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International pre-primary maths teaching guide: Year 1 workbooks A and B

Yasmeen Mehboob and Arif Karedia

This new series for pupils of pre-primary classes (Pre-nursery, Nursery and KG) comprises 6 workbooks that carry all the concepts necessary to develop skills associated with numbers for this level.

The colourfully illustrated workbooks teach number counting and writing, patterns, sequencing, one more, one less, shapes, money, and fractions besides many other concepts to prepare pupils for the primary level mathematics. Each level of 2 workbooks is accompanied by a guide with lesson plans and additional activities.

Each workbook has an interactive CD for further practice.
International pre-primary maths teaching guide: Year 2 workbooks A and B

Yasmeen Mehboob and Arif Karedia

This new series for pupils of pre-primary classes (Pre-nursery, Nursery and KG) comprises 6 workbooks that carry all the concepts necessary to develop skills associated with numbers for this level.

The colourfully illustrated workbooks teach number counting and writing, patterns, sequencing, one more, one less, shapes, money, and fractions besides many other concepts to prepare pupils for the primary level mathematics. Each level of 2 workbooks is accompanied by a guide with lesson plans and additional activities.

Each workbook has an interactive CD for further practice.
International pre-primary maths teaching guide: Year 3 workbooks A and B

Yasmeen Mehboob and Arif Karedia

This new series for pupils of pre-primary classes (Pre-nursery, Nursery and KG) comprises 6 workbooks that carry all the concepts necessary to develop skills associated with numbers for this level.

The colourfully illustrated workbooks teach number counting and writing, patterns, sequencing, one more, one less, shapes, money, and fractions besides many other concepts to prepare pupils for the primary level mathematics. Each level of 2 workbooks is accompanied by a guide with lesson plans and additional activities.

Each workbook has an interactive CD for further practice.
The Sphero-Conical Vessel: Name, Object and Usage

Stephane Pradines

Special issue: Journal of Islamic archaeology 3-2 Equinox, Sheffield
Volume 7: Shaping Global Islamic Discourses : The Role of al-Azhar, al-Medina and al-Mustafa

Masooda Bano and Keiko Sakurai

Claims abound that Saudi oil money is fueling Salafi Islam in cultural and geographical terrains as disparate as the remote hamlets of the Swat valley in Pakistan and sprawling megacities such as Jakarta. In a similar manner, it is often regarded as a fact that Iran and the Sunni Arab states are fighting proxy wars in foreign lands.

This empirically grounded study challenges the assumptions prevalent within academic as well as policy circles about the hegemonic power of such Islamic discourses and movements to penetrate all Muslim communities and societies.

Through case studies of academic institutions, the volume illustrates how transmission of ideas is an extremely complex process, and that the outcome of such efforts depends not just on the strategies adopted by backers of those ideologies but equally on the characteristics of the receipt communities.

In order to understand this complex interaction between global and local Islam and the plurality in outcomes, the volume focuses on the workings of three universities with global outreach (Al-Azhar University in Egypt, International Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, and Al-Mustafa International University in Iran) whose graduating students carry the ideas acquired during their education back to their own countries, along with, in some cases, a zeal to reform their home society.

Masooda Bano is Associate Professor and University Research Lecturer at the Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford; Keiko Sakurai is Professor at the Faculty of International Research and Education, School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Tales from a Gynecologist

Alfred Murage

Ever wondered what goes through your Gynecologist’s mind as you (or your significant other) prepare to bare all on the examination couch?

Tales From A Gynecologist provides a unique behind the scenes perspective on the day to day encounters experienced in a busy Gynecological practice. Dr Murage’s humorous and compassionate anecdotes will have you splitting your sides with laughter……and often surreptitiously wiping away a tear or two as well. From fibroids and hormonal imbalances to the taboo subjects of transgender disorder and infertility, and even touching on weird and wonderful advances in medicine such as microwave therapy and medical droids, this deeply heart warming book will surprise, entertain and at times even shock you.

Guaranteed to cure you of any gynecological jitters, this book is a must read for anyone who’s ever felt nervous about visiting their Gynecologist.
Working with, against, and despite global 'best practices': Educational conversations around the globe

Sarfaroz Niyozov and Paul Tarc
Volume 6: Contemporary Islamic Law in Indonesia : Sharia and Legal Pluralism

Arskal Salim

Indonesia has probably the fastest changing legal system in the Muslim world. This book represents the first ethnographic account of legal pluralism in the post-conflict and disaster situation in Aceh. It addresses changes in both the national legal system and the regional legal structure in the province.

Focusing on the encounter between diverse patterns of legal reasoning advocated by multiple actors and by different institutions (local, national and international; official and unofficial; judicial, political and social cultural) it considers the vast array of issues arising in the wake of the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh.

It investigates disputes about rights to land and other forms of property, power relations, the conflict of rules, gender relationships, the right to make decisions, and prevailing norms. The cases involve various actors from villages, the courts, the provincial government and the legislature, the national Supreme Court and the central government of Indonesia.

Arskal Salim is Senior Lecturer at the Religion and Society Research Centre, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
In Search of Relevance and Sustainability of Educational Change : An International Conference at Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development

Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development
Cities as Built and Lived Environments: Scholarship from Muslim Contexts, 1875 to 2011

Aptin Khanbaghi

The rich diversity of the Muslim world is strikingly expressed through its myriad of cities.

Volume 3 of the MCA series presents abstracts of scholarship examining socio-cultural and cosmopolitan processes with aspects of material culture in contemporary and historic urban contexts. The abstracts, in English, Arabic and Turkish, examine cities as built (architecture and urban infrastructure) and lived (urban social life and culture) environments.

Crucial topics such as urban growth are included in abstracts about infrastructural and environmental issues, as well as migration from rural areas to cities.

The topics related to cities and urban life which are discussed in these abstracts demonstrate that concerns vary among Muslim majority countries, and from one decade to another.
An itinerant observer

Asad Mian and Riaz Khan

"An Itinerant Observer pulls you in gently and takes you along on an always absorbing and often moving ride, traversing cultures, identities, perspectives, and paradigms. Asad Mian's prose is deft and direct, his style fluent and intimate. This is a very welcome new voice in the flourishing genre of South Asian fiction.
Volume 5: Genealogy and Knowledge in Muslim Societies : Understanding the Past

Sarah Bowen Savant and Helena de Felipe

Genealogy is one of the most important and authoritative organising principles of Muslim societies.

From the Prophet’s day to the present, ideas about kinship and descent have shaped tribal, ethnic, sectarian and other identities. An understanding of genealogy is therefore vital to our understanding of Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge.

This book addresses the subject through a range of case studies that link genealogical knowledge to the particular circumstances in which it was created, circulated and promoted. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, and the interests this malleability served.
The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest : the Arab Spring and Beyond

Pnina Werbner, Martin Webb, and Kathryn Spellman-Poots

A remarkable feature of the Arab Spring and other protests that followed in Egypt, India, Botswana and the UK, among other places, has been the salience of images, songs, videos, humour, satire and dramatic performances.

This book explores the central role the aesthetic played in energising the mass mobilisations of young people, the disaffected, the middle classes, the apolitical silent majority, as well as enabling solidarities and alliances among democrats, workers, trade unions, civil rights activists and opposition parties.

Comparing the North African and Middle Eastern uprisings with protest movements such as Occupy, the authors bring to bear an anthropological and sociological approach from a variety of perspectives, illuminating the debate by drawing on a wide array of disciplinary expertise.
Islam and the Foundations of Political Power

Ali Abdel Razek, Maryam Loutfi, and Abdou Filali-Ansary

The publication of this essay in Egypt in 1925 took the contemporaries of Ali Abdel Razek by storm.

At a time when there was widespread turmoil over the abolition of the caliphate by Ataturk in Turkey, Ali Abdel Razek, a religious cleric trained at Al-Azhar University, argued in favour of secularism.

The abolition of the caliphate had re-ignited the question of Islam and its relationship to political power. This essay unleashed the Arab world’s first great public debate published in the press with polemics supporting or refuting Ali Abdel Razek’s ideas.
Building success in a global university: Government and academia - redefining the relationship around the world

Britta Baron and Carl Amrhein

There is a fascinating complexity of inherent to a modern, research and teaching intensive, publicly funded university. Captains of Industry whom we all have met, who know a modern university, frequently suggest it is the most complex organization they have ever encountered—much more complicated than their own businesses. The complexity of a university arises from shared decision making (sometimes called collegial governance), academic freedom, and the personalities of the dominant group of individuals—the tenured professors.
Understanding the Qur’an Today

Mahmoud Hussein and David Bond

In Islam, there is a long tradition of interpretation regarding the meaning and significance of Divine revelation, reflecting a plurality of views.

This book argues that whereas God transcends time, His Word is inscribed within time. It is not a monologue, but a living exchange, through which God reveals to His Prophet different orders of truth, weaving together the absolute and the relative, the general and the particular, the eternal and the contingent.

An international bestseller, Understanding the Qur’an Today offers a contemporary perspective on one of the world’s most influential texts and adds an invaluable contribution to the debate on Islam and modernity.
The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran

Sarah Savant

How do converts to a religion come to feel an attachment to it? The New Muslims of Post-Conquest Iran answers this important question for Iran by focusing on the role of memory and its revision and erasure in the ninth to eleventh centuries. During this period, the descendants of the Persian imperial, religious and historiographical traditions not only wrote themselves into starkly different early Arabic and Islamic accounts of the past but also systematically suppressed much knowledge about pre-Islamic history. The result was both a new 'Persian' ethnic identity and the pairing of Islam with other loyalties and affiliations, including family, locale and sect. This pioneering study examines revisions to memory in a wide range of cases, from Iran's imperial and administrative heritage to the Prophet Muhammad's stalwart Persian companion, Salman al-Farisi, and to memory of Iranian scholars, soldiers and rulers in the mid-seventh century.
Universal Primary Education (UPE): Drop-outs in Northern Uganda

Judith Akello Abal and Anil Khamis

Lira District implemented the policy of Universal Primary Education (UPE) after it was adopted by the government of Uganda in 1997 in line with presidential manifesto. It was set to enable all school-going age children attend free primary education. The broad policy framework was to empower and liberate citizens from illiteracy though basic education. Despite high enrolment rate (UNESCO, 2000; MOES, 2005), schools especially in rural areas registered high dropout rates due to school related problems such as poor learning environment and household level factors. The study addresses the issue of rate and causes of UPE dropouts while focusing on relevance of UPE curriculum in meeting the needs of school dropouts and how stakeholders should handle this problem. The research was conducted using mixed-method approach and multiple participants; combining documentary analysis and interview. The findings show that parents and community should play the role in furthering UPE which needs revitalizing. Finally, there should be an intervention by Ministry in revisiting budgetary allocation in order to upscale provision of teaching, learning facilities and feeding programme.
Under the drones: Modern lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan borderlands

Shahzad Bashir and Robert D. Crews

In the West, media coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan is framed by military and political concerns, resulting in a simplistic picture of ageless barbarity, terrorist safe havens, and peoples in need of either punishment or salvation. Under the Drones looks beyond this limiting view to investigate real people on the ground, and to analyze the political, social, and economic forces that shape their lives. Understanding the complexity of life along the 1,600-mile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan can help America and its European allies realign their priorities in the region to address genuine problems, rather than fabricated ones.
This volume explodes Western misunderstandings by revealing a land that abounds with human agency, perpetual innovation, and vibrant complexity. Through the work of historians and social scientists, the thirteen essays here explore the real and imagined presence of the Taliban; the animated sociopolitical identities expressed through traditions like Pakistani truck decoration; Sufism’s ambivalent position as an alternative to militancy; the long and contradictory history of Afghan media; and the simultaneous brutality and potential that heroin brings to women in the area.
Moving past shifting conceptions of security, the authors expose the West’s prevailing perspective on the region as strategic, targeted, and alarmingly dehumanizing. Under the Drones is an essential antidote to contemporary media coverage and military concerns.
Education in Pakistan : Learning from research partnerships

Ayesha Bashiruddin, Zubeda Bana, and Arbab Khan Afridi
Genetic resources and traditional knowledge: Case studies and conflicting interests

Tania M. Bubela and E. Richard Gold

This fascinating study describes efforts to define and protect traditional knowledge and the associated issues of access to genetic resources, from the negotiation of the Convention on Biological Diversity to The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Nagoya Protocol. Drawing on the expertise of local specialists from around the globe, the chapters judiciously mix theory and empirical evidence to provide a deep and convincing understanding of traditional knowledge, innovation, access to genetic resources, and benefit sharing.
Because traditional knowledge was understood in early negotiations to be subject to a property rights framework, these often became bogged down due to differing views on the rights involved. New models, developed around the notion of distributive justice and self-determination, are now gaining favor. This book suggests – through a discussion of theory and contemporary case studies from Brazil, India, Kenya and Canada – that a focus on distributive justice best advances the interests of indigenous peoples while also fostering scientific innovation in both developed and developing countries.
Comprehensive as well as nuanced, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge will be of great interest to scholars and students of law, political science, anthropology and geography. National and international policymakers and those interested in the environment, indigenous peoples’ rights and innovation will find the book an enlightening resource.
Volume 3: Ethnographies of Islam : Ritual Performances and Everyday Practices

Baudouin Dupret, Thomas Pierret, Paulo G. Pinto, and Kathryn Spellman-Poots

This comparative approach to the various uses of the ethnographic method in research about Islam in anthropology and other social sciences is particularly relevant in the current climate. Political discourses and stereotypical media portrayals of Islam as a monolithic civilisation have prevented the emergence of cultural pluralism and individual freedom.

This book counters such discourses by showing the diversity and plurality of Muslim societies and by promoting reflection on how the ethnographic method allows the description, representation and analysis of the social and cultural complexity of Muslim societies in the discourse of anthropology.
The Construction of Belief : Reflections on the Thought of Mohammed Arkoun

Abdou Filali-Ansari and Aziz Esmail

Mohammed Arkoun was one of the most prominent and influential Arab intellectuals of his day. During a career spanning more than thirty years, he was revered as an outstanding research scholar, a bold critic of the theoretical tensions embedded within Islamic studies and an outspoken public figure, upholding political, social and cultural modernism.

This festschrift honours Mohammed Arkoun’s scholarship, bringing together the contributions of eleven distinguished scholars of history, religious studies and philosophy. It offers a comprehensive selection of critical engagements with Arkoun’s work, reflecting on his considerable influence on contemporary thinking about Islam and its ideological, philosophical and theological dimensions.

The authoritative reference study on the work of Mohammed Arkoun, the volume is essential reading for students and scholars of Islam, Muslim societies and cultures, modernity, religious studies, philosophy and semantics.
Interpretations of Law and Ethics in Muslim Contexts

Aptin Khanbaghi

Law within Muslim societies is not uniform; even within Muslim majority regions it can be interpreted differently according to different denominations and legal traditions. As law forms an integral part of normative social practice, reflecting the moral and ethical principles of a society, it is important to highlight the diversity of interpretations to better enable the study of law along with the ethical principles of a community.

Volume 2 of the MCA series brings together some of the many unheard voices of scholars studying law and ethics in languages other than English. It features 200 abstracts with bibliographical details in three languages (English, Arabic and Turkish), giving access to information about scholarly publications from Muslim contexts in the fields of law and sharia.
Volume 4: Cosmopolitanisms in Muslim Contexts : Perspectives from the Past

Derryl N. MacLean and Sikeena Karmali Ahmed

Cosmopolitanism is a key concept in social and political thought, standing in opposition to closed human group ideologies such as tribalism, nationalism and fundamentalism. Much recent discussion of this concept has been situated within Western self-perceptions, with little inclusion of information from Muslim contexts.

This volume redresses the balance by focusing attention on instances in world history when cosmopolitan ideas and actions pervaded specific Muslim societies and cultures, exploring the tensions between regional cultures, isolated enclaves and modern nation-states. Models are chosen from four geographic areas: The Swahili coast, the Ottoman empire/Turkey, Iran and Indo-Pakistan.