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Becoming ‘Good Muslim’: The Tablighi Jamaat in the UK and Bangladesh
by Bulbul SiddiqiThe book uses an ethnographic approach to explore why the Tablighi Jamaat movement remains so successful in contemporary times. It shows that this success results from the positive image that it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers, and that the organisation's apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community all help to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. The book also argues that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers within a Tablighi-guided life, which is perceived as protection against the Western lifestyle. Many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle are considered non-Islamic, and so by clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic in modern society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims.
Bede and the End of Time (Studies In Early Medieval Britain And Ireland Ser.)
by Peter DarbyBede (c. 673-735) was the leading intellectual figure of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and his writings had a profound influence on the development of English Christian thought. Among the many issues he wrote about, eschatology - the study of the day of judgment and the end of time - was a recurring theme. Whilst recent research has furthered our knowledge of this subject in the later Middle Ages, Dr Darby's book provides the first comprehensive analysis of Bede's eschatological thought and its impact upon the Anglo-Saxon period. Taking account of Bede's beliefs about the end of time, this book offers sophisticated insights into his life, his works and the role that eschatological thought played in Anglo-Saxon society. Close attention is given to the historical setting of each source text consulted, and original insights are advanced regarding the chronological sequence of Bede's writings. The book reveals that Bede's ideas about time changed over the course of his career, and it shows how Bede established himself as the foremost expert in eschatology of his age. The eight chapters of this book are organised into three main thematic groups: the world ages framework, Bede's eschatological vision and Bede's eschatological perspective. It will be of interest to those studying early medieval history, theology or literature as well as anyone with a particular interest in Bede and Anglo-Saxon England.
Bedeviled: Jinn Doppelgangers in Islam and Akbarian Sufism (SUNY series in Islam)
by Dunja RašićGhouls, ifrits, and a panoply of other jinn have long haunted Muslim cultures and societies. These also include jinn doppelgangers (qarīn, pl. quranāʾ), the little-studied and much-feared denizens of the hearts and blood of humans. This book seeks out jinn doppelgangers in the Islamic normative tradition, philosophy, folklore, and Sufi literature, with special emphasis on Akbarian Sufism.Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) wrote on jinn in substantial detail, uncovering the physiognomy, culture, and behavior of this unseen species. Akbarians believed that the good God assigned each human with an evil doppelganger. Ibn ʿArabī’s reasoning as to why this was the case mirrors his attempts to expound the problem of evil in Islamic religious philosophy. No other Sufi, Ibn ʿArabī claimed, ever managed to get to the heart of this matter before him. As well as offering the reader knowledge and safety from evil, Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on jinnealogy tackle the even larger issues of spiritual ascension, predestination, and the human relationship to the Divine.
Bedeviled: Lewis, Tolkien and the Shadow of Evil
by Colin DuriezThe battle between good and evil—in both the seen and unseen worlds—was as clearly at play in the era of C. S. Lewis and his friends in the Oxford literary group, the Inklings, as in our own era. Some of the members of the Inklings carried physical and psychological scars from World War I which led them to deeply consider the problem of evil during the dark era of World War II. Were they alive today, their view of a spiritual conflict behind physical battles would undoubtedly be reinforced. Among the Inklings, Lewis was at the forefront of writing on human pain, suffering, devilry, miracles and the supernatural, with books like The Screwtape Letters and more. It is no surprise, then, that he provides the main focus of this book by expert Inklings writer Colin Duriez. J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy offers another rich resource with much to say to the World War II era and beyond. Other Inklings writings and conversations come into play as well as Duriez explores the writers' considerations of evil and spiritual warfare, particularly focused in the context of wartime. Delving into the interplay between good and evil, these pages enlighten us to the way of goodness and the promise of a far country as we explore the way out of the shadow of evil.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Wonder of the Age
by Ramazan BalciIn the many dimensions of his lifetime of achievement as well as in his personality and character, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960) was and, through his continuing influence, still is an important thinker and writer in the Muslim world. At a time when science and philosophy were tools of an aggressive ideology of secularism, Nursi strove for the revival of an Islamic consciousness. Even though his nonviolent stance was clear, he was seen as a potential danger and exiled to different corners of Anatolia. During the exile, he started writing his magnum opus &“Risale-i Nur&” (Epistles of Light), by which he aimed to guide people to the truths of faith and make them understand the Qur&’an correctly. This book provides a summary of this hard but fruitful life, spent in the way of faith.
Bedouin Culture in the Bible
by Clinton BaileyThe first contemporary analysis of Bedouin and biblical cultures sheds new light on biblical laws, practices, and Bedouin history Written by one of the world’s leading scholars of Bedouin culture, this groundbreaking book sheds new light on significant points of convergence between Bedouin and early Israelite cultures, as manifested in the Hebrew Bible. Bailey compares Bedouin and biblical sources, identifying overlaps in economic activity, material culture, social values, social organization, laws, religious practices, and oral traditions. He examines the question of whether some early Israelites were indeed nomads as the Bible presents them, offering a new angle on the controversy over the identity of the early Israelites and a new cultural perspective to scholars of the Bible and the Bedouin alike.
Bedouin and ‘Abbāsid Cultural Identities: The Arabic Majnūn Laylā Story (Culture and Civilization in the Middle East)
by Ruqayya Yasmine KhanThis literary-historical book draws out and sheds light upon the mechanisms of "the ideological work" that the Arabic Majnūn Laylā story performed for ‘Abbāsid urbanite, imperial audiences in the wake of the disappearance of the "Bedouin cosmos." The study focuses upon the processes of primitivizing Majnūn in the romance of Majnūn Laylā as part of the paradigm shift that occurred in the ‘Abbāsid empire after the Greco-Arabian intellectual revolution. Moreover, this book demonstrates how gender and sexuality are employed in the processes of primitivizing Majnūn. As markers of "strangeness" and "foreignness" in the ‘Abbāsid interrogations of the multiple categories of ethnicity, culture, identity, religion and language present in their cosmopolitan milieus. Such "cultural work" is performed through the ideological uses of alterity given its mechanisms of distancing (e.g., temporal and spatial) and nearness (e.g., affective). Lastly, the Majnūn Laylā love story demonstrates, in its text and reception, that a Greco-Arabian and Greco-Persian subculture thrived in the centers of ‘Abbāsid Baghdad that molded and shaped the ways in which this love story was compiled, received and performed. Offering a corrective to the prevailing views expressed in Western scholarly writings on the Greco-Arabian encounter, this book is a major contribution to scholars and students interested in Islamic studies, Arabic and comparative literature, Middle East and gender studies.
Bedrock Faith: A Novel
by Eric Charles MayOne of O, The Oprah Magazine's Ten Books to Pick Up Now, April 2014Named a Notable African-American Title by Publishers Weekly"In this vivid, suspenseful, funny, and compassionate novel of epiphanies, tragedies, and transformations, May drills down to our bedrock assumptions about ourselves, our values, and our communities. As sturdy as a Chicago bungalow and bursting with life, May's debut is perfect for book clubs."--Booklist (starred review)"May's expansive first novel reveals the complicated emotional economy that holds together a neighborhood in crisis...May's vivid descriptions of the rhythms of life in the suburb...reveal vibrant lives in ordinary houses."--Publishers Weekly"May slowly builds suspense as he persuasively unfolds the narrative in this work that reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The characters, even those whose names are never mentioned, are versatile and relatable, and May's descriptions embody a tapestry of words."--Library Journal"May 'persuasively unfolds the narrative,' and critics are buzzing."--Library Journal, naming Bedrock Faith a "Best Debut" for Spring"A perceptive and entrancing meditation on friendship and family, love and forgiveness."--Kirkus Reviews"Bedrock Faith is a strong, engaging novel--full of warmth and charm and honesty."--Bookforum"Bedrock Faith isn't a short read, but it's a rich one, and the characters are engaging."--Ebony Mag"Fast-paced...suspenseful and meditative in equal measure."--Chicago Reader"A compelling look at a tight-knit community battling a threat from within."--Chicago Social Magazine"Eric Charles May and James Baldwin share more than skin color and writing passion. They are masters of the complicated operas that unfold in a particular place, of the complexities and frailties of mankind. Bedrock Faith is May's first novel, and since approaching Baldwin is no idle feat, one only hopes he'll write more."--Newcity"The depth and the magnetism and the humor of Eric Charles May's truly unforgettable characters makes this a neighborhood well worth visiting."--New York Journal of Books"Bedrock Faith is an entertaining and heartfelt novel, and it provides an important look at a side of Chicago that is under-represented in today's literary fiction."--Chicago Center for Literature and Photography"Once I got started, I could not put [Bedrock Faith] down. I couldn't wait to see what was coming next, which of the neighbors would get their comeuppance and who would emerge as the final victor, Stew Pot or the people of Parkland."--Read for Pleasure"Eric Charles May is a gem of a writer."--I've Read This"Eric Charles May's first novel is delightful to read. There are a host of characters, each given the opportunity to tell their story, and there is plenty of action. Readers are welcomed into Parkland from the first page."--Reeling and Writhing and Fainting in Coils"A wonderful urban novel full of vitality and pathos and grit. I dug the ever-living hell out of it."--Dennis Lehane, author of Live By Night"In Bedrock Faith, Eric Charles May has created a world inhabited by unforgettable, believable characters-the fervid Stew Pot Reeves, the patient Mrs. Motley-who will linger in your heart long after you've finished their story. A bittersweet, timeless book."--Valerie Wilson Wesley, author of Dying in the Dark"An impressive debut with unforgettable characters and an epic story line by an author who has appeared on the literary landscape fully formed."--Colin Channer, author of The Girl with the Golden ShoesAfter fourteen years in prison, Gerald "Stew Pot" Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. A frightening delinquent before being sent away, his return sends Parkland residents into a religiously infused tailspin, which only increases when Stew Pot announces that he experienced a religious awakening in prison.
Bedside Blessings
by Charles R. Swindoll365 inspirational thoughts from one of America's most beloved Christian authors. Bedside Blessings is a perfect resource for men and women alike who want to begin or end their day with a heart focused on God. Written by well-loved pastor Charles Swindoll, each "Blessing" includes a daily scripture and a short encouraging devotional for meditation. This compact, cloth hardcover book is ideal for bedside nightstands and is a wonderful gift for any occasion.
Bedside Prayers: Prayers & Poems For When You Rise and Go to Sleep
by June CotnerA delightful little nightstand companion to make prayera natural part of every day.Greet the day with a celebration of sunrise -- and close it with deep appreciation for life's daily gifts and lessons. Here in one charming volume -- compiled by the author of the popular gift book Graces find an uplifting collection of readings, prayers and poems arranged in specific sections to make the joys of prayer a simple, natural part of each day. Special prayers bring motivation to Morning, and lullabies and musings help us focus on the peace of Nightfall. Other readings offer inspiration or comfort or guide us gently through private Reflections. Bedside Prayers is a lovely little gift book for anyone who would like to make the enjoyment of daily prayer as constant as the risings and settings of the sun.
Bedtime Bible Story Book: 365 Read-aloud Bedtime Bible Stories
by Daniel PartnerThe Bedtime Bible Story Book, written specifically for ages three to eight years, has a year's supply of the best-loved Bible stories your children will delight in. All the excitement, adventure, history, and spiritual truths of the Bible are skillfully presented. At the end of each story you'll even find questions to help stimulate discussion, and to help precious young minds understand God's Word. Even though this book is written for three- eight-year-old children, older children, teens, and adults can enjoy it too, whether they read it for themselves or to others. This book provides a quick summary of some of the Bible stories that allow people of all ages to start or to continue making progress towards Bible literacy.
Bedtime Devotions with Jesus
by Johnny HuntTrustworthy devotional moms and dads can use to make bedtime family time, faith time.After the busyness of the day is done, before your child nods off to sleep, snuggle up to read GodÆs Word and daily reminders about how much He loves and takes care of us.áBedtime Devotions with Jesusáis a collection of prayers and devotions written by pastors, pastorÆs wives, childrenÆs ministers, and other church leaders. In this book are valuable lessons on such topics as thankfulness, obedience, trusting God, being kind, loving others, and many more. GodÆs Word comes alive using simple language, and the devotions are featured with delightful illustrations of teddy bears. This book will teach children ages 4û8 the value and joy of spending time with God every day.Each devotional includes a scripture, a brief devotional reading, a prayer, and a meaningful takeaway that helps children build a strong foundation of faith. This is the first childrenÆs book in the hugely popular MyDailyÖ Devotional line. Devotionals for adults in the MyDaily series have sold more than 173,000 copies.Trim Size: 5.5 x 7.5
Bedtime Prayers (Little Prayers Series)
by Alan Parry Linda ParryA book for small children with poems for going to bed.
Bedtime Prayers for the Family: Ending the Day Together with Prayer
by Thomas NelsonWell beyond the traditional "now I lay me down to sleep..." this anthology of more than 100 prayers will nurture families for generations to come. The selection includes the poems of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Charles Wesley, Issac Watts, and Victor Hugo; and of course, Scripture. Appropriate for nightly use, this collection also includes prayers for special occasions-family milestones, national and religious holidays.
Bedtime Read and Rhyme Bible Stories
by Bonnie Rickner JensenOur God cares for us so much—His love is everywhere! If He sees one heart in need, His love will be right there. When Jesus finds a lamb who&’s lost,He sings a happy song!&“My lamb is safe now in My arms,Where all My sheep belong!&” Bedtime Read and Rhyme Bible Stories offers more than 90 stories from the Old and New Testaments told in delightful, rhyming verse, along with Bedtime Prayers that help young readers grasp and apply each message.Tuck in your child with rhyming reminders of God&’s great love!
Bee Season: A Novel
by Myla GoldbergBee Season is the story of a dysfunctional family searching for spiritual enlightenment in different ways.
Beekeeping in the End Times
by Larisa JašarevićEvery hundred years, as the story goes, two angels wonder out loud whether the bees are still swarming. For as long as the bees are swarming, the angels are reassured, the world holds together. Still, the tale suggests, the angels live in anxious anticipation of the End. Local beekeepers in Bosnia and Herzegovina retell the old tale with growing unease, as their honeybees weather the ground effects of climate change.Beekeeping in the End Times relates extreme weather events and quieter disasters that have been altering honey ecologies across Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2014. While world-wide endangerment of pollinators, and bees in particular, has been the subject of much global concern, effects of climate change on the indispensable honeybees,remain understudied. Drawing on a five-year long study, the book suggests that local apiarists' field observations resonate with many climate biologists' concerns and speculations about the future of plant-bee relations on the warming planet. Local practice also adds to the record complex and puzzling trends that make honey scarce in otherwise lush, biodiverse landscapes.To Bosnian Muslims, honeybees are more than pollinators. They are inspired beings whose honey is another form of divinely revelation. To appreciate the meaning of honeybees and to grasp the dire ecological catastrophe underway, Jašarević reads contemporary environmental writings and Sufi texts, she listens to the seasoned beekeepers and collects local wisdom tales. From start to finish, Jašarević pores over key Islamic texts, the Quran and the Hadith, and their popular retellings. The Islamic end-times lore, the book proposes, holds surprising lessons on how to live and strive in the 'not yet,' stalling the apocalypse.
Been There Prayed That: New Day Diva Series Book Two (New Day Divas #2)
by E. N. JoyMother Doreen has left New Day Temple of Faith in Malvonia, Ohio and moved to Kentucky to help her diabetic sister. Her sister's husband, a truck driver, pretty much lives on the road. Mother Doreen feels in her spirit that she's needed to intervene on her sister's behalf, especially when the assistant pastor of her sister's church seems to be there just a little bit too much. Her suspicions really grow when her sister's belly does too. Is it Mother Doreen's spirit of discernment warning her that things in her sister's home and church aren't what they seem, or is Mother Doreen just a busybody church mother sticking her nose where it doesn't belong?Back in Malvonia, Tamarra and Maeyl's relationship is moving along nicely. She even has a feeling that the man she knows God placed in her life is going to propose to her. But suspicions arise when someone from Maeyl's past shows up at New Day Temple of Faith, unexpected and unwelcome. Will their relationship be able to withstand the strain?Follow the New Day Divas series by E.N. Joy as this soap opera in print brings back these and all of your other favorite blessed and highly favored characters. Their antics will keep you entertained until the last page.
Beetle Bunker (The Wall #2)
by Robert ElmerBerlin, August 1961. Sabine lives in a cramped apartment with her grandmother, mother, and older half-brother, Erich, in East Berlin where neighbors spy on each other, books are forbidden, and sometimes people disappear in the middle of the night…to the west. When Sabine discovers a forgotten underground bunker, she first uses it to escape her crowded home. After the Soviets build a barrier through the middle of Berlin, Sabine thinks of a new use for the Bunker. Could it take her family under the Wall to freedom? Or are their lives in more danger than ever?
Before All Hell Breaks Loose: Preparing for the Coming Perilous Times
by Ken HutchersonPastor Ken Hutcherson is a candid commentator on the state of the modern church. He says we're living in the midst of the Seven Churches of Revelation right now. The real question for believers today is not, "What does the church think about Jesus?" but rather, "What does Jesus think about His Church?" What does He think about the passion, purity, and priorities of today's believers? Is He pleased? Grieved? Angry? Hutcherson shows how the message contained in Revelation, chapters two and three, is as up-to-date as today's headlines. This dynamic follow-up to Here Comes the Bride is the timely "wake-up call" every church -- and individual -- needs today.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Before All the World: A Novel
by Moriel Rothman-ZecherAn NPR Best Book of the YearA mesmerizing, inventive story of three souls in 1930s Philadelphia seizing new life while haunted by the old.I do not believe that all the world is darkness.In the swirl of Philadelphia at the end of Prohibition, Leyb meets Charles. They are at a former speakeasy called Cricket’s, a bar that welcomes, as Charles says in his secondhand Yiddish, feygeles. Leyb is startled; fourteen years in amerike has taught him that his native tongue is not known beyond his people. And yet here is suave Charles—fingers stained with ink, an easy manner with the barkeep—a Black man from the Seventh Ward, a fellow traveler of Red Emma’s, speaking Jewish to a young man he will come to call Lion.Lion is haunted by memories of life before, in Zatelsk, where everyone in his village, everyone except the ten non-Jews, a young poet named Gittl, and Leyb himself, was taken to the forest and killed. Then, miraculously, Gittl is in Philadelphia, too, thanks to a poem she wrote and the intervention of a shadowy character known only as the Baroness of Philadelphia. And surrounding Gittl are malokhim, the spirits of her siblings.Flowing and churning and seething with a glorious surge of language, carried along by questions of survival and hope and the possibility of a better world, Moriel Rothman-Zecher’s Before All the World lays bare the impossibility of escaping trauma, the necessity of believing in a better way ahead, and the power that comes from our responsibility to the future. It asks, in the voices of its angels, the most essential question: What do you intend to do before all the world?
Before Amen Study Guide: The Power of a Simple Prayer
by Max LucadoWe all pray . . . some. We pray to stay sober, centered, or solvent. When the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out. When the marriage is falling apart. But wouldn't we like to pray . . . more? Better? Stronger? With more fire, faith, and fervency?In this four-session video-based study, best-selling author Max Lucado reveals his struggles with prayer and how he discovered that it is not a privilege for the pious or the art of a chosen few but a simple tool everyone has been given to have a conversation with God. He shows you how to let go of uncertainties about prayer, trust that God hears you, and embrace a prayer life that brings peace and rest.Join Max Lucado on a journey to the very heart of biblical prayer and the power unleashed with five simple sentences: "Father, you are good. I need help. They need help. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen." This study guide includes leader helps, discussion questions, conversation starters, and between-session activities to enhance your understanding and application of Max's teaching.Designed for use with Before Amen: A DVD Study (978-0529-12342-8).
Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer
by Max LucadoWe all pray . . . some.We pray to stay sober, centered, or solvent. When the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out before the month does. When the marriage is falling apart. We pray.But wouldn't we like to pray more? Better? Stronger? With more fire, faith, and fervency?Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. The calendar pounces on our good intentions like a tiger on a rabbit. And what about our checkered history with prayer? Uncertain words. Unmet expectations. Unanswered requests.We aren't the first to struggle with prayer. The first followers of Jesus needed prayer guidance too. In fact, prayer is the only tutorial they ever requested.And Jesus gave them a prayer. Not a lecture on prayer. Not the doctrine of prayer. He gave them a quotable, repeatable, portable prayer. Couldn't we use the same?In Before Amen best-selling author Max Lucado joins readers on a journey to the very heart of biblical prayer, offering hope for doubts and confidence even for prayer wimps. Distilling prayers in the Bible down to one pocket-sized prayer, Max reminds readers that prayer is not a privilege for the pious nor the art of a chosen few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child. Let the conversation begin.
Before Buddha Was Buddha: Learning from the Jataka Tales
by Rafe MartinDiscover how ordinary beings—a deer, a robber, a monkey, a parrot, and more—make up the past lives of the Buddha before he was Buddha.The jataka tales are ancient Buddhist stories found in both the Pali Canon and Sanskrit tradition, recounting the many past lives and ongoing spiritual work of Shakyamuni Buddha on his way to his final birth as Siddhartha Gautama. In them we find the Buddha facing difficulties, making tough choices, doing hard work, falling down and getting back up—the kind of continuing effort of spiritual practice that all beings face. Before Buddha was Buddha focuses on a selection of particular jataka tales in which the Buddha in past lives faces temptations and struggles with self-doubt as well as his own shortcomings. In these tales he’s not beyond life’s messes—its challenges and disasters—but is down in the mix, trudging through the mud with the rest of us. Each story, presented in brief, is followed by a commentary pointing to its relevance to our lives and practice-realization today.
Before I Wake
by C. L. TaylorA mother risks everything to uncover the truth behind her daughter's botched suicide attempt To the outside world, Susan Jackson has it all-a loving family, successful husband, and beautiful home-but when Charlotte, her teenage daughter, steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma, she is forced to question all of it. Desperate to find out what caused Charlotte's suicide attempt, she discovers a horrifying entry in her diary: "keeping this secret is killing me. " As Sue spins in desperate circles, she finds herself immersed in a dark world she didn't know existed-and the closer she comes to the truth, the more dangerous things become. Can she wake up from the nightmares that haunt her and save her daughter, or will Charlotte's secret destroy them both?