Going on Vacation

I am taking a break from blogging. I should be back in mid summer this year June/July 2012. I don't expect anything new to be added here until I return.

Take care you all. And have fun.

Overpriced Books (Rant)

I am in the rant mode now.

A few weeks ago I was complaining about cheap Islamic books flooding the market. The day before yesterday, I was thinking to buy a few books about Ismailis and Fatimid but the prices of these books are discouraging. I am not going to pay $70 and over hundred dollars for a book. I don't care if these books are hardcovers printed on cotton-bonded paper with sharp and glossy covers. Who pays that kind of money nowadays?

It cost soo much money to get access to academic materials (conference and journal papers). The academic books and textbooks are also way overpriced. I am not happy with all these barriers put in place to discourage people who are studying and those who wish to pursuit independent research without being affiliated with universities and research institute. Authors don't make that much money out of their books. If you can get paperbacks for less than ten dollars and hardback for less than $25 from supermarkets then there is something wrong with the printing of academic books.

Thank god I can go to the university and get what I want for free.

I am really getting interested in the ebooks revolution. Hopefully, the books could be sold cheaper because there is no cost associated with printing, distribution and stocking.

So, are the publishing companies happy that they can sell books cheaply without all the additional costs involved in the printing and distribution of the books? Nope. As of now, they are trying to figure out new ways to scam their consumers.

Random House will continue to offer its e-books to libraries but as of March 1 has raised many e-books’ wholesale prices significantly—in some cases by as much as 300 percent.

Several librarians told The Digital Shift that the prices they’re seeing tripled. “A book that a week ago we purchased for $28.00 now costs $84.00,” said one.

Getting some new books about the Ismailis

I am thinking to acquire some new books about Ismailis. I've noticed a number of interesting titles on Amazon.

#1 The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary Shi'i Witness by Wilfred Madelung and Paul Walker. The current price of the book is a whopping $84.00 only for 256 pages. I've just sent a note to the publisher to make the title available on Kindle. The description of the book sounds interesting

This personal memoir composed by a medieval scholar reveals an important discourse with two Ismaili leaders who spearheaded the Fatimid revolution in North Africa in 909-910. By reporting the thoughts and activities of Abu ‘Abdallah al-Shi’i and his brother Abu’l-Abbas over a period of seven months, Ibn al-Haytham in his Kitab al-Munazarat (The Book of Discussions) provides an unparalleled insider’s view to the foundations of the Fatimid state. As such, it is a unique document in the literature of early Islamic revolutionary movements as much as it represents one of the most valuable sources for the history of the medieval Muslim world.

#2 The Fatimids and Their Successors in Yaman: The History of an Islamic Community the authors are the same two people who wrote book #1. This book is still overpriced at $73 for 242 pages. This book is partially in Arabic.

The Uyun al-akhbar is the most complete text by an Ismaili author on the history of the Ismaili community, from its origins up to Idris ‘Imad al-Din’s own time in the 15th century. The seventh volume, edited here for the first time, together with a summary English translation, deals in particular with the period of the three Fatimid caliphs, al-Mustansir, al-Musta’li, and al-Amir, in addition to the Tayyibi Ismaili community in Yemen.

# 3 The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. Ikhwan al-Safa' and their Rasa'il: An Introduction. Priced over a hundred dollars. Seems like all the books published by the Ismaili Institute are way way overpriced. This books seems to be an introduction. I guess they will be publishing more books in this series.

Ikhwan al-Safa' (The Brethren of Purity) were the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity of lettered urbanites that was principally based in Basra and Baghdad. This brotherhood occupied a prominent station in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopedia: Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contained fifty-two epistles that offered synoptic explications of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age. Divided into four classificatory parts, it treated themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics and theology, in addition to moral and didactic fables. The Ikhwan were learned compilers of scientific and philosophical knowledge, and their Rasa'il constituted a paradigmatic legacy in the canonization of philosophy and the sciences in mediaeval Islamic civilization.

This present volume gathers studies by leading philosophers, historians and scholars of Islamic Studies, who are also the editors and translators of the first Arabic critical editions and first complete annotated English translations of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa', which will be published in the OUP Series that this present volume initiates, as well as being members of the Editorial Board.

#4 ISMAILI ASSASSINS, THE: A History of Medieval Murder

Few people know the truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins, an underground group of political killers, they were ready to kill Christians and Muslims alike with complete disregard for the consequences of their actions. Although their empire was destroyed in the 13th Century, have a controversial legacy which still resonates in the world today.

The Assassins were meticulous in their killing. They often slew their victims in public, thereby cultivating their terrifying reputation. They assumed disguises and their weapon of choice was a dagger - poison or bows would give the victim the chance to escape. Suicide was considered a deep dishonor and it was generally accepted that an Assassin had to die fighting rather than be captured. Hardly any movement before or since has cast so terrifying a shadow. In 1253, the Mongol chiefs were so fearful of the Assassins' 'poniards of terrible length and sharpness' that they massacred and enslaved the Assassins' women and children.

Assaults on the Crusaders of Syria led to warnings of agents planted in European courts ready to commit murder at the bidding of their master. The English monarch, Edward I, was very nearly poisoned and Richard the Lionheart's reputation was sullied by his association with the Assassins' murder of Conrad of Montferrat.

The Ismail: Assassins describes a unique way of waging war and shows how assassination and fifth-column infiltration became the key weapon for the Ismailis. Through its use of eyewitness accounts from both Islamic and Western sources, This important new book unlocks much of the history of the Crusades and the early Islamic period, allowing the reader entry into a historical epoch that is epic, thrilling, startling and pertinent.

Legal Opinions

According to the Sunnis, the following four elements are valid sources to derive Islamic laws

• The Quran
• The Hadith (saying of the Prophet)
• Scholarly Consensus (Ijma)
• Reasoning by Analogy (qiyas)

According to the Mutazilah, the legal opinions must only be based on

• The Quran
• The Hadith
• Human Reasoning (Aql)

Contention between the two groups can be summarized in the following philosophical question which predate Islam itself

The Hanbali traditionalists (as well as the Ash'ariya and other groups within the orthodox center) differed sharply with the Mu'tazila on whether the Law (Shari'a) that God revealed through His prophet Muhammad was good because God had revealed it, or whether God had revealed it because it was inherently good. [1]

On page 17, the authors quoted an interesting saying about the need to define your religion and to contrast it with others.

there is an obvious need for a religious group to define itself in relation to other groups, and to the world in general.[1]

The most celebrated time for the Mutazilah was under the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun (year 813-833 AD). After losing the support from the caliph, the Mutazilah madhhab began to decline. This gave rise to other Sunnite madhabs like the Ash'ari and Maturidi.

After the demise of Mutazilah scholar Abd al-Jabbar (d. 1024), the next scholar among this sect was the famous Quranic scholar, al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144).

Among the Sunni theologians, the majority of whom identified with the Ash'ari madhhab after the eleventh century, Mu'tazili doctrine was the target of attack and derision; Mu'tazili masters were often condemned from pulpits during the Friday prayer service.[1]

it was the Zaydi (Fiver) and Imami (Twelver) Shi'a more often than the Sunnis who continued to discuss the early Mu'tazili writings [1].

end at page 18

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Who is responsible for your acts?

Summary of pages (12 -13) from the book [1]

The Mutazila did not make God as the cause of all that happens in the universe. Humans are responsible for their own acts.

The Mu'tazila further claimed that this constantly created reality behaves according to known patterns of events or "nature" ('ada) on which human reasoning about the world is based.[1]

Sometimes, God allows Miracles to be perform by Prophets. According to them, this is the only exception to the rule. False Prophets do no perform real miracles because that would sabotage human rationality.

The Mutazila were faithful to the Islamic faith. They believe that reason can demonstrate the existence of God and that the revelation is advantageous to human rationality.

The biggest opposition to the Mutazilah came from the Hanbalite Sunnis (follower of Sunni Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal).

The term Sunni or Sunnah wal-Jamaah came from two groups of traditional Muslim groups; the people of the Sunnah (ahl al-Sunnah) and the community (wa l-Jama'a).

from which the term "Sunni" is derived. 'Traditionalist (Hanbali) and rationalist (Mu'tazili) religious leaders also belonged to this broad and dynamic Sunni majority (though some Mu'tazili mutakallimun leaned toward Imami and Zaydi Shi'i political theologies). [1]

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471