Suchergebnisse

This book describes Socrates as he was depicted in medieval Arabic literature. The body of anecdotes, sayings and evaluations of Socrates existent in Arabic literature leads one to search for an explanation for the popularity of this ancient, Greek, pagan philosopher. The author argues that Socrates played a role of legitimizing authority in the religious controversies between Christians and Muslims on the one hand and between the more rationalistic minded Muslims and the more traditionalistic ones on the other hand. Thus, three approaches are encountered: those belonging to the non-fundamentalistic stream in Islam refer to Socrates as a prophet, historians such as ibn Fātik or ibn Abī Usaib'ah, who relate to Socrates as an exemplary personality with tacit Islamic qualities. The third approach is that of orthodox writers such as al-Ghazālī who attack Socrates as a non-believer

This is a study in vernacular architecture covering the Middle East and North Africa, particularly concentrating on the interaction between religion and society on the one hand and building practice and city planning on the other. Using various sources, some of which date back to the fourteenth century, the author convincingly contends that building and urban development accomplished within the Arabic-Islamic cultural framework achieved a high level of sophistication

This is a study of the structure and composition of the official learning current in medieval Arabic culture. This comprises natural sciences both exoteric and esoteric (medicine, alchemy, astrology and others), traditional and religious sciences (such as theology, exegesis and grammar), philosophical sciences such as metaphysics and ethics, in addition to technical disciplines like political theory and medicine, and other fields of intellectual endeavour.The book identifies and develops a number of conceptual elements common to the various areas of official Arabic scientific discour

This paper will discuss the Islamic justice system in the country of Saudi Arabia. Through a normative juridical approach it can be described that Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country that is consistent in implementing criminal law. In contrast to the continental legal system and the anglo saxon which are guided by the policies of the Government, Parliament and the judiciary. In addition, in practice, Islamic criminal law is also guided by the opinion of the school, both the official school, namely the hambali school or other schools. Thus it can be concluded that the judiciary bodies in Arab countries are entirely guided by Islamic law, because Islamic law is the positive law. On the other hand, it also does not codify the law because it can narrow the space for ijtihad to move and the sources of legal making, but this in turn can lead to different judges' decisions. For this reason, there is Majlis al-A'la li al-Qadha (Supreme Court of Justice) to oversee the decisions of the court judges under their ranks. In addition, the hierarchy of judicial bodies in the Arab country consists of three levels, namely the High Court as the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the Court of First instance.

Technological inventions in recent decades having so totally revolutionized the nature and extent of communications between various parts of the world, it is difficult to appreciate how severely restricted inter-cultural knowledge was even in the almost immediate past. Translation has always been one of the few media available for the transference of ideas and emotions from one language group to another and, as we shall see, even it has been of remarkably limited range and influence, certainly between the peoples of the Near East and the English-speaking world. Fear and dislike of what is different and therefore seemingly threatening are natural human responses that have governed international relations throughout history; that translation has been and continues to be so limited an influence mitigating such fear and dislike is surely tragic. A brief survey of translation from Arabic to English in previous centuries will hopefully assist us in viewing the range of modern materials available in book form in a proper perspective.