Progressive Muslims—Conceptualizing and Engaging the Islamic Tradition

Conventionally, the first Muslim-Buddhist encounters are thought to have taken place in the context of the Arab-Muslim expansions into eastern Iran in the mid-seventh century, the conquest of Sind in 711 and the rise of the Islamic empire. However, several theories promoted in academic and popular circles claim that Buddhists or other Indians were present in western Arabia at the eve of Islam and thus shaped the religious environment in which Muhammad’s movement emerged. This article offers a critical survey of the most prominent arguments adduced to support this view and discusses the underlying attitudes to the Islamic tradition, understood as a body of ideas and practices, and Islamic Tradition, understood as a body of texts. Such theories appear to be radical challenges of the Islamic tradition insofar as they seek to reinscribe the presence of religious communities in conventional narratives of Islamic origins that do not acknowledge them. On the other hand, they often operate with an unreconstructed reliance upon the sources of the Islamic Tradition. The assessment focuses ondescriptions of the Ka’ba and objects associated with it as well as on a story about an Indian physician who diagnosed an illness of Muhammad’s wife Aisha. While Indian or Buddhist connections with western Arabia and early Islam do not appear to be entirely impossible, the evidence does not amount to a persuasive case for the early seventh century.

This paper focuses on the activism and feminism of the Egyptian Islamist, Zaynab al-GhazzAlA« al-JubaylA« (1918 to 2009) in order to examine how she has thought about Muslim women’s roles in both the political and Islamist struggles of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The existing literature while attesting to Zaynab al-GhazzAlA«’s eminent position in both contemporary Islamic circles and feminist discourses, have failed to show how her feminist activities intersect with that of the Muslim brotherhood. As against the secular gender and feminist postulations of Muslim women like Fatima Mernissi, Ahmed Leila, Assia Djebar and Nawal Sadawi, this paper examines how Zaynab’s feminist activism and the organization of the Muslim Brotherhood intersect in their Da‘wah approaches and contributions to the revivalism of ‘authentic” Islamic feminism in contemporary society. This paper will ground itself upon Zaynab’s autobiographical work, AyyAm min â•“ayAtA« to show how Zaynab and her sisters, using the Muslim brotherhood’s struggles, were able to employ the Islamist female agency even under the unfavourable brutal regime of the then Egyptian President, JamAl ‘Abd al-NAsir (1375 to 1390/1956 to 1970). Key words: Zaynab al- GhazzAlA«, authentic islamic feminism, Egypt, Muslim brotherhood, female agency.

The Gulen Hizmet Movement (GHM) is a largely progressive, pluralistic and transcontinental civic movement inspired by Islam, which makes it unique in the Muslim world. Similar movements exist but they are confined to single nations (eg. Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama) and there are other transnational movements but they are not progressive in outlook (eg. Tablighi Jemaat). The financial dynamics of the movement, particularly the economic resources raised and deployed by Gulen-inspired schools (GISs) and how they function as business enterprises continues to be the subject of debate, criticism, and curiosity across the public sphere in its native Turkey, and research discourses on a global scale. The relatively few studies on the financial aspects of the GHM that have been published tend to arrive at widely varying conclusions. Not surprisingly, in general, scholars who are sympathetic to the movement and write from an insider’s viewpoint arrive at different conclusions to those who are outside of and are generally more critical of the movement. While the former argue that funding for the schools comes largely from within the greater Turkish community, the latter claim that the sources of funding include foreign agencies with their own agendas. Although these studies arrive at sharply contrasting positions, what they share in common is a lack of empirical evidence. This thesis interrogates the financial transparency of GISs, the economics of altruism, and motivations behind the philanthropic acts of financial supporters based on examination of financial bookkeeping and semi-structured interviews with 72 participants — mainly sponsors, financial managers and administrators of a GIS in Istanbul, Turkey, and in Melbourne, Australia — between 2012 and 2015. The empirical findings of this thesis elucidate the manner in which the people of Anatolia contribute their financial resources to the Gulen-inspired educational institutions until the institutions are financially self-sufficient. In addition, the findings of this research provide evidence that the adherents of Gulen live in order to give; hence their giving is not limited to zekat or ‘tithing’, the charity that is compulsory in Islamic faith. I argue that there is a significant difference between ‘giving zekat’ and ‘living to give’. In the difference between giving and living to give, the hizmet concept emerges and finds its foundation and meaning: endless service. One of the most important questions about the movement are those investigating how GISs function as businesses and about which sector the movement’s schools fit. The findings of my research challenge the studies that examine the role of money within the GHM and that categorise GISs as social businesses or profit oriented capitalist enterprises. I address queries through the lens of economic theories and conclude that while GISs share some similarities with ‘social businesses’ such as those promoted by Muhammad Yunus, they overwhelmingly do not meet the criteria of social businesses or for-profit businesses. Rather they are civil society enterprises of that operate with their own models originating from the hizmet concepts of philanthropy, voluntarism, and generosity, which in turn arise out of traditional Anatolian Islamic tradition.

Bu çalışmanın amacı öğrencilerin manevi sağlık ve hayata yönelimi belirlemeye yönelik geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı ortaya koymaktır. Bu amaçla Fisher’ın (2010) geliştirdiği Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM) envanteri Türkçe’ye uyarlanmıştır. Uyarlama çalışması Ankara ve Muş illerinde öğrenim gören üç çalışma grubu kapsamındaki 1591 lise öğrencisi üzerinde yürütülmüştür. Özgün formu dört boyut ve yirmi maddeden oluşan ve dili İngilizce olan envanter, Türkçeye çevrilmiş ve örneklem verileri üzerinde faktör analizleri ve geçerlik ile güvenirlik çalışması uygulanmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda Türkçeye uyarlanan envanter, özgün formu ile benzerlik gösteren dört boyuttan (kişisel, toplumsal, çevresel ve aşkın) oluşmaktadır. Ayrıca envanter boyutlarının iç tutarlık katsayılarının özgün envanter ile mükemmel uyumda olduğu ve ölçeğin amacına hizmet ettiği anlaşılmıştır. Bu sonuçlar dikkate alındığında, öğrencilerinin ruh sağlığı ve hayata yönelimlerinin ölçülmesinde Türkçeye uyarlanan Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, psikoloji, eğitim bilimleri ve sosyal bilimlerin farklı disiplinlerinde kullanılabileceği anlaşılmaktadır. Özet: Toplumsal alanın önemli bir dinamiği ve taşıyıcısı olan din kavramı, 18. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren ikili bir ayrıma gitmiş; din kavramı içerisinden, maneviyat kavramı rafine edilmeye başlanmıştır. Din ve maneviyat kavramlarını tanımlamak çok zordur; din, ideoloji ve inanç kurallarına odaklanırken; maneviyat, din ötesine uzanan bireysel deneyim ve karşılıklı ilişkileri merkeze almaktadır. Bu nedenle, farklı maneviyat ve din tanımları farklı bakış açılarından yapılmış ve bu çerçevede geliştirilen ölçeklerle maneviyatı ölçmek amaçlanmıştır. Bununla birlikte, farklı maneviyat ölçekleri ile yapılan çalışmalardan elde edilen sonuçlar birbirinden önemli ölçüde farklı olmuştur; bu ise maneviyatın kullanılan ölçeğe bağlı olarak tanımlandığı ve kavramsallaştırıldığı anlamına gelir. Maneviyat üzerine yapılan erken dönem çalışmalarda çoğunlukla din, sağlık, psikoloji ve çalışma hayatı üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Bu çalışmalarda, maneviyat kavramı tanımlandıktan sonra; kavramın sağlık, din, psikoloji ve iş hayatı ile ilişkisi veya insan hayatı için gerekliliği tartışılmaktadır. Batı'da, 1950'lere kadar, din ve maneviyat kavramları birbirleri ile ilişkili biçimde kullanılmıştır. Ancak bugün bu iki kavram neredeyse tamamen birbirinden ayrılmıştır. Literatürde, maneviyatı ölçmek için çok sayıda envanter geliştirme çalışması bulunmaktadır. Envanterin farklı kavramsal temellere dayanarak çalışması gerçeği, ruh sağlığı ve yaşam yönelimi hakkında genel, anlamlı ve tutarlı bir sonuç çıkarmayı zorlaştırır. Ayrıca, maneviyat ölçümlerinin yabancı bir kültürün dinini ve değerlerini yansıttığı gerçeğinden hareketle kapsamlı veya evrensel ölçüm söz konusu olamaz. Bu noktada, Fisher, maneviyatı ölçmek amacıyla geliştirilen ölçme araçlarını "din ile maneviyatı karıştırdıkları", "değerler dünyasına bağlı olmak", "kültürel farklılıkları hesaba katmamak", "ve sadece mistik / manevi tecrübe " noktasında eleştirir. Sonuç olarak, Batı'nın kavramsal yapısında geliştirilen hiçbir ölçümün kültürel esnekliği hesaba katmadığı ve manevi değerlerini evrensel ya da yaygın olarak kabul etmediği söylenebilir.Bu çalışma ile Türk kültürüne adapte edilmesi planlanan, Fisher tarafından geliştirilen SHALOM envanteri, kişilerarası ilişki dünyasını oluşturan dört temel (bireysel, sosyal, çevresel ve aşkın) alana dayanan modele dayanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Fisher'ın çalışmalarında olduğu gibi, maneviyat kavramı, dinden bağımsız ve dinlerin üzerinde olduğu düşünülen farklı yoğunluktaki kavramlarla etkileşimini vurgulamaktadır. Bu bağlamda, maneviyat kavramı, kişinin kişisel alanı, sosyal konumu, doğası ve aşkın gücü ile iletişim içindedir. Bu uyarlama çalışması, öğrencilerin ruhsal sağlık düzeyleri hakkında faydalı bilgiler ve yorumlar sağlayacaktır. Ayrıca kültürel esnekliğe sahip olduğu vurgulanan ve farklı dillere de uyarlanan SHALOM envanterinin Türk kültürüne uyarlanması ile din psikolojisi literatürüne yeni ve farklı bir ölçme aracı sunularak maneviyat kavramının doğasının anlaşılması çalışmaları kolaylaşacaktır.Bu araştırma, öğrenciler için geliştirilen ruhsal sağlık ve yaşam yönelimi ölçeğinin envanterini Türk kültürüne uyarlamak için yapılmıştır. Bu envanter uyarlama çalışması Ankara ve Muş illerindeki üç çalışma grubundan ve 1591 lise öğrencisinden toplanan verilerle yapılmıştır. İlk çalışma grubu 414, ikinci çalışma grubu 788, üçüncü grup ise 389 lise öğrencisinden oluşmuştur. 414 öğrenciden toplanan veriler Açıklayıcı Faktör Analizi (AFA) analizi için, 788 öğrenciden toplanan veriler Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) için kullanılmıştır. Ayrıca, envanterin ölçüt geçerliliğini belirlemek için 389 öğrenci kullanılmıştır. Türkçe'ye uyarlanması amaçlanan SHALOM envanterinin asıl dili İngilizce'dir ve çeviri çalışmaları, her iki dilin de dilbilgisi ve anlamsal özelliklerini bilen üç dil uzmanı tarafından ayrı ayrı yürütülmüştür. Çeviri çalışmalarından sonra ölçek örnekleme grubuna uygulanmış ve örneklem veriler üzerinde AFA uygulanmıştır. AFA sonuçları değerlendirildiğinde, orijinal envantere benzeyen bir faktör çatısının oluştuğu tespit edilmiştir. Belirleyici faktörlere, SHALOM'un orijinal formundaki teorik ve boyut isimleri dikkate alınarak uygun isimler (kişisel, çevresel, sosyal ve aşkın) verilmiştir. Yapı geçerliği Doğrulayıcı Faktör Analizi (DFA) ile teyit edilmiş ve DFA'nın bir sonucu olarak, X2/sd (1.72) oranı ve IFI (0.96) uyum göstergesinin test edilen modele uygun olduğu belirlenmiştir.Sonuç olarak, Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, orijinal envanterde olduğu gibi dört boyuttan oluştuğu, envanter boyutlarının iç tutarlılık katsayılarının asıl envanterle mükemmel uyum içinde olduğu ve ölçeğin amacına hizmet ettiği anlaşılmaktadır. Bu sonuçlar göz önüne alındığında, Türkçe'ye uyarlanmış olan Manevi Sağlık ve Hayata Yönelim Envanterinin, din psikolojisi, eğitim bilimleri ve sosyal bilimlerin farklı disiplinlerinde kullanılabileceği anlaşılmaktadır. Maneviyat, sadece Batılı kuramlar çerçevesinde tanımlanmamalı, İslamın öngördüğü maneviyatın niteliği ve olabilirliği tartışılmalıdır. Dahası İslam maneviyatının tipleri ve boyutları, İslami bir karakterde kültürel öznellik dikkate alınarak belirlenmelidir. Maneviyatı ölçme çalışmalarında, modernitenin evrensel olarak sunduğu insan modeli tek hakikat olarak kabul edilmemelidir. İslam kültür ve tarihi içerisinden süzülerek gelen, bize özgü ve bizi tanımlayan insan modelleri geliştirilmeye çalışılmalıdır. Bu husus, sadece ruh sağlığı/din çalışmalarında değil, genel anlamda din psikolojisi calışmalarında dikkate alınmalıdır. Bunun yanında kültüre özgülük önemsenmeli, Türk medeniyetinin İslam doktrini ile geliştirdiği kültürel birikimden edinilen tecrübeyle maneviyat çalışmalarına yön verilmelidir. Bu açıdan, bu çalışma farklı bir kültüre ait değer ve manevi yönelimi, Türk kültürüne uyarlama amacını gütse de kavramın Batı değerleri ile kurgulanması sorunludur. Ayrıca Batı değerlerinin, İslam değer ve ilkeleri ile benzeşmesine rağmen, uygulamada maneviyat kavramını tam olarak ölçmekte zorlanabileceği öngörülmektedir.

“Liberal Islam” may sound like a contradiction in terms. For centuries, the West has identified Islam with its most exotic elements. Islamic faith is equated with fanaticism, as in Voltaire’sMahomet, or Fanaticism (1745). Islamic political authority is equated with despotism, as in Montesquieu’s intentionally redundant phrase “Oriental despotism” or Francis Bacon’s definition (1612): “A monarchy, where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute tyranny; as that of the Turks.” Islamic military practices are equated with terror and rape, as in Eugene Delacroix’s famous painting “Massacre at Chios” (1824). Islamic tradition is equated with backwardness and primitiveness, as in Ernest Renan ‘s inaugural lecture at the College de France (l 862), one of the founding documents of modem Orientalism: Islam is the complete negation of Europe ... Islam is the disdain of science, the suppression of civil society; it is the appalling simplicity of the Semitic spirit, restricting the human mind, closing it to all delicate ideas, to all refined sentiment, to all rational research, in order to keep it facing an eternal tautology: God is God.

Fukahâ-i Seb’a ve Amel-i Ehl-i Medine’nin Delil Değeri

Medical science as a science is considered important in the history of science and the wisdom. The importance of this science in a way that even in Islamic traditions as one of the basic science is mentioned. The aim of this study is to review and critique patients' rights by using theories of philosophers (Farabi, Avicenna and Mulla Sadra). In this study we use the the principles of Islamic philosophers ancient psychology such as two-dimensional human being, emphasizing the primacy of the spiritual dimension, explaining various aspects of the the human spirits and physical dimension as a single whole, to critique of various areas of modern medicine will discussed in the field of ontological, epistemological methodology. Outcome of this research can be due to lack of disease diagnosis by doctors. Analysis that was done with the fields of psychologythe most fundamental right of a patient to be extracted. The method used in this study is analytical - descriptive which uses philosophical texts, are studied comments Islamic scholars. Insist on medical current method, the rejection of the two-dimensional of human in practice areas, denial of the connection between soul and body and interaction effects between these two and also medical specialization that result the review is to replace the entire review nothing more than real rights abuses patients and is ignoring medical ethics. Insists on such a procedure will lead to lack of diagnose diseases and provides prescribing the destructive drugs. This article a descriptive analytical research method. It seams to be achieved Patient Rights only with regard to the two-dimensionality of human. Please cite this article as: Shiravand M, Ranjkesh M. Review and critique the Medical law With Explanation Philosophical Foundations of Islamic Scholars (Farabi, Ibn Sina, Mulla Sadra). Iran J Bioethics 2016; 6(20): 167-182.

The Jewish Woman Poetry in the middle-age not represent a field of study in itself because most of the evidences of women literary production had not been part of Jewish Literary Heritage. Considerable exeption, Islam represent a context in wich woman writings have been not only transmitted but also seen as a part of the literary tradition. Relating largerly upon two literary sources, the Nuzhat al-julasâ' fi ash'âr al-nisâ of Suyuti (1445-1505) and the Nafh al Tib min ghsn al-Andalus of al-Maqqari (1578-1632) this article would like to focalise the poetical production in classical arabic of Qasmuna Bint Ismâ'il bin Baghdalla al-Yahudi, one of the very few Jewish Poetess lived in al- Andalus between XI-XII century. Both the sources quotes the Rayât al-mubarrizin wa-ghayât al-mumayyzin, the Geographical, Historical and Literary work of the famous Andalusian Historian Ali Ibn Musa Ibn Sa'id al Magribi al-Andalusi (1213-1286) manuscript in a large part losted. Aim is to focus the poetical production of Qasmuna Bint Ismâ'il al Yahudi and his transmission through Arabic Anthologies dedicated to the Arabic Literary Tradition in al-Andalus and Islam. More than her religious belonging to Islam as a religion, the main reason for the transmission of Qasmuna's collection of poems seem to be the language and the style of composition, as well as her andalusian origins. For the nature of relations between Jewish communities and Islam in the Middle Ages, arabic historiographical sources become a cross-cultural narrative setting for Jewish and Islamic History, and their study fundamental in order grasp the develop of Jewish Thought in Middle Ages.

Islamic Liberalism and Beyond Parvez Manzoor The logic of faith is truth: it proclaims a paradigmatic order of reality. The logic of the world is power: it promotes a pragmatic view of things. The logic of Islam is to conjoin the paradigmatic truth of faith with the pragmatic order of the Community. Holding fast to the transcendence of Truth, Islam does not, as it were, allow the world to slip out of its hands. For the existence of its faith transcendence and immanence are as essential as exhaling and inhaling. Of course, by renoucing the "either/or" option, Islamic tradition gets entangled in a number of moral and metaphysical paradoxes: its secular public order gets confounded with the transcendent realm of faith and the historical community emerges as the supreme value of Islam. And yet, despite the identity of 'Islamic reason' and raison d'etat in the sacrosanct discourse of the fuqaha; the dominant ethos of Islamic civilization has been apolitical, nay downright antipolitical. Even the most ardent champions of the 'inerrancy' of the Community have upheld the sovereignty of the paradigmatic and renounced all pretenceof the pragmatic. The absolute verity of a transcendent Revelation, they have argued with unyielding logic, requisitions no authentication from the contingent praxis of an immanent Community. The truth of Islam, sublime, transcendant and unassailable, cannot suffer any humiliation on account of the existential infirmity of sinful Muslims. Islam stands in need of no validation save its own self-validation. Doubtless, this reckless and imperious transcendentalism of tradition has had catastrophic consequences for the Muslim polity. The paradigmatic logic of faith has successfully prevented Muslim consciousness from perceiving any pragmatic order of reality as 'Islamic'. Indeed, perverting the argument for transcendence into a pretext for abdicating history, Muslims have been guilty of practising the kind of pernicious dichotomy of faith and community that they have vehemently described in theory. The doctrinal quest for Islamic legitimacy has been instrumental in devalourizing the historic Community and its existential testimony. Theory and practice, in other words, have come to dwell in separate spheres in the civilization of Islam. Indeed, every assertion to the contrary, the Muslim Ummah of history is not a power-polity, not a ...

What is the administrations of Islamic states? It is the historical phenomenon origin s from history, religion, culture, tradition, politic, geopolitical insinuation of Islamic nation . The history of organizations is the main part of the social and political history and the most important sign of social and political life and progress of human beings. The advent of Islam, besides establishing a new religion in the world, caused substantial and fundamental changes in the administrative systems and governmental institutes and organizations throughout the world. Bureaucracy and government in Islamic countries have domestic originality and Islamic foundation. Recommendations for governmental organization of the affairs and the importance of central government arose from the formation of the first nation-state in Arabian Peninsula, so that subsequently until nine century AC, about 1500 cities were created with the attributes and model of such nation-state which was the core of Islamic government. The classic form of Islamic bureaucracy has been experienced for about more than thousand years in several points of Islamic world. Such successful experience, which had basis in the Caliphate, Imamate and sultanate and in one case in republic state, originates in the bureaucracy experiences of the world in middle age and caused surprise among the European researchers, such as Francis Bacon.

Resumen: El artículo analiza la ascensión y crisis del chavismo a partir de sus ideas y principales conceptos políticos. Asume centralidad la historia reciente del desarrollo y apropiación oficial del concepto de “bolivarianismo”. Adicionalmente, se presenta cómo el concepto secundario de “socialismo del siglo XXI” emergió en el contexto venezolano, en tensa relación con la anterior noción de bolivarianismo; y cómo la noción de democracia fue articulada de manera muy particular con esos conceptos. Se propone como hipótesis que esa apropiación forma parte de una tradición ya larga de las izquierdas en las periferias, que buscan nacionalizarse y presentarse como parte de una historia nacional que para ellas tendría en su origen pretensos elementos igualitaristas, progresistas, revolucionarios. Esas allegadas tradiciones enmarcadas en el pasado local, en lo “propio”, podrían según ellas servir de base para la proyección de una sociedad distinta en el futuro.

Discussions of middle Bengali Muslim works have rarely focused on the aesthetic dimensions of this strand of literature. The in-depth analysis of the earliest Bengali version of the famous tale of Joseph and Zulaikha attempted here shows its connections to many Islamic literary traditions, such as the stories of the prophets, the matnawi (in this case of ʿAbd ar-Rahman Gami) and the north Indian 'premakhyan'. Most importantly, however, the focus on the poetic form also allows reconstructing the story’s re-creation along a specific aesthetics of performance and response. While the new ending that is added in the Bengali version in many ways reflect the work’s embeddedness in North Indian literary traditions and the history of regionalization during the late Mogul empire, the most important means for the story’s recreation lies on the plain of its metrical structure. While it largely follows the matnawi by employing its equivalent, the Bengali meter of payar, other meters are used as well, most often the tripadi. In the first systematic probe into the semantic function of such a metrical system which is typical for many middle Bengali works, the alternation of different meters is linked with the alternation of the narrative modes of diegesis and mimesis. This excavation of important aspects of the aesthetics of production and reception considerably stands in contrast to judgments denying the middle Bengali Muslim works an aesthetic structure of their own and opens up comparative questions in different directions. It contributes to an overdue shift in the study of pre-colonial Muslim traditions in Bengal, from teleological paradigms of identity towards a literary history which asks the texts what they tell us about their recipients’ expectation and reception.

This thesis is a presentation and discussion of relevant themes surrounding the iconography of coffins from the 25th and 26th Dynasties. These themes include key art design concepts familiar within the canon of ancient Egyptian art — tradition, innovation and archaism. The data set consists of 224 coffins, from Egypt, Europe, North America and the UK, predominantly of Theban origin, which are examined in depth in appendix 1. Chapter One introduces the aims and limitations of the thesis. It explores tradition, innovation and archaism, and how these concepts are embedded within the Egyptian sense of self. Chapter Two focuses on dating criteria. One objective of this thesis was to create a way of formulating relative chronology for coffins. The focus for relative chronology is on two prominent families. These families share a strong genealogical connection to earlier kings or God’s Wives of Amun, thus establishing historical anchors, allowing for an attempt at the dating of coffins without any archaeological context or further familial information. Another key objective also seeks to assess the efficacy of sequential dating through stylistic criteria. This is done through a model created to demonstrate a phasing system of iconography throughout family generations. Chapter Three presents a new typology that separates inner, middle and outer coffins through distinct structural and iconographic features. The analysis of gods and their iconography depicted upon 25th and 26th Dynasty coffins is examined, in order to ascertain patterns of design. Earlier preceding coffin types are presented, as model for the continuation of certain iconographic schemes. Stone coffins are offered as comparandum to ascertain the uniqueness of Theban wooden coffin decoration. Chapter Four explores northern material, used to demonstrate regional variation occurring in both the north and south, and also to highlight certain trends that are used in both. It also explores tradition, innovation and archaism, and how these concepts are then utilized in the analysis of coffin iconography. Each concept is in some way applied to the coffin design scheme. A distinct relationship exists between tomb decoration and coffins design, with similar elements of tradition, innovation and archaism present in tomb and coffin decoration. Coffins of this period act as a substitute when tombs are no longer available. This thesis offers a new perspective on coffin iconography. The genealogical records explored alongside key stylistic criteria facilitate a relative chronology, which can be used for undated coffins. A functional typology is established, and acts as an efficient referencing tool. A combination of tradition, innovation and archaism are present on many of the coffins, which demonstrates their interconnectivity. This connection shows the importance of these concepts in the expression of funerary culture. Coffins also act as a microcosm when placed within sets of two or more coffins. This microcosm highlights the importance of coffins as funerary equipment and how the exploration of the specific iconographic programs can help understand the funerary setting of the early Late Period.

In recent years, the focus of research and public perception has been on liberal, moderate, and modernist Islam. Liberal Islam advocates liberal solutions to the problems of religion and society, namely, interpretations of Islam that have a special concern for democracy, women’s rights and empowerment, freedom of thought, and other contemporary issues. Its adherents also forcefully assert that liberal Islam is authentic, not just merely a western creation, and therefore genuinely reflects the true Islamic tradition. In addition, they claim that the ummah (the Muslim world) should think and act in terms of adoption, reconciliation, and accommodation vis-à-vis the West to solve its problem of continuing undevelopment. I contend that the liberal perception and prescription are unrealistic and imaginative, that they contain inherent weaknesses, and that the liberal prescription is irrelevant to the ummah’s development.

This paper discusses the interconnection of feminism and the reform movement in the Muslim Middle East. Target to be obtained, and parse the convergence and tension between Muslim feminist movement with the movement of Islamic reform. Intersection between the two species include the idea of Islamic unity, the question of religious issues, political interests and representation of interests of each of them different.