Deepening Our Knowledge of Islam
Texts and Readings
Afzal-Khan, F., & El Saadawi, N. (2004). Shattering
the Stereotypes: Muslim Woman Speak Out. Redford, MI: Olive Branch Press.
These two books represent
profound efforts to humanize and contextualize the female Islamic American
experience. Living Islam Out Loud is made up of disparate essays dedicated to
topics like love, faith, and religion, with contributions from Sarah El-Tantawi,
who has appeared on Hardball, and Asra Nomani, a former reporter for the
Wall
Street Journal. Some essays are passionate, while others are more subdued, but
all attempt to define female identity in the context of American and Muslim
ties. As editor Abdul-Ghafur, a former chief executive of Azizah, a leading
magazine for Muslim women, notes, this identity reflects the continuum of Muslim
women in the West-evolving, spiritual, and unique. Moving essays and poems cover
marriage, religious beliefs, homosexuality, abuse, American cultural
expectations, and religious ecstasy in the idiom of Islamic belief. All entail
some element of spiritual transformation and provide a wonderfully satisfying
read. Shattering the Stereotypes collects personal essays as well as fiction,
plays, and selections under the rubric of journalism, and is far more political
in tone than Abdul-Ghafur's work. Edited by Afzal-Khan (English, Montclair State
Univ.), the collection self-consciously employs 9/11 as a backdrop, using it to
consider what it means to be an American Muslim woman. As feminist and human
rights activist Nawal El Saadawi writes, "The personal is political. Fiction and
facts are inseparable." These varied pieces deconstruct political, social,
economic, and religious concerns. Ardently creative, the book is at times
uneven, but the political and religious passion are real and dramatic,
highlighting the complexity and enormity of experiences that defy the dismissive
categorization of all Muslims as Arabs or fundamentalists or both. Taken
together, both of these books offer at once a comprehensive and an enlightening
approach to American Islamic women. [Barnes & Noble review]
Ahmed,
A. S. (2003). Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and
Society. New York: Taylor & Francis.
This accessible work balances the
image of Islam as aggressive and fanatical with an objective picture of the main
features of Muslim history and the compulsions of Muslim society. [Barnes &
Noble review]
Al-Faruqi, I. R. & Al-Faruqi, L. L. (1986). The
Cultural Atlas of Islam. New York: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing and
Prentice-Hall College Division.
This book covers the essential
theology of Islam and is more focused on religion than politics. [Amazon
review]
Armstrong,
K. (2002). Islam: A Short History. New York: Random House Publishing
Group.
I strongly recommend this book
as a beginner text for understanding the historical, geographical, and political
forces that influenced the genesis of Islam and its roots in the African,
European, and Asian cultures. Karen Armstrong provides a glossary of terms and
with the rise of Islam in addition to a timeline of the Prophet Muhammad’s
life. [Terri Miklitsch]
Armstrong, K. (1993). Muhammad: A Biography of the
Prophet. New York: HarperCollins
Publishers.
This vivid and detailed biography
strips away centuries of distortion and myth and presents a balanced view of the
man whose religion continues to dramatically affect the course of history.
[Barnes & Noble review]
Arshed,
A. K. (2004). The Bounty of Allah: Daily Reflections from the Qur’an and
Islamic Tradition. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company.
A daily devotion book centered on these traditions. [No
review available]
Brann, R. ( 1991). Compunctious Poet:
Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain. Baltimore, MD: Johns
Hopkins University Press.
Brann examines a major theme of Medieval Hebrew poetry: the unease of poets
writing secular verse at odds with what they held sacred. He sees this unease as
both a key to the literary history of the period and as an emblem of the
particular form of cultural ambiguity unique to Andalusian Jewish society. [Barnes
& Noble review]
Dodds, J. (Ed.) ( 1992). Al-Andulas, the Art of
Islamic Spain. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.
Collection of Islamic art found
in the Al-Andulas region of Spain. Many of these works represent the Golden
Age of Spain ~ 1250-1500 C.E. The Golden Age of Spain was a unique
historical time when Muslims-Christians-Jews lived in an age of tolerance and
community for approximately 700-years. It was also considered an incredible
period of art when Islamic-Jewish-Christian artistic influences blended with one
another’s culture. The Alhambra is one of many examples of the art of Islamic
Spain. [Terri Miklitsch] To view the Alhambra go to:
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/The_Alhambra.html
Esposito, J. & Voll, J. O. (2001). Makers of
Contemporary Islam. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Drawing on their decades of
research across the breadth of the Muslim world. Esposito and Voll introduce
the pivotal role played by activist intellectuals, and then present the lives
and work of nine individuals chosen to provide a balanced picture of the
enormous variety – both geographical and ideological – in the contemporary
Muslim world. [This book] is an ideal companion piece to Esposito and Voll’s
Islam and Democracy and Esposito’s Voices of Resurgent Islam. [Tamara
Sonn, The College of William & Mary –Amazon review]
Esposito, J. (Ed.) (2000). The Oxford History of
Islam. Oxford, U K: Oxford University Press.
Dr. John Esposito is a
University Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding at Georgetown University. In this text, Esposito has gathered
together sixteen leading scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to examine the
origins and historical development of Islam - its faith, community,
institutions, sciences, and arts. Beginning in the pre-Islamic Arab world, the
chapters range from the story of Muhammad and his Companions, to the development
of Islamic religion and
culture
and the empires that grew from it, to the influence of Islam on today's world.
The book covers a wide array of subjects, casting light on topics such as the
historical encounter of Islam and Christianity, the role of Islam in the Mughal
and Ottoman empires, the growth of Islam in Southeast Asia, China, and Africa,
the political, economic, and religious challenges of European imperialism in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Islamic communities in the modern
Western world. In addition, the book offers in-depth articles on Islamic
religion, art and architecture, and science, as well as a chronology and a
bibliography. Events in the contemporary world have led to an explosion of
interest and scholarly work on Islam. Written for the general reader but also
appealing to specialists, The Oxford History of Islam offers the best of that
recent scholarship, presented in a readable style and complemented by a rich
variety of illustrations. [Barnes & Noble review]
Esposito, J. (2002). What Everyone Needs to Know
About Islam. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
What
do Muslims believe?"
"Who was Muhammad?" "What do Muslim women wear head scarves?" "Why do Muslim men
wear beards?" "What is meant by Holy War?" "Why do Muslims hate us?" We all have
questions about Islam and no one can answer them more precisely than Professor
John L. Esposito, the editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of Islam.
Since September 11th, he has been called to speak about the faith before a wide
range of audiences, including members of Congress, the executive branch, and the
military. From those experiences, Esposito has derived an engaging
question-and-answer tutorial about Islamic beliefs and practices.
Franzen, C. (1989). Poems of Arab Andalusia.
San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books.
These
poems, from the astonishing 10th- through 13th-century civilization in
Andalusia, are based on the codex of Ibn Sa'id, who wanted poems "whose idea is
more subtle than the West Wind, and whose language is more beautiful than a fair
face." Spanish readers have long been enchanted by their enduring appeal through
the versions by Emilio Garcia Gomez. This poetry of Arab Andalusia made a
profound impact on Spain's Generation of '27. Rafael Alberti says that it "was a
revelation for me and had a great influence on my work, but above all influenced
the work of Federico Garcia Lorca. [Barnes & Noble review]
Haddawy, H. (1995). The Arabian Nights. New
York: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Haddawy uses Muhsin Mahdi's widely accepted, recent, definitive edition, which
is based on the 14th-century Syrian manuscript to form the first serious
translation into English in more than a century. Full of mischief and valor,
ribaldry and romance, The Arabian Nights is a work that has enthralled readers
for centuries. The text presented here is that of the 1932 Modern Library
edition for which Bennett A. Cerf chose the "most famous and representative"
of the stories from the multivolume translation
of Richard F.
Burton.
The origins of The Arabian Nights are obscure. About a thousand years ago a vast
number of stories in Arabic from various countries began to be brought together;
only much later was the collection called The Arabian Nights or the Thousand and
One Nights. All the stories are told by Shahrazad (Scheherazade), who entertains
her husband, King Shahryar, whose custom it was to execute his wives after a
single night. Shahrazad begins a story each night but withholds the ending until
the following night, thus postponing her
execution. Note: This selection
includes many of the stories that are universally known though seldom read in
this authentic form: "Alaeddin; or, the Wonderful Lamp," "Sindbad the Seaman and
Sindbad the Landsman," and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." These, and the
tales that accompany them, make delightful reading, demonstrating, as the Modern
Library noted in 1932, that Shahrazad's spell remains unbroken. [Barnes
& Noble review]
Hathout, H. (1996). Reading the Muslim Mind.
American Trust Publications.1
An Egyptian American physician,
scientist, poet, ethicist, and scholar of Islam explains his version of the
Muslim perspective on contemporary world issues and outlines the basic beliefs
and practices of the faith. Written and priced for the general reader who may
by now believe Arab terrorist is a single word. Paper Annotation c. Book News,
Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com). [Barnes & Noble review]
Hemenway, P. (2003). The Little Book of Eastern
Wisdom (Sufi, Tao, Zen). New York: Barnes & Noble Publishers.
In
this beautifully illustrated book you will discover the insights of Eastern
wisdom that inspire countless seekers to look within. You will meet the masters
and mystics of Sufism, Tao, and Zen whose aim has always been to enlighten the
heart, and you will delight in the rich art their truths inspire. The tales and
teachings are based on the experiences of men and women who have journeyed
within. The truths that they tell are eternal and peace they inspire belongs to
us all Sufis speak to inspire from the heart, Tao preaches a practical wisdom
based on the laws of nature, and Zen points to the immediacy of the present
moment. The Little Book of Eastern Wisdom is a gift of discovery. Its
delightful wisdom leads to inner peace and existential joy. [Barnes &
Noble review]
Irwin, R. (2004). The Arabian Nights: A Companion. London, UK:
I.
B.Tauris & Company, Limited.
The book of The Arabian Nights
has become a synonym for the fabulous and the
exotic.
Every child is familiar with the stories of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Ali
Baba. Yet very few people have a clear idea of when the book was written or what
exactly it is. Far from being children's stories, The Arabian Nights contains
hundreds of narratives of all kinds - fables, epics, erotica, debates, fairy
tales, political allegories, mystical anecdotes and comedies. It is a labyrinth
of stories and of stories within stories. The Arabian Nights: A Companion guides
the reader through this labyrinth, but above all uses the stories as a key to
the social history and the counter-culture of the medieval Near East and the
world of the storyteller, the snake charmer, the burglar, the sorcerer, the
drug-addict, the treasure hunter and the adulterer. [Barnes & Noble review]
Irwin, R. (2002). Night and Horses and The Desert.
New York: Knopf Publishing.
Night and Horses and the Desert reveals the authentic greatness of Classical
Arabic literature. Selecting a wide range of Arabic poetry and prose in
translation, from the most important and typical texts to the very obscure,
Robert Irwin provides an invaluable introduction to the subject. Spanning the
fifth century to the sixteenth, from Afghanistan to Spain, this anthology
includes translated excerpts from all the major classics. But some of the pieces
selected will be unfamiliar even to specialists in the field -- such as Ibn
Washshiyya on the art of poisons, Ibn Marzuban on the superiority of dogs to
men, Kushajim's poem on asparagus and the anonymous narrative of the "Battle
between Kind Mutton and King Honey." Other selections include Mas'udi's account
of a symposium on love, Jahiz in praise of bibliomania, Ibn Hazm on the
etiquette of falling in love with slave girls, Maqqari on the terrors of the
sea, a low-life shadow-play script by Ibn Daniyal and an ecological fable by the
mysterious Brethren of Purity, entitled "The Case of the Animals Against Men in
the Court of the King of the Jinn."
Alongside the extracts, Irwin's copious commentary and notes provide an
explanatory history of Arabic literature. What were the various genres and to
what extent were they constrained by rules? What were the canons of traditional
Arabic literary criticism? How were Arabic prose and poetry recited and written
down? Irwin explores the literary environments of the desert, the salon, the
mosque and the bookshop, as well as providing brief biographies of the caliphs,
princesses, warriors, scribes, dandies, and mystics who created such a rich and
diverse literary culture. Although much of the world's great poetry and prose is
in Arabic, it is not nearly as well known as it deserves to be. Night and Horses
and the Desert gives the English-speaking reader a unique taste of the sheer
vitality and depth of the medieval Arab past. [Barnes & Noble review]
Kadi, J. (1994). Food For Our Grandmothers:
Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists. Cambridge, MA:
South End Press
This
text is a rich combination of literary stories that are grounded in the recipes
from each of these women’s histories. Their mothers and grandmothers’ recipes
are woven into stories of culture and spirit and the prejudice these women have
experienced in our culture. I recommend that you not only read these brief
histories but that you literally create these recipes in your own kitchen and
add your ancestors’ recipes to this cultural cookbook. [Terri Miklitsch]
Kennedy, H. (2006). When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim
World: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty.
New York: Perseus Publishing.
"The
"golden age of Islam" was as significant to world history as the Roman Empire
was in the first and second centuries. From a rebellion planned in a remote
desert town came the founding of Baghdad in 762, the growth of an incredibly
grand court life under Harun al-Rashid, and intellectual brilliance under his
son al-Mamun. The empire's cultural influence stretched from Tunisia to India
and its legacy shaped politics and society for centuries thereafter." In this
narrative, Hugh Kennedy introduces us to the rich history and flourishing
culture of the period, to the men and women of the lavish palaces at Baghdad and
Samarra - the caliphs, viziers, eunuchs, and women of the harem who populated
the glorious days of the Arabian Nights. It unveils an unforgettable portrait of
a time and a place featuring larger-than-life rulers, exotic slave girls,
inventive tortures, and enough court intrigue to frighten a Borgia. [Barnes &
Noble review]
Kritzeck, J. (1975).
Anthology of Islamic Literature. New York: Penguin Group.
Anthology of Islamic Literature presents a
representative and rich sampling of some thirteen centuries of great Islamic
literature, spanning the period from the rise of Mohammed and the Age of Caliphs
to the Mughal poetry of India and Ottoman poetry at the end of the eighteenth
century. It encompasses the writings of mystics, poets, storytellers,
biographers, visionaries, spinners of tales and proverbs. More than forty
selections are included in this volume to introduce the Western reader to the
culture of Islam, to the depth and breadth of its imaginative vision. [Barnes
& Noble review]
Lowney, C. (2005). A Vanished World: Medieval
Spain’s golden age of enlightenment.
In a world troubled by
religious strife and division, Chris Lowney's vividly written new book offers a
hopeful historical reminder: Muslims, Christians, and Jews once lived together
in Spain, creating a
centuries-long
flowering of commerce, culture, art, and architecture…. Medieval Spain's
pioneering innovations touched every dimension of Western life: Spaniards
introduced Europeans to paper manufacture and to the Hindu-Arabic numerals that
supplanted the Roman numeral system. Spanish scholars translated what stood for
centuries as Europe's standard medical handbook. Spain's farmers adopted
irrigation technology from the Near East to nurture Europe's first crops of
citrus and cotton. Spanish artisans graced luxurious homes with the fountains,
gardens, and decorative tile that remain hallmarks of southern Spain's
distinctive decor. Spain's religious scholars authored works that still
profoundly influence their respective faiths, from the masterpiece of the Jewish
kabbalah to the meditations of Sufism's "greatest master" to the eloquent
arguments of Maimonides that humans can successfully marry religious faith and
reasoned philosophical inquiry. No less astonishing than medieval Spain's
wide-ranging accomplishments was the simple fact its Muslims, Christians, and
Jews often managed to live and work side by side, bestowing tolerance and
freedom of worship on the religious minorities in their midst. A Vanished
World chronicles this impossibly panoramic sweep of human history and
achievement, encompassing both the agony of jihad, Crusades, and Inquisition,
and the glory of a multireligious, multicultural civilization that forever
changed the West. One gnarled root of today's religious animosities stretches
back to medieval Spain, but so does a more nourishing root of much modern
religious wisdom. In a world torn by religious antagonism, Chris Lowney offers
enduring lessons learned from medieval Spanish villages where Muslims,
Christians, and Jews rubbed shoulders on a daily basis. [Barnes & Noble
review] Christopher Lowney is a former investment banker and Jesuit
seminarian; Chris is also a noted scholar on the Golden Age of Spain. Chris
serves as Special Assistant to the President of the Catholic Medical Mission
Board [CMMB]. He has traveled to Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and India to help
launch CMMB's major initiatives targeted at preventing mother-to-child
transmission of HIV/AIDS). I met Chris in 2004 as part of a special four-day
program focusing on building relationships among Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
The program was held in Buffalo and sponsored by the Network of Religious
Communities – links to this program are still available on the Network web site.2
[Terri Miklitsch]
Mann, V., & Glick, T. (1992). Convivencia: Jews,
Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain. New York: George Braziller
Publishers.
The Middle Ages in Spain - the
period from the Muslim Conquest in 711 to the expulsion of the Jews and the
defeat of the last Muslim ruler in 1492 - witnessed an extraordinary "Golden
Age" through the
intermingling
of its Jewish, Muslim, and Christian inhabitants. This volume explores the
nature of their coexistence (termed convivencia by Spanish historians), which
embraced not only ideological interchange and cultural influence, but also
mutual friction, rivalry, and suspicion. The cultural and social dynamics
underlying convivencia powerfully influenced the creation of poetry, art,
architecture, and the material culture of Spain, as well as the transmission and
absorption of scientific ideas and technology from East to West. Explored by
leading scholars in each of these fields, the cultural treasures of convivencia
range from Hebrew biblical manuscripts illuminated with Islamic stylistic
motifs, to astrolabes with Latin inscriptions, to the first examples of secular
Hebrew poetry. More than one hundred of these objects are united for the first
time in an exhibition at The Jewish Museum, New York. At a time when the study
of cultural fusion is receiving increasing attention, this volume offers a fresh
and comprehensive view of Spain's pluralistic medieval society. Moreover, it
celebrates an inspiring history of cultural achievement in the context of
intergroup relations that were both negative and positive. [Barnes & Noble
review]
McKenna, M. ( 2003). She Who Brings Peace. (Chapters 5, 6, and 7).
New York: Pax Christi.
McKenna addresses ways to create
and bring peace through the traditions and stories of individuals from cultures
other than our own. Chapter 6 (“She Who Surrenders to Allah – the Merciful”) in
particular addresses the Islamic traditions – practices, the names ascribed to
Allah, and the call to be both peaceful and peacemaker.
Menocal, M. R. (2003). The Ornament of the World:
How Muslims, Jews, and Christian Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval
Spain. Boston: Bay Back Books.
Professor Menocal is the R.
Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, and Director of the Whitney
Humanities Center at Yale University.
A
portrait of the vibrant civilization of medieval Spain, The Ornament of the
World is the story of an extraordinary place and time. Both history and
literature often
depict
the Middle Ages as a dark and barbaric period, characterized by intellectual
backwardness and religious persecution. Now Maria Rosa Menocal brings us an
altogether different vision of medieval Europe, where tolerance was often the
rule and literature, science, and art flourished in a climate of cultural
openness. The story begins as a young prince in exile -- the last heir to a
glorious Islamic dynasty -- flees the massacre of his family and founds a new
kingdom on the Iberian peninsula: al-Andalus. Combining the best of what
Muslims, Jews, and Christians had to offer, al-Andalus and its successors
influenced the rest of Europe in dramatic ways, giving it the first translations
of Plato and Aristotle, the tradition of love songs and secular poetry, advances
in mathematics, and outstanding feats of architecture and technology. In a
series of captivating vignettes, Menocal travels through time and space to
reveal the often paradoxical events that shaped the Andalusian world and
continue to affect our own. Along the way, we meet a host of intriguing
characters: the brilliant and dedicated Jewish vizier of a powerful Muslim
city-state; the Christian abbot who commissions the first translation of the
Quran; the converted Jew who, under a Christian name, brings a first taste of
Arabic scholarship and storytelling to northern Europe. This rich and complex
culture shared by the three faiths thrived, sometimes in the face of enmity and
bigotry, for nearly seven hundred years. Ironically, it was on the eve of the
Renaissance that puritanical forces finally triumphed over Spain's long-standing
traditions of tolerance, ushering in a period of religious repression. In the
centuries since, even the memory of the vital and sophisticated culture in which
Muslims, Jews, and Christians once lived and worked side by side has largely
been overlooked or obscured. In this remarkable book, we can at last uncover and
explore the lost history whose legacy is still with us in countless ways and
whose lessons -- both inspirational and cautionary -- have a powerful resonance
in today's world. [Barnes & Noble review]
Nyang, S. (1999). Islam in the United States of
America. Chicago: ABS International, Inc. and Kazi Publications, Inc.
Working on the assumption that
American Muslims are still unknown to most Americas, the author
addresses
several issues which are relevant to the whole discussion of religious plurality
and multiculturalism in American society. [Barnes
& Noble review] Dr. Nyang is a noted
African-American historian, and diplomat and Islamic scholar who advocates
non-violence. He continues to conduct research and address the Islamic
experience within the United States. Dr. Nyang was an invited scholar to the
Network of Religious Communities’ conference on building community and creating
dialogue among Muslims, Jews, and Christians. [Terri Miklitsch]
Nydell, M. K. O. ( 2002). Understanding Arabs: A
Guide for Easterners. Boston, MA: Intercultural Press.
When
Understanding Arabs was first published in 1987, Westerners knew very
little about the complex world of Arab culture, where everything seems so
unpredictable, but where in fact the deep culture
remains
remarkably constant. In this revised edition, Dr. Nydell has given particular
attention to the larger framework of Arab culture and to each of the nineteen
Arab countries, carefully updating and annotating trends and events. This
includes sixty new citations chronicling the tremendous changes that have taken
place in the last decade. Dr. Nydell is particularly attentive to the rising
tide of fundamentalism that has swept Muslim countries; she comments on the
great impact it has had in the Arab World, from women’s dress to education to
increased wariness of the West and criticism of Western values and behavior. The
author has added an addendum addressing the events of September 11, 2001.
Understanding Arabs provides a cross-cultural guide for foreigners who are
living in an Arab country, who encounter Arabs frequently in the Arab World or
in the West, or who are interested in Arab culture and sensibilities.
In early chapters
Dr. Nydell examines the Arab personality in a cultural context that is
comprehensible to foreigners yet not stereotypical. She looks at friendship
patterns, attitudes toward strangers, hospitality, differences in ways of
thinking, the value placed upon the expression of emotion, and relationships
between men and women. Later chapters address broad societal structures
including social classes, the family, religion, language and communication. [Barnes
& Noble review]
Quershi, E. & Sells, M. A. (Eds.). (2003). New
Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Not since the Crusades of the
Middle Ages has Islam evoked the degree of fear, hostility, and ethnic and
religious stereotyping that is evident throughout Western culture today. As
conflicts continue to
proliferate
around the globe, the perception of a colossal, unyielding, and unavoidable
struggle between Islam and the West has intensified. These numerous conflicts,
both actual and ideological, have revived fears of an ongoing "clash of
civilizations" -an intractable and irreconcilable conflict of values between
Western cultures and an Islam that is portrayed as hostile and alien. The
New Crusades takes head-on the idea of an emergent "Cold War" between Islam
and the West. It explores the historical, political, and institutional forces
that have raised the specter of a threatening and monolithic Muslim enemy and
provides a nuanced critique of much received wisdom on the topic, particularly
the "clash of civilizations" theory. Bringing together twelve of the most
influential thinkers in Middle Eastern and religious studies -including Edward
Said, Roy Mottahedeh, and Fatema Mernissi -this timely collection confronts such
depictions of the Arab-Islamic world, showing their inner workings and how they
both empower and shield from scrutiny Islamic radicals who operate from similar
paradigms of inevitable and absolute conflict. [Barnes & Noble review] A
must read if you want to understand Islamic and Muslim stereotyping in our
world. [Terri Miklitsch]
Ruggles, D. F. (2002). Gardens, Landscape, and
Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania
State University Press.
Gardens, Landscape, and Vision
in the Palaces of Islamic Spain offers a new interpretation of the history of
gardens in Spain during the period of Islamic rule from the eighth through the
fifteenth centuries.
Islamic
gardens, with their cultivated garden beds and water channels, are traditionally
regarded as an early reflection of paradise, which the Koran describes as a
"garden watered by four streams." However, D. Fairchild Ruggles argues that the
early palace garden was primarily an environmental, economic, and political
construct, and that paradisiac symbolism did not develop until gardens acquired
tombs." "D. Fairchild Ruggles discusses three aspects of medieval Islamic Spain:
the landscape and agricultural transformation as documented in the Arabic
scientific literature and geographies, the typological foundation of the garden
and its symbolic meaning in the eighth through the tenth centuries, and the role
of vision and the frame in the spatial apparatus of sovereignty through the
fifteenth century. [Barnes & Noble review]
Sells, M. A. (1999). Approaching the Qur’an: The
Early Revelations. Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press.
Approaching
the Qu'rn is a translation of the early
suras-the short, hymnic chapters at the end of the book. A major event in
religious publishing, this book captures the complexity, power and poetry of the
early suras and the majesty and intimacy of the distinctive Qu'rnic voice. These
early revelations to Muhammad involve little of the political and legal detail
found in the suras of his later career. Here they speak directly to every human
being, regardless of religious confession or cultural background. Approaching
the Qu'rn is also designed to be as accessible as possible, to offer the full
lyric and literary experience to readers: Opposite each sura is a short
commentary that explores some of the subtleties and context of the Qu'rnic
passages; an annotated glossary explains key Qu'rnic concepts and Arabic terms
with English translations; there is even a compact disc of recordings by
renowned Qu'rnic reciters chanting the early suras. [Barnes & Noble review]
Sells, M. A. (1994). Desert Tracings: Six
Classic
Arabian Odes by Alqama, Shanfara, Labid, Antara, Al-A’sha,
and Dhu al-Rumma (Wesleyan Poetry in Series Translation). Middleton, CT:
Wesleyan University Press.
A skillful translation of six
classical odes of pre-Islamic Arabia. A wonderfully representative selection of
six early Arabic poems. The translations are amazing in their accurate
reflection of the nuances of the original. [Barnes
& Noble review]
Shaheen, J. G. (n.d.). Muslim Stereotyping in
American Popular Culture. Washington, DC: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding .
[No review available]
Yazbeck-Haddad, Y., & Esposito, J. (2000). The
Dynamics of Islamic Identity in North America. Muslims on the
Americanization Path? London, UK: Oxford University Press.
The
immigration of Muslims to Europe and North America during this century has
ushered in a new era in the relationship between Islam and the West, conditioned
in part by the Muslim experience of "the West" in the form of European
colonialism until mid-century and "American neo-colonialism" since the 1950s. As
a result the dynamic between the two is seen by Muslims as being that between
conqueror and conquered, powerful and powerless, dominant and weak. This has
also influenced the ways in which Muslims have formed questions of identity as
they strive to negotiate a secure place for themselves and their children in
Western societies.
This paper will attempt a preliminary exploration of the dynamics shaping
Islamic identity in North America. It will look at the elements that formed the
variety of identities prior to emigration, the immigrant experience in America,
and the options immigrants find as they struggle to make their home in an
environment that they as Muslims find hostile.
This paper may be
accessed on-line via this direct link:
http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=9&reading_id=71&sequence=1
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