![[rec.] Nicholas P. Roberts, Political Islam and the Invention of Tradition, New Academia Publishing, Washington, DC 2015, ss. 245](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2017_43064.jpeg)
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42 color illustrations, 132 pages, 1 postcard + 1 memory stamp Matrakçı Nasuh
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One of the foundational laws of the Republic of Turkey on the exclusion of the Ottoman heritage and Islam is the Law 677 which was enacted in 1925. The Law outlawed the mystic orders and closed their lodges as well as hundreds of shrines in the country and prohibited visiting them. Shrine keepers were dismissed and replaced by shrine officers in some shrines. Relying substantially on Republican archives, Parliamentary Proceedings and the previously untapped archival evidence from the Istanbul Museum Directorate of Shrines (İstanbul Türbeler Müze Müdürlüğü), this article examines the transformation of this occupation and “nationalization” of shrines from 1925 to the 1970s by situating the analysis within its legal context. It will elaborate who was a shrine keeper in the late Ottoman Empire, what happened to the shrines and shrine keepers after the shrines were closed down, the theft incidents the new shrine officers were involved with, policies regarding the “nationalization” of shrines and the tensions as well as negotiations between different actors regarding the shrines. Aiming to shed light on a previously untackled aspect of republican history, the article demonstrates how the abandonment of shrines and the policy of nationalizing and turning them into museums brought along a rupture in the cultural history of the country and contributed to the destruction of historical heritage.
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Al-Ḥurūf al-Muqaṭṭaʿa, which are at the beginnings of the 29 sūrahs of the Qurʾān and consist of 14 letters, have been a subject of curiosity since the time of the Successors. About al-Ḥurūf al-Muqaṭṭaʿa, as they appear with a non-existent usage in Arabic language - at least within our knowledge of the language so far - more than twenty interpretations have been made. Islamic scholars who thought that they could not understand these letters, have included them in the category of Mutashābihāt, which has been beyond our limit of comprehension and have treated these letters as they were, without interpretation. These letters, which are included in the research field of linguistics, indeed have caused a problem of coherence since they have been under the same heading with the transcendental subjects of Mutashābihāt such as the attributes of God, knowledge of the future, Heaven, Hell, Angels. On the one hand, this problem has forced the commentators to interpret al-Ḥurūf al-Muqaṭṭaʿa out of their usual way which cannot be explained comparing their general interpretation styles. On the other hand, these letters have taken their place among the indispensable subjects of Orientalist Qur'anic studies.
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Ideas of holy war appear among Muslims during the earliest manifestations of the new faith. This article tries to locate the origin of jihad and trace its evolution as an idea within the history of the Islamic traditions, referring to the way the concept of jihad has been misapplied by modern Islamic extremists. The word jihad has entered into common usage in the West in the last two decades. Politicians as well as religious figures use it to defi ne Islam. It has even entered our everyday vocabulary, associated (by most non-Muslims) with total warfare. Jihad has a long history and a complex set of meanings. Conventionally it is translated as “holy war”, but in Arabic, the word’s literal meaning is “striving” or “exerting oneself with regard to one’s religion”. This extended meaning is implied on the basis of the Qur’anic usage of the word. Many Muslim writers maintain that jihad is entirely peaceful and represents the exertion of spiritual warfare waged by the faithful against the lower, or evil, soul. To get a sense of the word’s true meaning, one must begin by looking at its usage in classical Muslim literature, primarily in Arabic as well as at its function in Muslim history and historiography. Among Muslims who acknowledge that jihad is associated with warfare, most would defi ne the term as warfare authorized by a legitimate representative of the Muslim community for the sake of an issue that is universally, or nearly universally, acknowledged to be of critical importance for the entire community against an admitted enemy of Islam. Declaring jihad, they argue, is solely the prerogative of a Muslim leader (such as a legitimate imam or a caliph). Jihad cannot legitimately be undertaken in the absence of a pronouncement by a recognized authority. Radical Muslims, however, have their own answer, namely that jihad is a religious duty which every Muslim is obliged to perform.
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The architecture issue is one of the important factors in Islamic civilization that Muslims have considered a lot in religious leaders' teachings. The applied purposes of this article are based on the religious Imams' statements including scientific and practical approaches to the Islamic architectural harmonization, urban structures and elimination factors that destroy urban civilizations. Religious leaders have commented on Islamic architecture leading to civilized societies. These comments include urbanization, making green spaces, building structures facing Qibla, building horizontal-oriented houses and avoiding some special manifestations in architecture such as statues. As one of the dimensions of art is architecture, Muslims have paid attention to the constuction of mosques and monasteries, which are quite present in Islamic architecture. It is a descriptive and analytical article; and it refers to architectural modeling features that religious leaders have introduced in their speeches.
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From the first period of the Abbasid state to the "Amir al-Umaras" period, which has an important place in the history of Islam, a total of twenty caliphs have ruled. When the lives of these caliphs are examined, all but three of them are children of concubines called “ummwalads”. While some of these concubines were the wives of a caliph, they became the mother of the next caliph. Due to these kinship ties of ummwalads their influences on the administration were inevitable. Who were the ummwalad caliphs in the first period of the Abbasid state? How influential were these ummwalads on the caliph when the caliph ruled the Abbasid state? Why did the children of these ummwalads become the caliphate, while the caliph had children born by free wives? In addition to the dominance of a structure consisting of women like al-Qahramaniya in the Abbasid Palace, what were the effects of ummwalad al-Khayzuran and Shaghab khatuns, who were especially prominent, on the state? This article has been formed with the aim of finding answers to these and some similar questions, with a research on the earliest sources of the period.
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Review of: Ahmed Essa, Othman Ali, Studije o islamskoj civilizaciji: muslimanski doprinos renesansi. Sarajevo: Centar za napredne studije, 2016.
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19th-century was not only a period in which Ottoman Empire lived political, economical and military problems but also in this century, new ideas began to find place in the life of the state. Constitutionalism, the rule of law, provincial and municipal councils, equal citizenship, minority rights is among the ideas that find a place in this period in empire’s administration. Additionally Ottomanism, Islamism and Turkism ideas in society and public life have been discussed so much; each of these ideas has gathered its own supporters. In fact, collapse of Ottoman Empire which approaches very openly, brought together the sensitive intellectuals to mobilize their intellectual capacities. Historically, from those ideas which have been became fundemental references in the public administration, ottomanism was the first political choice, Islamism was second and Turkism eventually followed them. These ideologies cannot be distinguishable with exact lines, in some time both of them may be applied as political choice or as in the case of Turkism and Pan-Islamism they might be intertwined.
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This research deals with the place of well-known companion Alâ b. Hadramî in political, administrative and military activities during the caliphs of Rashid and the Prophet (pbuh). Alâ, a member of a family from Hadramevt and born in Mecca, became a Muslim before the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, and migrated to Medina. He was a messenger of the letter of invitation to Islam sent to the Emirate of Bahrain, Münzir b. Sâvâ. After the conquest of Mecca, Alâ, who was sent to Bahrain with his special authority to collect zakat and jizya as well as the invitation to the religion, was dismissed from his post shortly before the death of the Messenger of Allah. Alâ was reappointed to the Emirate of Bahrain by the first Caliph, Abu Bakr. He died on his way to assume the governorship of Basra. (d. 14/636)
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The article comprises a Polish translation of the Arabic treatise Kitnan as-sirr wa-hafz al-lisan [Keeping Secrets and Holding the Tongue] by Abu Usman al-Jāhiz, an Arabic intellectual of the turn of the 9th century. The treatise is an interesting example of medieval Arabic-Muslim paraenetic literature, and the reflection it offers addresses ethics, philosophy and theology, as seen from the Eastern perspective. The translation of the treatise is preceded by an introduction providing the basic information on al-Jāhiz and the circumstances in which the text in question was written. Its historical and cultural context is also discussed.
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The Polish–Egyptian mission at Kom el-Dikka, ran by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, stepped up the already advanced preservation processes aimed at establishing an Archaeological Park at the site. Conservation work was carried out in the theater portico, the bath complex and the residential quarter of late Roman date in the eastern part of the excavation area. In turn, the western part was the focus of archaeological research centered on the exploration of some late Roman structures located underneath. The early medieval/Islamic cemetery overlying these remains was explored first. A detailed report from this work is appended to this article. The human skeletal remains from the cemetery were examined by anthropologists. The western gate to the bath complex, leading from the theater portico, was fully exposed. Finds from present and earlier work at the site continued to be studied: glass vessels, pottery, lamps, bone objects, painted wall plaster, and a vast collection of coins.
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This article deals with the benefit and influences of remembering ALLAH(GOD) in the light of ayets and religious stories (hadis). Remembering ALLAH(GOD) endows (presents) spiritual life to human. But the abandonment of remembering removes the human from ALLAH (GOD) and makes a friend with Satan.
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Review of: Mato Zovkić - Juan Cole, Muhammed – poslanik mira usred sukoba imperija, s engleskog preveo Mirnes Kovač, Sarajevo 2020, 261. str.
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ABSTRACT: The Hittites who were origin of Indo-European and came to Anatolia occupied the region of Halys in central Anatolian around 1650 BC building Hattusa as a capital city. Expanding their territories into an empire they founded one of the most powerful states in their times and world. Including different ethnic groups Hittites called themselves by the expression of “1000 Gods of Hatti”. Incorporating several local gods existed in the lands they conquered they have had a lot of gods or divines. Among these gods are gods of Hatti, Luwi, Pala, Sumer, Hurri, Assyro- Babilonian and ancient Indian. Many temples discovered in the Hattusa excavations are an important clue for their paying great respect to the gods. In this article benefiting from the evidences of archaeological and philological sources Hittite beliefs as a state religion and general aspects of this religion, gods in the pantheon, temples built for these gods, festivals devoted to these gods, the place of gods and humans, magic rituals, oracles, omens, prayers and mythological stories will be evaluated. SUMMARY: Hittites, who are from origin of Indo-European, came to Anatolia around 2000 BC and established a powerful state choosing Hattusa as their capital city in central Anatolia. It lasted until approximately 1200 BC. Several reasons such as destructions of the sea peoples, famines and some revolts struck the Hittite Empire. After the fall of the empire some small city states called Neo-Hittite occurred in Southern Anatolia. They were powerful states extending from Northern Syria to Mesopotamia. They were comprised of different ethnic identities. This aspect of it can be seen in every field of the Hittite culture. Specifically the religion of the Hittites bears a lot of marks of it. They called themselves “people with 1000 gods of Hatti”. They added the gods they met into their pantheon. Pantheon of Hittites composed of gods of Hatti, Hurri, Luwi, Pala, Sumer, Babilonia, Assyria, Ancient Indian. Religious attitudes of Hittites affected by different cultures show a polytheistic structure. Sources of Hittite religion include many evidences of archaeology and philology such as temples, descriptions on palaces and cultic buildings, rock monuments, steles, sculptures, rythons and seals. There are festival texts, mythological texts, oracles and omens in the group of philological source. Our main informations about religion of Hittites come from these sources. We see representations of gods of Hittites on descriptions in archaeological evidences. Our knowledge about some other cultic activities also comes from same source. Festival texts in the group of philological sources give us information especially about cultic activities. Another main source about gods of Hittites is the mythological texts. We are able to learn their views of the universe and the celestial realm by these mythological sources. It appears that the texts had been used in religious rituals too. As understood from these sources, at the top of polytheistic religion of Hittites stand Sun Goddess of Arinna and Thunder God. Their pantheon also include a lot of gods from Hatti, Hurri, Luwi, Pala, Sumer, Babilonia, Assyria, Ancient Indian. Temples which are believed to be homes of gods were very important in daily life of Hittites. The excavations carried out in Hattusa testify to existence of many temples. Among these, Yazılıkaya Temple is of primary importance. The temple located two kilometers northeast of Hattusa includes descriptions of gods in Hittite pantheon. Besides Hattusa, archaeologists discovered many temples in Hittite sites such as Alacahöyük, İnandıktepe, Kuşaklı. Including a social structure as well as religious one, temples contained a lot of staff. A lot of documents were discovered which mention the businesses and responsibilities of these persons. Relation between humans and gods necessitates some burdens on human side. If man couldn’t do their duties for gods perfectly, they punish the human beings. One of the most important of these duties is festival rituals. Hittites have many rituals dealing with festivals. They were celebrating these festivals in temples or sacred spaces in appointed times. Besides regular rituals, people were doing other activities such as dance, music, playing etc. The magic concept in Hittite society can be divided into two types, white and black. Black magic was forbidden. Magical rituals had been done by persons who have mastered it. The rituals carried on generally outside settlements, far away from cities. Besides magical activities, oracles and omens were also spread. Fortune telling was also one of the important divine methods to solve problems in the Hittite society. Prayer texts which include a binding language between human and gods were also a prominent part of cultic life of the Hittites. There is no detailed information about afterlife in this religion. After death ordinary people were belived to go under earth and royal personalities to be god to sky, divine realm. Evidence from burial sites has suggested that both interment and cremation were practiced. After burying, remaining relatives should pray for the departed lest they return into this world , otherwise they would harm to the living. Another source that sheds light on the Hittite religion is mythological texts. From these kind of texts can be learnt about relations between gods and humans, etiological explanations dealing with nature and cosmogony. Myths had been used in the cultic rituals. Mythological texts belonging to Hittite religion come generally from Hatti, Hurri and Mesopotamia. One of the most important of those samples is the myth, called “The Missing God Telipinu”. Telipinu got angry to something and disappeared suddenly. With his departure some troubles occur in the world. A lot of rituals had been practised in order to turn the god back from the place where he went and to revive the nature. These texts were also containing the names of gods. It seems that the Hittites, coming from outside of Anatolia, included a lot of gods into their pantheon and composed them in their understanding of religion. So they built a syncretic system of beliefs. Most important part of cuneiform texts discovered in excavations shows the importance of religion in the Hittite society. Regular and appointed times for rituals were also important for Hittites. Otherwise gods would punish the people and send calamity upon them.
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Anatolian Alevism’s beliefs, its philosophy, its life style and its worldview is hidden in “cem”s. Cem is a rite which is effected by all aspirants without sexism before a “dede” or a “pir” which means spiritual guides. This kind rite and rituals which is made in the religious ceremony is a main way of the cult of Alevis. And Alevism’s rules are emphasized at the “Buyruk” which is their holy book. “Dede”s pass on doctrines which is at holy book to the aspirants as an amenability. They are religion leader which has an active part to pass on Alevism’s own beliefs and doctrines to the aspirants as orally in cem. Manifold views have been broached who they are in studies which made about Alevism heretofore. According to this, some researchers call Alevism as a culture, someones call it as a way of the life and its philosophy and the other ones call it as a belief. In this context, it will be helpful to make known what Anatolian Alevism is and its doctrines are. Also it will be helpful to approach to detect its structure of belief. In this article, firstly, it has been accentuated what meaning of “cem” and then it has been mentioned that the meaning attributed to the cem in Anatolian Alevis. In another step, it has been introduced cem’s which is collected below ten titles as content and it has been mentioned that role of cems in socio-cultural life. As a final, it has been ascertained that cems are so effective to pass on their own beliefs to the people and to practice their own beliefs in the community life. Also, it has been noted that cems are so very functional to strengthen to sense of unity as harmony between individual with society.
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Mutual relations between communities of the West and the East have always been accompanied by the evolving mutual influences. The development of science in Europe has for a long time been encouraged by the influence of Arab culture on the same type of events in other communities. While Arabism in Europe spread selectively, Arabization occured uncontrollably with upredictable causes and consequences, due to the unwillingness of Arabs to constitute Western studies as a scientific field, which would have the same role as Oriental Studies have had in the West for centuries. Linguists are, above all others, bound to find appropriate names for new achievements, names that will be clear enough to be widely accepted. In completing the Arabic vocabulary with new terms, a prominent place belongs to adjustment which largely coincides with what is implied by the meaning of the word Arabization, and which is intended for a process through which we receive Arabized words. It is desirable that research on the West is conducted by academic educational institutions through programs that would enable objective acquintance with the West and its basic cultural and civilizational characteristics of past and present. This science should be named Occidentology. Selectively adopting external values, the Muslim community should, in developing Occidentology, remain faithful to its own values accepting, with certain criteria, the true values of the others.
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The Arabs started dealing with language issues very early and continuously worked on compiling manuals specific to orthography, grammar, and lexicography as standardizing language disciplines. The first lexicographical works appeared in the 2nd century AH, and subsequently, over the next few centuries, dictionary editing techniques were perfected to that degree that in the 6th century, in the lexicographical achievements of Al-Zamaḫsharī, these techniques became so advanced and revolutionary that they are still being applied today. Al-Zamaḫsharī was primarily a theologian and commentator on the Qur’an, but also someone who, in a way, dealt with stylistics and the Prophet’s, p.b.u.h., tradition, and having in mind his comprehensive and thorough lexicographical work, he can certainly be considered one of the greatest authorities in the field of Arabic lexicography.
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Textile artist Jūlijs Straume (1874–1970) is one of the leading masters of Latvian applied art. He is widely known for his richly ornamented textiles and attempts to introduce in Latvia the technique and traditions of Persian carpet weaving current in the Near and Middle East. Up to now, researchers have usually focused on the ornaments resembling Latvian textiles as well as patterns and stylised natural motifs composed by the artist himself. Straume has been praised for his ability to use vernacular ornaments in the carpet weaving technique not typical for Latvians. Oriental motifs in the artist’s output received less attention while carpet making traditions and historical legacy unavoidably influence their design and the use of ornament. Straume undoubtedly drew inspiration while collecting, collating and restoring sketches of traditional carpet designs of the Caucasian peoples. This Oriental influence was noticed but often depreciated.In 1925, two Oriental-style carpets made after Straume’s designs received the gold medal at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. One of them complies with the traditions of Georgian vernacular art but the other, made in collaboration with the Georgian artist David Tsitsishvili (1901–1986), was made in the style of the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736). One of the works awarded in Paris is the carpet “Miri” (1925) that, according to some researchers of Straume’s work, was titled with the Georgian term for the totality of technical and stylistic means of pattern making in the Persian technique. The carpet is filled with stylised floral ornaments in a grid-based composition known in the Caucasus as shabaka. This kind of filling is widespread in both Caucasian and Persian carpets. The “Miri” carpet stands out with its artistic and technical execution even among traditional Caucasian and Iranian carpets. It demonstrates that a complete composition of motifs can be assembled from simple elements. The other Straume carpet awarded at the 1925 exhibition is known by two titles: “Jungle” and “Hunt” (1924). This item fully complies with the canon of the Safavid dynasty’s court carpets and is especially lavish and artistically valuable. It belongs to the group of animal carpets that emerged in Anatolia in the 14th century. While working on the design of this canonical example, Straume studied animal carpets in depth, mastering the style, composition, colour range and symmetry of court carpets as well as traditional animal and floral motifs. There is documentary evidence that particular attention was paid to the “Emperor’s Carpet” held by the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. In line with the accepted canon, the main field is fiery red. The life of wild animals is depicted on a background of floral motifs. Stylised floral motifs – arabesques – are placed all over the field and used as a basis for various flower motifs. Dividing the field in four, it is evident that the animals in each part are symmetrical mirror images of the creatures in the adjacent quarters. The carpet’s composition is based on detailed mirror symmetry along both the vertical and horizontal axes. Each quarter is quadrupled, creating a double mirror image. The making of such a carpet demanded perfect skills from the artist as well as the weaver. Unlike with other symmetrical carpets, in this case whoever created the design had to make the technical drawing for the entire carpet. In the field of the carpet “Hunt”, the artists have included several lions stalking antelopes. Near the central medallion, there is a dynamic battle between a leopard and a fallow-deer. Another leopard observes the struggle from a distance. Several lynxes and pheasants are also seen in the main field. Ornamental motifs and blocks in the carpet “Hunt” are rather similar to another of Straume’s works – an Oriental-style stationery box. The surface of its cover resembles a traditional medallion-based carpet. The background of the cover field is wine-red and contains the compositional block of a kitabe medallion whose central part is filled with symmetrical double islimi patterns and arabesques. This ornamental block is completely identical to the one seen on the main border of the carpet “Hunt”. The box cover features two closed compositional blocks and kitabe along the longitudinal axis in both directions from the medallion and perpendicular to it. The artist has depicted mirror images of paired birds in the centre of both blocks on a background of arabesques and flowers. Two bashlyg (gubpa) blocks conclude the medallion’s composition along the longitudinal axis. Yet another two stylised pairs of birds are placed in the cover corners. A drawing on the inner cover helps to recognise the birds painted on the outer part. The pair of birds here represents the unmistakably most beautiful motif in Oriental art – the mythical bird called Simurg. The image of this bird has been widely used already in the art of the Sasanian dynasty (224–651). Detailed analysis of the prize-winning carpets and the stationery box confirms the artist’s wide-ranging knowledge of Oriental ornaments, their traditional motifs and blocks, their origins and symbolic meaning. The article has only just begun to explore Straume’s original works of his Caucasian period, and it is already clear that the output of that time, so significant in his life, is artistically no less valid than the works created in Latvia. The study of this subject deserves to be continued as researchers have so far not turned to ethnographic drawings as well as a large part of Straume’s legacy created under the influence of traditional Oriental art.
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Mirrors for princes, in general, give advices to the rulers about the subtleties of political art. Another aim of these books is to define and explain the administration of the state and the duties of rulers based on experience. In consequence of this they reflect the practical ethics of the period in which they were written. As such, they resemble practical handbooks written for rulers. Another point regarding the mirrors for princes works in which the political understanding of the era can be observed is that they generally use sacred texts in order to prove the political legitimacy or invalidity of the power, as well as the rightfulness or the unlawfulness of the claims to the throne. Evidences from the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth literature was almost always used to support such advocated opinions. In fact, during the Middle Ages when religion and politics were considered coupled, it was unthinkable that religious elements should not be included in the works of state administration. The important point here is that the verses and ḥadīths were sometimes removed from their contexts and interpreted and explained in a way to support the ideology of the author or the ruler whom the author presented his work. In this study, we will try to reveal the subjects in which the verses and ḥadīths used in the mirrors for princes, which is a genre that has emerged within the Islamic culture and civilization. Thus, we aim to prepare a background for the future studies, which will focus on a specific verse or ḥadīth.
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