Middle East Studies

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All the World Is Awry

Examines the thought of Abū al-‛Alā’ al-Ma‛arrī (973–1057 CE) within the broader context of the major trends in Arab Islamic political and intellectual history by the time of his flourishing.

The Nation or the Ummah

Explains why Turkey embraced the Arab Spring despite the risk both domestically and internationally.

Hollywood Films in North Africa and the Middle East

Traces the circulation of Hollywood films in North Africa and the Middle East from the early twentieth century to the present.

Ummah

Offers the Islamic concept of ummah as an alternative to the nation-state.

Premises and Problems

Discusses world literature and cinema from the perspective of literary languages and film traditions that do not hold a hegemonic position.

The Anonymity of a Commentator

A close study of one of the most prolific commentary writers in Islamic history.

Since 1948

A portrait of Israeli literature in its full transnational and multilingual complexity.

Complex Effects of International Relations

Identifies the many ways in which unexpected outcomes are endemic to international relations due to the complexity of world politics.

The International Dimension of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Analyzes the Israel-Palestinian conflict by looking at its interactions with seven regional and global powers and the way the conflict is framed at the international level.

Women's Activism and New Media in the Arab World

Critically evaluates the rapid changes that have happened in women’s lives in the contemporary Middle East due to globalization and the increasing popularity of modern technology and social media use.

The Art of Jihad

Identifies and traces the evolution of a forgotten “realist” tradition in medieval Islamic political thought, and considers the prospects for its revival in the context of the contemporary Middle East.

The Repose of the Spirits

Major new translation of a unique and important Persian treatise on divine names in the Islamic tradition.

The First Zionist Congress

Translated by Michael J. Reimer
Introduction by Michael J. Reimer
Subjects: Jewish Studies

An indispensable primary source in the history of Zionism.

Water and Power in Past Societies

Examines the many ways water has contributed to power structures in the past, with insights for contemporary water management.

A Queer Way Out

Argues that queer Israeli emigrants engage in a deliberately unheroic form of resistance to Zionism.

Repentance and the Return to God

The first major study of the idea of repentance, or tawba, in Islam.

Cultural Journeys into the Arab World

Edited by Dalya Cohen-Mor
Introduction by Dalya Cohen-Mor
Subjects: Literature

A diverse collection of fiction and nonfiction literature from across the Arabic-speaking world.

Walāyah in the Fāṭimid Ismāʿīlī Tradition

Explores the relationship between revelation and reason in medieval Islamic intellectual history.

Educational Oases in the Desert

By Jonathan Sciarcon
Subjects: History

A history of the French schools that pioneered female education in Ottoman Iraq's Jewish communities.

Beauty in Sufism

Analyzes the place of beauty in the Sufi understanding of God, the world, and the human being through the writings of Sufi scholar and saint Rūzbihān Baqlī.

Global Women, Colonial Ports

By Liat Kozma
Subjects: History

Combines analysis of transnational prostitution and traffic in women with a social history of the League of Nations and interwar globalization.

Ahmad al-Ghazālī, Remembrance, and the Metaphysics of Love

Discusses the work of a central, but poorly understood, figure in the development of Persian Sufism, Aḥmad al-Ghazālī.

Text/ures of Iraq

Presents work by Halahmy and eight other contemporary artists from Iraq: Hayder Ali, Amal Alwan, Mohammed al Hamadany, Ismail Khayat, Hanaa Malallah, Hassan Massoudy, Naziha Rashid, and Qasim Sabti.

Social Media in Iran

First comprehensive account of how the Internet has impacted life in Iran.

Beirut on the Bayou

By Raif Shwayri
Subjects: Area Studies

Tells the story of Lebanese immigrant Alfred Nicola, the fortune he began building as a peddler in Louisiana, and the family that founded Al-Kafaat University, an iconic institution serving the underprivileged and disabled of Lebanon, through two centuries of unrest in the Middle East.

Beyond Post-Zionism

By Eran Kaplan
Subjects: Area Studies

Comprehensive and critical analysis of the post-Zionist debates and their impact on various aspects of Israeli culture.

Insurgent, Poet, Mystic, Sectarian

Discusses how contemporary Iranian and Middle Eastern thinkers and artists are forging a new postmodern vision.

The Archetypal Sunnī Scholar

Considers the work of nineteenth-century theologian Ibrahim al-Bajuri and contests the notion of intellectual decline in Islamic thought from the thirteenth through nineteenth centuries.

Shiblī

Considers what is known of acclaimed early Sufi master Abū Bakr al-Shiblī and how he was characterized in various times and places.

Grassroots Literacies

Examines the grassroots activism of an Internet-mediated collegiate lesbian and gay organization in Turkey.

Conceiving Identities

Explores how medieval Muslim theologians constructed a female gender identity based on an ideal of maternity and how women contested it.

Poems of Wine and Tavern Romance

By Hafiz & Martin Bidney
Translated by Martin Bidney
Subjects: General Interest

A selection of poems by one of Islam’s greatest poetic voices.

Mutual Othering

Explores interactions between Europeans and Moroccans on both sides of the straits in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Reproducing Sectarianism

Examines the politics of civil society in modern Lebanon.

From the Shahs to Los Angeles

A fascinating look at the lives, culture, and religious and ritual observance of three generations of Iranian Jewish women in the United States.

Dreams and Visions in Islamic Societies

A wide-ranging consideration of the place of dreams and visions in Islamic societies from the pre-modern period to the present.

The Story of Islamic Philosophy

Offers a new interpretation of medieval Islamic philosophy, one informed by Platonic mysticism.

Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind

Explores the work of beloved Sufi poet Umar Ibn al-Farid and its context. Provides many translations of Ibn al-Farid’s poetry.

A Soaring Minaret

The development of early Islamic mysticism and metaphysics is presented through the life and work of theologian Abu Bakr al-Wasiti.

The Making of Modern Libya

Second edition of the provocative study analyzing the social, cultural, and historical roots of modern Libya.

Pathways to an Inner Islam

An introduction to four Western figures influenced by Sufism who wrote about an "inner," esoteric Islam.

Displaced at Home

Edited by Rhoda Ann Kanaaneh & Isis Nusair
Foreword by Lila Abu-Lughod
Subjects: Area Studies

Groundbreaking essays by Palestinian women scholars on the lives of Palestinians within the state of Israel.

Ottoman Medicine

First work in English devoted to medicine in the Ottoman world.

Shop Floor Culture and Politics in Egypt

Ethnographic study of textile factory workers in Alexandria, Egypt.

The Lebanese Army

Comprehensive study of the Lebanese Army from Lebanon’s independence to the present.

Rūmī's Mystical Design

Reveals the sophisticated design of Rumī’s Mathnawī, showing that this seemingly unstructured work both describes and functions as spiritual training.

Narrating Muḥammad's Night Journey

Discusses the historical development of the well-loved story of the Prophet Muhammad’s night journey to the divine realm and back again.

Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount

Examines radical and messianic movements in Israel seeking to rebuild the Third Temple in Jerusalem.

Contesting Justice

Argues that the rights of women in Muslim society are based on the preserved cultural standards of elites, not the ethical philosophy of the Quran.

Spiritual Dimensions of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Risale-I Nur

Edited by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'
Introduction by Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'
Subjects: Area Studies

Essays on various facets of Nursi’s spirituality as portrayed in his Risale-i Nur.

Of Irony and Empire

Examines the transformative power of irony in the creation of Muslim Africa.

Contemporary Islamic Conversations

Discusses the ideas of the most important living Muslim thinker and leader in contemporary Turkey.

The Heirs of the Prophet

Looks at how various factions used the tradition that scholars were the “heirs of the Prophet” during the classical period of Islam (570–1258 CE).

Set - History of al-Ṭabarī

Collecting all forty volumes of The History of al-Ṭabarī.

Rethinking Islam and Liberal Democracy

By Yeşim Arat
Subjects: Area Studies

Examines the experiences of women activists of the Islamist Refah (Welfare) party in Turkey.

Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State

Examines early Kurdish nationalism within the context of the demise of the Ottoman Empire.

Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam

A fascinating exploration of how the transcendent is expressed in the spatial sensibility of premodern Islam.

Institutions and the Politics of Survival in Jordan

Explains how the Jordanian monarchy has survived economic crisis and regional political instability.

Sanctity and Mysticism in Medieval Egypt

Using the original, little-known writings of Sufis Muhammad and 'Ali Wafa', this book explores the development of the idea of Islamic sainthood in the post-Ibn 'Arabi period.

The Striking Cabbies of Cairo and Other Stories

Challenges existing views of crafts and service workers in Egypt in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

A Tale of Two Factions

Reevaluates the foundation myths of two rival factions in Egypt during the Ottoman era.

Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts

Addresses the ideals and institutions through which Middle Eastern societies have confronted poverty and the poor.

Islam at the Crossroads

Sheds light on one of the most important religious thinkers in the modern Muslim world.

A Neighborhood in Ottoman Istanbul

A detailed history of a small neighborhood community of Ottoman Istanbul.

Family History in the Middle East

Challenges conventional assumptions about the family and the modern Middle East.

The Early Muslim Tradition of Dream Interpretation

Explores dream interpretation among the early Muslims, who saw dreams as a type of prophecy.

On the Edge of Empire

Explores the social and political history of the Qu`ayti and Kathiri sultanates of Hadhramawt during their gradual incorporation into the British Empire.

The Rhetoric of Sobriety

Explains the prohibition of alcohol in Islam using a wide range of materials from the early Islamic period.

Islamic Legends Concerning Alexander the Great

Edited and translated by Z. David Zuwiyya
Introduction by Z. David Zuwiyya
Subjects: Literature

English translation and introductory study of a previously unedited Hispano-Arabic legend of Alexander the Great.

Shi'ite Heritage

Edited and translated by L. Clarke
Subjects: Religion And Spirituality

Explores Western and Muslim scholarship on multiple aspects of the Twelver Shi’ite tradition.

The Breaking of a Thousand Swords

A portrait of the Samarran Turk community while in the employ of the 'Abbasid caliphate during the ninth century.

The Experimental Arabic Novel

Traces the development of the modern Arabic novel from the 1960s to the present.

A Learned Society in a Period of Transition

Addresses the social significance of orthodox Islam during the medieval period in Baghdad.

Women, Patronage, and Self-Representation in Islamic Societies

Edited by D. Fairchild Ruggles
Subjects: Area Studies

A rare look at female empowerment in the Muslim world.

Mosul before Iraq

Using original source documents, this book portrays nineteenth-century Mosul--a large city currently in Iraq's "no-fly" zone.

Image and Imperialism in the Ottoman Revolutionary Press, 1908-1911

An illustrated work focusing on the ways in which satirical publications revealed evolution in Ottoman society.

Consumption Studies and the History of the Ottoman Empire, 1550-1922

An innovative application of consumption studies to the field of Ottoman history.

Placing the Poet

Makes available, for the first time in English, the work of a major modern Arab poet, providing a framework for understanding his experience not only as an Arab writer but as a postcolonial one.

The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf, 1745-1900

Examines the development of a socioeconomic region in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf during a 150-year period, focusing on regional ties through long-distance trade networks.

Making of Iraq, The, 1900-1963

This book's innovative approach makes it an important intervention into the field of modern Iraqi and Arab history. Samira Haj's discussion of the factors that led to, and paradoxically caused the failure ...

Arab Women Novelists

This book assesses the contribution of women to the Arabic novel, both in subject matter and form. It begins by tracing the struggle over women's rights in the Arab world, particularly the gradual improvement ...

The Partition of Palestine

Some seventy-five years after the boundaries of the British Mandate for Palestine were set, the State of Israel still lacks a defined territory and agreed-upon boundaries, except for its boundary with ...

Protectors or Praetorians?

This analysis of state policy under the last two Mamluk rulers enables modern readers to observe a pivotal era in the history of Egypt and southwest Asia.

Manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, 1500-1950

This book provides the first comprehensive history of manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and its Turkish successor state. As the Ottoman Empire evolved, manufacturing underwent an unusual trajectory. ...

The End of the Jihâd State

Demonstrates for the first time that the cause of the Umayyad caliphate’s collapse came not just from internal conflict, but from a number of external and concurrent factors that exceeded the caliphate’s capacity to respond.

Muhammad and the Origins of Islam

An inquiry into the religious environment of the person Muslims hail as the “Envoy of God” and an attempt to trace his progress along the path from paganism to that distinctive form of monotheism ...

Workers and Working Classes in the Middle East

This book brings together for the first time the work of many of the leading scholars in the field of Middle East working-class history. Using historical material from nineteenth-century Syria, late Ottoman ...

An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines

This is the only book to deal with classical Islamic cosmology as it was formulated by the Ikhwan al-S'afa al Biruni and Ibn Sina during the tenth and eleventh centuries. These figures influenced all ...

The History of al-Ṭabarī Vol. 11

Although this volume deals with the part of al-Ṭabarī's History covering the years 12 and 13 (633-35), in the caliphates of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq and ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, the narratives contained ...

Qurʾan and Its Interpreters, The, Volume II

Using commentaries from the classical period through the medieval and modern periods to the present, this book presents the Qur'an as Muslims have understood it and interiorized it throughout its rich ...

The Origins of the Ottoman Empire

Gives the first broad comprehensive account—political, religious, social, and economic—of the Turkish history of Anatolia in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and outlines the major factors that led to the rise of the Ottomans.

Syria

This book provides a multi-disciplinary understanding of the processes of change in contemporary Syria as well as its historical, social, and cultural underpinnings. A number of distinguished anthropologists, ...

Politics in Palestine

This book presents a coherent picture of the origins of the Palestinian problem. The author offers an analysis of factionalism in Arab society, with a detailed examination of the social and political ...

The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662)

Highlights the private side of this public figure—his weaknesses as well as his heroics; his religious life and domestic affairs.

Revolution and Economic Transition

Amirahmadi focuses on the Iranian economy under the Islamic Republic, a subject that remains largely neglected in post-revolutionary Iranian research and analysis. Drawing from a wealth of primary sources, ...

The Ottoman Empire and the World Economy

The Ottoman Empire is approahced through analysis of its political economy based on world systems theory. Relations with Europe constituted one of the key factors that shaped the dissolution of the Ottoman ...

Murder, Mayhem, Pillage, and Plunder

Translated by Wheeler M. Thackston Jr.
Subjects: Area Studies

The author's analysis of the internecine strife and fierce clan rivalry rampant in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries puts into perspective the turmoil into which the Lebanon has fallen today. This ...

Egypt

This book presents new and original insights into the political, social, and economic development of today's Egypt. The case study of Kamshish, a small village in the heart of the Delta, sheds light on ...

The Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco, 1862-1962

The Alliance Israélite Universelle—an international organization representing a community of over 240,000 Jews—was founded in France in 1860. Its goal was to achieve the intellectual regeneration ...