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100 MYTHS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
₨ 2,773Much ink has been spilled in recent years about the Middle East. At the same time, no other region has been as misunderstood, nor framed in so many cliches and mistakenly held beliefs. In this much-needed and enlightening book, Fred Halliday debunks one hundred of the most commonly misconstrued “facts” concerning the Middle East in the political, cultural, social, and historical spheres. In a straightforward and simple way that illuminates the issues without compromising their underlying complexities he gets to the core of each matter. The Israel-Palestine crisis, the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S.-led Gulf invasions, the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and other significant milestones in modern Middle East history come under scrutiny here, with conclusions that will surprise and enlighten many for going so persuasively against the grain of commonly held (mis)perceptions.
A FEW MYTHS FROM 100 MYTHS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST:
*The Arabs are a desert people.
*There is today one Arabic language,spoken from Iraq in the east to Morocco in the west.
*Oil has been and may become evenmore of a source of conflict in the modern Middle East.
*Islam does not allow for a separationof religion and politics.
*Palestinian nationalism is a creation of Arab states and manipulated by them to put pressure on Israel.
*Israel is not a colonial or settler state.
*Islam forbids alcohol.
*For Muslim women, it is compulsory to wear a headscarf or veil.
ISBN: 0863565298
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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ARAB REBIRTH: PAIN & ECSTASY
₨ 5,840ISBN: 0863561055 – Hardback
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS
ISBN: 0863561055
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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ARBIA OF THE BEDOUINS
₨ 695This remarkable record of Marcel Kurpershoek’s expedition and encounters in the Saudi Arabian desert in the late 1980s details his search for the living chronicle of Saudi Arabia—the oral poetry of the Bedouins. In the vast desert, Kurpershoek discovered poets who composed verses celebrating bravery and feats of arms, especially those of the poet ad-Dindan—proof of the authenticity of the pre-Islamic tradition in Arabian oral poetry. Part travelogue, and part book of poems, this book offers valuable insight into contemporary and traditional Saudi society.
ISBN: 0863568092
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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CULTURAL SCHIZOPHRENIA
₨ 10,797Professor Shayegan’s book is a major contribution to what is perhaps the most critical debate within the Muslim world today: the relationship between its own culture and the influence of Western modernity. Based on examples ranging from Iran to Morocco, the author portrays a society he defines as peripheral-bound by slavish adherence to its own glorified history, its ‘tradition’, yet facing an external reality that derives from the West. The meeting of these two incompatible worlds leads to a profound distortion, not only in how the Muslim world sees the West, but more importantly, in how it sees itself. Shayegan draws on a vast range of cultural experiences (from China and Japan to India and Latin America) in analyzing the type of mentality that is chained to its history. Sources as diverse as Yung and Octavio Paz widen the scope of this illuminating text. Already published in French to great critical acclaim, this English edition of Cultural Schizophrenia will be required reading for everyone concerned with the state of the world today, whether in the Third World or in the West.
ISBN: 0863561624
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
DAIRY OF COUNTRY PROSECUTOR
₨ 2,466Who shot Kamar al-Dawla Alwan? Was it a crime of passion? What was the role of the beautiful peasant girl Rim? Is the mysterious Sheikh Asfur as crazy as he seems? Diary of a Country Prosecutor is an Egyptian comedy of errors. Partly autobiographical, it takes the form of a journal of a young public prosecutor posted to a village in rural Egypt. Imbued with the ideals of a European education, he encounters a world of poverty and backwardness where an imported legal system is both alien and incomprehensible.
ISBN: 0863565492
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
DOUBLE VISION
₨ 995Aliki Findley is half-English, quarter-Irish and a quarter Greek. She is on a white ship sailing through the Aegean Sea and beyond, on a journey to what she believes is her ancient past: the Minoan civilisation of Crete, 3000 BC. On the voyage, she allows the great ship to lead her from her twenty-first century persona into a visionary confrontation of the ancient and modern worlds. From the present into the past and back to the catalytic realisation that what is actually here, now, is more beautiful and exciting that her thoughts and fantasies had ever conjured up. Finally, it is the eccentric captain and the lively atmosphere created by her fellow passengers on the ship that manage to rescue Aliki from her make-believe refuge and bring about her awakening. In Double Vision, Pauline Neville skilfully transports us into her heroine’s colourful and enchanting fantasy world and introduces us to an ancient and proud civilisation.
ISBN: 0863563600
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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EGYPTIAN EARTH
₨ 3,083A 12-year-old boy returns from his school in Cairo to find his village torn by feud and fear. A corrupt official has ordered the peasants to irrigate their fields in five days, instead of the customary ten – a demand which threatens to disrupt the whole life of this small community. The local schoolmaster, Sheikh Hassouna, urges the villagers to rebel. But it takes many attempts – some disastrous, others comical and touching – before they join forces and stand against their oppressors. Sharqawi’s novel, set in the 1930s, was first published in 1954, two years after the Egyptian revolution. An epic drama of great power, Egyptian Earth is a masterpiece of modern Arabic literature. It has been translated into many languages, including French and Russian, as well as being made into a popular film by the well-known Egyptian director Youssef Chahine.
ISBN: 0863565131
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
FADLALLAH
₨ 2,330This book traces the career trajectory of one of the most prominent figures in modern political Islam, against a background of cultural, political and economic upheaval in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. From Sayyid Hussein Fadlallah’s early intellectual development through his scholastic and political engagements, Jamal Sankari assesses the cleric’s impact on both the resistance group Hizbullah and on the region as a whole.
Demonised by the West, and denounced by Muslim conservatives for his ‘moderation’ and ‘innovation’, Fadlallah was one of the first Islamic figures to condemn the events of 11 September while at the same time remaining amongst the harshest, most relentless critics of the US role in the Middle East.
Fadlallah is regarded by many as the spiritual leader of Hizbullah. But his emergence as one of the world’s pre-eminent Islamists would have taken place even without Hizbullah; his insistence on cross-denominational dialogue across the Arab and Muslim world has inspired many followers and emulators. Sankari provides extensive insight into the enigmatic, mulit-faceted personality of this extraordinary religious-political leader.
ISBN: 0863565964
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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GYPSIES
₨ 3,083The Gypsies have always been subject to myths about their origins, customs and social organization, in large part because of widespread ignorance. In this lively and informative book, Jean-Pierre Liégeois redresses this shortcoming. Starting with an examination of many of the legends about Gypsies throughout history, he goes on to trace their true origins and presents a sympathetic though not uncritical portrayal of the Gypsy people. Finally, he discusses recent attempts by Gypsies to organize internationally.
ISBN: 0863565549
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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IMAMS AND EMIRS
₨ 996A study of Islamic sects in the Arab world, those that share the same distinguishing features, including geographical isolation, territorial exclusiveness, intensity of rituals and duality of religious organisation. This book examines various variables that differentiate a religion from a sect, and a sect from a religious community or minority.
ISBN: 0863564267
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KAHANI
₨ 3,083Pakistan’s finest women writers — Jamila Hashmi, Mumtaz Shirin, Fahmida Riaz, amongst others – introduce us to the compelling cadences of a rich literary culture. A naive peasant is left with a white man’s baby; a frustrated housewife slashes her husband’s silk pyjamas a middle-class woman sees visions of salvation in the tricks of circus animals…Equally at ease with polemic and lyricism, these writers mirror the events of their convoluted history – nationalism and independence wars with India, the creation of Bangladesh, the ethnic conflicts in Karachi — in innovative and courageous forms. Influenced both by the Indian and Islamic traditions of their milieu and by the shocking impact of modernity; they are distinguished above all by their artistic integrity and intellectual honesty.
ISBN: 0863565778
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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REGIONAL POLITICS IN THE GULF
₨ 10,797The three major neighboring states of the Arabian Peninsula – Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen – make for strange bedfellows. They are governed by three very different systems with very different results, caking into question how their internal policies affect regional relations and vice versa. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, a prosperous, religious and restrictive state generally considered secure but facing problems of increasing social unrest. Oman is a small, thriving, stable sultanate, modernized and moderate but tightly controlled; and the republic of Yemen, which has the region’s poorest economy, has still not shrugged off the legacy of its turbulent modern history. Each state adheres to a different Islamic sect, moreover, and through their populations are overwhelmingly Arab, differing tribal structure result in widely variant effects on the political process in their respective system. Each state has also had extensive historical relationships with the Ottoman and British empires, the US and Russia, and these too have coloured regional relations. Recent events like the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the American-led invasion of Iraq have also influenced these states’ internal policy decisions, further affecting their dealings with one another and at with the world at large. Manea examines each country in detail, from state formation to current affairs and from local to national government.
ISBN: 0863565832
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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STONES OF BOBLLO
₨ 2,773A classic work of fiction from Edwar al-Kharrat, who has been described by Doris Lessing as ‘more Proust than Durrell, and … worthy of the comparison.
ISBN: 0863565166
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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SUFI CUISINE
₨ 4,626The eating and preparation of food is at the heart of Sufi religious practices and beliefs. In this fascinating book, Nevin Halici combines recipes inspired by the teachings of Sufism with the culinary history, origins, and rituals that make these dishes unique. With a foreword by renowned food writer Claudia Roden, Sufi Cuisine offers a truly inspiring array of dishes from a simple lentil soup and flatbread to exotic rose petal jam. Full of charming anecdotes, poetry from the great Sufi mystic, Rumi, and delightful recipes, Sufi Cuisine is a pleasure for the mind and the palate.
ISBN: 0863565816
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
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THE CLASH OF BARBARISMS
₨ 4,006The London bombings of 7 July 2005 revived the debates that raged after September 11 2001. How were they related to the foreign policies of the UK and the US? Were they symptoms of a cultural clash between deep-seated values, or signs of social crisis? The title refers to the famous thesis on the ‘Clash of Civilizations’. Achcar develops a counter-thesis, namely that the clashes we are witnessing do not oppose civilizations, but their dark sides. The war of aggression and occupation in Iraq led to blatant manifestations of Western barbarism, most strikingly epitomized by the torture at Abu-Ghraib, and inevitably nurtured fanatical Islamic and other counter-barbarisms. Each civilization produces a specific form of barbarism which tends to take over in periods of crisis. Accordingly, the Bush administration doesn’t embody the values of ‘Western civilization’ nor does Islamic fanaticism of the al-Qa‘ida type represent ‘Islamic civilization’. The clash between them is truly a ‘clash of barbarisms’.
ISBN: 0863569196
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
THE FALL OF THE IMAM
₨ 2,452Who will overthrow the Imam? Who will defeat the oppression, the tyranny, the injustice and the killings?…Then, who is the Imam? Is he the man, the male, the father, the husband, the ruler, the leader? Bint Allah (the Daughter of God), a beautiful illegitimate girl, a child of sin, looked down upon by those around her, is falsely accused by the Imam of adulterous relationships and sentenced to death by stoning. This powerful and poetic novel by Egypt’s leading feminist writer reveals the underlying hypocrisy of a male-dominated religious state, and raises awareness of the insufferable predicament of women in a society which will ultimately self-destruct.
ISBN: 0863563961
Publisher: SAQI BOOKS -
