Islamic Mysticism Contested


Book Description

This collection of papers provides a comprehensive survey of controversies and polemics concerning Islamic mysticism from the formative period of Islam till the present. It adds substantially to our knowledge of the history of Islamic mysticism, and of present-day anti-Sufi fundamentalist orientations.




Sustainable Financial Innovation


Book Description

Innovations and consequently future-fitness must form new models and address existing hurdles and new forms of collaborations. They must enable faster innovation cycles and "intelligence mining" by combining open and closed source systems, organic communities, open space techniques and cross-fertilization. Innovations must apply to and integrate incubation and acceleration networks. This book explores new concepts for future-fitness with five capitals: financial, ecological, social/cultural, human/personal, and manufactured/technological. It offers a new integral framework bringing researchers and business leaders together in one volume.




Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium


Book Description

Table of contents




Yvain


Book Description

The twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes is a major figure in European literature. His courtly romances fathered the Arthurian tradition and influenced countless other poets in England as well as on the continent. Yet because of the difficulty of capturing his swift-moving style in translation, English-speaking audiences are largely unfamiliar with the pleasures of reading his poems. Now, for the first time, an experienced translator of medieval verse who is himself a poet provides a translation of Chrétien’s major poem, Yvain, in verse that fully and satisfyingly captures the movement, the sense, and the spirit of the Old French original. Yvain is a courtly romance with a moral tenor; it is ironic and sometimes bawdy; the poetry is crisp and vivid. In addition, the psychological and the socio-historical perceptions of the poem are of profound literary and historical importance, for it evokes the emotions and the values of a flourishing, vibrant medieval past.




Duty and Desire Book Club Edition


Book Description

To uphold family honor and tradition, Sheetal Prasad is forced to forsake the man she loves and marry playboy millionaire Rakesh Dhanraj while the citizens of Raigun, India, watch in envy. On her wedding night, however, Sheetal quickly learns that the stranger she married is as cold as the marble floors of the Dhanraj mansion. Forced to smile at family members and cameras and pretend there's nothing wrong with her marriage, Sheetal begins to discover that the family she married into harbors secrets, lies and deceptions powerful enough to tear apart her world. With no one to rely on and no escape, Sheetal must ally with her husband in an attempt to protect her infant son from the tyranny of his family.sion.




The Idea of Idolatry and the Emergence of Islam


Book Description

Why and under what circumstances did the religion of Islam emerge in a remote part of Arabia at the beginning of the seventh century? Traditional scholarship maintains that Islam developed in opposition to the idolatrous and polytheistic religion of the Arabs of Mecca and the surrounding regions. In this study of pre-Islamic Arabian religion, G. R. Hawting adopts a comparative religious perspective to suggest an alternative view. By examining the various bodies of evidence which survive from this period, the Koran and the vast resources of the Islamic tradition, the author argues that in fact Islam arose out of conflict with other monotheists whose beliefs and practices were judged to fall short of true monotheism and were, in consequence, attacked polemically as idolatry. The author is adept at unravelling the complexities of the source material, and students and scholars will find his argument both engaging and persuasive.




A Sufi Martyr


Book Description

Originally published in 1969. This volume was composed by an eminent Sufi mystic whilst in prison in Baghdad, awaiting execution, in a vain attempt to overthrow his sentence; he was put to death in AD 1311 at the age of 33. This apologia is a document of great poignancy, composed in most elegant Arabic and translated with the customary skill and elegance for which A J Arberry became so well-known.




Forster


Book Description

Manslaughter, blackmail, violent sex, sudden death: out of materials which might have served a lesser author as the basis for mere melodrama, E. M. Forster created literary vehicles which convey the reader with near-celestial ease to psychological realms as diverse as the London drawing-room and the Indian cave of revelation. The essays collected here range from early commentaries introducing Forster to an American audience, to more recent essays illuminating the subtlety and resourcefulness of his fictional method, the acute modernity of his moral and intellectual concerns. Disputing a long-held view that Forster is intellectually a Victorian, in bondage to the liberal pieties he portrayed so well, these critics point to his capacity for rigorous self-scrutiny and detached observation of those very institutions and ideas so often associated with him. As they reveal new facets of Forster's accomplishment, these essays indicate why the twentieth century now recognizes him as one of its major literary figures. -- From publisher's description.




Anniversary Essays on Alexander Pope's 'The Rape of the Lock'


Book Description

Alexander Pope’s heroi-comical, mock-epic poem, The Rape of the Lock, continues to sparkle after three hundred years as a peerless gem in the canon of English literature. In celebration of its tercentenary, this collection brings together ten eminent scholars with new perspectives on the poem. Their approaches reflect the vast range of interpretation of Pope’s text, from discussions of religion, gender, and eighteenth-century biological science to an interview with Sophie Gee about her novelization of the poem in The Scandal of the Season. These stimulating analyses will be essential reading for students and teachers of The Rape of the Lock and a valuable resource for investigating eighteenth-century culture.




Medical Transitions in Twentieth-Century China


Book Description

“Rich insights into how one country has dealt with perhaps the most central issue for any human society: the health and wellbeing of its citizens.” —The Lancet This volume examines important aspects of China’s century-long search to provide appropriate and effective health care for its people. Four subjects—disease and healing, encounters and accommodations, institutions and professions, and people’s health—organize discussions across case studies of schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, mental health, and tobacco and health. Among the book’s significant conclusions are the importance of barefoot doctors in disseminating western medicine; the improvements in medical health and services during the long Sino-Japanese war; and the important role of the Chinese consumer. This is a thought-provoking read for health practitioners, historians, and others interested in the history of medicine and health in China.