ihya

Imams of the Valley by Shaykh Amin Buxton

THE VALLEY OF HADRAMAWT IS SITUATED IN YEMEN, in the south of the Arabian Peninsular. Since members of the blessed Prophetic household settled in the Valley in the fourth century of the Hijrah, it has been a centre of sacred knowledge and the attainment of spiritual perfection. In this remote valley, and particularly in its spiritual capital, Tarim, the Prophetic legacy was preserved and nurtured and then carried to the far corners of the earth. Beginning with the first of the descendants of the Prophet (saw) to settle in Hadramawt and looking down the centuries to recent times, “Imams of the Valley” examines the lives of a few of these illustrious figures. It is hoped that this book will enable the reader to increase in love for the family of the Messenger (saw) and for the pious, which is one of the foundations of Islam.

daralturath.co.za

Evidence Does Not Support Fears of Islam in the West

Why has a dichotomy persisted between Muslim and Western societies despite the bulk of academic research dispelling any notion of incompatibility? Director of the Islam in the West program at Harvard University Jocelyne Cesari explains

Are Muslims threatening the core values of the West? Jocelyne Cesari responds to this question by providing first-hand testimonies of Muslims in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Her book is an unprecedented exploration of Muslims’ religious and political life based on several years of field work in Europe and in the United States.

Through a methodic investigation, she explains that Burqa, hijab, and minarets are threatening because Islam has become the external and internal Enemy of the West, especially since 9/11. Her book explains how Islam in the West has been connected to the War on Terror, how the presence of Islam in secular spaces has triggered a western politics of fear, exacerbated by the prominence of some intolerant Islamic interpretations of women, sexual minorities and non believers. The book’s unique, interdisciplinary scope allows for an in-depth analysis of data polls, surveys, political discourses, policy programs, interviews, and focus groups with Muslims. Ultimately, this book provides unique insights into the reality of Muslims in Europe and in the USA and unveils how western liberalism and secularism have been deeply transformed since 9/11.

Islam

We cannot say precisely when the musical penetration of East and West began, but one thing is certain: composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and others could not resist the fascination of the Orient. Thus elements of Turkish music, Persian poetry and Arabic storytelling found their way straight to the heart of European culture.

Islam in European Classical Music

Nadja Kayali is a composer and music journalist living in Vienna. 2010 saw the premiere in Osnabrück of her opera Neda, which was inspired by the medieval Persian poet Nizami, but also makes reference to the Iranian protest movement.

en.qantara.de

Twelve leading scholars trace Islamic discourse on the performing arts to give insight into genres of pious productions throughout the world.

From “green” pop and “clean” cinema to halal songs, Islamic soaps, Muslim rap, Islamist fantasy serials, and Suficized music, the performing arts have become popular and potent avenues for Islamic piety movements, politically engaged Islamists, Islamic states, and moderate believers to propagate their religio-ethical beliefs. Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theater is the first book that explores this vital intersection between artistic production and Islamic discourse in the Muslim world.

Edited by Karin van Nieuwkerk

utpress.utexas.edu

Samarra - Centre of the World
101 Years of Archaeological Research on the Tigris

18 January - 26 May 2013 Pergamon Museum

Islamic Archaeology

Marking the 100th anniversary of excavations at the site, the Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum of Islamic Art) presents an exhibition on the legendary royal city of Samarra, which lay approx. 120 km north of Bagdad on the banks of the Tigris, and which served as the government capital of the powerful Abbasid Caliphate from 836 to 892.

Samarra boasted one of most elaborate city plans in the world at the time. With its gigantic palaces, mosques, walled hunting parks, polo fields, and horse racing courses it stretched to an astonishing length of almost 50 km. Prominent ruins were excavated from 1911 to 1913 by the German archaeologist and Orientalist, Ernst Herzfeld. It was the first scientific excavation expressly dedicated to uncovering a site dating from the Islamic period.

Today’s exhibition presents a large selection of the finds that made their way to the Berlin museums under the then prevailing antiquities law, by which the found objects were divided up, with half retained by the local country and half removed by the country responsible for financing and conducting the dig.

Among the objects on display are wall paintings, stucco, and wood panelling, which once adorned the walls of palaces. Also on show are lusterware ceramics, Chinese porcelain, and cut glass: testaments of the city’s innovative artisanship and far-reaching trade links. The exhibition is enriched by a selection of historical excavation photographs taken by Ernst Herzfeld. They amount to important documents of the ruins, but also depict the landscape and everyday life at the dig.

(Photo Credit: Great Mosque of Samarra © Museum of Islamic Art, National Museums in Berlin Photo: Ernst Herzfeld, excavation photo 1911-13) - The Mosque of Samarra was the largest mosque in the world holding up to 100,000 people)

smb.museum

Speech by the Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir to the people of Al-Shaam and the Sincere Revolutionaries

The following is a translated transcript of a speech delivered by the Ameer of Hizb ut Tahrir, the Aalim, Ata Ibn Khalil Abu Arashtah - may Allah protect him - to the people in Al-Sham and the sincere revolutionaries, on the occasion of the glorious day of the birth of the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, in the month of his Hijrah and the establishment of the great Islamic state, a state that the Muslims were glorified by, which will be established again soon, Insha’Allah.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

To the people of Al-sham, the Abode of Islam and the sincere revolutionaries,

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Praise be to Allah, prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, companions and allies and those after them.

وَقَدْ مَكَرُوا مَكْرَهُمْ وَعِنْدَ اللَّهِ مَكْرُهُمْ وَإِنْ كَانَ مَكْرُهُمْ لِتَزُولَ مِنْهُ الْجِبَالُ

“They concocted their plots, but their plots were with Allah, even if they were such as to make the mountains vanish.”

(Surah Ibrahim, 14:46)

Andersen in Istanbul: The Mawlid of the Prophet Muhammad

The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), famous for his stories and fairy tales, also captured his journeys abroad in a number of travelogues. The lengthy excerpt reproduced here recounts a visit to Istanbul (Constantinople) on the occasion of the birthday celebration, or Mawlid, for the Prophet Muhammad. He also recounts the public procession of the Sultan and his entourage from the Serail (meaning Topkapı Saray or Palace). The account gives yet another interesting outsider perspective on Ottoman life and society.

islamicana.com

SUPREME KA’ABA OF GOD, 2012 by Shadia Alem

Born in Mecca, the visual artist, who is also a photographer, lives and works between Paris and Jeddah. She has a degree in art and English literature from King AbdulAziz University. Shadia Alem is involved in several projects to encourage the creativity of youth and women in Saudi Arabia. Her works reflect the change of the holy city surrounded today by building towers and buildings still high and caught in a conflict between spirituality and modernity.

This is one of the pieces being sold at auction on January 21, 2013 at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris to raise funds for Syria.

syriart.org

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi (Syria)

Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoubi descends from a scholarly family whose lineage goes back to the Prophet, salla Allahu ‘alayhi sallam, through his grandson Sayyiduna al-Hasan, radiya Allahu ‘anhu. Shaykh Muhammad was born in Damascus on the 13th of DhulHijja in 1382 H. As a little boy, he crawled in the Grand Omayyad Mosque and the Darwishiyya Mosque, where his father was an instructor for 40 years, and sat in the laps of some of the greatest scholars.

Since he was four-years-old, Shaykh Muhammad accompanied his father in all of his visits, gatherings, and classes, both public and private, as well as at home and outside. His father took care of him and was both his teacher and spiritual master. Under his tutelage, Shaykh Muhammad followed a solid traditional curriculum since the age of four, studying, step-by-step, the major classical works on the various disciplines of the Shari’ah as well as the instrumental disciplines. Shaykh Muhammad dutifully studied with his father over 500 books in the course of 20 years, some of them from cover-to-cover and others in portions; some are multi-volumes, and others are small concise works.

sunnipath.com

Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabhani

The following is a lecture delivered by his son in November 2009

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

The founder of Hizb ut Tahrir, Muhammad Taqi ud Deen bin Ibrahim bin isma’el al Nabhani, was born in the year 1911 in the village of Haifa in Palestine. He grew up in a scholarly environment, where his father Sheikh Ibrahim, who was a fiqhi scholar, had attained high shar’i positions in Palestine and Damascus. His father’s grandfather was a fiqhi scholar who had a sea worth of knowledge in the sciences of the Arabic language and in usool-ul-fiqh. However, they did not write any books or leave behind literature but sufficed in issuing fatawa and participating in councils (of knowledge) with the scholars of al Azhar and the scholars of Tunisia and Morocco.

As for his mother’s grandfather, Sheikh Yusuf An Nabhani, he was active and energetic in the fields of knowledge and politics. He was a Sufi on the madhab of the ottoman state. He wrote fiqh and poetry in Lebanon and elsewhere, to the point where he wrote over 500 verses of poetry. It was he who discovered his grandson’s talents, and sent him to study at Al Azhar from his own expense.

America and Its Allies Compete against Time

America and Its Allies Compete against Time by Preparing a Ruling Coalition and Supporting It through International initiatives, Fearing the Islamic Khilafah Might Outstrip Them in Its own Abode of Islam

Political initiatives have clearly escalated these days to solve the Syrian crisis, the latest of which is the initiative of Erdogan reported in the media on the 17th and 18^th of December 2012 and there is evidence that the political circles are still considering the matter seriously. What has raised the degree of seriousness on this initiative is the fact that Moscow, well-known in its strong support and defense of the Syrian regime, has considered this initiative as “contrived” and did not reject it completely as was the case with any other previous initiative!

tahrir-syria.info

A harrowing photograph of a mother whose child was killed by the IDF during their incursion into Jenin 2002

The photo was taken by Paolo Pellegrin, an internationally renowned photojournalist.

Issa Touma, from the series ‘Sufis: The day of al-Ziyara’

His series on the day of al-Ziyara documents an annual procession of Sufi pilgrims in northern Syria. Sufism is a mystical path within Islam. Touma photographed the event over the course of ten years, gradually gaining the trust of his subjects. The resulting images convey his sense of immersion in the festival and capture the fervour of the worshippers.

vam.ac.uk