bertels, the set of themes of this passage reflects “the scheme of the universe”, and, in general, contains the picture of the world, which was typical for Muslim authors. As one of the oldest poetic documents in the Persian language, this text is of great interest for the study of traditional ideas, as well as their evolution, among authors of other historical epochs and directions of Islam.

The Qur’ān as a Source for Contemporary Islamic Environmental Ethics

Since the surge of interest in environmental problems in the 1960s the world has seen a growing concern for such issues which – from its outset – has been voiced by, among others, religious actors. This paper analyses a selection of contemporary texts on the environment and the current ecological crisis which originated in the Islamic cultural milieu, and addresses the specific problem of their relation to the ethical view of nature in the Qurʼān. To that end, the first section of the study attempts to investigate the ethical view of nature within the Qurʼanic revelation, drawing on the outline of the Qurʼanic ethical world view as well as the methodology for the study of the ethico-religious concepts in the Qurʼān devised by Toshihiko Izutsu. The second part of the study compares this view with the actual interpretation of the Qurʼanic text in contemporary ethical deliberations. The study thereby attempts to show both the differences between the ethical view of nature in the Qurʼān and its contemporary perceptions articulated by the Islamic environmental ethical discourse and the common links which enable Muslim authors to seek answers to the questions of the day in the sacred scripture of Islām.

Genizah within the Genizah

Abstract This paper deals with passages from works by Muslim authors embedded within works of Jewish Law (Halakha) and biblical commentary; some passages are quoted verbatim, while others were reworked to fit the Jewish context by replacing references to the Qurʾān with references to the Jewish Bible. The Jewish works were written in Judeo-Arabic, making it easy to seamlessly adapt and integrate passages written in Arabic. Neither of the Jewish authors note that they are borrowing from earlier sources: sometimes one can recognize the embedded passage through a change in the linguistic register, but in other cases only familiarity with the borrowed texts can bring them to the reader’s attention. While scholars have noted this phenomenon in fields outside the Jewish legal context, such as philology and philosophy, it has not been recognized within judicial works. The sources discussed here survived only in the Cairo Genizah and have not previously been published.

Theme and Lyricism: Two Considerations in the Islamic Writing Tradition Motivating Muslim Authors in Naming Their Works

Theme and Lyricism: Two Considerations in the Islamic Writing Tradition Motivating Muslim Authors in Naming Their Works

Islamic humanism or humanistic Islam?

The article presents and analyses recent books by Muslim authors addressing the issue of humanism in Islam. After some general remarks about humanism and religion (in the current political context), idealist versus critical approaches to the theme of humanism and Islam will be identified. The bulk of the article is dedicated to an analysis of three books by Mouhanad Khorchide, a group of Norwegian reformists, and Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd. After a brief consideration on how scriptures is dealt with in idealist and critical approaches, the article concludes with a distinction between “Islamic humanism” and “humanistic Islam.”

Passing on religion as identity? Anglo-western Islamic children’s literature and Muslim acculturation

ABSTRACT Drawing upon a classical cultural studies perspective and employment of participant observation in the socio-cultural scene of Anglo-western Islamic children’s literature in Britain and North America, this paper explores its socio-cultural limits for passing on religion as identity. Generational change influenced by cultural hybridisation amongst migrant Muslims and indigenous Muslims in three Anglo-western countries is surveyed to note distinct reconfigurations over time in social (re)constructions of Anglo-western Islamic children’s literature. Featuring simultaneous aspects of Islam and Western culture in their social (re)constructions of an Islamic cultural tradition, stories in this genre increasingly raise visibility to imagined spaces in which Muslim writers discursively project autonomous places in an often xenophobic Anglo-west. Nonetheless Muslim authors appropriate the cultural logics and language of colonial and neo-colonial power in their discursive practice, which has significantly altered Muslim discursive autonomy. In their attempts to make sense of this phenomenon, Muslim social constructions of nascent forms of Anglo-western Islamic literary theory also bare observable features of acculturation and cultural hegemony.

Maronite writer Jibri`il Jarmanus Farhat (1670–1732) and his attempts to include the works of Christian Arab authors in the “virtual catalogue” of Arabic Muslim literature

The article deals with the activities of the Maronite patriarch Gabriel German Farhat (1670–1732) in the field of the Arab bibliography. The author argues that by the 18th century AD in the Arabic-speaking literature of the Middle East, were used two types of introductions to the written texts, the Muslim and the Christian. The metalanguage, which was employed by Muslim authors in the introductions to their texts, was very convenient for constructing book-titles that by themselves built the “data base” of the so-called the Arabic Islamic “virtual catalogue”. The metalanguage used by Christian authors was different, and therefore in the library world of the Middle Ages two traditions were incompatible and therefore existed without intersecting. The Maronite Patriarch Gabriel German Farhat, being a bibliophile and a librarian, in his writings proposed organizing introductions to Christian texts in a Muslim manner, however, preserving their Christian content.The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Putopisi u islamu i njihov doprinos razvoju socijalne misli

Travel journals are primarily a literary genre in which the writer expresses his impressions about the geographical and other characteristics of the region through which he travels, along with demographic, cultural, religious, cognitive and ethical characteristics of the people he encounters during his travels. This literary genre has an extraordinary potential to reveal the cognitive frameworks of the collective thought of a nation that is directly or indirectly manifested through various folk customs and traditions. Travel journals are beneficial in two ways when it comes to social thought. First, an author who visits new regions and meets a people that he has not had the opportunity to talk to before, informs his readers about the customs, beliefs, fears and hopes of that people. Demographic descriptions and analyses of all interesting, and sometimes strange, events that he witnessed, are a testimony to his modern readers about the existence of different views of the world, not so far away from them. Moreover, it will provide later readers with authentic information about how people once thought and how a community functioned. Secondly, an author who writes about his impressions after encountering a new tradition inadvertently makes his own judgment about it. In that way, he implicitly and indirectly points to the collective consciousness that he brings through his subjective judgments from the region which he belongs to, from his homeland. This aspect is most noticeable with later readers, because they can observe from a certain distance both the people to whom the author belongs to and the people about whom the author reports. If the author is affected by a certain phenomenon, it means that the collective consciousness of his people would not approve of such an action, and if he supported a tradition, it meant that his people would also agree with it. In this paper, we will try to offer a brief insight into the history of travel journals in Islam, and to present sociological potentials of some of the main travel journals prepared by Muslim authors during their arduous and difficult journeys.

Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices; ed. by S.K. Ali

Reviewed by: Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices; ed. by S.K. Ali Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Ali, S.K., ed. Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices; ed. by S. K. Ali and Aisha Saeed; illus. by Sara Alfageeh. Amulet/Abrams, 2020 [272p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4197-4083-1 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-68335-803-9 $15.54 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 4-7 Fifteen Muslim authors contribute to this celebratory story collection centered around Eid, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Joyful reunions, irritating relatives, fancy clothes, and special, heartfelt gifts appear in many of the tales, giving an overall tone of warmth and playfulness, and even the stories that take a more somber approach end with possibilities of hope and optimism. Dessert plans go awry when Yusuf burns the brownies—made from an old recipe and meant to be the best of the post-feast snacks—in Aisha Saeed’s “Yusuf and the Great Big Brownie Mistake,” a comedy of errors that plenty of novice bakers will recognize. A chaotic eight-hour road trip with unruly younger siblings and increasingly frazzled parents makes for a comic holiday travel in Randa Abdel-Fattah’s “Eid and Pink Bubble Gum, Insha’Allah,” while Asmaa Hussein’s “Kareem Means ‘Generous’” focuses on the moral principles emphasized by Eid. Several stories tackle the grief and sorrow that can come with celebration in the wake of loss, and one examines the refugee experience with realism and compassion. There’s a helpful amount of education for those unfamiliar with the holiday, but readers will also savor the mouthwatering descriptions of food that will likely inspire preteens to try their hand at a few of the dishes. [End Page 420] Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Vida y obra de un médico morisco en el exilio: Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī l-‛Āṣ (ss. XVI-XVII)

Uno de los autores hispanomusulmanes que hasta la fecha no había podido ser identificado es Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. Abī l-‛Āṣ al-Andalusī, a quien se atribuyen dos breves tratados sobre medicina. Un estudio de los manuscritos conservados de ambas obras, así como la revisión de algunas fuentes y estudios recientemente publicados, nos permiten identificar a este autor con el morisco granadino Muḥammad b. Abī l-‛Āṣī (o Muhhemed Bulhaç), médico que en la primera mitad del s. XVII abandonó la Península Ibérica para residir durante algunos años en Estambul y posteriormente en El Cairo, donde se pierde su pista en el año 1637. En el presente artículo, expondremos todos los datos biográficos disponibles de este personaje, y haremos un breve análisis de sus dos tratados.

Book Review: Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference edited by Ryan Szpiech

Ryan Szpiech, ed. Medieval Exegesis and Religious Difference: Commentary, Conflict, and Community in the Premodern Mediterranean , New York: Fordham University Press, 2015. Pp. 329. $55; ISBN 978-0-8232-6462-9. Ryan Szpiech’s volume contains thirteen essays on different aspects of medieval exegesis in the context of religious disputation, polemic, and co-existence. Some essays focus on the points of intersection between exegetical traditions, others on specific polemics, and still others on individual authors’ strategies in negotiating conversion, disputation, or coexistence. The essays are grouped into four thematic sections. The first section, “Strategies of Reading on the Borders of Islam,” contains essays on individual Jewish, Christian, and Muslim authors writing in the Islamicate world and how they negotiate the relationship between the three exegetical traditions. Sarah Stroumsa, in “The Father of Many Nations: Abraham in al-Andalus” (29-39), presents two Andalusi views of Abraham as a paragon of the scientist. Both draw on material from outside the religious tradition of the author; the Muslim Ibn Masarra uses ideas from Jewish mysticism of Abraham as a bearer of special knowledge, while the Jew Maimonides borrows Islamic historiographical traditions of Abraham as a man of science. Sidney Griffith’s “Ibn al-Mahrumah’s Notes in Ibn Kammunah’s Examination of the Three Religions : The Issue of the Abrogation of Mosaic Law” (40-57) is a fascinating study of a polemic study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam authored by a Christian exegete and glossed by a Jewish scholar. They provide two different views (Jewish and Christian) on the question of the abrogation of Mosaic law as a basis for Christian theology. In “Al-Biqa’i seen through Reuchlin: Reflections on the Islamic relationship with the Bible” (58-70), Walid …