This book discusses Arab history, law, philosophy, politics, and literature, analyzing the challenges and responses aroused by the interaction between Western culture and the ancient and modern Arab cultures. It offers a wealth of information on the forces that have shaped Arab civilization and on several of the major figures who have contributed to its development. Some of the outstanding contributions include a comprehensive study of Dr. Zurayk as the advocate of rationalism in modern Arab thought by Hani A. Faris; a sober but challenging look at the use of Islamic history in our time by Muhsin Mahdi; an analysis of the expression of historicity in the Koran by Jacques Berque; an explanation of the concept of equity in Islamic law by Majid Khadduri; and the revelation of a Mamluk Magna Carta by Aziz Sourial Atiya.

This book discusses Arab history, law, philosophy, politics, and literature, analyzing the challenges and responses aroused by the interaction between Western culture and the ancient and modern Arab cultures. It offers a wealth of information on the forces that have shaped Arab civilization and on several of the major figures who have contributed to its development. Some of the outstanding contributions include a comprehensive study of Dr. Zurayk as the advocate of rationalism in modern Arab thought by Hani A. Faris; a sober but challenging look at the use of Islamic history in our time by Muhsin Mahdi; an analysis of the expression of historicity in the Koran by Jacques Berque; an explanation of the concept of equity in Islamic law by Majid Khadduri; and the revelation of a Mamluk Magna Carta by Aziz Sourial Atiya.

The Book in the Islamic World brings together serious studies on the book as an intellectual entity and as a vehicle of cultural development. Written by a group of distinguished scholars, it examines and reflects upon this unique tool of communication not as a physical artifact but as a manifestation of the aspirations, values, and wisdom of Arabs and Muslims in general. The Islamic system of book production differed from that of the West. This volume shows the peculiarities of book making and the intellectual principles that governed a book's inner structure, mysteries, and impact on culture. Investigated and explained are the issues involved in printing; the compilation of the Koran, the most important book in Islam; attitudes toward books; the oral versus the written tradition; metaphors of the book in literature; biographical dictionaries, an important genre of Islamic books; the grammatical tradition; women's contribution to calligraphy; scientific manuscripts; the transition from scribal to print culture; publishing in the modern Arab World; and the new electronic media, a non-book vehicle of communication, and its impact on education.

How is the concept of the civil state understood in Arab countries? In The Battle over a Civil State, Limor Lavie examines how this important concept, which originated in Western philosophy, became incorporated into Arab discourse. The civil state as understood in Arab political discourse, Lavie argues, attempts to bridge Islamic history and culture with modernity. It is an attempt to forge a middle ground between a purely theocratic rule and a purely secular rule, and a solution for the tensions between a desire to catch up with global modernization and democratization processes and the desire to reject those same processes. In the political discourse of most of the Arab Spring countries, the concept of the civil state played a pivotal role. In the public debate over the character of Egypt, in particular, following the January 25, 2011 uprising, the demand to establish a civil state was shared by all the political currents. However, when these currents sought to set out basic guidelines for Egypt's future, it soon became clear that they were far from reaching a consensus, and that the concept of the civil state was at the heart of the controversy between them. The struggle over Egypt's civil character in the post-Mubarak era was the main reason for the turbulence the country experienced on June 30, 2013—leading to the ouster of President Muhammad Mursi.

The classic study of post-Cold War international relations, more relevant than ever in the post-9/11 world, with a new foreword by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Since its initial publication, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order has become a classic work of international relations and one of the most influential books ever written about foreign affairs. An insightful and powerful analysis of the forces driving global politics, it is as indispensable to our understanding of American foreign policy today as the day it was published. As former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says in his new foreword to the book, it “has earned a place on the shelf of only about a dozen or so truly enduring works that provide the quintessential insights necessary for a broad understanding of world affairs in our time.” Samuel Huntington explains how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Events since the publication of the book have proved the wisdom of that analysis. The 9/11 attacks and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated the threat of civilizations but have also shown how vital international cross-civilization cooperation is to restoring peace. As ideological distinctions among nations have been replaced by cultural differences, world politics has been reconfigured. Across the globe, new conflicts—and new cooperation—have replaced the old order of the Cold War era. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order explains how the population explosion in Muslim countries and the economic rise of East Asia are changing global politics. These developments challenge Western dominance, promote opposition to supposedly “universal” Western ideals, and intensify intercivilization conflict over such issues as nuclear proliferation, immigration, human rights, and democracy. The Muslim population surge has led to many small wars throughout Eurasia, and the rise of China could lead to a global war of civilizations. Huntington offers a strategy for the West to preserve its unique culture and emphasizes the need for people everywhere to learn to coexist in a complex, multipolar, muliticivilizational world.

This annotated guide of English-language material on education in the Arab world includes books, journal articles, national and international reports and documents and Ph.D. dissertations. The author opens with an introductory essay on the development of education in the Arab Gulf states and an analysis of current issues in educational research. Chapters cover the social context of education; educational systems and structures; country reports on educational developments between 1950 and 1980; religion and education; education at the pre-college level; and higher education with special attention to systems and institutions, curriculum and evaluation, management, students in national and foreign universities, research, sciences, and technology. The book also examines women's education; teachers and teacher education; educational planning; manpower and education; educational guidance and counseling; special education; literacy and adult education; and educational media and instructional technology. Author and subject indexes are provided.

Long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Islamic fundamentalism was exerting a significant influence in nearly every corner of the world. Bassam Tibi, a widely recognized expert on Islam and Arab culture, offers an important and disquieting analysis of this particular synthesis of religion and politics. A Muslim and descendant of a famous Damascene Islamic scholar family, Tibi sees Islamic fundamentalism as the result of Islam's confrontation with modernity and not only--as it is widely believed--economic adversity. The movement is unprecedented in Islamic history and parallels the inability of Islamic nation-states to integrate into the new world secular order. For this updated edition, Tibi has written a new preface and lengthy introduction addressing Islamic fundamentalism in light of and since September 11.

Hegel's philosophy has been of fundamental importance for the development of contemporary thought and for the very representation of Western modernity. This book investigates Hegel’s influence in the Arab world, generally considered "other" and far from the West, focusing specifically on Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. Lorella Ventura discusses the reception of Hegelian thought and outlines a conceptual grid to help interpret the historical, cultural, and political events that have affected the Arab region in the last two centuries, and shed light on some aspects of its complex relationship with the western world.

This book presents detailed accounts and analysis of the lives and world view of selected mathematicians of the Islamic period, their place in the world of science, the popularization of their lives, and their contributions specifically in mathematics and astronomy.

Bassam Tibi offers a radical solution to the problems faced by Islam in a rapidly changing and globalizing world. He proposes a depoliticization of the faith and the introduction of reforms to embrace secular democracy, pluralism, civil society and individual human rights. The alternative to this is the impasse of fundamentalism. The pivotal argument is that Islam is being torn between the pressure for cultural innovation and a defensive move towards the politicization of its symbols for non-religious ends.