In 1932, the eminent British scholar of Islam, Sir Hamilton Gibb, wrote: ""The nobility and broad tolerance of this religion [Islam], which accepted all the real religions of the world as God-inspired, will always be a glorious heritage for mankind. No other society has such a record of success in uniting, in an equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavor, so many and so various races of humanity."" (Whither Islam?)Such scholarly objectivity towards the tolerance which has historically characterized the Islamic tradition as a whole is in short supply these days. Through an insidious symbiosis of fanatical Muslims and prejudiced Islamophobes, the very opposite image of Islam has emerged as one of the most dangerous stereotypes of our times. The most cursory glance at history will not only reveal the falsity of this stereotype of an intolerant Islam, it will also reveal the little known fact that, not so long ago, it was the Islamic world that provided models of tolerant conduct for a fanatically intolerant Christian world tearing itself apart over dogmatic differences.The first part of this monograph examines the historical record of tolerance in the Islamic tradition, illustrating the expression of the principle of tolerance through the rule of such dynasties as the Ottomans, Mughals, Fatimids, and the Umayyads of Spain. In the second, the principle of tolerance is shown to be rooted in the spirit of the Qur'anic revelation and embodied in the exemplary conduct of the Prophet.

The Spirit of Tolerance in Islam (I.I.S Occasional Papers)

History

Shah-Kazemi, Reza

Shah-Kazemi, Reze

Middle East

I. B. Tauris In Association With The Institute Of Ismaili Studies

I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili StudiesHamid Haji is a specialist in Fatimid literature. He studied at the Sorbonne and is currently a Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. His publications include Founding the Fatimid State: The Rise of an Early Islamic Empire (London, 2006).

Inside the Immaculate Portal: A History from the Fatimid Archives (Ismaili Texts and Translations)

Biographies & Memoirs

al-Jawdhari, Mansur al-Azizi

Historical

State-Sponsored Terrorism and the USA: Diplomacy, Terror and US Foreign Policy in the Late Twentieth Century

Payne, Dr John

Americas

The Jawidan-nama-yi kabir ('Great Book of Eternity') was the magnum opus of Fadl Allah Astarabadi (d. 796/1394) and provided the basis of the Hurufi movement. Today it is one of the most important known texts belonging to the mystical and messianic current that became particularly active in Iran and Anatolia following the Mongol rule. It illuminates the contemporary reconfiguration of religious and political authority along messianic and charismatic lines that took place in the Islamic East, which arguably contributed to the rise and consolidation of the Ottoman, Safawid and Mughal dynasties. Words of Power is the first comprehensive study of Fadl Allah's seminal work. Orkhan Mir-Kasimov summarises Fadl Allah's biography, charts the history of the Hurufi movement, contextualises the Jawidan-nama within Islamic intellectual history, and considers its lasting impact in the Muslim world.

Words of Power: Ḥurūfī Teachings between Shi'ism and Sufism in Medieval Islam (Shi'i Heritage Series)

Religion & Spirituality

Mir-Kasimov, Orkhan

Islam

Ali b. Abi Talib--son-in-law and cousin of the prophet Muhammad, first Shi'i imam and fourth caliph--is a monumental figure within the Islamic tradition. This book is the first serious engagement in English with the intellectual principles underpinning his teachings. The book focuses particularly on the spiritual and ethical content of his teachings and evaluates Ali's "sacred conception of justice," while exploring the intimate connections between Ali's teachings and later Sufi doctrines.

Justice and Remembrance: Introducing the Spirituality of Imam Ali

Asia

Farid al-Din 'Attar (d. 1221) was the principal Muslim religious poet of the second half of the twelfth century. Best known for his masterpiece "Mantiq al-tayr", or "The Conference of Birds", his verse is still considered to be the finest example of Sufi love poetry in the Persian language after that of Rumi. Distinguished by their provocative and radical theology of love, many lines of 'Attar's epics and lyrics are cited independently of their poems as maxims in their own right. These pithy, paradoxical statements are still known by heart and sung by minstrels throughout Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and wherever Persian is spoken or understood, such as in the lands of the Indo-Pakistani Subcontinent. Designed to take its place alongside "The Ocean of the Soul", the classic study of 'Attar by Hellmut Ritter, this volume offers the most comprehensive survey of 'Attar's literary works to date, and situates his poetry and prose within the wider context of the Persian Sufi tradition. The essays in the volume are grouped in three sections, and feature contributions by sixteen scholars from North America, Europe and Iran, which illustrate, from a variety of critical prespectives, the full range of 'Attar's monumental achievement. They show how and why 'Attar's poetical work, as well as his mystical doctrines, came to wield such tremendous and formative influence over the whole of Persian Sufism.

Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition: The Art of Spiritual Flight

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

The Ismailis have enjoyed a long, eventful and complex history dating back to the 8eigth century CE and originating in the Shi'i tradition of Islam. During the medieval period, Ismailis of different regions--especially in central Asia, south Asia, Iran and Syria--developed and elaborated their own distinctive literary and intellectual traditions, which have made an outstanding contribution to the culture of Islam as a whole. At the same time, the Ismailis in the Middle Ages split into two main groups who followed different spiritual leaders. The Nizari Ismailis came to have a line of imams now represented by the Agha Khans, while the Tayyibi Ismailis – known in South Asia as the Bohras – came to be led by da'is (vicegerents of the concealed imams).
This collection is the first scholarly attempt to survey the modern history of both Ismaili groupings since the middle of the 19th century. It covers a variety of topical issues and themes, such as the modernizing policies of the Aga Khans, and also includes original studies of regional developments in Ismaili communities worldwide. The contributors focus too on how the Ismailis as a religious community have responded to the twin challenges of modernity and emigration to the West.
A Modern History of the Ismailis will be welcomed as the most complete assessment yet published of the recent trajectory of this fascinating and influential Shi'i community.

A Modern History of the Ismailis: Continuity and Change in a Muslim Community (Ismaili Heritage)

One of the richest and most rewarding, yet at the same time least familiar, traditions of Muslim literature is that of the Shi'i Imami Ismailis. Although many great literary treasures of the Islamic world are already available in English translation, those of the Ismailis are only slowly being made accessible to scholars and readers at large. This substantial Anthology makes a vital and welcome contribution to that process of wider dissemination. It brings together for the first time extracts from a range of significant Ismaili texts in both poetry and prose, here translated into English by some of the foremost scholars in the field.The texts included belong to a long span of Ismaili history, which extends from the Fatimid era to the beginning of the twentieth century. The translations in question have been rendered from their originals in Arabic, Persian and the different languages of Badakhshan and South Asia. With substantial sections devoted to such broad topics as faith and thought, history and biography, ethics, the Imamate, Ta'wil (or esoteric exegesis and textual interpretation), the Anthology offers continuously enriching glimpses into the depths, diversity and distinctiveness of one of the great traditions of Islamic thought and creativity, which still remains relatively undiscovered by the West.

An Anthology of Ismaili Literature: A Shi'i Vision of Islam

World Literature

How does Islam engage with the idea of the modern and with the contemporary world? How is Muslim tradition to be reconciled with a world in continuous flux and change? These questions lie at the heart of current discussions of the Islamic faith and of its doctrines, beliefs and practices. Engaging directly with such questions, this important volume discusses such key themes as identity and citizenship, piety and protest and music and modes of dress. Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars explore how religiosity and tradition may both have an active role to play in the unfolding of what we understand of as ""the modern."" Modernity is commonly portrayed as a break with traditionalism: and as a marriage to the secular. Yet the core values at stake--from the ethos of intellectualism to the pluralism of civic culture--have roots in diverse civilizations, and certainly in those of Islam. A vital theme in the book is the role played by the ethical imagination in expressions of the civil determined by a diversity of Qur’anic understandings. This role is important in practices of civil society and citizenship, in grappling with new technologies, and in the challenges posed by political violence. Since 9/11, the West's failure to come to grips with plural modernities has reinforced simplistic assumptions about a ""clash of civilizations."" Fresh perspectives are offered here on what it is to be both modern and Muslim, mindful of the multiple narratives that inform both identities.

Muslim Modernities: Expressions of the Civil Imagination

Sajoo, Amyn B.

A distinguished scholar, author, and statesman, al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi (1000-1078 CE) lived during one of the most turbulent periods in Islamic history. The 11th century was characterized, among other things, by an acute struggle for supremacy between the Sunni and Shi'a branches of Islam, represented politically by the 'Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates. Al-Mu'ayyad was originally a Fatimid missionary; but his outstanding intellectual and literary skills eventually gained him important positions in the Fatimid administration. Eventually, he attained the highest ranks in the religious hierarchy, and won widespead acclaim for his scholarship and sagacity. The Diwan, the work translated here, is notable for its exceptional poetic quality and covers a wide range of facinating political and religious issues, from al-Mu'ayyad's intellectual disputations to devotions in praise of the Prophet Muhammad and his family. This first complete English translation seeks to recapture some of the poetic power and flavor of one of the undoubted masterpieces of medieval Arabic literature.

Mount of Knowledge, Sword of Eloquence: Collected Poems of an Ismaili Muslim Scholar in Fatimid Egypt (Ismaili Texts and Translations)

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Books by I. B. Tauris In Association With The Institute Of Ismaili Studies