"In this new history, French author Georges Bensoussan retells the story of what life was like for Jews in the Arab world since 1850. During the early years of this time, it was widely believed that Jewish life in Arab lands was peaceful. Jews were protected by law and suffered much less violence, persecution, and inequality. Bensoussan takes on this myth and looks back over the history of Jewish-Arab relations in Arab countries. He finds that there is little truth to the myth and forwards a nuanced history of interrelationship that is not only diverse, but deals with local differences in cultural, religious, and political practice. Bensoussan divides the work into sections that cover 1850 to the end of WWI, from 1919 to the eve of WWII and then from WWII to the establishment of Israel and the Arab Wars. A new afterword brings the history of Jewish and Arab relations into the present day. Bensoussan has determined that the history of Jews in Arab countries is a history of slowly disintegrating relationships, increasing tension, violence, and persecution"--

“Mohammedanism†by D.S. Margoliouth offers a detailed exploration of the origins, development, and core tenets of Islam. Examining the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the historical context in which Islam emerged, Margoliouth delves into the religious, political, and social forces that shaped the early Islamic world. This comprehensive study provides insights into the key doctrines of Islam, including the Quran, the Hadith, and the Sharia, as well as the major theological and philosophical debates that have characterized Islamic thought throughout history. A valuable resource for students, scholars, and anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of one of the world's major religions, “Mohammedanism†remains a significant contribution to the field of Islamic studies. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Freethinkers of Medieval Islam focuses on the express denial of prophecy in the medieval Islamicate world. The development of Islamic freethinking is analyzed against the background of the significance of prophets in Islam. In her book, Sarah Stroumsa examines the image of freethinkers, and the repercussions of freethinking on Muslim, Jewish and Christian medieval thought. She argue that freethinking, as exemplified by figures like Ibn al-Rāwandī (9th C.) and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (10th C.), was a pivotal phenomenon, that had a major impact on the development of Islamic thought. In the present context of religious violence carried out in the name of Islam, this book highlights the striking existence of independent freethinking in the world of Islam.

Twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the assassination of Salman Rushdie--and writers around the world instinctively rallied to Rushdie's defense. Today, according to writer Paul Berman, "Rushdie has metastasized into an entire social class"--an ever-growing group of sharp-tongued critics of Islamist extremism, especially critics from Muslim backgrounds, who survive only because of pseudonyms and police protection. And yet, instead of being applauded, the Rushdies of today (people like Ayan Hirsi Ali and Ibn Warraq) often find themselves dismissed as "strident" or as no better than fundamentalist themselves, and contrasted unfavorably with representatives of the Islamist movement who falsely claim to be "moderates." How did this happen? In THE FLIGHT OF THE INTELLECTUALS, Berman--"one of America's leading public intellectuals" ( Foreign Affairs )--conducts a searing examination into the intellectual atmosphere of the moment and shows how some of the West's best thinkers and journalists have fumbled badly in their efforts to grapple with Islamist ideas and violence. Berman's investigation of the history and nature of the Islamist movement includes some surprising revelations. In examining Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, he shows the rise of an immense and often violent worldview, elements of which survives today in the brigades of al-Qaeda and Hamas. Berman also unearths the shocking story of al-Banna's associate, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who collaborated personally with Adolf Hitler to incite Arab support of the Nazis' North African campaign. Echoes of the Grand Mufti's Nazified Islam can be heard among the followers of al-Banna even today. In a gripping and stylish narrative Berman also shows the legacy of these political traditions, most importantly by focusing on a single philosopher, who happens to be Hassan al-Banna's grandson, Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan--a figure widely celebrated in the West as a "moderate" despite his troubling ties to the Islamist movement. Looking closely into what Ramadan has actually written and said, Berman contrasts the reality of Ramadan with his image in the press. In doing so, THE FLIGHT OF THE INTELLECTUALS sheds light on a number of modern issues--on the massively reinvigorated anti-Semitism of our own time, on a newly fashionable turn against women's rights, and on the difficulties we have in discussing terrorism--and presents a stunning commentary about the modern media's peculiar inability to detect and analyze some of the most dangerous ideas in contemporary society.

"This book contains an edition--with an extensive introduction, translation and commentary--of The Light of the World, a text on theoretical astronomy by Joseph Ibn Naḥmias, composed in Judeo-Arabic around 1400 C.E. in the Iberian Peninsula. As the only text on theoretical astronomy written by a Jew in any variety of Arabic, this work is evidence for a continuing relationship between Jewish and Islamic thought in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The text's most lasting effect may have been exerted via its passage to Renaissance Italy, where it influenced scholars at the University of Padua in the early sixteenth century. With its crucial role in the development of European astronomy, as well as the physical sciences under Islam and in Jewish culture, The Light of the World is an important episode in Islamic intellectual history, Jewish civilization, and the history of astronomy."--

Muhammad founded a World-State as well as a faith; as Islam spread from its first centres, Muslim political thinkers had to apply the divinely revealed law of the Prophet to new circumstances. They had to relate new realities of power and authority to the ideal constitution which he had laid down and which his immediate successors had elaborated. Against this background Dr Rosenthal discusses the later Muslim philosophers who were influenced by the political thought of Plato and Aristotle. He shows how Greek thought modified the Islamic and yet was always subordinated to Muslim categories of thought and political needs. Dr Rosenthal thus surveys the chief traditions of Islamic political thought from the eighth to the end of the fifteenth centuries. He emphasises the basic unity given by the shared faith of the writers, without diminishing the individuality of each. Orientalists will welcome the book; so will historians of the medieval West, for it shows them the religious, political and intellectual positions underlying the expansion of Islam.

Al-Andalus, the Iberian territory ruled by Islam from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, was home to a flourishing philosophical culture among Muslims and the Jews who lived in their midst. Andalusians spoke proudly of the region's excellence, and indeed it engendered celebrated thinkers such as Maimonides and Averroes. Sarah Stroumsa offers an integrative new approach to Jewish and Muslim philosophy in al-Andalus, where the cultural commonality of the Islamicate world allowed scholars from diverse religious backgrounds to engage in the same philosophical pursuits. Stroumsa traces the development of philosophy in Muslim Iberia from its introduction to the region to the diverse forms it took over time, from Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism to rational theology and mystical philosophy. She sheds light on the way the politics of the day, including the struggles with the Christians to the north of the peninsula and the Fa t imids in North Africa, influenced philosophy in al-Andalus yet affected its development among the two religious communities in different ways. While acknowledging the dissimilar social status of Muslims and members of the religious minorities, Andalus and Sefarad highlights the common ground that united philosophers, providing new perspective on the development of philosophy in Islamic Spain.

During these shocking times of war, violence, and hate many are now seeking answers to important questions. What are the bases of the claims of the Jewish people to the Holy Land? What are the foundations of the conflicts between Muslims and Jews? What does Western Culture and its decline have to do with Israel and the Muslims? How does the rise of extreme leftism in Canada and the United States facilitate and encourage extreme hate and violence at home and in the Middle East? These and many other questions are answered by David Solway in this timely collection of essays-- easily read, easily understood, and written with erudition, scholarship, and style. Solway's style is appropriate for general readers or those with long backgrounds of knowledge of Judaism, Islam, Israel, the Middle East, American and Canadian cultural and political radicalism and decline, the Jewish People, and the intersection of Judaism and Islam in the Middle East. The most recent horror for the Jews that began on October 7, 2023, can be better understood with a clear understanding of Israel, diaspora Jews, ancient and modern Jewish history, and the decline of the West into moral relativism, communism, and leftist utopianism. Times of strife and horror are best explained by clarity of thought and writing. Solway provides both in this important work that provides both context and background to the horrors seen recently in Israel, across Europe, in the United States, and across the world.

A literary dialogue between a Christian and a Muslim, maintaining the superiority of Christianity: this volume presents a critical Latin text and the first ever English translation, annotated, of this important but hitherto largely overlooked document among sources in Christian – Muslim relations. Some of Vives’s criticisms of Muhammad and Islam are based on scripture or reason; many others rely on lampoon of Arab or Islamic folk tales. Still, he censures Muslim followers only narrowly, far less for moral failings or hatred of Christians than for gullibility in accepting Islam. Book Four provides valuable evidence of the reach and the limits of Vives’s humanistic tolerance as applied to religious conflict.

"Allah is the Guardian of the believers. He takes them out of darkness into light." - Surah al-Baqarah, 2:257 Ashura ... Ashura today is remembered for great many reasons; it has also been used to serve and assert the narrative of great many people - each to their own, each to achieve for distinct goals. But what is Ashura if not a universal call for Liberation from the shackles of Falsehood? What is Ashura if not a grand declaration of allegiance to God, the Master of all world? Whether Muslims care to remember Ashura through the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the last prophet of God, son of Ali and Lady Fatema, or for Moses' victory over Pharaoh matters very little for Ashura has always spoken of the Word enacted through the righteous deeds of men of God. Allow me now to speak to you of my Ashura, the mourning and grief I share with that of my kin. For all the reverence I hold towards Moses and those who follow in his journey out of Egypt, Ashura for me will forever echo of Imam Hussain, martyrs among all martyrs, son to the Holy House of the Prophet, God's righteous commander, the one soul which darkness could never touch, not even for a fleeting moment. Songs and poems have risen in his name across ages of men, it is Hussain ibn Ali generations' of men and women have called out in eternal sorrow, for none could bear the manner in which he was stolen from us.

Contrary to the Christians, the Muslims did not consider the Bible as a holy text, therefore their polemics against the Jews took the form of Bible criticism. The main arguments used by Muslim thinkers against Judaism was that the Jews falsified God's word, or failed to transmit it properly, or misinterpreted the Bible, or that the Bible had been abrogated by God. The most prominent Muslim writers who developed these themes in the medieval period were Ibn Hazm and the Jewish apostate Samau'al al-Maghribi in the West of the Arab world, and Ibn Qayyim al-Djawziyya in the East. The first two considered, in particular, that it was Ezra ('Uzayr) who deliberately distorted the text of the Bible. Contends that the Muslim critics of the Bible based their arguments greatly on pre-Islamic sources (such as pagan, gnostic, Christian, and anti-Christian writings), and that they, in turn, were the source of early modern European Bible criticism.