The Wolves Of Islam

Fighting for God and greed

In this comprehensive portrait of the women of Chechnya in modern war, Paul Murphy challenges conventional thinking on why they fight and are willing to kill themselves in the name of Allah. His book covers the two wars with Russia in 1994 and 1999 and the present conflict with Islamic Jihadists. It argues that these wars forced Chechen women to venture far beyond their traditional roles and advance their human rights but that the current movement championing traditional Islam is taking those rights away. Drawing on personal interviews, insider resources, and other materials, Murphy presents powerful portrayals of women who fight in the Chechen Jihad, including snipers, suicide bombers and the mysterious “Black Widows,” as well as women who collect intelligence, hide arms, and perform other non-combatant roles.

In the first part of this study, Dr. Hoeberichts goes back to Francis' Earlier Rule, the Regula non bullata of 1221, and especially to Chapter 16, the mission chapter, in order to determine the attitude of Francis toward Muslims and Islam. In a radical rereading of this chapter of the rule, Hoeberichts argues that for Francis, the idea of living among the Saracens and being subject to them implied a greater respect for and deference to the faith of other believers than was current in the Church at the time of the crusades or, for that matter, is today. Firmly rooted in historical scholarship, Hoeberichts' book recreates the milieu of Francis and his first brothers and brings new insights to contemporary issues of interreligious dialogue.

Islam in Historical Perspective provides readers with an introduction to Islam, Islamic history and societies with carefully selected historical and scriptural evidence that enables them to form a comprehensive and balanced vision of Islam’s rise and evolution across the centuries and up to the present day. Combining historical and chronological approaches, the book examines intellectual dialogues and socio-political struggles within the extraordinary rich Islamic tradition. Treating Islam as a social and political force, the book also addresses Muslim devotional practices, artistic creativity and the structures of everyday existence. Islam in Historical Perspective is designed to help readers to develop personal empathy for the subject by relating it to their own experiences and burning issues of today. It contains a wealth of historical anecdotes and quotations from original sources that are intended to emphasize its principal points in a memorable way. This new edition features a thoroughly revised and updated text, new illustrations, expanded study questions and chapter summaries.

Treasury of revelation and religious wisdom offers authentic, intimate insights. Birth of Islam; biography of Muhammad; rise, decline, and fall of caliphate; development of modern mentality; evolution from basic piety to specialized sects; dervish life; Sufi ideas. Incorporates numerous examples of Arab literature, speeches, letters, and songs.

Islamic attitudes are of increasing concern to the Western world and environmental issues claim much attention as well. Perhaps, though, few non-Muslims realise that there is a distinctive Islamic contribution to the environmental debate; consequently, it provides a much needed Islamic input into the world-wide process of consultation on the future of the planet. Born from the 1992 Earth Summit, this book is a major account of Islam's contribution to the environmental debate. Dr Izzi Dien viewsthe topic from historical, theological, philosophical, legal and ethical perspectives, examining such aspects as the Quranic doctrine of Creation, human responsibility and the actions of governments. His conclusions will not only be an invaluable submission to ecological groups but enlighten the general public, both inside and outside the Islamic community, about Muslim teaching on this area. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam is an important book, touching on issues of community, empowerment and culture. It will challenge those of all faiths and none to reconsider their attitudes towards both the Islamic and the natural world.

Beyond Belief is a book about one of the more important and unsettling issues of our time. But it is not a book of opinion. It is, in the Naipaul way, a very rich and human book, full of people and their stories: stories of family, both broken and whole; of religion and nation; and of the constant struggle to create a world of virtue and prosperity in equal measure. Islam is an Arab religion, and it makes imperial Arabizing demands on its converts. In this way it is more than a private faith; and it can become a neurosis. What has this Arab Islam done to the histories of the non-Arab Islamic states: Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia? How do the converted peoples view their past – and their future? In a follow-up to Among the Believers, his classic account of his travels through these countries, V. S. Naipaul returns, after a gap of seventeen years, to find out how and what the converted preach. ‘Peerless . . . the human encounters are described minutely, superbly, picking up inconsistencies in people’s tales, catching the uncertainties and the nuances . . . there is a candour to his writing, a constant precision at its heart’ – Sunday Times

The events of September 11, 2001, forever changed the world as we knew it. In their wake, the quest for international order has prompted a reshuffling of global aims and priorities. In a fresh approach, Gilles Kepel focuses on the Middle East as a nexus of international disorder and decodes the complex language of war, propaganda, and terrorism that holds the region in its thrall. The breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in 2000 was the first turn in a downward spiral of violence and retribution. Meanwhile, a neo-conservative revolution in Washington unsettled U.S. Mideast policy, which traditionally rested on the twin pillars of Israeli security and access to Gulf oil. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, a transformation of the radical Islamist doctrine of Bin Laden and Zawahiri relocated the arena of terrorist action from Muslim lands to the West; Islamist radicals proclaimed jihad against their enemies worldwide. Kepel examines the impact of global terrorism and the ensuing military operations to stem its tide. He questions the United States' ability to address the Middle East challenge with Cold War rhetoric, while revealing the fault lines in terrorist ideology and tactics. Finally, he proposes the way out of the Middle East quagmire that triangulates the interests of Islamists, the West, and the Arab and Muslim ruling elites. Kepel delineates the conditions for the acceptance of Israel, for the democratization of Islamist and Arab societies, and for winning the minds and hearts of Muslims in the West.

The Wolf King explores how political power was conceptualized, constructed, and wielded in twelfth-century al-Andalus, focusing on the eventful reign of Muhammad ibn Sad ibn Ahmad ibn Mardanīsh (r. 1147–1172). Celebrated in Castilian and Latin sources as el rey lobo/rex lupus and denigrated by Almohad and later Arabic sources as irreligious and disloyal to fellow Muslims because he fought the Almohads and served as vassal to the Castilians, Ibn Mardanīsh ruled a kingdom that at its peak constituted nearly half of al-Andalus and served as an important buffer between the Almohads and the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Through a close examination of contemporary sources across the region, Abigail Krasner Balbale shows that Ibn Mardanīsh's short-lived dynasty was actually an attempt to integrate al-Andalus more closely with the Islamic East—particularly the Abbasid caliphate. At stake in his battles against the Almohads was the very idea of the caliphate in this period, as well as who could define righteous religious authority. The Wolf King makes effective use of chronicles, chancery documents, poetry, architecture, coinage, and artifacts to uncover how Ibn Mardanīsh adapted language and cultural forms from around the Islamic world to assert and consolidate power—and then tracks how these strategies, and the memory of Ibn Mardanīsh more generally, influenced expressions of kingship in subsequent periods.

Prophet Yaqub also known as Jacob, is a prophet in Islam who is mentioned in the Qur'an. He is acknowledged as a patriarch of Islam. Muslims believe that he preached the same monotheistic faith as did his forefathers: Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ismail. Yaʿqūb is mentioned 16 times in the Qur'an. In the majority of these references, Jacob is mentioned alongside fellow Hebrew prophets and patriarchs as an ancient and pious prophet who remained in the "company of the elect". Muslims hold that Jacob was the son of Isaac and that he preached the Oneness of God throughout his life. As in Christianity and Judaism, Islam holds that Prophet Jacob had twelve sons, each of which would go on to father the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob plays a significant role in the story of his son, Joseph, and is referenced around twenty-five times throughout the narrative. The Qur'an further makes it clear that God made a covenant with Jacob and Jacob was made a faithful leader by God's command. Prophet Joseph or Yusuf ibn Yaqub is an Islamic prophet found in the Qurʾān, the scripture of Islam, and corresponds to Joseph (son of Jacob), a character from the Jewish religious scripture, the Tanakh, and the Christian Bible. It is one of the common names in the Middle East and among Muslim nations. Of all of Jacob's children, Joseph was the one given the gift of prophecy. Although the narratives of other prophets are mentioned in various suras, the complete narrative of Joseph is given only in one sura, Yusuf, making it unique. It is said to be the most detailed narrative in the Qur'an and bears more details than the Biblical counterpart. Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) is believed to have been the eleventh son of Jacob (Yaʿqūb), and, according to many scholars, was his favorite. According to Ibn Kathir, “Prophet Jacob (Yaqub) had twelve sons who were the eponymous ancestors of the tribes of the Israelites. The most noble, the most exalted, the greatest of them was Joseph." The story begins with Joseph revealing a dream to his father, which Jacob recognizes as a vision. {He [Ya'qub (Jacob)] said, 'Truly, it saddens me that you should take him away. I fear lest a wolf should devour him, while you are careless of him.' They said, 'If a wolf devours him, while we are 'Usbah (a strong group) (to guard him), then surely, we are the losers.’} (Quran Yusuf (Joseph): 13-14) Perhaps you do not know, but the life of a wolf is not an easy one. Just because we wolves have long, sharp fangs and deadly claws, does not mean that we always get what we want. That is just a part of being a wolf. All creatures have fangs and claws just like us. But in some cases their fangs and claws are hidden behind a sweet smile. Often, people take such a smile to heart and attack the fangs and claws as they are clear to the eye. I am often a target for humans. You know, they often persecute me. They say bad things about me and my kind. Humans say that a wolf has no morals! And when they speak of the evil one from their own kind, they call him "A wolf!" This is an insult to us wolves. The human, who is called a "wolf' is often accused of having girl friends but the wolf is a stable and family minded creature. In fact, other species of animals envy our cozy family life and emotional stability. I do not want to speak so much about myself. I am telling you these things because I feel really angry. I suffer because of the injustice of this world and I hate to find myself in a situation where I am being oppressive. But I also dislike to be in the situation where a human being uses his intelligence to oppress us wolves. I am an oppressed wolf. "Yusuf’s wolf!" Yes, that is what they call me. This is the name that made me famous throughout history. But I swear that I did not see Prophet Yusuf (Joseshp) even once in my life. I did not see him, eat him, rip his clothes or even come close to him. It was simply a tragedy from beginning to end....