Sīrat Banī Hilāl : introduction and notes to an Arab oral epic tradition

This poetic tradition which Egypt’s preeminent literary scholar, Ṭaha Hussein, recalls at the outset of his autobiography is one familiar through much of the Arab world—the sīra of the Banī Hilāl Bedouin tribe which chronicles the tribe’s massive migration from their homeland on the Arabian peninsula, their sojourn in Egypt, their conquest of North Africa, and their final defeat one hundred years later. The migration, the conquest, and the defeat are historical events which took place between the tenth and twelfth centuries A.D. From this skein of actual events Arabic oral tradition has woven a rich and complex narrative centered on a cluster of heroic characters. Time and again Bedouin warriors and heroines are pitted against the kings and princes of towns and cities. The individual destinies of the main actors are constantly in a fragile balance with the fate of the tribe itself. Finally, with the conquest of North Africa, the Banī Hilāl nomads themselves become rulers of cities, a situation which leads to the internal fragmentation of the tribe and their eventual demise. Stories of the Banī Hilāl tribe have been recorded from oral tradition since the fourteenth century in regions located across the breadth of the Arab world: from Morocco on the shores of the Atlantic to Oman on the edges of the Indian Ocean, and as far south into Africa as Nigeria, Chad, and the Sudan. It is quite probably the single most widespread and best documented narrative of Arabic oral literature. We know far more about the historical development, the geographical distribution, and the living oral tradition of Sīrat Banī Hilāl than, for example, the 1001 Nights, which owes its fame almost entirely to the enormous amount of attention it received in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe.1 Though Sīrat Banī Hilāl is little known in the urban centers of the Arab world, in rural areas it has been recorded in prose, in poetry, and in song. The most famous versions are those sung by epic poets in Egypt who perform for nights at a time their versifi ed narrative while accompanying themselves on the rabāb (spike-fi ddle), the ṭār (large frame-drum) or western violin (held vertically on the knee). The folk sīra tradition is one familiar to most scholars of Arabic literature, but it has for the most part escaped the notice of epic scholars, folklorists, and anthropologists in the West. This is certainly due primarily to the dearth of translations into European languages and in particular into English. Over the past two decades, however, Sīrat Banī Hilāl has sparked new academic interest and even a few translations. This article, then, is intended as an introduction for non-Arabists to the tradition of, and recent scholarship on, Sīrat Banī Hilāl

Power-Sharing in Bahrain: A Still-Absent Debate

Bahrain was among the first Arab Spring countries in which mass protests arose in February 2011. The authoritarian monarchy, which excludes vast segments of society from fair political and economic participation, opted for the use of force to suppress the mainly peaceful demonstrations, but it could not expunge the protests by a popular movement that continues to exist to this day. The power struggle is occurring along a Sunna-Shia divide that interconnects with regional sectarian tensions. This article investigates powersharing arrangements as an option to deal with such deep divisions. It outlines the historical background of the sectarian tensions in Bahrain and the rudimentary forms of powersharing that have existed there in the past. It then analyses the current debate between the regime and the opposition regarding the distribution of political power. While the reality still seems to be far removed from a power-sharing solution, we nevertheless recommend power-sharing as a feasible way out of the current stalemate

Imam Malik und die politischen Autoritäten seiner Zeit

Es besteht kein Zweifel daran, dass die einflussreichsten Persönlichkeiten der islamischen Gesellschaft die Gelehrten des Islam waren. Die Verhaltensweise dieser Persönlichkeiten war für die Individuen der Gesellschaft wegweisend. Die Gesellschaft strukturierte ihre Verhaltensnormen entsprechend der Haltung dieser Personen, und entsprechend der von ihnen gegebenen Fatwas (Rechtsentscheidungen). Dieser Umstand nahm seinen Platz proportional zur Steigerung oder Minderung der gesellschaftlichen Stellung und des Wertes der Gelehrten des Islam auf der Bühne der Geschichte ein. Imam Malik war einer der herausragenden Personen, die zu ihren Lebzeiten wichtige Einflüsse auf die Gesellschaft ausgeübt haben. Dieser Artikel versucht die Beziehung des Imam Malik zu den politischen Autoritäten, sowie die gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen dieser Beziehungsform zu behandeln. Da Imam Malik in der Zeit der Umayyaden zu den politischen Autoritäten kaum Kontakt hatte, wird der Artikel nach einem kurzen Ausblick in diesen Zeitabschnitt sich auf die Zeit der Abbasiden konzentrieren

Epic Splitting: An Arab Folk Gloss on the Meaning of the Hero Pattern

"Epic narrative typically spells out departures and arrivals very clearly (see Bowra 1952:179 ff). The Arabic migration epic Sīrat Banī Hilāl, in its many different cultural transformations and retellings, has a structure based on geographic displacements. Narrators from Egypt to Tunisia and the Lake Chad area all construct their versions of the story cyclically around a basic morphology of: LACK -- DEPARTURE -- CONTRACT -- VIOLATION -- RESOLUTION (battle or trickery/victory or defeat) -- LACK LIQUIDATED or NEW LACK (which engenders a new geographic displacement, be it a return or a new departure) (see Connelly 1973, 1986; Ayoub 1982b)."--Opening paragraph

A new logic in the Sufi organization: the continuation and the disintegration of the Tariqas in Modern Egypt (The Tariqa's cohesional power and the Shaykhhood succession question)

The present article examines the logic behind "succession" to the leadership (mashyakha) within the tarīqas, and some factors involved in their disintegration in early 20th century Egypt. Throughout the history, the question of succession to mashyakha has been a frequent cause of confl ict among the members of tarīqas, which at times led to their divisions. Until the beginning of the 19th century, however, the word "tarīqa" did not necessarily refer to an organization but literally to the "Sufi Way, " which is a specific method of devotion. Actually, each tarīqa consisted of a number of small groups or families headed by their own leaders (shaykhs); this implied that a tarīqa did not have to be a single unifi ed organization. Through the institutionalization of the Egyptian tarīqas initiated by the state in the 19th century, a new logic in the Sufi organization was introduced, whereby each tarīqa had to be an organization headed by a single shaykh. This logic created a situation which encouraged leaders of those subgroups/families within a given tarīqa, who were now ranked as deputies (khalīfas), to claim that they were shaykhs of the independent tarīqas. In 1905, this new logic was stipulated in the regulations, which must have aimed at the stability and the continuity of the existing tarīqas. However, this could not stop the recurrence of the divisions. Rather, a number of khalīfas started to claim independence from their shaykhs. By analysing a case of how al-Habībiyya gained independence from al-Rifā'iyya, one factor responsible for the increase in the disintegration of the tarīqas can be pointed out: the new logic in the Sufi organization itself provided grounds for justifying the claims of those khalīfas who wanted to be shaykhs of their own tarīqas. In other words, the state's very endeavor to stabilize the tarīqas served on the contrary to create instability

Al-Madāʾinī and the Narratives of the ʿAbbāsid Dawla

Peer reviewe

The Qāḍīs of Fusṭāṭ-Miṣr under the Ṭūlūnids and the Ikhshīdids: the Judiciary and Egyptian Autonomy

International audienceThe second half of the third/ninth and the fourth/tenth centuries are of particular importance for the development of the judiciary in the central lands of the Abbasid caliphate. At the end of the mihna period and the victory of Sunnism under al-Mutawakkil (r. 232-247/847-861), the caliphate agreed not to interfere further within the legal sphere, thus allowing the principal schools of law to complete their development toward their classical structure. In Iraq, thanks to the growing independence of the legal sphere and to the political weakness of the caliphate, the qadis increased their judicial freedom. Meanwhile, the political situation in Egypt was very different. The provincial rulers and two successive dynasties, the Tulunids (254-292/868-905) and the Ikhshidids (323-358/935-969), profited from the weakness of the caliphate, and imposed their autonomy de facto. The role played by the judiciary in this process is still unclear, as is the impact of Egyptian autonomy on the development of the local judiciary. In this paper, I discuss the evolution of the relationship between the Egyptian governors and the judiciary, from the accession of Ahmad b. Tulun in 254/868 until the arrival of the Fatimids in 358/969. Several elements are taken into consideration: (1) The institutional links between political power and the judiciary: Who appointed the qadis? How were they selected? Did the government choose to rely on local scholars or did the qadis come from outside the province? (2) The financial connection between the governors and the qadis, which was not only symbolic of the delegation of power, but could also denote the submission of the judiciary to the government. (3) The daily interactions between the qadis and the governors. (4) The judicial practice of the qadis. (5) Their reputation. I study to what extent the judiciary and its control was a political issue for the Tulunids and the Ikhshidids, and how the efforts of these two dynasties to build an Egyptian autonomy had important consequences on the structure of the legal milieu

Pemberton, Kelly. Women Mystics and Sufi Shrines in India. 233 pp. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2010.

Currently there is an unattached link between the study of social influence in experimental psychology and bad faith in the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. The methods of psychology and philosophy differ significantly and can be integrated into a unified whole to provide enhanced insight into a topic of investigation compared to what can be achieved separately in each of these disciplines. The goal of this paper is to review the social influence literature with the aim of expositing, integrating and synthesising the findings with Sartre’s analysis of bad faith and authenticity. As a result, this paper aims to uncover the scientific findings that provide clarification to the findings of bad faith in Sartre’s existential philosophy. Precisely, this paper will provide concrete and descriptive empirical examples of the experimental causes and conditions that appear to be identified by participants as a reason to act in bad faith. Specifically, this paper provides evidence that bad faith appears to arise when an individual believes she should be accurate or affiliated with the group. An analysis of the concepts that are necessary to understand bad faith will also be reviewed to uncover the arguments that provide clarification to understanding conformity found in the social influence literature. This paper will benefit both psychologists and philosophers by bridging these two fields of investigation. Further work with the integration of these findings into existential psychotherapy is encouraged and described throughout