This series studies the Middle East through the twin foci of its diverse cultures and civilizations. Comprising original monographs as well as scholarly surveys, it covers topics in the fields of Middle Eastern literature, archaeology, law, history, philosophy, science, folklore, art, architecture and language. While there is a plurality of views, the series presents serious scholarship in a lucid and stimulating fashion.
By Esad Durakovic
May 01, 2015
Through analysing ancient and classical Arabic literature, including the Qur'an, from within the Arabic literary tradition, this book provides an original interpretation of poetics, and of other important aspects of Arab culture. Ancient Arabic literature is a realm of poetry; prose literary ...
By Ali-Reza Bhojani
March 26, 2015
Moral Rationalism and Sharī'a is the first attempt at outlining the scope for a theological reading of Sharī'a, based on a critical examination of why 'Adliyya theological ethics have not significantly impacted Shī'ī readings of Sharī'a. Within Shī'ī works of Sharī 'a legal theory (usūl al-fiqh) ...
By Nuha Al-Shaar
January 02, 2015
Offering a new reading of Islamic ethical and political thought in the Būyid period (334-440/946-1048), this book focuses particularly on the philosopher Abū Hayyān al-Tawhīdī who lived in Baghdad and what is now western Iran. Ethics in Islam provides the first major treatment of al-Tawhīdī's ...
By Fachrizal A. Halim
December 16, 2014
Offering a detailed analysis of the structure of authority in Islamic law, this book focuses on the figure of Yahyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī, who is regarded as the chief contributor to the legal tradition known as the Shāfi'ī madhhab in traditional Muslim sources, named after Muhammad b. Idrīs ...
By Roshdi Rashed
August 18, 2014
This book follows the development of classical mathematics and the relation between work done in the Arab and Islamic worlds and that undertaken by the likes of Descartes and Fermat. ‘Early modern,’ mathematics is a term widely used to refer to the mathematics which developed in the West during the...
By Mohamed Haj Yousef
February 23, 2011
This book is the first comprehensive attempt to explain Ibn ‘Arabî’s distinctive view of time and its role in the process of creating the cosmos and its relation with the Creator. By comparing this original view with modern theories of physics and cosmology, Mohamed Haj Yousef constructs a new ...
By Amal N. Ghazal
March 27, 2014
Bridging African and Arab histories, this book examines the relationship between Islam, nationalism and the evolution of identity politics from late 19th Century to World War II. It provides a cross-national, cross-regional analysis of religious reform, nationalism, anti-colonialism from Zanzibar ...
By Alexander Treiger
March 19, 2014
It has been customary to see the Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) as a vehement critic of philosophy, who rejected it in favour of Islamic mysticism (Sufism), a view which has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. This book argues that al-Ghazali was, instead, one of the ...
By David James
March 07, 2014
The Akhbār majmū‘a, or 'Collected Accounts', deal with the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula in 711 and subsequent events in al-Andalus, down to and including the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahmān III (912-961), founder of the Umayyad caliphate of al-Andalus . No Arabic text dealing with the early ...
By Damian Howard
March 07, 2014
Islamic anthropology is relatively seldom treated as a particular concern even though much of the contemporary debate on the modernisation of Islam, its acceptance of human rights and democracy, makes implicit assumptions about the way Muslims conceive of the human being. This book explores how the...
By Kate Raphael
March 07, 2014
During much of the twelfth century the Crusaders dominated the military scene in the Levant. The unification of Egypt and Syria by Saladin gradually changed the balance of power, which slowly begun to tilt in favour of the Muslims. This book examines the development and role of Muslim fortresses in...
By Khalid S. Almezaini
March 07, 2014
This book offers a concise and detailed analysis of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) foreign aid as a main instrument in its foreign policy. Exploring the cultural factors that have impacted on the foreign policy behaviour of the UAE and its foreign aid, the author argues that Arabism and Islamic ...