Contact

Site Map

  

Studies in Middle Eastern Health. J.W. Brown and Robin Barlow, Editors. 1999. 265 pages. ISBN: 0-932098-25-8.$15.95. This collection of articles stems from a two-day conference held in March of 1997 at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The book offers a selection of conference papers, along with two new papers which the editors contributed. Topics include the history of epidemiological studies in Beirut, traditions in Islamic medicine, analysis of mortality rates of Arab Israelis, health care services in Gaza, re-use of wastewater, family planning in Egypt and more.

Verbal Idioms of the Qur'an by Mustansir Mir. 1989. 378 pages. ISBN: 0-932098-21-5. $23.95. Although medieval Arabic is well represented by dictionaries composed by Muslim scholars in the Middle Ages, the language still presents many lexical difficulties for the student and the mature scholar alike. The source of most such difficulties lies in the extraordinarily large number of idioms, in particular idioms involving verbs, in which the language abounds.

Professor Mir, in addressing himself to this problem, has taken as his corpus the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam and the most important single book in Arabic literature, and has produced a contextual dictionary of verbal idioms that will be of great value to everyone interested in the Islamic religion, the Arabic language and its extensive literature. The work is no mere repetition and re-arrangement of traditional data, but possesses a high degree of originality. With many years' study of the Qur'an behind him, the author freely offers his own interpretation of difficult idioms, which adds to the interest and utility of the work. Indeed, one may hope that future lexicographers will take their cue from Professor Mir's work and produce similar dictionaries of other features of the Arabic language (from the Foreword, Professor James A. Bellamy).

Studies in Near Eastern Culture and History. James A. Bellamy, Editor. 1990. 225 pages. ISBN: 0-932098-22- 3. $18.95. This volume of over 15 essays covers a variety of disciplines and topics in Near Eastern culture and history including linguistics, literature, Islamic history and Biblical studies by a wide variety of scholars. The volume is dedicated in the memory of former CMENAS Director and Professor of Arabic and Berber Ernest T. Abdel- Massih and includes a memorial by Ernest N. McCarus.

The Jihad and Its Times. Hadia Dajani-Shakeel and Ronald A. Messier, Editors. 1991. 135 pages. ISBN: 0-932098-24-X. $13.95. In this volume the concept of jihad, or "holy struggle or war", is examined from a number of sides and in various contexts in eight essays. Contributors address such topics as the role of the caliph in jihad, Muslim reactions to the Crusades and whether or not to wage jihad as a result, a study of fortifications in Cairo in medieval times and a discussion the notion of jihad in Islamic theology. This volume is dedicated to Andrew S. Ehrenkreutz, University of Michigan Professor Emeritus of Medieval Islamic History. $13.95.