Striving In The Path Of God

Jihad is often assumed to refer to armed combat and Muslim martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. By canvassing a more diverse range of texts - Qur'an, tafsir, hadith, edifying and hortatory literature — this book recuperates a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihad and martyrdom through time.

In popular and academic literature, jihad is predominantly assumed to refer exclusively to armed combat, and martyrdom in the Islamic context is understood to be invariably of the military kind. This perspective, derived mainly from legal texts, has led to discussions of jihad and martyrdom as concepts with fixed, universal meanings divorced from the socio-political circumstances in which they have been deployed through the centuries. Asma Afsaruddin studies in a more holistic manner the range of significations that can be ascribed to the term jihad from the earliest period to the present and historically contextualizes the competing discourses that developed over time. Many assumptions about the military jihad and martyrdom in Islam are thereby challenged and deconstructed. A comprehensive interrogation of varied sources reveals early and multiple competing definitions of a word that in combination with the phrase fi sabil Allah translates literally to "striving in the path of God." Contemporary radical Islamists have appropriated this language to exhort their cadres to armed political opposition, which they legitimize under the rubric of jihad. Afsaruddin shows that the multivalent connotations of jihad and shahid recovered from the formative period lead us to question the assertions of those who maintain that belligerent and militant interpretations preserve the earliest and only authentic understanding of these two key terms. Retrieval of these multiple perspectives has important implications for our world today in which the concepts of jihad and martyrdom are still being fiercely debated.

Jihad is often assumed to refer to armed combat and Muslim martyrdom is understood to be invariably of the military kind. By canvassing a more diverse range of texts - Qur'an, tafsir hadith, edifying and hortatory literature - this book recuperates a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of both jihad and martyrdom through time.

Fully revised and updated, the second edition of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur'ān offers an ideal resource for anyone who wishes to read and understand the Qur'ān as a text and as a vital component of Muslim life. While retaining the literary approach to the subject, this new edition extends both the theological and philosophical approaches to the Qur'ān. Edited by the noted authority on the Qur'ān, Andrew Rippin, and Islamic Studies scholar Jawid Mojaddedi, and with contributions from other internationally renowned scholars, the book is comprehensive in scope and written in clear and accessible language. New to this edition is material on modern exegesis, the study of the Qur'ān in the West, the relationship between the Qur'ān and religions prior to Islam, and much more. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Qur'ān is a rich and wide-ranging resource, exploring the Qur'ān as both a religious text and as a work of literature.

This volume draws attention to and moves beyond the traditional methodological frames that have governed knowledge production in the academic study of Islam. Departing from Orientalist and largely textual studies, the chapters collected herein revolve around three main themes: gender, the political, and what has come to be known as "lived Islam." The first involves ascertaining how to read gender and gender issues into traditional sources. The second encourages an attunement to the often delicate intersection between the spheres of religion and politics. The final provides a corrective to our traditional over-emphasis on the interpretation of texts and a preoccupation with studying (mainly male) elites. Taken as a whole, this volume encourages a multi-methodological approach to the study of Islam. Contributors include Abbas Aghdassi, Aaron W. Hughes, Eva Kepplinger, Taira Amin, Betül Avcı, Ali Abedi Renani and Seyyed Ebrahim Sarparast Sadat, Meral Durmuş and Bahattin Akşit, Walid Ghali, Isabella Crespi and Martina Crescenti, Brian Arly Jacobsen, Pernille Friis Jensen, Kirstine Sinclair, and Niels Valdemar Vinding, Magdalena Pycińska, Zahraa McDonald, Emin Poljarevic, Abdessamad Belhaj.

Can we affirm that a political theology exists in Islam? This apparently simple question is the core of Massimo Capanini and Marco Di Donato's edited collection of essays. Considering the wide range of meanings of political theology this book contains essays written by different authors having their own, specific, and specialized, point of view on the topics, from Shia and Sunni political thought, to Islamic classic philosophy, and philosophers until arriving at contemporary Muslim thinkers.

Today Islam is often associated with violence, more so than other world religions. In the center of this reception of Islam is the concept of jihad, which has been distorted by many. On the one hand, there are some Muslims who take jihad as a reference point for their violent crimes against innocent people. On the other hand, the concept is intentionally used to promote fear against Islam and its adherents. This study challenges these presentations of jihad by exploring the late Muslim theologian Said Nursi’s jihad of nonviolence. The book shows how Nursi’s teaching concerning nonviolent struggle, reconciliation, and religious tolerance has much in common with Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, as well as Martin Luther King Jr.

"Only when our life is wholly directed towards God do we become capable of seeing God in all and begin to do so by faith—not only in all the significant happenings of life but even in the insignificant ones—and to submit entirely to His holy will." The 19th century saw a renaissance of Russian spirituality in the writings of St Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and St Theophan the Recluse, many of whose works have become well-known throughout the world. This book brings to an English-speaking audience the spiritual counsels of another Russian monastic of the same period. Born into a patrician family in the Don region, Anna Mikhailovna Sebriakova forsake the world at the age of seventeen and joined the Ust'-Medveditskii convent, where she was tonsured a nun with the name Arsenia. She subsequently served as abbess of this same monastery for 41 years. Heavily influenced by the writings of St ignatius, she took up correspondence with his brother P.A. Brianchaninov and became his spiritual mentor. Her letters to Peter Alexandrovich form the bulk of this book. Also offered are a selection of her personal notes and letters to other individuals. Abbess Arsenia's counsels are steeped in Holy Scripture and in the inspiration that she draws from the services of the Orthodox Church. Throughout, she emphasizes the need to humble oneself, discern the will of God, and fulfill it through every moment of our life.