Islam and Salvation in Palestine


Book Description

This study traces the rise of the Islamic Jihad, its ideological platform, and its relations with other political forces both within and outside the Palestinian arena. The study provides a basis for a wider discussion of how Palestinian Islamists deal with the challenge of peace created by the Oslo Accords, particularly the shift of the PLO from a liberation movement to a sovereign entity with coercive power.




Identity and Religion in Palestine


Book Description

Islamism and secular nationalism -- Situating secular nationalism and Islamism in the Palestinian setting -- Palestinian Islamist mobilization in regional perspective -- Generation dynamics within social movements -- Generational transformation and Palestinian national identity -- The secular-nationalist milieu -- The ethos of Fathawi nationalism -- Social backgrounds -- Factors of mobilization -- Conceptions of the collective : retrievals and alterations -- Conclusion -- The Islamist milieu -- The structures and ethos of the Islamist milieu -- Social backgrounds -- Mobilization : events and structures -- Islamist conceptions of the collective -- Al-jihād fī sabīl al-nafs : the struggle for the soul -- Al-jihād fī sabīl al-siyāsa : the struggle for politics -- Al-jihād fī sabīl al-thawra : the struggle for the revolution -- Conclusion -- Thawra camp : a case study of shifting identities -- Setting, institutions, and ethos of Thawra camp -- Social backgrounds of the interlocutors -- Mobilization : events and structures -- Identity formation in the secular-nationalist milieu -- Identity formation in the Islamist milieu -- Hierarchies of solidarity -- Sheer secularism : al-lībrāliyyīn -- Islamic secularism -- Liberal Islamism -- Sheer Islamism -- Conclusion -- Karama Camp : Islamist-secularist dynamics in the Gaza Strip -- Karama Camp and post-Oslo Gaza -- The camp -- The Gaza Strip -- The Asdudis : social backgrounds and paths of political mobilization -- Conceptions of the collective order -- ʻAbd al-muʼmin's Islamism -- Abu Jamil and "traditionalist nationalism" -- Islam without the Islamists : Latif, Imm Muhammad, and Abu Qays -- Conclusion -- Epilogue -- References -- Index.




A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad


Book Description

Using a wealth of primary sources, this book traces the history of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), one of the most important yet least understood Palestinian armed factions from its origins in the early 1980s to today, exploring its continued presence despite its more powerful sister movement Hamas.




A History of Palestinian Islamic Jihad


Book Description

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is one of the most important yet least understood Palestinian armed factions, both in terms of its history and ideology. Labelled a terrorist organization by the US and the EU, it has grown to become the second largest armed movement in the Gaza Strip and the third largest in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Using a wealth of primary sources, this book traces the history of PIJ from its origins in the early 1980s to today. By looking at how the group was established, how it has developed in theory and practice, and how it understands religion and politics, Skare seeks to answer the key question of why the PIJ still exist despite the presence of its more powerful sister movement Hamas. In doing so, he fills an important empirical gap in the literature on Palestinian Islamism.




Islamic Attitudes to Israel


Book Description

This book draws on the research of some of the leading scholars in the fields of Jewish-Islamic relations, the Israeli-Arab conflict and political Islam. These highly topical essays examine the relationship between Israel and the Islamic world from both a thematic and geo-strategic perspective. Divided into two distinct sections, the first section of the book deals with issues relating to contemporary Jewish-Muslim relations and, in particular, looks at the attitude towards the Jewish state amongst opinion-makers, religious institutions and leaders in the Muslim world. Key issues such as the Islamic attitude to Palestinian suicide-bombing, and Arab anti-Semitism are addressed here. The second section examines the attitude of key Muslim nations – Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan – to the Jewish state, and charts the evolving, bilateral relationship between these nations and Israel from the birth of the Jewish State in 1948 up to the present day. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.







Islam and the Future of Tolerance


Book Description

“A civil but honest dialogue...As illuminating as it is fascinating.” —Ayaan Hirsi Ali Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem to be drawn to extremism? And what do words like jihadism and fundamentalism really mean? In a world riven by misunderstanding and violence, Sam Harris—a famous atheist—and Maajid Nawaz—a former radical—demonstrate how two people with very different religious views can find common ground and invite you to join in an urgently needed conversation. “How refreshing to read an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris...Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam.” —Irshad Manji, New York Times Book Review “It is sadly uncommon, in any era, to find dialogue based on facts and reason—but even more rarely are Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals able to maintain critical distance on broad questions about Islam. Which makes Islam and the Future of Tolerance something of a unicorn...Most conversations about religion are marked by the inability of either side to listen, but here, at last, is a proper debate.” —New Statesman




More Desired than Our Owne Salvation


Book Description

Millions of American Christians see U.S. support for the State of Israel as a God-ordained responsibility. Robert O. Smith provides an in-depth look at the English Protestant tradition of Judeo-centric prophecy interpretation at the heart of this popular affinity.




Iran and Palestine


Book Description

Examining the nature of relations between Iran and Palestine, this book investigates the relationship between state and authorities in the Middle East. Analysing the connections of the Iranian revolutionary movements, both the Left and the Islamic camps’ perspectives are scrutinized. To provide a historical background to the post-revolutionary period, the genealogy of pro-Palestinian sentiments before 1979 are traced additionally. Demonstrating the pro-Palestinian stance of post-revolutionary Iran, the study focuses on the causes of roots of the ideological outlook and the interest of the state. Despite a growing body of literature on the Iranian Revolution and its impacts on the region, Iran’s connection with Palestine have been overlooked. This new volume fills the gap in the literature and enables readers to unpack the history of the two states. This unique and comprehensive coverage of Iran and Palestine’s relationship is a key resource for scholars and students interested in international relations, politics, Islamic and Middle East studies.




The Islamic Jesus


Book Description

“A welcome expansion of the fragile territory known as common ground.” —The New York Times When Reza Aslan’s bestseller Zealot came out in 2013, there was criticism that he hadn’t addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. In fact, Ross Douthat of The New York Times wrote that “if Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus, that would have been something provocative and new.” Mustafa Akyol’s The Islamic Jesus is that book. The Islamic Jesus reveals startling new truths about Islam in the context of the first Muslims and the early origins of Christianity. Muslims and the first Christians—the Jewish followers of Jesus—saw Jesus as not divine but rather as a prophet and human Messiah and that salvation comes from faith and good works, not merely as faith, as Christians would later emphasize. What Akyol seeks to reveal are how these core beliefs of Jewish Christianity, which got lost in history as a heresy, emerged in a new religion born in 7th Arabia: Islam. Akyol exposes this extraordinary historical connection between Judaism, Jewish Christianity and Islam—a major mystery unexplored by academia. From Jesus’ Jewish followers to the Nazarenes and Ebionites to the Qu’ran’s stories of Mary and Jesus, The Islamic Jesus will reveal links between religions that seem so contrary today. It will also call on Muslims to discover their own Jesus, at a time when they are troubled by their own Pharisees and Zealots.




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