Shakespeare and Islam

This special issue conceives of “Shakespeare and Islam” in its broadest sense, conceptually, and opens up the conjunction to consideration of both the early modern and more recent periods. It is not directly concerned with addressing doctrinal questions: “Islam” is a flag of convenience for our purposes, an umbrella term that takes in not only the Ottoman Empire but also the Persian (a subject that, perhaps unsurprisingly, tends to be overshadowed by its stronger neighbour), and extends to a discussion of twentieth- and twenty-first-century issues of Shakespearean interpretation. In line with this journal's principal remit, the essays concentrate on questions of staging and interpretation, adaptation and appropriation, thus drawing on and contributing to one of the dominant fields of Shakespeare studies today. While the early modern period remains the collection's central interest, two concluding essays remind us (if we need reminding) that the seemingly endless recycling and reinterpretation of Shakespeare have implications for how we understand the conjunction with Islam today.

The death of Osama bin Laden - the end of Al-Qaeda's Pan-Islamic ambition?

This paper evaluates the implications of Osama bin Ladin’s death for the future of al-Qaeda’s global jihad. It critically examines the debate as to the make-up of the group and identifies bin Ladin’s primary role as chief ideologue advocating a defensive jihad to liberate the umma. The rationale and appeal of bin Ladin’s message and Muslims’ reaction to both his statements and al-Qaeda’s increasing use of sectarian violence are assessed in the context of Pan-Islam as political ideology. The paper concludes that while the ideal of Islamic unity and the sentiment of Muslim solidarity are unlikely to vanish, al-Qaeda’s violent jihad has not only failed to achieve these goals but has worked against it, thereby confining it to the political margins.

Conversion in late antiquity: Christianity, Islam, and beyond

The papers in this volume were presented at a Mellon-Sawyer Seminar held at the University of Oxford in 2009-2010, which sought to investigate side by side the two important movements of conversion that frame late antiquity: to Christianity at its start, and to Islam at the other end. Challenging the opposition between the two stereotypes of Islamic conversion as an intrinsically violent process, and Christian conversion as a fundamentally spiritual one, the papers seek to isolate the behaviours and circumstances that made conversion both such a common and such a contested phenomenon. The spread of Buddhism in Asia in broadly the same period serves as an external comparator that was not caught in the net of the Abrahamic religions. The volume is organised around several themes, reflecting the concerns of the initial project with the articulation between norm and practice, the role of authorities and institutions, and the social and individual fluidity on the ground. Debates, discussions, and the expression of norms and principles about conversion conversion are not rare in societies experiencing religious change, and the first section of the book examines some of the main issues brought up by surviving sources. This is followed by three sections examining different aspects of how those principles were - or were not - put into practice: how conversion was handled by the state, how it was continuously redefined by individual ambivalence and cultural fluidity, and how it was enshrined through different forms of institutionalization. Finally, a topographical coda examines the effects of religious change on the iconic holy city of Jerusalem.

Twofold adaptive partition of unity implicits

Partition of Unity Implicits (PUI) has been recently introduced for surface reconstruction from point clouds. In this work, we propose a PUI method that employs a set of well-observed solutions in order to produce geometrically pleasant results without requiring time consuming or mathematically overloaded computations. One feature of our technique is the use of multivariate orthogonal polynomials in the least-squares approximation, which allows the recursive refinement of the local fittings in terms of the degree of the polynomial. However, since the use of high-order approximations based only on the number of available points is not reliable, we introduce the concept of coverage domain. In addition, the method relies on the use of an algebraically defined triangulation to handle two important tasks in PUI: the spatial decomposition and an adaptive polygonization. As the spatial subdivision is based on tetrahedra, the generated mesh may present poorly-shaped triangles that are improved in this work by means a specific vertex displacement technique. Furthermore, we also address sharp features and raw data treatment. A further contribution is based on the PUI locality property that leads to an intuitive scheme for improving or repairing the surface by means of editing local functions.

The spectrum of an open vertex model based on the U(q)[SU(2)] algebra at roots of unity

We study the exact solution of an N-state vertex model based on the representation of the U(q)[SU(2)] algebra at roots of unity with diagonal open boundaries. We find that the respective reflection equation provides us one general class of diagonal K-matrices having one free-parameter. We determine the eigenvalues of the double-row transfer matrix and the respective Bethe ansatz equation within the algebraic Bethe ansatz framework. The structure of the Bethe ansatz equation combine a pseudomomenta function depending on a free-parameter with scattering phase-shifts that are fixed by the roots of unity and boundary variables. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Islam och hinduism ur ett genusperspektiv : En granskning av ett urval religions läroböcker på grundskole- och gymnasienivå

Syftet med vårat examensarbete har varit att göra en läromedelsanalys ur ett genusperspektiv i ämnet religion. Vi har studerat två läromedel som riktar sig till grundskolans senare år och två läromedel som riktar sig till gymnasiet. I analyserna har vi kommit fram till att det i läromedlen för grundskolan finns en stor avsaknad av genusmedvetenhet. Även om genusmedvetenheten är större i läromedlen för gymnasiet uppnår det inte den genusmedvetenhet som vore önskvärt.

Al-Mahdi - Gestalt och budskap : En litteraturstudie jämförande sudanesisk Mahdi och indisk Mahdi inom islam

Followers of three world religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are waiting for the Messiah. Muslims are even waiting for aspiritual leader al-Mahdi. Two different persons claimed the title of al-Mahdi, at the end of the nineteenth century. Theyappeared almost at the same time, at the totally different places of the earth, with a completely different message and underthe rule of the British colonial power. The aim of the study is to compare the both religious figures, Mirza Ghulam Ahmadfrom India and Muhammad Ahmad from Sudan regarding their different messages, to illustrate the social, political andreligious factors that lead to the entirely different profile and image of these two men and how their organizations havedeveloped after their death up till today. The result shows that the Sudanese Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad claimed hisMahdiship in the year 1881. He became a political leader in a time when Sudan was under the rule of a colonial power. Hetook advantage of the religion for personal purposes and tried to liberate his native country Sudan. The contemporaryMuslim clergy criticized him for his claim because the content of the Hadith traditions did not support his claim ofMahdiship. He maintained his sole right for the interpretation of religion and of the laws of Sharia. He made changes even inthe chief pillars of Islam by asserting that Jehad with sword was more imperative than the pilgrimage journey to Mecca. Heasserted that the Prophet Muhammad himself had entrusted him to launch the holy war against the non-believers. He hadimmense ambitions which were never fulfilled since he suddenly died four years after his claim for Mahdiship, in June 1885.This day his followers are organized as a political party in Sudan with a modest roll in the Sudanese politics. The IndianMahdi Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed in 1889 to be Mahdi, Mujaddid, Muhaddas, Messiah and a Prophet at a time of socialand political peace, though Islam as a religion was firmly pushed by the Hindu and Christian missionaries. He had no politicalambitions at all and was utterly loyal to the British colonial power. His mission was to crush the Cross and to demonstrateIslam’s excellence over all the religions of the world through overwhelming arguments. He proclaimed that Jesus was humanand a Prophet and not the son of God. Jesus survived from the cross and died a natural death after he had lived for manyyears. Ahmad claimed that God had commanded him to put stop to the religious wars. The contemporary Muslim clergyblamed him for being an imposter, melancholic and hypochondriac who had self invented the divine revelations. He died year1908, nineteen years after his claim and the communion he found is established today in more than hundred countries of theworld. Reasons for the breakdown of mission of the Sudanese Mahdi were that his objectives were political and he challengedthe colonial power with the sword. Another decisive factor was his sudden death merely four years after the beginning of hismission. Reasons for the success of Indian Mahdi were that his objectives were purely religious and he was wholly loyal to theforeign government. He survived nineteen years after the beginning of his mission which made it possible for him to create acommunion based on solid grounds. His followers continued on the same path and never engaged in local politics where everthey lived. For further studies it will be of great interest to study the life of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and objectively examine thearguments he presented in support of his divine appointment. Furthermore it is enriching to study the organization andactivities of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to explore if they are in accordance with the basic principles of Ahmad.