Essais

The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran

A Contribution to the Decoding of the Koran

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This book approa­ches the Koran with the tools of modern scien­tific philo­logy, and outlines a method to shed light onto koranic passages that are among those counted as »dark« or »myste­rious«. Revised and expanded trans­la­tion of the wave-making German original. »The most fasci­na­ting book ever written on the language of the Koran, and if proved to be correct in its main thesis, probably the most important book ever written on the Koran.« (The Guar­dian)...

The Spectrum of Islamist Movements

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The Al-Ahram Center for Political and Stra­tegic Studies (Cairo) intro­duces this study series of Isla­mist move­ments with a novel and feli­ci­tous taxo­nomy of the Isla­mist spec­trum. Several well-known groups, influ­en­tial works and thin­kers are scru­ti­nized in detail and - a rare excep­tion not only for an English-language work - have their practice and world­view cautiously juxt­a­posed with main­st­ream orthodox Islamic posi­tions. This book does not only provide data about its subjects, which would make it one of many: more crucially,...

Arabic in Chains

Structural Problems and Artificial Barriers

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What distin­gu­ishes Marzari‘s work is his ability to explain comp­li­cated matters in clear and even enter­tai­ning language. Lingu­ists often cut a poor figure here, given their propen­sity to gallop non-stop through the brushwood of grammar. Not so Marzari. He illu­s­t­rates the poten­tials and limits of a language that over 300 million Muslims in the Middle East call their mother tongue, aside from the many others elsewhere in Africa as well as in Asia, who recite Arabic as the language of the Qur'an. Wolf­gang G. Schwanitz /Der Tage...

Who Cares About Somalia

Hassan's Ordeal - Reflections on a Nation's Future

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This book is about a Somali civil war and the fall of the Siad Barre regime. It is about how people living there at the time did really suffer from it as a result. Although it prin­ci­pally relates to a family,the book tells an applicable story of flight, provi­sional shelter and finally exile. It is also about the political history of Somalia and about Somali ethni­city in general, and the book discusses the future of the Nation and how inter­na­tional and regional powers are involved in playing their sometimes influ­en­tial roles ...

Unterwegs am Golf Along the Gulf

Von Basra bis Maskat

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Burchardt liebte sein Leben als Kauf­mann nicht. Nach dem Tod seines Vaters benutzte er sein kleines Erbe, um Priva­tier zu sein. Doch zog es ihn hinaus in die Welt. Auf seine Abenteuer berei­tete er sich vor, indem er die Spra­chen der Bewohner an Afrikas Küsten, Suaheli, und in Arabiens Wüsten erlernte. So ging er in den Orient. Bald, 1903, reiste er den Persi­schen Golf entlang, in hundert Tagen von Basra nach Maskat. Diese Reise erhellen seine Fotos. Ein Buch nicht nur für Welten­bummler, das zu Verg­lei­chen von damals und heut...

Handbook of Arabic Dictionaries

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This book is a brief guide to Arabic dictio­na­ries. It aims on assis­ting lear­ners of Arabic to cope with the diffi­cul­ties that enco­unter with the various dictionary move­ments over centu­ries. The dictionary move­ment mainly deve­loped over three centu­ries between the end of the II. Century of the Hegira and the end of the IV. Century, in accor­dance with their respec­tive leaders and their works: Madrasah al-Taklîbât, a school estab­lished by al-Khalîl...

Somalia's Development

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What are Somalia's Deve­lop­ment Perspec­tives? Science between Resi­g­na­tion and Hope? Procee­dings of the 6th SSIA-Congress: With contri­bu­tions by Franz Ansp­renger, Mohamed Haji Mukhtar, Faduma Awow Mohamed, Ulrich Scholz, Jörg Janzen a.o....

Civil Society in the Middle East

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The internal Arab, Iranian and Israeli debates on civil society in the 1980s and 1990s have only partly found their way into Western studies on the issue. An analysis of the discur­sive struc­tures of the local debates, which repres­ents the major objec­tive of the current edited volume, may help shif­ting the nexus of the academic discus­sion to Middle Eastern percep­tions and actors. Amr Hamzawy analyses the Arab socio­lo­gical and political discus­sion on civil society, depen­ding on the intel­lec­tual lite­ra­ture of the last ten years...