Prophets serve as intermediaries between the human and divine worlds, granting them a special status in history across diverse religions and cultures. For Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) re
Human rights abuses and violations in Saudi Arabia attract international condemnation. But within the country, an Islamic civil rights movement, ‘HASM’, has called for change. While its members have received international human rights awards, the Saudi authorities have persecuted and imprisoned them.This book is the first to study human rights in the kingdom from the perspective of these prominent Saudi civil rights activists, uncovering the actual ideas that motivate their activism. Based on analysis of the group’s texts, the book highlights that HASM neither supports an overthrow of the government, of which they are accused, nor are they “liberal” advocates of universal human rights. Their complex thought is a contribution to contemporary Islamic discourse because they make a case for ‘peaceful civil jihad ’ through the protection of citizens’ basic rights, but within a rigid, Salafist interpretation of social affairs that imposes heavy limits on politics, human rights and democrac
Connecting a number of divergent perspectives on the current state of Afghanistan, this book outlines the country’s past and present instability and how this impacts and is conceptualised by its neigh
The valley of Kashmir continues to be a major flashpoint in South Asia, threatening the stability of a region of great strategic importance. This book, now in its fifth updated edition, examines the
Iran's continued retention of discriminatory laws stands in stark contrast to the advances Iranian women have made in other spheres since the Revolution in 1979. Leila Alikarami here analyses the exte
In 902 the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily fell, and the island would remain under Muslim control until the arrival of the Normans in the eleventh century. Drawing on a lifetime of translating and
The culmination of an innovative practice research project, Michael Chekhov in the Twenty-First Century: New Pathways draws on historical writings and archival materials to investigate how Chekhov's t
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Despite the central importance that water has held for civilizatio
In Muslim countries, apostasy and blasphemy laws are defended on the grounds that they are based on Islamic Shari’a and intended to protect religion. But blasphemy and apostasy laws can be used both t
The two sermons edited and translated here for the first time are primary material from the years before the establishment of the Fatimid caliphate in 297/909. The authors have been identified as Abu
The genocide in Myanmar has drawn global attention as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be presiding over human rights violations, forced migrations and extra-judicial killings on
Among the considerable oeuvre of Muhammad al-Shahrastani (1086–1153), the prominent Persian theologian and heresiographer, the Majlis-i maktub (‘The Transcribed Sermon’) is his only known work in Pers
In Muslim countries, apostasy and blasphemy laws are defended on the grounds that they are based on Islamic Shari’a and intended to protect religion. But blasphemy and apostasy laws can be used both t
Political advice has never seemed more prominent – or more problematic. This volume of essays speaks to a contemporary concern, set in a wider historical context. Political Advice: Past, Present and F
Anahita was the most important goddess of pre-Islamic Iran. From her roots as an ancient Indo-European water deity her status was unrivalled by any other Iranian goddess throughout the course of three
