Religion and State in Syria

Religion and State in Syria
Author: Thomas Pierret
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2013-03-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1139620061

While Syria has been dominated since the 1960s by a determinedly secular regime, the 2011 uprising has raised many questions about the role of Islam in the country's politics. This book demonstrates that with the eradication of the Muslim Brothers after the failed insurrection of 1982, Sunni men of religion became the only voice of the Islamic trend in the country. Through educational programs, charitable foundations and their deft handling of tribal and merchant networks, they took advantage of popular disaffection with secular ideologies to increase their influence over society. In recent years, with the Islamic resurgence, the Alawi-dominated Ba'thist regime was compelled to bring the clergy into the political fold. This relationship was exposed in 2011 by the division of the Sunni clergy between regime supporters, bystanders and opponents. This book affords a new perspective on Syrian society as it stands at the crossroads of political and social fragmentation.

Christian-Muslim Relations in Syria

Christian-Muslim Relations in Syria
Author: Andrew W. H. Ashdown
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-01-09
Genre:
ISBN: 9780367559168

Offering an authoritative study of the plural religious landscape in modern Syria and of the diverse Christian and Muslim communities that have cohabited the country for centuries, this volume considers a wide range of cultural, religious and political issues that have impacted the interreligious dynamic, putting them in their local and wider context. Combining fieldwork undertaken within government-held areas during the Syrian conflict with critical historical and Christian theological reflection, this research makes a significant contribution to understanding Syria's diverse religious landscape and the multi-layered expressions of Christian-Muslim relations. It discusses the concept of sectarianism and how communal dynamics are crucial to understanding Syrian society. The complex wider issues that underlie the relationship are examined, including the roles of culture and religious leadership; and it questions whether the analytical concept of sectarianism is adequate to describe the complex communal frameworks in the Middle Eastern context. Finally, the study examines the contributions of contemporary Eastern Christian leaders to interreligious discourse, concluding that the theology and spirituality of Eastern Christianity, inhabiting the same cultural environment as Islam, is uniquely placed to play a major role in interreligious dialogue and in peace-making. The book offers an original contribution to knowledge and understanding of the changing Christian-Muslim dynamic in Syria and the region. It should be a key resource to students, scholars and readers interested in religion, current affairs and the Middle East.

The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs

The Nuṣayrī-ʻAlawīs
Author: Yaron Friedman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004178929

Friedman offers new and updated research on the Nusayr - Alaw sect, today a leading group in Syria, covering a variety of aspects and focusing on the Middle Ages. A century after Dussaud's "Histoire et religion des Nosair s" (1900), he reviews the history and religion of the sect in the light of old documents used by orientalists in the nineteenth century, documents that became available in the twentieth century, and later sources of the Nu ayr - Alaw sect published most recently in Lebanon. Also studied in depth for the first time is the question of the identity of the sect through the Alaw -Sunn -Sh triangle.

Islam and the Devotional Object

Islam and the Devotional Object
Author: Richard J. A. McGregor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108483844

A new history of Islamic practice told through the aesthetic reception of medieval religious objects.

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel

Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria and Israel
Author: Karel Van Der Toorn
Publisher: SBL Press
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2016-12-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781628371680

This SBL Press edition of an essential Brill reference work deals with the religious practices of the family in the ancient Babylonian, Syrian, and Israelite civilizations. On the basis of a wealth of documents from both the private and the literary realm, the book gives an exhaustive description and analysis of the rites of the ancestor cult and the devotion to local gods. The author demonstrates the role of these two aspects of family religion in the identity construction of its followers. The section dealing with Israel pays particular attention to the relationship between family religion and state religion. The emergence of the state religion under King Saul marked the beginning of a competition between civil and private religion. Though the two had great influence upon each other, the tension between them was never resolved. A study of their interaction proves to be a key for the understanding of the development of Israelite religion during the monarchic period.

Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria

Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria
Author: Daniella J. Talmon-Heller
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2007-10-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047422848

A study of religious thought and practice across a broad social spectrum, but within a well-defined historical context, this book is an interdisciplinary endeavor that incorporates the tools of philology, social-history and historical-anthropology. Focusing on the mosques, public assemblies, cemeteries and shrines of Syrian Muslims in the period of the crusades and the anti-Frankish jihad, the book describes and deciphers religious rites and experiences, liturgical calendars, spiritual leadership, and perceptions of impiety and dissent. Working from a perspective that breaks down the dichotomization of religion into 'official' and 'popular,' it exposes the negotiation, construction and dissemination of hybrid forms of religious life. The result is an intimate and complex presentation of the texture of medieval Islamic piety.

The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos

The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos
Author: Lucinda Dirven
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2015-08-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004295925

This volume deals with the religion of Palmyrenes in Dura-Europos during the first three centuries of the Common Era, and focuses upon the religious interaction between this migrant community and their new residence. By studying the religious interaction of distinct groups on a local level, this study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the process of religious development and change in Syria during the Roman period. Information on the Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos consists primarily of archaeological remains that have been found there. The Palmyrene materials from Dura-Europos have never been published collectively, and for this reason they are enumerated and re-evaluated in the appendix. The book is richly illustrated with 20 figures and 22 plates.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria
Author: Dara Conduit
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2019-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108499775

A look at the history of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, examining why the group failed to capitalise on its political advantage during the Syrian uprising and civil war.

The Alawis of Syria

The Alawis of Syria
Author: Michael Kerr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190458119

A wide-ranging exploration of the cultural and historical hinterland of Syria's powerful Shia minority.