Mujaza

The book covers the musings of the author from the year 2017 to date in continuation of Kashmir Chronicles Part 1 covering his monthly musings from 2011 to 2016-published earlier. These write ups appeared in various local dailies, his publications, his books under publication etc., and cover topics of general interest. These will make very interesting reading

The book forming Part I, covers various write-ups on current events etc. that appeared in various dailies, my blog and papers presented in various forums till 2015. This will be followed by Part II and Part III covering the periods thereafter.

Amidst the roil of war and instability across the Middle East, the West is still searching for ways to understand the Islamic world. Stéphane Lacroix has now given us a penetrating look at the political dynamics of Saudi Arabia, one of the most opaque of Muslim countries and the place that gave birth to Osama bin Laden. The result is a history that has never been told before. Lacroix shows how thousands of Islamist militants from Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries, starting in the 1950s, escaped persecution and found refuge in Saudi Arabia, where they were integrated into the core of key state institutions and society. The transformative result was the Sahwa, or “Islamic Awakening,” an indigenous social movement that blended political activism with local religious ideas. Awakening Islam offers a pioneering analysis of how the movement became an essential element of Saudi society, and why, in the late 1980s, it turned against the very state that had nurtured it. Though the “Sahwa Insurrection” failed, it has bequeathed the world two very different, and very determined, heirs: the Islamo-liberals, who seek an Islamic constitutional monarchy through peaceful activism, and the neo-jihadis, supporters of bin Laden's violent campaign. Awakening Islam is built upon seldom-seen documents in Arabic, numerous travels through the country, and interviews with an unprecedented number of Saudi Islamists across the ranks of today’s movement. The result affords unique insight into a closed culture and its potent brand of Islam, which has been exported across the world and which remains dangerously misunderstood.

This pioneering collection of analyses focuses on the ideologies and activities of formal women's organizations and informal women's groups across a range of Arab countries. With contributions on Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the Arab diaspora in the United States, Mapping Arab Women's Movements contributes to delineating similarities and differences between historical and contemporary efforts toward greater gender justice. The authors explore the origins of women's movements, trace their development during the past century, and address the impact of counter-movements, alliances, and international collaborations within the region and beyond, providing accessible accounts for scholars and others interested in the Middle East and in women's movements in other settings.

The book covers the monthly musings of the author from the year 2011 to 2015 that got manifest as write-ups in the daily Greater Kashmir, the daily Rising Kashmir, the daily Kashmir Images, selected extracts from some of the publications of the author, some selected extracts from the blogs of the author etc. These are topics of general interest and set up a new trend in book formatting.

No Arab historical figure is more demonized than the Egyptian literati-turned-Islamist Sayyid Qutb. A poet and literary critic in his youth, Qutb is known to have abandoned literature in the 1950s in favor of Islamism, becoming its most prominent ideologist to this day. In a sharp departure from this common narrative, Šabaseviciute offers a fresh perspective on Qutb’s life that examines his Islamist commitment as a continuation of his literary project. Contrary to the notion of Islam’s incompatibility with literature, the book argues that Islamism provided as Qutb with a novel way to pursue his metaphysical quest at a time when the rising anti-colonial movement brought the Romantic models of literature to their demise. Drawing upon unexplored material on Qutb’s life—book reviews, criticism, intellectual collaborations, memoirs, and personal interviews with his former acquaintances—Šabaseviciute traces the development of Qutb’s thought in line with his shifting networks of friendship and patronage. In a distinct sociological take on Arab intellectual and literary history, this book unveils the unexplored dimensions of Qutb’s involvement in Cairo’s burgeoning cultural scene.