Thomas Barfield introduces readers to the bewildering diversity of tribal and ethnicgroups in Afghanistan, explaining what unites them as Afghans despite the regional, cultural, and political differences that divide them. He shows how governing these peoples was relatively easy when power was concentrated in a small dynastic elite, but how this delicate political order broke downin the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when Afghanistan's rulers mobilized rural militias to expel first the British and later the Soviets. Armed insurgency proved remarkably successful against the foreign occupiers, but it also undermined the Afghan government's authority and rendered thecountry ever more difficult to govern as time passed. Barfield vividly describes how Afghanistan's armed factions plunged the country into a civil war, giving rise to clerical rule by the Taliban and Afghanistan's isolation from the world. He examines why the American invasion in the wake ofSeptember 11 toppled the Taliban so quickly, and how this easy victory lulled the United States into falsely believing that a viable state could be built just as easily. Afghanistan is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how a land conquered and ruled by foreign dynasties for morethan a thousand years became the graveyard of empires for the British and Soviets, and what the United States must do to avoid a similar fate.

    Actually, rather than signaling the decline of God's significance, Harvey COx--the Victor Thomas Professor of Religion at Harvard University--views secularization as an emancipation.

    As she was ministering to one illness-ravaged man, a visitor overheard her whisper a few words to him. These few words embody some of Mother Teresa’s most wonderful wisdom. This is what she said: You say a prayer in your religion, and I will say a prayer as I know it. Together we will say this prayer and it will be something beautiful for God.

    But what does all that mean to the modern Hindu today? Why do Hindus call themselves so? Is it merely because their parents were Hindus? In what way does the faith speak to those who profess to follow it? What does Hinduism mean to the everyday-practicing or sometimes-accessing ordinary Hindu? Away from the raucous debate around religions, this is the journey of a common Hindu—an attempt to understand why, for so many Hindus, their faith is one of the most powerful arguments for plurality, for unity in diversity, and even more than the omnipresent power of God, the sublime courage and conviction of man. Being Hindu is the exploration of Hinduism in a way you have never seen before—almost through your own eyes.

    We are taught to think of Islam as a culture wherein social code and religious law alike force women to accept male authority and surrender to the veil. How could feminism emerge under such a code, let alone flourish? Now, traveling throughout Central Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, as well as Islamic communities in the United States, acclaimed Arab Studies scholar and bestselling author Elizabeth Fernea sets out to answer that question.Fernea's dialogue with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances prompts a range of diverse and unpredictable responses, but in every country she visits, women demonstrate they are anything but passive. In Iraq, we see an 85 percent literacy rate among women; in Egypt, we see women owning their own farms; and in Israel, we see women at the very forefront of peacemaking efforts. Poor or rich, educated or illiterate, these women define their own needs, solve their own problems, and determine the boundaries of their own very real, very viable feminism. In Search of Islamic Feminism offers a groundbreaking new interpretation of the status and vision of Muslim women that will open up a new world to its readers, even as it challenges our own sense of what feminism means.

    The Journey to the Sacred Garden guides us along a well-traveled path into this extraordinary experience and includes an experiential CD of shamanic drumming and rattling, providing us with an effective, easily learned technique for expanding awareness and shifting consciousness safely. The first goal: to find our Sacred Garden, a place for personal empowerment; as well as physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual restoration. Once there, we learn through direct experience that the garden can be used as a gateway into the other levels of the inner worlds. Anthropologist Hank Wesselman, Ph.D., reveals that our garden operates by four primary rules: oEverything in the garden is symbolic of some aspect of ourselves or our life experience. oEverything in the garden can be communicated with, enhancing understanding. oThe garden can be changed by doing work. oWhen you change your garden, some part of you or your life will change in response.

    Combine this with the exponential advances in technology, and the result is an increasing number of ways to amuse ourselves.As a result of such advances, Muslim react in a variety of manners towards entertainment. Some label entertainment as completely forbidden. This sometimes includes parents who say no to almost everything that their young ones deem to be ‘fun’, without providing them with suitable alternatives. Others, who do not want to take this extreme approach, fall into the trap of excessive use of – and even addiction to – various sources of entertainment, without any limits.In Having Fun the Halal Way, Ismail Kamdar explores the teachings of Islam regarding entertainment. Drawing upon the Quran, the Sunnah and the understanding of the righteous scholars of Islam, he provides a detailed and balanced analysis of the topic. He not only explains the detriments of the current entertainment industry, but also suggests alternative means to have a good time with friends and family members.

    In this 7-week study, you will explore the “I am” sayings of Jesus found in the Gospel of John. This study will help you find and form an answer to the most essential question in the Christian faith: “Who do you say I am?”

    Most comprehensive histories devote a few chapters to the early history of India and an increasing number of pages to the more recent period, giving an impression that early history is mere background and that Indian civilization finds its fulfillment in the nation-state. Thomas R. Trautmann believes that the deep past lives on and is a valuable resource for understanding the present day and for creating a viable future. The result is a book that is short enough to read in a few sittings, but comprehensive in coverage--5,000 years of India in brief.

    As Teilhard de Chardin did in The Divine Milieu, Ilia Delio reveals the sacrament of God at work in the world. She also explores the spiritual evolution within each of us and suggests that it will change the cosmos as well as the church. She shows that we are at a stage in evolution where our choices will determine what happens next. "Love," she writes, "always seeks the best for the beloved but God is a beggar of love who waits at the soul's door without daring to force it open. The question of Christ emerging as the personal center of the universe is not a question of yes or no but a question of how that love will evolve." She makes one thing perfectly clear: it is happening and the evidence is astounding.The Emergent Christ is an antidote to the new atheism that says there is no place in evolution for God, let alone a God of love. It is also a spiritual tonic for Christians interested in understanding their place and purpose in this evolving universe.

    It contains : - Biography of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.), his companions, his wives and children. - Belief. - Pillars of Islam. - Political, economic, ethical and legal system of Islam in brief. - Sources of law. - Fiqh. - Translation of selected Suras, Verses and Ahadith.

    Babur’s honest and intimate chronicle is the first autobiography in Islamic literature, written at a time when there was no historical precedent for a personal narrative—now in a sparkling new translation by Islamic scholar Wheeler Thackston.This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes notes, indices, maps, and illustrations.

    Translated in Kannada by: Ravi BelagereOne of the best pieces of historical fiction. A very existential novel about the revolt of 1857 in British India.

    For a generation that was embodying the ebbing of the tide of faith, it articulated the huge intellectual and cultural shifts that had resulted in most people no longer having any connection with official religion. For many who, whilst still going to church, glimpsed horizons wider than those offered by traditional forms of religious thought, The Sea of Faith offered liberating freedom, encouraging them to have minds of their own in matters of faith. For many more who had abandoned the church, it once again made the wider question a matter of serious and worthwhile concern. Today, the Sea of Faith networks exist in Britain, Australia and New Zealand and the movement is known around much of the world. The Sea of Faith is rightly acknowledged as one of the most influential theological texts of recent years. With a preface by George Pattison

    The Russians, who had occupied the country throughout the 1980s, were long gone. The disparate ethnic and religious leaders who had united to eject the invaders - the famous mujaheddin - were at each others' throats. For the rural poor of Kandahar province, life was almost impossible.On 12 October 1994 a small group of religious students decided to take matters into their own hands. Led by an illiterate village mullah with one eye, some 200 of them surrounded and took Spin Boldak, a trucking stop on the border with Pakistan. From this short and unremarkable border skirmish, a legend was born. The students' numbers swelled as news of their triumph spread. The Taliban, as they now called themselves - taliban is the plural of talib, literally 'one who seeks knowledge' - had a simple mission statement: the disarmament of the population, and the establishment of a theocracy based on Sharia law. They fought with a religious zeal that the warring mujaheddin could not match.By February 1995, this people's revolt had become a national movement; 18 months later Kabul fell, and the country was effectively theirs. James Fergusson's fascinating account of this extraordinary story will be required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the situation in Afghanistan, now and for the future...