Category Archives: Papers

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Feb 16 2012

An excerpt from Security Arrangements in the Persian Gulf, Mahboubeh Sadeghinia, Ithaca Press

from SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS IN THE PERSIAN GULF: With Special Reference to Iran’s Foreign Policy, MAHBOUBEH F. SADEGHINIA, Ithaca Press, 2011

The Persian Gulf (PG) is one of the most significant geopolitical regions in the world as well as the main dominant energy source and gateway for global energy. This region is of vital significance to all littoral states as well as the entire world economy and political life. Considering such significance – which has caused the PG to be a worthy rival to outside powers, particularly the West, as well being the most unstable and chaotic of any world region – requires close scrutiny of the important geopolitical elements and security concerns and systems in this region.
Persian Gulf Security Arrangements, With Special Reference to Iran’s Foreign Policy has employed a variety of conceptual and analytical tools to understand the reasons for the failure of security models in the PG and to confront the huge obstacles to a security system for this region. The perceptions of what constitutes a threat to regional security varies among the Arabs, Iranians and the ultra-regional powers, and all accordingly have different solutions to what they perceive as the problem. Nevertheless, regardless of the relevant parties’ differences of opinion, all the consequent issues along with three decades of crises in the PG illustrate how urgent it is for the problem regarding regional security to be resolved.
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May 10 2011

OTTOMAN MODERNITY, COLONIALISM, AND INSURGENCY IN THE INTERWAR ARAB EAST

International Journal of Middle East Studies (2011), 43: 205-225, Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011, DOI: 10.1017/S0020743811000031 (About DOI) Published online: 2011

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May 2 2011

Book Review: Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society

Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society

Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society

Book Review
Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society
CLIVE HOLES and SAID SALMAN ABU ATHERA
Reading: Ithaca Press, 2009, xv þ 351 pp., £49.99 (hbk), ISBN 978-0-863-723384

From: Borg, Gert(2011) ‘Poetry and Politics in Contemporary Bedouin Society, by Clive Holes and Said
Salman Abu Athera’, Middle Eastern Literatures, 14: 1, 96 — 99, DOI: 10.1080/1475262X.2011.550480
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475262X.2011.550480

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Jan 20 2011

Call for papers: International Conference on Sheikh-e Ishraq (Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi)

Considering the lofty position of Sheikh-e Ishraq (Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi in the Islamic philosophy, the International Conference on Sheikh-e Ishraq (Suhrawardi) will be held in collaboration with University of Tehran, Iranian Institute of Philosophy, University of Damascus and University of Aleppo in Syria on 10-12 May, 2011.

The interested scholars are invited to submit their research papers on the following topics.  The authors of selected papers will be invited to present their papers in the conference.

Topics:

1-Position of Suhrawardi in the history of Islamic philosophy and civilization 2-Intellectual, political, cultural and scientific conditions of Aleppo at the age of Suhrawardi

3- Analytical discussion on Suhrawardi’s works 4-Special views of Suhrawardi’s philosophy 5-The relation between mysticism and philosophy in Suhrawardi’s works 6-Suhrawardi , the secret of cultural connection between Iran and the Arab world

7- A contemplation on Suhrawardi’s trial

Abstract Submission Deadline: 9 February,2011

Website: http://www.suhrawardi-conf.com

Email: secretariat@suhrawardi-conf.com

Jan 10 2011

New Paper: The People on the Edge: Religious Reform and the Burden of the Western Muslim Intellectual

Richard W. Bulliet

Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 8 (2009), 7–18

A haunting and powerful image in the Qur’an depicts the people who, on the day of judgment, perch on the dividing barrier between heaven and hell and engage in a conversation with the inhabitants of both worlds (Qur’an 7: 46–49). The portrayal occurs only once in the Qur’an and is vague about the ultimate fate of these “people of the edge,” but they are given a generally sympathetic portrayal, and the implication is that they will end up on the safer side of the barrier.

[Read the article here]

Jan 10 2011

New paper: ʿUMAR AL-KHAYYĀM’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARABIC MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF MUSIC

MICHELE BARONTINIa1 and TITO M. TONIETTIa1

a1 Dipartimento di matematica, Università di Pisa Largo Pontecorvo 5, 56127 Pisa, Italy Email: mpeyglus@free.fr, tonietti@dm.unipi.it

Abstract

We here present the Arabic text, with an English translation, of certain pages dedicated by al-Khayyām to the mathematical theory of music. Our edition is based on a manuscript extant in a library in Manisa (Turkey), and corrects the mistakes found in another transcription. Lastly, we compare the theory of al-Khayyām with other Arabic theories of Music, and with those coming from other traditions.

[Read the paper here]

Jan 10 2011

New paper: IN SEARCH OF IBN SĪNĀ’S “ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY” IN MEDIEVAL CASTILE

RYAN SZPIECHa1*

a1 University of Michigan, 4108 Modern Languages Building 812 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1275, USA Email: szpiech@umich.edu

Abstract

Scholars have long debated the possibility of a mystical or illuminationist strain of thought in Ibn Sīnā’s body of writing. This debate has often focused on the meaning and contents of his partly lost work al-Mashriqiyyūn (The Easterners), also known as al-Ḥikma al-Mashriqiyya (Eastern Wisdom), mentioned by Ibn Sīnā himself as well as by numerous Western writers including Ibn Rushd and Ibn Ṭufayl. A handful of references to what is called Ibn Sīnā’s “Oriental Philosophy” are also found in the Castilian and Hebrew works of the Castilian Jew Abner of Burgos (ca. 1270-ca. 1347), known after his conversion to Christianity as Alfonso of Valladolid. Although the content of these citations has not been identified, it has been proposed that they may preserve otherwise unknown passages from Ibn Sīnā’s lost work. This study considers the references to Ibn Sīnā’s so-called “Oriental Philosophy” within Abner’s writings and concludes that rather than preserving lost passages from Ibn Sīnā’s writing, Abner’s references were drawn primarily from Ibn Ṭufayl and offer no support for the argument of a possible mystical or illuminationist strain in Ibn Sīnā’s thinking.

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Aug 23 2010

In the Shadow of the Qur’an: Recent Islamist Discourse on the United States and US Foreign Policy

Author: Sami E. Baroudi
DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2010.492992
Publication Frequency: 6 issues per year

Published in: Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 46, Issue 4 July 2010 , pages 569 – 594

Academics have paid far more attention to Islamist movements than to the political discourse of contemporary Islamist authors. This is regrettable for four main reasons. First, Islamists address issues of major importance to their societies and these societies’ relations with the external world, especially the West. Understanding their discourse holds the key to a better understanding of Islamist movements. Second, Islamists form an integral component of the Arab intelligentsia. As opinion shapers they influence the attitudes, beliefs and value systems of Arab publics. Third, Islamists have been writing extensively and critically about the United States, especially since the end of the Cold War. It is of great importance to understand why they are so ‘preoccupied’ with America and why they view it the way they do. Finally, Islamists write in a distinct style that leans heavily, and in complex ways, on the sacred text (the Qur’an). It is intriguing and intellectually stimulating to analyze the substance and style of their discourse and to contextualize it historically. This article focuses on one specific and critical aspect of contemporary Islamist discourse: its treatment of the United States.