Articles

Comparing episodes from the Ayodhya book of Valmiki’s Ramayana and Tulsidas’s retelling, the article shows how changes in the characters’ motives reflect bhakti ideas and new models of virtuous conduct.

Monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula and the adjacent islands remain a very specific part of the Arab world throughout the contemporary history. Before gaining independence, these countries represented the most economically and politically backward part of the Peninsula. In the final third of the last century they have overtaken their counterparts in such characteristics as the standard of living, becoming the forefront of the Arab region. The political elite of the country carried out fundamental political and socio-economic reforms, and showed that it is able to move society from medieval backwardness to modernity. The danger of this situation isn’t a secret for ruling houses is extinguished by elite which makes efforts on the different directions in the aspiration to preserve the social peace and the power. The work was written on the basis of data obtained from the studies of such authors as Rosmarin Zakhlan, Mehran Kamrava, Ali Khalifa Al Kuwari and others, as well as on the statistics of the international organization of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the national statistics of the ministry of information of Qatar, the Russian and Western press.

The article examines the role of the Coptic Orthodox Church journal “Al-Kiraza” in the life of the Coptic community, the circumstances of its emergence, and its influence on readers. Founded through the efforts of young church leaders in the 1930s–1950s, the journal promoted their philosophical views among Copts.

The article examines collective terms in the records of the early modern Venetian Jewish community, especially “ghetto synagogues”, and shows how culturally distinct congregations understood themselves within a shared communal space.

Using Reza Khan’s travel diary about his campaign in Khuzestan, the article examines how the future shah justified his claim to the Iranian throne. It analyzes the diary’s political purpose and the use of Iranian cultural tradition to construct the image of a modern ruler.

In Dagestan in the early XX century there were representatives of Muslim reformism who entered into a tough confrontation with local supporters of the traditional Shafi’i law school, mainly with the apologists of Sufism. The Sufi Sheikhs actively joined in the theological polemic with the Muslim reformers. The range of issues that caused the most heated discussion was quite traditional for the polemics between the supporters of “taclid” and “ijtihad”. This is the problem of “false sheikhs”, accusation of polytheism (shirk), mediation (tawassul), intercession (shafat), etc. The authors of this article, analyzing the course and content of this polemic, made commented translations of the most characteristic fragments from the works of the most active participants, especially of Sufi Sheikh Muhammad al-Asali.

The article discusses language contact between Swahili and other Bantu languages in Tanzania. Swahili, itself influenced by Arabic, transfers borrowed lexical elements to local languages of lower social status. Its grammatical impact is less pronounced. The study uses material collected by the authors during fieldwork in Tanzania.

Based on the journal Shura, the article examines early twentieth-century debates among Tatar Muslim intellectuals about Quranic exegesis. Some writers rejected reliance on authoritative tafsirs, while others valued them for historical context.

The article reconsiders the date of the Battle of Dhū Ḳār. Based on new evidence, it places the Arab victory over Khusraw II’s forces in the summer of 602 and refines the chronology of the Sasanian governors of al-Hira.

The survived correspondence of Vasiliy V. Bartold and Agafangel E. Krymsky contains important data about crucial changes which took place in the Oriental science in the post-revolutionary Russia. The letters of two distinguished scholars, dated before 1918, were concerned mainly with discussion of the professional issues. Anyhow, the following correspondence increasingly touched upon social and political problems and included their thoughts about methods of their resolving. The correspondence of these two eminent scholars remains a significant factor in the history of the Oriental science.

The article examines motifs of dreams and sleep in classical Persian qhazal. These motifs usually occur at the beginning or end of a poem and may shape the meaning of the whole text. It traces their transfer from love lyrics and qasida openings into qhazal, and interprets sleeplessness as a derivative counter-motif of sleep.

Using official publications of the Japanese Governor-General in Korea, the article examines colonial governance from 1910 to 1945, including policing and ideological measures adapted to changing circumstances and Korean traditions.

The article examines the Avtar Bani as the sacred text of the Sant Nirankari Mission and analyzes its semantic, performative and iconic functions in the movement’s continuing dispute with mainstream Sikhs.