Monthly Archives: January 2011

Jan 31 2011

Writers required for rewriting a series of books from Islamic Civilization


Garnet Publishing seeks writers with excellent English, writing and editorial skills to abridge and rewrite a series of classic scholarly books from the Islamic civilization, recreating them in modern English to make them accessible to the general reader.

The series covers Muslim contributions to civilization in philosophy, literature, science, medicine, art, and Quranic studies throughout the ages.The new series seek to inspire the general audience in the thoughts and cultures of the Islamic civilization.

The writer will have experience in writing for the general trade market in any area of the humanities or social sciences. A background in Islamic Studies is highly desirable. The writer will be provided with an already published book from Islamic Civilization, translated into English. Candidates are required to send samples of their writing in any area of the humanities and social sciences as part of their application. Applications without writing samples will not be considered.

Short-listed candidates will be provided with a sample text from a classic book by a Muslim scholar and will be asked to simplify and abridge this scholarly piece into an engaging and captivating text, comprehensible for any reader, without a background in Islamic Studies.

Please send your cover letter, CV and sample writing to mariehanson@garnetpublishing.co.uk.

If you have any queries, please email Marie Hanson.

Jan 28 2011

A review on The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942


The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942

The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942

To better understand the recent turmoils and the mass movement in Egypt, we recommend the book The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942.

Here’s a review from Middle East Quarterly:

The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt
The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement, 1928-1942 by Brynjar Lia
Reading, U.K.: Ithaca, 1998. 328 pp. $45.

The Society of the Muslim Brothers: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942 The Society of the Muslim Brothers: The Rise of an Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942

Reviewed by Daniel Pipes

Middle East Quarterly
June 1999

http://www.meforum.org/1302/the-society-of-the-muslim-brothers-in-egypt

The best known study of Egypt’s foremost fundamentalist Islamic movement, Richard Mitchell’s Society of the Muslim Brothers (1969), portrayed the organization as a reactionary response to Westernization mounted by those left in its wake. And, indeed, this was the general interpretation of fundamentalist Islam by most writers on the subject before 1990 or so. Now, however, a thoroughly different (and much improved) interpretation rules, one that sees the Muslim Brothers and like movements as a facet of modernization. Their personnel are urbanites dealing with the cutting edge of modern problems; their ideas, methods, and goals all incorporate modern ways; and they show far more willingness to learn from the West than was hitherto realized.

In an very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began “a lasting process of renewal … in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life.” With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers’ “reinterpretation of Islam will remain the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century.”

Jan 28 2011

Never underestimate


This story is from Sa’di, in the book Gulistan (The Flower Garden):
A king of Persia had a very precious stone in a ring. On a certain occasion he went out with some of his favorite courtiers to amuse himself to the mosque near Shiraz, called Musalla. The king commanded his men to suspend the ring over the dome of Azad, and said that the ring will become the property of the man who can send an arrow through it.
Four hundred archers who plied their bows in his service shot at the ring. All of them missed. A youth at play was shooting arrows at random from a monastery, when the morning breeze carried his shaft through the circle of the ring.
The king gave him the ring, and his men presented the youth with several gifts. After receiving the gifts, the youth burned his bow and arrows. The king asked him why he did so, and he replied, “So that my first glory may remain unchanged.”
Well,  the sage whose bright mind mirrors truth, may sometimes wander wide of it:
While by mistake, the simple youth, may, with his shaft, the hit the target.

Never underestimate anything.

Jan 28 2011

The Tale of Two Streets


This story was narrated by Sheikh Qalandar Shah, in his book, “Asrar-i-Khilwatia” (Secrets of the Recluses):

Once upon a time there was a town composed of two parallel streets. A dervish passed through one street and into the other, and as he reached the second one, the people there noticed that his eyes were streaming with tears.

“Someone has died in the other street!” someone cried, and soon all the children in the neighborhood had taken up the cry.

But what had really happened was that the dervish had been peeling onions.

Within a short while, the cry had reached the first street. The adults of both streets were so distressed and fearful, that they dared not make complete inquiries as to the cause of the furor.

A wise man tried to reason with the people of both streets, asking why they did not question each other. Too confused to know what they meant, some said, “For all we know there is a deadly plague in the other street.”

This rumor, also spread like wildfire, until each street’s residents thought that the other was doomed, and soon both streets were evacuated and deserted.

Today, centuries later, the town is still deserted and not so far away are two villages. Each village has it’s own tradition of how it began as a settlement from a doomed town, through a fortunate flight, in remote times, from a nameless evil.

Jan 28 2011

Who had the best dream?


Three travellers travelled together in a road. One day they realized that all they had, was a piece of bread and a mouthful of water in a flask. They fell to quarrelling as to who should have all the food. Finally they decided to sleep, and When they awoke, the person who had had the most remarkable dream would have the bread and water.

Next morning the three rose as the sun came up and the first traveller said, “This is my dream: I was carried away to places such as cannot be described, so wonderful and serene were they. I met a wise man who said to me, ‘You deserve the food.’”

“How strange,” said the second traveller. “For in my dream, I actually saw all my past and my future. In my future I saw a man of great knowledge, who said, ‘You deserve the bread more than your friends, for you are more learned and patient. You must be well-nurtured, for you are destined to lead men,’”

The third traveller said, “In my dream I saw nothing, heard nothing, said nothing. I felt a compelling presence which forced me to get up, find the bread and water, and consume them. And this is what I did.”

The two companions were very angry and demanded to know why he had not called them before he did so.

“But you were far from here! One of you was carried away to far places and the other to another time! How could you hear my calling?” he replied.

This story is attributed to Shah Mohammed GwathShattari, who was greatly esteemed by the Mughal Emperor Humayun. He died in 1563, and his shrine is at Gwalior, in India.

Jan 28 2011

The Bones of Father Adam: A Palestinian Tale


There was a woodcutter who worked day and night.

At last he grew tired and said, “I don’t want to do this anymore. I will cut one last load of firewood and then look for the bones of our father Adam, who brought all this pain and trouble upon us, and burn them up.”

At that instant, God sent an angel to him. The angel asked him what he was doing, and the woodcutter told the angel what he had in mind.

The angel said, “What if someone frees you from all this work?”

The woodcutter replied, “Then I would forgive Adam.”

The angel said, “Then I will transport you to a garden where you will never have to work, but you must promise that no matter what you see there, you will not utter a single word.”

The woodcutter agreed, and the angel clapped her hands together. In a flash, the woodcutter found himself in a beautiful garden filled with tall trees, clear streams, and lots of delicious fruit. After a while, the woodcutter saw a man cutting wood. He was cutting the live branches from the trees and leaving the dead ones.

The woodcutter could not restrain himself from saying, “Mister, don’t you know that you should cut the dead branches and leave the live ones?”

The next instant the woodcutter was back near his village with his axe, and he began to wail and beat his breast in anguish.

Once again the angel appeared before him. The woodcutter said: “I promise I will not say a word if you let me go back”. So the angel clapped her hands and the woodcutter was back in the heavenly garden.

After a while, the woodcutter saw a gazelle running through the garden and an old man hobbling after it. Without thinking, the woodcutter shouted, “That gazelle is swift and you are old. You will never suceed catching it!”

The next instant, the woodcutter was back at his woodpile. Again he wailed and moaned, and once more the angel returned.

“Please have pity on me,” said the woodcutter, “If you give me one more chance, may I be cursed if I speak again.”

The angel agreed, and in an instant the woodcutter was back in the heavenly garden. The woodcutter remained silent for three days, but then he saw four men struggling to move the millstone of an oil press. They would all lift the millstone on one side and it would topple over onto the other side. Then they would move to the other side and repeat the same process. The woodcutter lost his controle and shouted: “Men, if you want to carry that millstone, you should lift it from all sides!”

And the next instant the woodcutter was back at his woodpile. The woodcutter wailed and wailed, and once more the angel appeared in front of him. The woodcutter begged and pleaded to return to the heavenly garden, but the angel said, “Your father Adam only sinned once. You have committed sin upon sin upon sin, so your place shall be here among the firewood until the end of your days.”

The woodcutter placed the blame on Adam, but when he was given the opportunity to live a better life, he was made to realize how easy it is to sin.

Jan 28 2011

Angur, enab or grape? A story from Rumi


A story from Jalaludin Rumi’s Mathnavi:
Once upon a time long ago, a famous wealthy man passed by a town. He stopped his caravan outside a busy restaurant and motioned to four people to approach him. they rushed toward him, and he presented them with a gold coin and said, “This money is to be shared amongst you,” and then he went on his way.

The first was a Persian and he said, “With this money I will buy some angur!”

The second was an Arab and she said, “No, you can’t because I want to buy inab!”
The third was a Turk and he said, “I don’t want inab, I want uzum!”
The fourth was a Greek and she said, “I don’t want what any of you want, I want to buy stafil!”
Since they did not know what lay behind the names of things, the four started to fight. They had information, but no knowledge.
Luckily, a wise man was on his way to the restaurant. He paused to see what was going on and then asked them, “What is the problem here?”
They told him and he said, “Ah! I can fulfill the wishes of all of you with one and the same gold coin. If you honestly give me your trust, your one gold coin will become as four, and four at odds will become as one united.”
Only a person of such wisdom would know that each in his and her own language wanted the same thing – grapes. So happens to many cultures, ideas, religions, that have many things in common, but they are not aware of it.

Jan 26 2011

Stanford slow to build offerings in Middle Eastern studies


Source: The Stanford Daily, 25/01/2011

Years after American interest in the Middle East began to experience a dramatic resurgence with the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, Stanford is still racing to create a Middle Eastern studies program comparable to those of its peer institutions.

The University does not offer a degree-granting program in Middle Eastern studies. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and UC-Berkeley all do.

“About two years ago we had an external review–a team from Princeton, Indiana and Chicago–come in and lay out a road map for developing our program in this area,” said Richard Saller, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences.

Two major improvements were the creation of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The University also recently launched a certificate program in Iranian studies and is in the process of hiring a second Middle East historian. Challenges have precluded further expansion, however.

“The truth is we have not added the faculty as quickly as we’d hoped because the recession really put a break on fundraising, and we need to raise additional funds in order to fund additional faculty positions,” Saller said.

In order to “put a strong foundation” under a degree-granting Middle Eastern studies program, the University would require an eight-figure gift, Saller added.

This race to catch up with the programs offered by peer institutions raises the question: why did Stanford not develop its Middle Eastern studies program when others did so?

[Read More]

Jan 24 2011

USA Affirms Commitment to Visas for Foreign Academics


Source: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/newsroom/2011PRs/ACLUjanlet.htm

Obama Administration Will Take Steps To Facilitate The Free Exchange Of Ideas Across Borders, State Department Says

Washington – The Obama administration will take new steps to address the “ideological exclusion” of scholars and others from the UnitedStates on the basis of their political views, according to a State Department letter made public today by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), PEN American Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The State Department sent the letter to a coalition of human rights and civil liberties groups after they expressed their appreciation (.pdf) for Secretary Clinton’s decision last year to end the ideological exclusion from the U.S. of prominent scholars Adam Habib and Tariq Ramadan.

In its letter, the State Department acknowledges the importance of “promoting a global marketplace of ideas.” It specifically indicates that, in deciding whether to grant visas, the State Department will give “significant and sympathetic weight” to those seeking to enter the U.S. to fulfill speaking engagements, attend conferences, accept teaching positions, “or for similar expressive or educational activities.”

The following can be attributed to Cary Nelson, President of AAUP:

“All Americans can be gratified that the State Department has reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to the global marketplace of ideas and to the free exchange of opinion and analysis among American scholars and visitors from abroad.”

The following can be attributed to Larry Siems, Director of Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center:

“We welcome the State Department’s stated commitment to holding the door open to a wide range of voices and views from around the world, and are very pleased to see that the steps Secretary Clinton took to end the bans on Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib are part of a fresh approach and larger policy. This letter brings good news for our international colleagues, many of whom have been discouraged from visiting the United States in recent years, and great news for us and for our right as Americans to meet and share and debate ideas with them in person.”

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU:

“This is an encouraging and important letter, and we’re hopeful that it signals a renewed commitment on the part of the State Department to facilitating and expanding the free exchange of ideas across international borders. As the letter recognizes, our democracy can thrive only if our political debate is informed by a diversity of ideas and viewpoints. No democracy has ever made itself stronger by shutting its ears to ideas that are provocative or politically unpopular. We commend the State Department for this letter and look forward to seeing these policies implemented.”

Jan 21 2011

Another review on Refusing to be Enemies from Quaker Life


Source: Seid, Tim, Quaker Life, November/December 2010, p34, Richmond, Indiana

Refusing to be Enemies – Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation.  Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta.  Ithaca Press (Garnet Publishing, Reading, UK), 2011.

 

Quakers who have become accustomed to the acronyms of Friends (FUM, FGC, AFSC) will feast from a different bowl of alphabet soup (AlC, ISM, ICAHD) in this important resource on Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent activism.

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta is a Quaker-Jewish activist who works among Jews and Quakers in social issues and nonviolence training in the Vancouver area. Her role as a translator for the Alternative Information Center in the Jerusalem

office for seven years (1988-95) has given her insight into the people and groups working in the region for an end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Maxine then traveled to Israel/Palestine three times from 2003-7, to interview over 100 people in consultation with key figures in Israel and Palestine, in order to tell their story about why nonviolent activism is the preferred method for working against the Israeli occupation; how Palestinians, Israelis and internationals have worked together; and what their hopes are for future peace.

The first part of the book begins with two chapters describing the personal choice Palestinians and Israelis made regarding nonviolence and the recent history of those actions since the First Intifada and before. The second part is devoted to the practice of nonviolence and the strategies that have been used.

Part three looks toward the future of creating even more effective strategies and what various individuals think might be the future for the region. Finally, the last section includes some very insightful assessment by individuals like Jeff Halper and Jonathan Kuttab.

This book is not just for activists but for anyone with some knowledge of the history of the region interested in learning more about the people and organizations struggling together for peace and justice in the land. A paperback version is in progress.

Tim Seid

Richmond, Indiana