Integrating Islamic Positions into European Public Discourse: The Paradigmatic Example of Tariq Ramadan

As the continuing relevance of religion to secular European societies garners increasing recognition, the question remains of which religious positions may assume a public role, with Islam at the center of many debates. This article complements the ongoing theoretical debate with a detailed case study analyzing the major works of Islamic scholar and public intellectual Tariq Ramadan. I show that in the last two decades Ramadan significantly modified his views on Islam and European societies. I argue that these adjustments were interdependent, and as such paradigmatically illustrate that the integration of Islamic positions into public discourse depends on shifts in the understanding of both concepts.

A Jewish Calendar for sixtyfour years, detailing the new moons, festivals, and fasts : ... to which are added tabl. for continuing the calendar to A. M. 6000-2240 C. Ae. and a chronological table ...

by E. H. Lindo

Glacier advances in northeastern Turkey before and during the global Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract Our study in the Başyayla Valley in northeastern Anatolia showed evidence of four glacier advances that built terminal and lateral moraines. Surface exposure dating of boulders on these moraines showed that the Maximum Ice Extent (MIE) was asynchronous with the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 22.1 ± 4.3 thousand years; ka). The local {MIE} took place at least 57.0 ± 3.5 ka ago. The extent of the Başyayla Glacier during this advance is not known exactly because the boulders are only preserved on a lateral moraine. The next advance was prior to 41.5 ± 2.5 ka, and it descended down the valley to approximately 2320 m above sea level (m a.s.l.), with a glacier length of 5.3 km. During the early global LGM, the Başyayla Glacier extended for a distance of 4.9 km down to approx. 2430 m a.s.l. The last recorded advance occurred during the global LGM. This extension was 0.7 km smaller than the local {MIE} and its terminus reached 2490 m a.s.l. only. The exposure ages of boulders in a retreat position at an altitude of approx. 3045 m a.s.l. indicate that the valley has remained ice-free since the Lateglacial period. Therefore, the Lateglacial extent was limited to the cirque system in the uppermost part of the catchment. Furthermore, Holocene glacier oscillations seem to be either absent or restricted to solifluction in the whole catchment and to rock glacier movements in the southern tributary of the Başyayla Valley system.

Quaternary uplift rates of the Central Anatolian Plateau, Turkey: insights from cosmogenic isochron-burial nuclide dating of the Kızılırmak River terraces

The Central Anatolian Plateau (CAP) in Turkey is a relatively small plateau (300 × 400 km) with moderate average elevations of ∼1 km situated between the Pontide and Tauride orogenic mountain belts. Kızılırmak, which is the longest river (1355 km) within the borders of Turkey, flows within the CAP and slowly incises into lacustrine and volcaniclastic units before finally reaching the Black Sea. We dated the Cappadocia section of the Kızılırmak terraces in the CAP by using cosmogenic burial and isochron-burial dating methods with 10Be and 26Al as their absolute dating can provide insight into long-term incision rates, uplift and climatic changes. Terraces at 13, 20, 75 and 100 m above the current river indicate an average incision rate of 0.051 ± 0.01 mm/yr (51 ± 1 m/Ma) since ∼1.9 Ma. Using the base of a basalt fill above the modern course of the Kızılırmak, we also calculated 0.05–0.06 mm/yr mean incision and hence rock uplift rate for the last 2 Ma. Although this rate might be underestimated due to normal faulting along the valley sides, it perfectly matches our results obtained from the Kızılırmak terraces. Although up to 5–10 times slower, the Quaternary uplift of the CAP is closely related to the uplift of the northern and southern plateau margins respectively.

Distributed transpressive continental deformation: The Varto Fault Zone, eastern Turkey

The convergence between the Eurasian and Arabian plates has created a complicated structural setting in the Eastern Turkish high plateau (ETHP), particularly around the Karlıova Triple Junction (KTJ) where the Eurasian, Arabian, and Anatolian plates intersect. This region of interest includes the junction of the North Anatolian Shear Zone (NASZ) and the East Anatolian Shear Zone (EASZ), which forms the northern border of the westwardly extruding Anatolian Scholle and the western boundary of the ETHP, respectively. In this study, we focused on a poorly studied component of the KTJ, the Varto Fault Zone (VFZ), and the adjacent secondary structures, which have complex structural settings. Through integrated analyses of remote sensing and field observations, we identified a widely distributed transpressional zone where the Varto segment of the VFZ forms the most northern boundary. The other segments, namely, the Leylekdağ and Çayçatı segments, are oblique-reverse faults that are significantly defined by uplifted topography along their strikes. The measured 515 and 265 m of cumulative uplifts for Mt. Leylek and Mt. Dodan, respectively, yield a minimum uplift rate of 0.35 mm/a for the last 2.2 Ma. The multi-oriented secondary structures were mostly correlated with “the distributed strike-slip” and “the distributed transpressional” in analogue experiments. The misfits in strike of some of secondary faults between our observations and the experimental results were justified by about 20° to 25° clockwise restoration of all relevant structures that were palaeomagnetically measured to have happened since ~ 2.8 Ma ago. Our detected fault patterns and their true nature are well aligned as being part of a transpressional tectonic setting that supports previously suggested stationary triple junction models.

Stagnation and Change in Islamic History

There appear to be two seemingly contradictory images of economic change in the Islamic World and mixed evidence on whether Islamic societies have been open or conservative against modern ideas, technological advancements, and legal developments. Whereas a conservative attitude has been dominant in some societies and time periods, Muslims were at the forefront of scientific, technological, and legal developments in others. Rather than rely on ad hoc assumptions about the attitudes and characteristics of societies or the inherent qualities of new developments, this paper explains attitudes towards change by studying the political economy of the relationship between the rulers and the legal community. I extend recent theories of endogenous institutional change to develop a framework based on how rulers and legal community reacted to new developments immediately and how their strategic interaction unleashed an endogenous process toward change in the long run. Using this framework, I identify conditions under which new ideas, technologies, and legal developments have resulted in immediate change in Islamic societies. I also examine the process of change in the long run, whether and how immediate outcomes could be sustained over time as strategic interaction continued repeatedly.

Varved sediments of the Arabian Sea

The upper Holocene marine section from a kasten core taken from the oxygen minimum zone off Karachi (Pakistan) at water depth 700 m contains continuously laminated sediments with a sedimentation rate of 1.2 mm/yr and a unique record of monsoonal climatic variability covering the past 5000 years. Our chronostratigraphy is based on varve counts verified by conventional and AMS14C dating. Individual hemipelagic varve couplets are about 0.8-1.5 mm thick, with light-colored terrigenous laminae (A) deposited mainly during the winter monsoon alternating with dark-colored laminae (B) rich in marine organic matter, coccoliths, and fish debris that reflect deposition during the high-productivity season of the late summer monsoon (August-October). Precipitation and river runoff appear to control varve thickness and turbidite frequency. We infer that precipitation decreased in the river watershed (indicated by thinning varves) after 3500-4000 yr B.P. This is about the time of increasing aridification in the Near East and Middle East, as documented by decreasing Nile River runoff data and lake-level lowstands between Turkey and northwestern India. This precipitation pattern continued until today with precipitation minima about 2200-1900 yr B.P., 1000 yr B.P., and in the late Middle Ages (700-400 yr B.P.), and precipitation maxima in the intervening periods. As documented by spectral analysis, the thickness of varve couplets responds to the average length of a 250-yr cycle, a 125-yr cycle, the Gleissberg cycle of solar activity (95 yr), and a 56-yr cycle of unknown origin. Higher frequency cycles are also present at 45, 39, 29-31, and 14 yr. The sedimentary gray-value also shows strong variability in the 55-yr band plus a 31-yr cycle. Because high-frequency cyclicity in the ENSO band (ca. 3.5 and 5 yr) is only weakly expressed, our data do not support a straightforward interaction of the Pacific ENSO with the monsoon-driven climate system of the Arabian Sea.