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Prayer in the Ancient World is the resource on prayer in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. With over 350 entries it showcases a robust selection of the range of different types of prayers attested from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, early Judaism and Christianity, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and Iran, enhanced by critical commentary.

The Prayer in the Ancient World will also be available online.

Preview of the 'Prayer in the Ancient World’, 2022
A West African Jihadist’s Perspectives on Bori, Religious Deviance, and Race and Enslavement in Ottoman Tunisia. With Translation and Critical Annotation
While in the Ottoman Regency of Tunis after returning from pilgrimage around 1809 C.E., the Timbuktu cleric and religious puritanist, Aḥmad b. al-Qādī b. Yūsuf b. Ibrāhīm al-Fulānī al-Timbuktāwī wrote Hatk al-Sitr ʿammā ʿalayhi sūdān Tūnis min al-kufr (Piercing the Veil: Being an Account of the Infidel Religion of the Blacks of Tunis), which he dedicated to the ruler of the Beylic, Ḥammūda Pāsha (r. 1782-1814 C.E.)
In this treatise, al-Timbuktāwī provided a vivid account of the Hausa Bori cult and entreated Tunisian authorities to imprison or even re-enslave its practitioners whom he distinguished from the heterogeneous Black population in the Regency.
This critical edition and complete translation of Hatk al-Sitr places the story of al-Timbuktāwī’s encounter with the Bori practitioners not just in their Maghribi and Sudanic African contexts, but also in the environment of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Jihad and Islamic revivalism. The result is an insight into a discourse on Bori, jihad, and race and enslavement in the context of the African Diaspora to the Islamic World.
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This book presents an early modern Jesuit attitude towards Hindu and Ethiopian strains of asceticism. The Jesuits’ descriptions of both the yogis and the Ethiopian renunciates were marked by ambivalence. While critical of these ascetics, the missionaries also pointed out admirable facets of their comportment. In both the Society of Jesus’ positive and negative impressions, there are glaring ethnocentric views that shift the spotlight onto the other’s flaws. Like many historical cases, these perceptions evolved into a sort of inverted mirror image of the self that revealed differences between the European Catholic and the native renunciate.
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Euro-Western descriptions of knowledge and its sources fall short of accommodating the spiritual, experiential terrain of the imagination. What of the embodied, affective knowing that characterizes Pentecostal epistemology, that is, the distinctive Pentecostal-Charismatic knowing derived from dreams and visions (D/Vs)? In this stunning ethnographic work, the author merges African scholarship with an investigation of what visioners say about the significance of their D/Vs for Christian life and spirituality. Revealing data showcases case studies for their biblical and theological articulations of the value of D/V experiences and affirms them as sources of Pentecostal love, ministerial agency, and the missionary impulse.
Vibrant worship music is part of the Charismatic liturgy all around the world, and has become in many ways the hallmark of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity. Despite its centrality, scholarly interest in the theological and ritual significance of worship for pentecostal spirituality has been sparse, not least in Africa.
Combining rich theoretical and theological insight with an in-depth case study of worship practices in Nairobi, Kenya, this interdisciplinary study offers a significant contribution to knowledge and is bound to influence scholarly discussions for years to come. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in Pentecostal worship, ritual, and spirituality.
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In: Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies

Abstract

This study entitled: “Care for people with special needs between the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Algerian law: (The National Association al-Saber Yanal for people with special needs as a model)” discussed the definitions related to people with special needs in linguistic, Qurʾānic and Sunnah context, as well as their definition in Algerian law, while dealing with the most important provisions of the constitution about their rights according to the law 02–09. This study sheds light on their rights in the Sunnah of the Prophet P.B.U.H and had a comprehensive discussion on the difference in their right between the Sunnah of the Prophet P.B.U.H and the Algerian law. The study has also done a field study on al-Ṣāber Yanāl Association for people with special needs in Ouargla (Algeria). The researchers used the inductive approach by extrapolating the hadiths of the Prophet P.B.U.H about people with special needs, and the comparative analytical approach to discuss and analyze the information obtained, and to compare the rights of people with special needs in Algerian law with their rights in the Sunnah of the Prophet P.B.U.H, and the applied approach, which included a field study on al-Ṣāber Yanāl Association, conducted an interview with four (4) members of the permanent members of the association. The study found that the Algerian law is considered a statutory law that falls short of containing the problems and issues of people of special needs, while the Sunnah of the Prophet P.B.U.H was totally the opposite; this is because the law that was legislated was deficient in several aspects and was not studied by qualified officials, and that the good aspects is bad implemented, in contrast to the many rights granted to them by the Prophet’s Sunnah, the most important of which is integrating them into society and making them part of it.

In: Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies
Author:

Abstract

Translation of the Qurʾan poses many complexities due to its multifaceted and its divine origin. The holy Qurʾan is idiosyncratic in terms of word choice, meaning, syntax, and style. The translator is required to produce a text that is void of distortions; otherwise, a lot of debate may arise and the translation might be lacking. The present study aims at addressing a number of debatable renderings of one discourse deictic demonstrative pronoun (Dhālika) in the second chapter, i.e., The Heifer of the Holy Qurʾan. The researcher meant to compare and critically test four popular Qurʾanic translations to evaluate their renderings of the demonstrative pronoun (Dhālika) and highlight possible defects and shortcomings in the translation. The study results show that four translation strategies are used at various frequencies. The current study postulates that it is beyond all translators’ potentials to attain a finished product of a translation of certain Qurʾanic terms.

In: Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the difficulties of translating Al-Mušākalah in the Holy Qurʾan into English by selecting six pairs that involve this phenomenon. It examines the accuracy of the English renditions of these expressions in five well-known English translations of the Holy Qurʾan, namely: Sahih International (1997), Yusuf Ali (1982), Abdel-Haleem (2005), Al-Hilali & Khan (2018), and Shakir (1987), based on a number of popular exegeses in the Islamic world. The English equivalents selected by the translators were looked up in Collins English Dictionary to check their compatibility with the interpretations given in the exegeses. The study found that the translators could not fully reflect the slight differences between the homonymous pairs in some cases. The translation of Al-Hilali and Khan was the most successful in achieving the intended meanings, followed by Yusuf Ali’s. Shakir and Abdel-Haleem had almost the same level of accuracy, and Sahih International translation was the least consistent with the Qurʾanic interpretations.

In: Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies

Abstract

Al-Quran is known as the best remedy for illnesses. In Malay medical treatment, the recitation of Quranic verses was one of the treatment methods applied by Malay medical practitioners. A lot of Quranic verses were used as a prayer and documented in Malay medical manuscripts produced in the 16th to 20th centuries. Hence, this article attempts to analyse Quranic verses recitation used as a treatment method in Kitab Tib MSS1653 manuscript. This study applied qualitative methodology and library research methods. The data was analysed by using inductive, deductive, and comparative methods to provide a discussion on related objectives. The finding shows that there were 387 Quranic verses from 58 surahs were used as a treatment method discussed in this manuscript. However, there were some spelling errors in Quranic verses writing found in Malay medical manuscripts. Seven types of spelling errors are missing letter hamzah, dots removal in letters, misspelled words, additional letters, missing letters, missing words, and major spelling mistakes.

In: Al-Bayan: Journal of Qur'an and Hadith Studies