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Hamid Algar, born in England in 1940, received his
formal training in Islamic studies at Cambridge University,
from which he received his Ph.D. in 1965. Since 1965, he has
been teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, a
wide range of courses including tafsir, Sufism, Shi'ism, the
history of Islam in Iran, Arabic, Persian and Turkish
literature. Madhahib:
The Main Schools of Islamic Law, their Principles and
History.
The topic of Islamic law is a source of confusion to many,
people despite its great importance and the concern
increasingly shown for it. It is frequently imagined that it
constitutes a more or less fixed and finite body of
ordinances, akin to man made systems of law. This lecture
seeks to delineate the distinctive features of Islamic law,
above all its interplay between fixed principles and varying
applications, and examines the historical evolution of the
law with respect to the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence
and the Ja'fari legal school of Shi'i Islam. Running Time: I
Hour 10 Minutes.
VIIB098 VIDEO $ 12.00
AUIP 024 CASSETTE $ 5.00
Imam Abu Hamid Ghazali:
An Exponent of Islam in Its Totality
If a list of the half dozen most important figures in the
historical elaboration of Islam were to be drawn up, there
can be no doubt that Abu Hamid Ghazali would figure on that
list. As a versatile and gifted scholar and, more
importantly, a believer of great spiritual insight., he
confronted all the intellectual and spiritual currents of
his day and elaborated what might be called a defining
synthesis of Sunni Islam. He achieved this result through
both lengthy personal experience and erudition., and this
lecture deals, therefore, both with his life and his works,
as well as attempting to assess his impact on the religious
history of Islam. Running Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
VIIB097 VIDEO $ 12.00
AUIP 023 CASSETTE $ 5.00
The Qur'an:
The Revelation & Recording of The Text
A full understanding of what is meant by revelation is
ultimately inaccessible to all but the prophetic recipients
of God's word. Nonetheless, the Qur'an contains numerous
references to the sending down of the divine speech and its
infusion into the mind and the heart of the Prophet (pbh).
Authentic hadith also describe some of the external and
observable phenomena that accompanied the revelation of the
Qur'an. This lecture seeks to analyze and explain the
relevant verses and traditions, and describe, too, the dual
process - oral
and written - whereby the text of the Qur'an was codified
and transmitted. Running Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
VIIB101 VIDEO $ 12.00
AUIP 025 CASSETTE $ 5.00
Sufism I:
Principles and Practice
There can be few topics in the religious and intellectual
history of Islam that have aroused as much controversy and
misunderstanding as Sufism. This is due partly to the
multiform and elusive nature of Sufism itself and partly to
the profusion of false claimants to Sufism, particularly in
recent times. The first in this two part series of lectures
attempts to clarify the principal conceptual bases of Sufism
and the way in which it may legitimately claim to be derived
from both the Qur'an and the Sunnah; the varying levels of
religious understanding and practice and of moral progress
that can be deduced from those two sources of Islam; and the
key practice of dhikr . The second traces the main lines in
the historical development of Sufism, with attention both to
individuals and organizational forms. Running Time: 1 Hr 10
Min.
VIIB105 VIDEO $ 12.00
AUIP 027 CASSETTE $ 5.00
Sufism II:
Historical Development
There can be few topics in the religious and intellectual
history of Islam that have aroused as much controversy and
misunderstanding as Sufism. This is due partly to the
multiform and elusive nature of Sufism itself and partly to
the profusion of false claimants to Sufism, particularly in
recent times. The first in this two part series of lectures
attempts to clarify the principal conceptual bases of Sufism
and the way in which it may legitimately claim to be derived
from both the Qur'an and the Sunnah; the varying levels of
religious understanding and practice and of moral progress
that can be deduced from those two sources of Islam; and the
key practice of dhikr . The second traces the main lines in
the historical development of Sufism, with attention both to
individuals and organizational forms. Running Time 1Hr 10
Min
VIIB106 VIDEO $ 12.00
AUIP 028 CASSETTE $ 5.00
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