Academic literature on the topic 'The Orthodox Caliphs'

Abstract Using analyses of myths and fieldwork material, the article studies the way Yezidis, a small ethno-religious group of the Middle East, appropriated the Muslim figure of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, the second Umayyad caliph. In his Yezidi myth, he appears as a divine being who was incarnated on earth in order to subvert sharia and replace it with a more spiritual form of Islam, equated with the Yezidi religion at the time the myth was composed. The myth is constructed around the historical reputation of Yazīd as an antinomian figure, but interprets it in a way that mocks orthodox Islam and echoes the ethos of Yezidi religion. In their turn, the Prophet Muhammad and Caliph Muʿāwiya appear as inferior figures, representing a religious tradition that is superseded by Yazīd’s arrival. The myth throws light on the historical development of Yezidi religion, as it reflects an earlier stage, when Yezidis considered orthodox Islam a related, albeit rival and inferior, form of religion. However, today, as Yezidis emphasize their distance from anything related with Islam and Arabic culture, the myth may come to be rejected despite its profoundly Yezidi nature.

The article examines the formation of religious-anthropological traditions formed within the framework of Byzantine Christianity and medieval Arab-Muslim philosophy. The views of the Greek-Byzantine theologian and thinker Maximus the Confessor (580–662) regarding man in the Church Fathers’ theo­logical development of the main Christian dogma of the Divine Incarnation of Jesus Christ are presented. In terms of philosophical comparativism, the an­thropological concepts of St. Maximus and the most outstanding representative of Islam, the founder of the Sufi philosophical-theological system of the Middle Ages, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) are compared. Both the common fea­tures of the theology and philosophy of these thinkers and the differences in their anthropological doctrines are demonstrated. One point of intersection is the philosophical idea of the perfect man, which was formed by the Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers and al-Ghazali and based on which they created a broader philosophical-theological understanding of man in his relationship to the Creator. The authors indicate how the idea of human perfection was real­ized in the relation God-man-world ontologically and epistemologically from the perspectives of Eastern Patristics and Sufism. The integrity of the spiritual-bodily man in the orthodox doctrine of Byzantine Christianity is shown. Al-Ghazali’s doctrine of man is substantiated as a conceptual comprehension of man’s place as a caliph – the deputy of God on earth – in the world’s system created by the deity.

In 1924 the Dutch journalist and poet Jacob Israel de Haan was assassinated in Jerusalem by members of the Zionist Haganah. His death has been described as the price he paid for his struggle on behalf of the Palestine Arabs. He was labeled therefore as the Jewish (or even Dutch) Lawrence of Arabia. Indeed, in his writings De Haan pointed out the incompatibility of Zionist demands with Arab expectations. Yet he was in the first place a champion of Jewish orthodoxy as represented by Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld, the leader of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem. His quarrel with the Zionist Organization crystallized around their claim also to represent Jewish orthodoxy. Because of De Haan’s efforts the British Colonial Office in London did not combine the Sonnenfeldgroup into the Zionist Chief rabbinate as had been planned by High Commissioner Herbert Samuel. The Zionist Organization became nervous about De Haan’s propaganda. Extracting from King-Caliph Husayn of the Hedjaz in February 1924 a statement that His Highness considered the ‘godless’ Zionism a danger for Islam was De Haan’s last diplomatic act. This was denounced at the instigation of Frederick Kisch, the political Zionists' chief in Jerusalem, and probably sealed De Haan’s fate, following a number of other threats in the previous years.

В статье рассматривается изменение архитектурного облика Храма Гроба Господня под влиянием законодательных актов, на протяжении длительного периода регулировавших правовой статус христианских общин в этом грандиозном сооружении. Несмотря на то что значительная часть документов публиковалась в научной литературе, впервые предпринимается попытка рассмотрения документов в длительной перспективе: начиная с грамоты халифа Умара Ахтинаме, 638 г., до доклада секретариата Согласительной комиссии ООН, 1949 г. Цель исследования - определить наиболее значимые аспекты жизни храма и наиболее яркие эпизоды интенсивной борьбы христианских конфессий за право владения святынями храма, оказавшие влияние на формирование его архитектурного облика, попытаться выявить максимально достоверные сведения о пребывании в храме христианских монашеских общин. В статье ограниченно поданы сведения о пребывании некоторых конфессий, и главное внимание уделено взаимоотношениям греков и латинян, внесших основной вклад в сложение структуры храма. В настоящее время Храм Воскресения в Иерусалиме разделен между шестью христианскими конфессиями: греческая православная, римская католическая, армянская апостольская, сирийская православная, коптская православная, эфиопская православная церквями. Основные права на владение святыней и, следовательно, на внутреннее пространство храма имеют греки (греко-иерусалимская патриархия), латиняне (католический орден францисканцев) и армяне (представители армяно-апостольской церкви), в то время как копты, сирийцы и абиссинцы пользуются малыми правами. Но и по сей день споры, связанные с владением отдельными престолами и приделами храма, не прекращаются. Актуальность исследования, посвященного детальному рассмотрению споров между христианскими общинами, в результате которых менялся облик храма, позволит определить степень сохранности памятника в его первоначальном виде (IV в.). The article discusses the change in architectural appearance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher under the influence of legislative acts regulating the legal status of Christian communities at the Church itself. Despite the fact that a considerable part of the documents were published in the scientific literature, for the first time an attempt is made to consider older documents (beginning with the letter of the Caliph Umar Ahtiname, 638, to the Working Paper prepared be the Secretariat, UNCCP, 1949). The aim of the research is to identify the most significant aspects of the Holy Sepulchre history, the most striking episodes of the intensive struggle between religions for the right to own the shrine, and what influenced the formation of its architectural appearance. The report will also try to reveal the most reliable information about the adobe of Christian monastic communities in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The article provides limited information on the presence of certain confessions, and the main attention is paid to the relationship between the Greeks and the Latins, who made the main contribution to the structure of the Church. Currently, the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem is divided between six Christian denominations: Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox Churches. The main rights to the possession of the shrine and, therefore, to the inner space of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belong to the Greeks (the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem), the Latins (the Catholic Order of Friars Minor) and Armenians (representatives of the Armenian Apostolic Church), while the Copts, Syrians and Abyssinians use lesser rights. To this day disputes related to the possession of altars and chapels at the Church of the Resurrection are ongoing. The relevance of the study, devoted to the detailed consideration of disputes between Christian communities, as a result of which the appearance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre changed, will allow to determine the degree of preservation of the monument in its original form (4th century).