Official Reading Thread

[ZulFiqar]

I finished reading a 28 page article published by Oxford Journals (Oxford University Press) Sanctified Violence: Monotheist Militancy as the Tie that Bound Christian Rome and Islam by Thomas Sizgorich, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Dec., 2009), pp. 895 – 921

I have access to the Jstor database and occasionally download articles from there.

A short summary: It is a highly informative and fascinating read about a very controversial subject. Basically, says that the institution of Jihad in Islam is the answer to Christian monasticism and monkery. It gives a very good historical overview of the context and atmosphere in which Islam arose and the intricate relationship between violence and spirituality in that world. Very fascinating to learn about how the Christian monks were not as we think of them today. They too had a tradition of engaging in sanctified violence, and the author’s thesis is basically that Jihad in Islam is a sort of continuation of that trend, and how many of the Christian monks who converted to Islam immediately joined expeditions of Jihad seeking martyrdom as the completion of their spiritual journey.

[Zlatan Ibrahimovic]

Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_Mr._Hempher,_The_British_Spy_to_the_Middle_East

Book makes sense.

[whoaretheshia]

I'm reading the Tafsir of Qurtubi right now, as well as Sharh-Aqeedatil-Wasitiyah and a commentary (Salafi) of Aqeedah of Imam Tahawi.