Author: Syed Akbar Hyder Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies University of Texas at Austin N.U.S.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019970662X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
In 680 C.E., a small band of the Prophet Muhammads family and their followers, led by his grandson, Husain, rose up in a rebellion against the ruling caliph, Yazid. The family and its supporters, hopelessly outnumbered, were massacred at Karbala, in modern-day Iraq. The story of Karbala is the cornerstone of institutionalized devotion and mourning for millions of Shii Muslims. Apart from its appeal to the Shii community, invocations of Karbala have also come to govern mystical and reformist discourses in the larger Muslim world. Indeed, Karbala even serves as the archetypal resistance and devotional symbol for many non-Muslims. Until now, though, little scholarly attention has been given to the widespread and varied employment of the Karbala event. In Reliving Karbala, Syed Akbar Hyder examines the myriad ways that the Karbala symbol has provided inspiration in South Asia, home to the worlds largest Muslim population. Rather than a unified reading of Islam, Hyder reveals multiple, sometimes conflicting, understandings of the meaning of Islamic religious symbols like Karbala. He ventures beyond traditional, scriptural interpretations to discuss the ways in which millions of very human adherents express and practice their beliefs. By using a panoramic array of sources, including musical performances, interviews, nationalist drama, and other literary forms, Hyder traces the evolution of this story from its earliest historical origins to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Today, Karbala serves as a celebration of martyrdom, a source of personal and communal identity, and even a tool for political protest and struggle. Hyder explores how issues related to gender, genre, popular culture, class, and migrancy bear on the cultivation of religious symbols. He assesses the manner in which religious language and identities are negotiated across contexts and continents. At a time when words like martyrdom, jihad, and Shiism are being used and misused for political reasons, this book provides much-needed scholarly redress. Through his multifaceted examination of this seminal event in Islamic history, Hyder offers an original, complex, and nuanced view of religious symbols.

Author: Syed Akbar Hyder
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190451807
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In 680 C.E., a small band of the Prophet Muhammads family and their followers, led by his grandson, Husain, rose up in a rebellion against the ruling caliph, Yazid. The family and its supporters, hopelessly outnumbered, were massacred at Karbala, in modern-day Iraq. The story of Karbala is the cornerstone of institutionalized devotion and mourning for millions of Shii Muslims. Apart from its appeal to the Shii community, invocations of Karbala have also come to govern mystical and reformist discourses in the larger Muslim world. Indeed, Karbala even serves as the archetypal resistance and devotional symbol for many non-Muslims. Until now, though, little scholarly attention has been given to the widespread and varied employment of the Karbala event. In Reliving Karbala, Syed Akbar Hyder examines the myriad ways that the Karbala symbol has provided inspiration in South Asia, home to the worlds largest Muslim population. Rather than a unified reading of Islam, Hyder reveals multiple, sometimes conflicting, understandings of the meaning of Islamic religious symbols like Karbala. He ventures beyond traditional, scriptural interpretations to discuss the ways in which millions of very human adherents express and practice their beliefs. By using a panoramic array of sources, including musical performances, interviews, nationalist drama, and other literary forms, Hyder traces the evolution of this story from its earliest historical origins to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Today, Karbala serves as a celebration of martyrdom, a source of personal and communal identity, and even a tool for political protest and struggle. Hyder explores how issues related to gender, genre, popular culture, class, and migrancy bear on the cultivation of religious symbols. He assesses the manner in which religious language and identities are negotiated across contexts and continents. At a time when words like martyrdom, jihad, and Shiism are being used and misused for political reasons, this book provides much-needed scholarly redress. Through his multifaceted examination of this seminal event in Islamic history, Hyder offers an original, complex, and nuanced view of religious symbols.

Author: Premchand
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9354970893
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
At a time when communal antagonism was at its peak (1920s), Premchand was perceptive enough to fathom the cause for religious intolerance being rooted in mutual ignorance of communities about each other’s faith. To alleviate this, he decided to write a play about Karbala, a 7th Century event in Islamic history, in which the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, Imam Hussain withstood the brute forces of the debauch ruler Yazid and sacrificed his life along with that of his companions and family members in the battlefield of Karbala, in modern day Iraq. In an unprecedented leap of faith, Premchand’s play draws the Dutt brothers, descendants of Ashwathhama, spending their exile years in Arabia, in the battlefield of Karbala. Inspired by the uprightness of the Imam and bound by their moral duty to justice, the seven brothers join forces with the Imam and sacrifice their lives for him, singing praises of their motherland Bharatwarsh. An illuminating blend of historical facts and imagination, this outstanding play reflects Premchand’s profound and enlightening grasp of the communal conflict in early nineteenth century India and his unique way of imagining the nation along the Gandhian principles of communal harmony and co-existence of religions.

Author: Muhammad-Reza Fakhr-Rohani
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527592294
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Martyrdom narratives (maqtals) represent a prominent genre of Islamic, particularly Shiʽi, literature. In this genre, the heart-rending aspects of the martyrdom scenes of religiously prominent people are depicted graphically. Although not exclusively limited to the martyrdom accounts of Imam al-Ḥusayn and his companions, who were martyred on the plain of Karbala, Iraq, a great majority of Islamic martyrdom narratives deal with the Ashura episodes. As the first book-length treatment of this genre in English, this text takes the reader from the dawn of Islam in ancient Arabia, exploring the background of the Battle of Karbala and giving a view of the various maqtals and several related studies. Although examining Arabic and Persian sources, this book presupposes little background knowledge on the part of the reader.

Author: Meir Hatina
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786720264
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
Over the years, the belief system around self sacrifice has become key to understanding the Middle East and its political relationships with the West although much of the literature and conversation has been restricted to modern concepts of jihadism. The recent spate of scholarship relating to suicide bombers and jihadists studies these concepts without a broader understanding of the principle of martyrdom. This book expands on the chronology of self-sacrifice within Islam and contextualises the use of suicide bombings using details of the rise of martyrdom in places such as Iraq, Lebanon, Chechnya and Pakistan. It historicises the background in which 'jihad' has been glorified while also exploring contemporary methods of recruitment, like the use of the internet. The authors pay close attention to the different sects and factions of Islam and the differing interpretations of jihad that accompany these ideologies. In the current political climate, a book that explores martyrdom within the framework of historical perspectives, geographical regions and the influence of outside cultures is essential.

Author: Scott Kugle
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469626780
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
The two Muslim poets featured in Scott Kugle's comparative study lived separate lives during the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries in the Deccan region of southern India. Here, they meet in the realm of literary imagination, illuminating the complexity of gender, sexuality, and religious practice in South Asian Islamic culture. Shah Siraj Awrangabadi (1715-1763), known as "Sun," was a Sunni who, after a youthful homosexual love affair, gave up sexual relationships to follow a path of personal holiness. Mah Laqa Bai Chanda (1768-1820), known as "Moon," was a Shi'i and courtesan dancer who transferred her seduction of men to the pursuit of mystical love. Both were poets in the Urdu language of the ghazal, or love lyric, often fusing a spiritual quest with erotic imagery. Kugle argues that Sun and Moon expressed through their poetry exceptions to the general rules of heteronormativity and gender inequality common in their patriarchal societies. Their art provides a lens for a more subtle understanding of both the reach and the limitations of gender roles in Islamic and South Asian culture and underscores how the arts of poetry, music, and dance are integral to Islamic religious life. Integrated throughout are Kugle's translations of Urdu and Persian poetry previously unavailable in English.

Author: Jeffrey M. Shaw Ph.D.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1909

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Book Description
This three-volume reference provides a complete guide for readers investigating the crucial interplay between war and religion from ancient times until today, enabling a deeper understanding of the role of religious wars across cultures. Containing some 500 entries covering the interaction between war and religion from ancient times, the three-volume War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict provides students with an invaluable reference source for examining two of the most important phenomena impacting society today. This all-inclusive reference work will serve readers researching specific religious traditions, historical eras, wars, battles, or influential individuals across all time periods. The A–Z entries document ancient events and movements such as the First Crusade that began at the end of the 10th century as well as modern-day developments like ISIS and Al Qaeda. Subtopics throughout the encyclopedia include religious and military leaders or other key people, ideas, and weapons, and comprehensive examinations of each of the major religious traditions' views on war and violence are presented. The work also includes dozens of primary source documents—each introduced by a headnote—that enable readers to go directly to the source of information and better grasp its historical significance. The in-depth content of this set benefits high school and college students as well as scholars and general readers.

Author: Afshon Ostovar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199387893
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are one of the most important forces in the Middle East today, but remain poorly understood to outside observers. In Vanguard of the Imam, Afshon Ostovar has written the first comprehensive history of the organization. Situating the rise of the Guards in the contexts of Shiite Islam, Iranian history, and international affairs, Ostovar takes a multifaceted approach in demystifying the organization and detailing its evolution since 1979. The book documents the Guards transformation into a power-player and explores why the group matters now more than ever to regional and global affairs. It is simultaneously a history of modern Iran, and an engrossing entryway into the complex world of war, politics, and identity in the Middle East.

Author: Rahuldeep Singh Gill
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190624086
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Bhai Gurdas Bhalla (d. 1636 CE) is widely considered the most important non-canonical poet in Sikh history, having shaped the theology and ethics of the tradition for centuries. Not only are his beautiful poems considered an authoritative illustration of Sikh life, they also defined Sikh identity during a tumultuous period of upheaval in the early seventeenth century. In Drinking from Love's Cup Rahuldeep Gill brings together for the first time a collection of the revered poet's early work, masterfully translated it into English, along with the original Punjabi text.

Author: Naveeda Khan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136517596
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 604

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Book Description
Through the essays in this volume, we see how the failure of the state becomes a moment to ruminate on the artificiality of this most modern construct, the failure of nationalism, an opportunity to dream of alternative modes of association, and the failure of sovereignty to consider the threats and possibilities of the realm of foreignness within the nation-state as within the self. The ambition of this volume is not only to complicate standing representations of Pakistan. It is take Pakistan out of the status of exceptionalism that its multiple crises have endowed upon it. By now, many scholars have written of how exile, migrancy, refugeedom, and other modes of displacement constitute modern subjectivities. The arguments made in the book say that Pakistan is no stranger to this condition of human immigrancy and therefore, can be pressed into service in helping us to understand our present condition.