{"title":"The Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism by Cyrus Ali Zargar (review)","authors":"J. Richmond","doi":"10.2979/jims.5.1.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.5.1.07","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116763040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Love and Marriage in Medieval Muslim Thought","authors":"Aisha Y. Musa","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.01","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The Qur'ān and Hadith encourage marriage, and the Prophet Muḥammad is said to have enjoyed the company of his wives. Medieval Arab writers produced a rich literature on the topic of love, which has been the focus of significant scholarly attention in the West. This attention has generally focused on the tension between piety and desire, between sacred and profane love. This essay will discuss the issue of marriage and where it fits in medieval Muslim discussions of love, spanning several centuries by authors of various doctrinal inclinations. A close critical reading of the texts will be used to answer several important questions. What role does marriage play in relation to love? Is marriage an example of profane love or is it a nexus where sacred and profane meet in a reflection of divine love? How do classical exegetes understand Qur'ān and Hadith references to spouses and marriage? How do the authors of works specifically addressing love, such as Ibn Ḥazm's Ṭawq al-Ḥamāma (The Dove's Neck-Ring) and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawzīyya's Rawḍat al-Muḥibbīn (The Garden of the Lovers), treat the topic of marriage? What Qur'ān and Hadith references do they use as proof texts in their discussions? How do they use them? Which exegetes do they cite and how? More general questions will help to place these authors and their works in a larger context. What do the authors' interpretations and discussions reveal about their doctrinal positions? How do doctrinal inclinations influence the authors' usage and interpretation of Qur'ān and Hadith on love and marriage? What is the author's purpose in writing the text? Who is the intended audience? How do audience and purpose influence the author's choice and interpretation of proof texts?","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117149450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Western Theory Meets Eastern Praxis: Continuity and the Amatory Prelude in Pre-Islamic/Early Islamic Poetry","authors":"Eid Mohamed, Talaat Farouq Mohamed","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.05","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article suggests a rereading of Arabic poetry through a critical lens that builds on T. S. Eliot's notion of continuity underpinning the nexus between traditional and the individual talent. Through analyzing the use of continuity in the pre/early-Islamic qaṣīda, as manifested in the conventional motif of nasīb (the amatory prelude), the article attempts to wed Western critical theory and premodern Arab poetic praxis. Drawing on the notion of continuity identified by Eliot, this article approaches the works of Mukhaḍram poets, whose lives spanned the pre-Islamic and early Islamic-eras, in order to elucidate their attempt to create a balanced nexus between the old Jāhilī tradition and the new Islamic culture. Following Eliot's concept of tradition, the article examines the contours of continuity in the early Arabic qaṣīda, focusing especially on the amatory prelude or nasīb as a condensed metaphorical garb that represents the spirit of a new age without sacrificing established norms. The article thus focuses on the tension between the conventional and the creative that marks this transitional period, as represented by Mukhaḍram poets in their attempt to set a balance between their creative talents and the new moral code enacted by the newly introduced faith. Here, the Mukhaḍram poets, represented in the article by Ḥassān ibn Thābit, the Prophet Muḥammad's panegyrist, offer an excellent example of this hybridist reworking of an established poetic canon. It is thus claimed that such reworking resulted in new metaphors, which encapsulated both traditional motifs and creative symbols. In this sense, Mukhaḍram poetry imbued pristine individual talent with a conscious sense of tradition that ensured the \"wholesome continuity\" of universal cultural values.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129629854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Muslim Communities in Europe and North America: Contemporary Developments and Challenges","authors":"Layla Sein","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.11","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128950595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Earnest and Jest from Political Crisis to Marriage Problems: Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr's (Instances of) The Eloquence of Women","authors":"Jocelyn Sharlet","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.03","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article explores the significance of the rhetorical counterpoints of earnest (jidd) and jest (hazl) in the medieval Arabic literary tradition, as expressed in Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr's Book (of Instances) of the Eloquence of Women (Kitāb Balaghāt al-Nisā'), which was written in the late ninth century CE. This work comprises volume 11 of the three volumes that remain (volumes 11-13) of a longer work by Ibn Abī Ṭāhir Ṭayfūr entitled Prose and Poetry (al-Manthūr wa-l-Manẓūm). In the present article I investigate how the rhetorical modes of jest and earnest function in sections of the book that focus on the literary reception of political crisis and marriage problems, in which rhetoric is used as a way to manage conflict. The analytical part of this article considers the role of gender and social status in the use of rhetoric in early medieval Arabic literature, the intersection between the modes of jest and earnest in the context of a range of Arabic literary aims and cultural values, and the present writer's perspective on literary change.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"300 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133301456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Zulaykhā's Displaced Desire in Jāmī's Yūsuf va Zulaykhā","authors":"C. Yaghoobi","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.04","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Focusing on Zulaykhā's desire for the Prophet Yūsuf in 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Jāmī's (d. 1492 CE) poem Yūsuf va Zulaykhā, this article will examine some of the spaces and sites within the poem that are directly linked to Sufi themes and interpretations. I also argue that the institution of marriage acts as a context for Zulaykhā's displaced desire. Zulaykhā, who is married to Potiphar, the ʿAzīz (Master) of Egypt, transgresses the moral boundaries of the institution of marriage due to her profane love for the Prophet Joseph (Yūsuf). This transgression displaces Zulaykhā's desire from its religiously proper place in the realm of the sacred to the inferior and profane sphere. However, spaces are dynamic and hence polysemic. Thus, this article will also interpret Zulaykhā's body, her dreams, the depiction of Yūsuf as the mirror-image of divine, Zulaykhā's walled garden, and the doors of Zulaykhā's palace as sites for the production and reproduction of Sufi knowledge. Furthermore, it is only after enduring pain and suffering that Zulaykhā's transgression can be forgiven. Potiphar's death and Zulaykhā's widowhood, her breaking of the idol that symbolizes her profane love, and her conversion to Islam remove the obstacles caused by her transgression of moral boundaries and make her available for marriage to Yūsuf. The moral of the poem is that the realization of the (sexual, carnal) union between Yūsuf and Zulaykhā can only be possible through the intercession of the spiritual dimension; hence, this story is ultimately about the relationship between the sacred and the profane.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"85 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128007029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Soteriology in 'Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī's Islamic Humanism","authors":"Rahimjon Abdugafurov","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.10","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This essay offers a brief examination of 'Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī's Sufi soteriology in light of his Islamic Humanism—a religious anthropocentric doctrine dedicated to the promotion of human equality, freedom, and human potential. The human being is at the center of Jīlī's soteriological view. For Jīlī, the human being is a macanthropos—a model for all creatures, including Heaven and Hell. Although Jīlī's thought is widely accepted as a continuation of an earlier influential Sufi Muḥyīddīn Ibn 'Arabī (d.1240 CE), there are crucial differences between the two Sufi thinkers, especially with regards to Jīlī's embrace of non-Muslims, and promotion of humanistic ideas; Jīlī should be considered a Muslim humanist, and his intellectual heritage can help us better understand Muslim relations with non-Muslims today.","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123672861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Siege of Mecca (Feature by `Amr Salama, Muhammad Hifzi and Hani `Usama)","authors":"Reem A. Meshal","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.08","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"184 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115435736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sheikh Jackson (Feature by `Amr Salama, Muhammad Hifzi and Hani `Usama)","authors":"Joel Gordon","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.09","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127096027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Art of Jihad: Realism in Islamic Political Thought by Malik Mufti (review)","authors":"C. Contractor","doi":"10.2979/jims.4.2.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.4.2.07","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":388440,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies","volume":"127 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115669457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}