Extending deconstructive theory to historical and political analysis, Timothy Mitchell examines the peculiarity of Western conceptions of order and truth through a re-reading of Europe's colonial encounter with nineteenth-century Egypt.

Wandering dervishes formed a prominent feature of most Muslim communities and although social misfits, were revered by the public yet denounced by cultural elites. This survey of this type of piety, traces the history of the different dervish groups that roamed the lands in Asia as well as the Middle East and Southeast Europe.

The origin of Sufism -- Self criticism; Reflection; Privacy and seclusion; Heart; Hope or expectation; Asceticism. People follow the Sufi path when they sense that Islam has a deeper dimension. The resulting self-purification leads to this inner dimension of Islamic rituals, a deeper understanding of the Divine acts, and a greater knowledge and love of Him. After this, God draws the novice to Himself. With the help of a spiritual guide, the novice begins the life-long journey back to God. This continual process of spiritual development along a path of the innate human poverty, helplessness, and powerlessness before God is undertaken in the knowledge that everything comes from God. Each novice does what is necessary to grow spiritually, and God bestows the appropriate blessings and stations. "The highest aim of creation and its most sublime result is belief in God. The most exalted rank of humanity is knowledge of God. The most radiant happiness and sweetest bounty for jinn and humanity is love of God contained within the knowledge of God; the purest joy for the human spirit and the purest delight for the human heart is spiritual ecstasy contained within the love of God. Indeed, all true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and unclouded pleasure are contained within the knowledge and love of God." And Sufism is the school where people can realise the highest aim of creation.

"The anthology produced by the experts of the Institute of Oriental Studies (IOS) of the Academy of Sciences and foreign experts, Marco Di Bella (Italy) and Antonio Mirabile (Italy), contains materials that provide a description of the manuscript collection at the IOS of the Academy of Sciences representing more than 26,000 manuscripts and 39,000 lithographs in Arabic script. It highlights the history of the Institute's manuscript collection and provides an analysis of the subject matter. The work also covers the art of book writing and the activities of representatives from various schools of calligraphy and ornamental art such as miniature illustrations on the collection's manuscripts and specific features of their bindings. Furthermore, it investigates the development of paper production and describes the different paper types used in the manuscripts. This anthology contains a proposal for the conservation and examination of the condition of the manuscript collection of the Institute."--Title page verso.

The triple aim of Hamadhání in this work, first translated into English in 1915, appears to have been to amuse, to interest and to instruct; and this explains why, in spite of the inherent difficulty of a work of this kind composed primarily with a view to the rhetorical effect upon the learned and the great, there is scarcely a dull chapter in the fifty-one maqámát or discourses. The author essayed, throughout these dramatic discourses, to illustrate the life and language both of the denizens of the desert and the dwellers in towns, and to give examples of the jargon and slang of thieves and robbers as well as the lucubrations of the learned and the conversations of the cultured.

About four years ago I received a letter from Mr. S. M. Sharif, Educational Adviser to the Government of Pakistan and now Secretary in the Ministry of Education, drawing my attention to the fact that there was no detailed History of Muslim Philosophy in the English language and inviting me to draw up a scheme for the preparation of such a History. The scheme prepared by me envisaged the collaboration of eighty scholars from all over the world. The blue‑prints of the plan were placed by Mr. S. M. Sharif before the Government of Pakistan for approval and provision of funds. The Cabinet by a special ordinance deputed me to edit the History, and appointed a Committee consisting of the following to steer the scheme through:

For the first time the genre of the maqama, the most widespread and popular genre of fictional prose within Arab literature, is presented in its comprehensive history. It was through its stylistic virtuosity as well as its awareness of a situation of social and intellectual crisis that the maqama, portraying the picaresque dramatic performance of a needy literary artist, won global fame. The most celebrated maqamas of Al-Hariri (d.1122) have not only formed part of the Arabic literary canon for many centuries but have inspired even extra-Arabic oriental literatures such as Hebrew and Christian-Syrian and - more lately - modern arabic theatre. (Text in English)Das Werk stellt erstmals die Geschichte einer der originellsten und zugleich meistrezipierten Prosagattungen der arabischen Literatur vor: die Maqame, eine dramatisch-pikareske Selbstinszenierung eines mittellosen Sprachkunstlers, die ihre Einpragsamkeit ihrem gesellschaftskritischen Gehalt nicht weniger als ihrer sprachlichen Virtuositat verdankt. Die Maqamen Hairis (st.1122) gehoren nicht nur seit Jahrhunderten und bis heute zum arabischen literarischen Kanon, sie haben auch die ausser-arabische (hebraische und syrisch-christliche) orientalische Literatur und sogar das moderne arabische Theater inspiriert. (Text in englischer Sprache)

The Naqshbandiyya order has attracted increasing scholarly attention over the last two decades, yet so far there has been no attempt to present a comprehensive picture of the evolution of the rich organization and ideational Naqshbandiyyah tradition This book is therefore by now a highly desirable contribution that will fill this gap in the literature of this important Sufi order Spanning almost a millennium in time and most of the Muslim world in space, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the important Naqshbandiyyah Sufi order