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This book examines the way in which early Muslims begin to understand normative Islamic practice through the role of Muslim scholars who define, preserve, and pass on Islamic traditions. This later becomes the foundation of Sunni identity and Sufi piety. In the figure of 'Abdallah b. al-Mubarak (118-181/736-797), we find a paragon of the fields of hadith, zuhd, and jihad, as attested to by the large number of references to him in the classical Islamic texts.

In this title, an Afghan-American journalist offers a revealing look inside a country torn apart - from corrupt officials to warlords and child brides - while revisiting her own family's deep roots to the land.

Ce volume reunit les cinq communications presentees dans le cadre des "Conferences d'etudes iraniennes Ehsan et Latifeh Yarshater", organisees par l'Unite Mixte de Recherche "Mondes Iranien et Indien" en 2005 au College de France a Paris. Construit autour de la figure de Timur-e Lang (Tamerlan, ca. 1330-1405), l'ouvrage s'interroge sur la manipulation de la memoire historique et sur l'usage que peut en faire le pouvoir a travers la propagande politique en Asie centrale et en Iran au XVe siecle,...

In 1987, Latif Yahia was taken to Saddam's headquarters to meet Uday, Saddam's eldest son, and told that a great honour has been bestowed upon him: that because of the great likeness between them, he had been chosen to be Uday's double. For many Iraquis, it would have been the highlight of their lives, but for Latif, a peace-loving man who did not agree with Saddam's brutal regime, it was not. He refused. Following a week of torture and realising he would be killed if he continued to refuse, Lat...

The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most famous military adventures in the ancient world. Its fearless army of Greek mercenaries marched through western Asia (modern Turkey and Iraq) in 401-399 B.C., their hopes and hardships recounted by Xenophon, the Athenian, an admiring pupil of Socrates. Xenophon's history of the Long March, or Anabasis, is a classic of Greek literature.In this book, twelve leading scholars explore the Anabasis, a deceptively simple and profoundly rich source of soc...

À partir de l'époque abbasside (750-820), les vastes territoires situés au-delà du fleuve Amu Darya (le Mawara'annahr), conquis par les généraux umayyades durant la première moitié du VIIIe siècle, entrent définitivement dans l'aire culturelle de l'islam. L'analyse croisée des sources médiévales arabes, persanes et chinoises, complétées par les données de manuscrits inédits, ainsi que les derniers résultats livrés par les fouilles archéologiques de Samar...

Iraq's people, cities and countryside remain unknown to most outsiders. With this important book, revealing daily life behind the headlines, photographer and explorer Daniel Whitfield's travels across Iraq bring the country to the reader in stunning pictures and words. City scenes in the streets and markets, Mesopotamia's ancient archaeological inheritance unrivalled anywhere else in the world, and most of all, the people of Iraq at work, at prayer, and at play. From the ancient ziggarat of Ur...

This book provides a general overview of the daily life in a vast empire which contained numerous ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities.The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic imperial monarchy that existed for over 600 years. At the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, it encompassed three continents and served as the core of global interactions between the east and the west. And while the Empire was defeated after World War I and dissolved in 1920, the far-reaching effects and...

Acclaimed translator Dick Davis breathes new life into the timeless works of three masters of 14th-century Persian literature   Together, Hafez, a giant of world literature; Jahan Malek Khatun, an eloquent princess; and Obayd-e Zakani, a dissolute satirist, represent one of the most remarkable literary flowerings of any era. All three lived in the famed city of Shiraz, a provincial capital of south-central Iran, and all three drew support from arts-loving rulers during a time better known for it...

Most historians of Zionism - from the 'Jerusalem School' and its followers, as well as those who call themselves 'new historians' - understand the story of Israel's establishment as a part of a broader historic story that encompasses hundreds and even thousands of years. They consider the Zionist leadership to be a unified entity and thus relate the decision to establish the state of Israel during May 1948 to international, rather than internal, restraints and challenges.The author of this book...