The Power of the Written Word: The Role of Literacy in the History of Western Civilization

1991 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
pp. 427
Author(s):  
Gerald O'Sullivan ◽  
Alfred Burns
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Nurul Salsabila Abu Bakar ◽  
Mohd Nazri Ahmad

The life of  Prophet Muhammad/ Sirah Rasullullah, SAW, (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is one of the written works of scholars to be featured as having played a major role in developing da'wah and Islamic Shari'ahs around the world from the past. The bond between Moslems and the prophet is strong so the Moslems can use sirah as a reference to strengthen faith, morals, foster the struggle of Islam and encourage the Muslim to hold on to the truth.  This study will highlight the role of the sirah in strengthening the social aspect of society and this will be seen based on the views of Sheikh Ramadan al-Buti. Content analysis is  used to analyze Fiqh as-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah. The data was analysed descriptively and explanatory. The findings show that the need for a sirah approach in the social aspect is high for the good of  social aspect itself. However, Syeikh Ramadan al-Buti has opened the opportunity so that the aspects of the sirah is applied to the social change of the Islamic society from time to time. The implications of the study show that the Prophet's sirah/life has succeeded in forming a good Islamic Government over the history of Western civilization. Sirah Rasulullah SAW merupakan salah satu karya penulisan ulama perlu diketengahkan kerana telah memainkan peranan yang besar dalam mengembangkan dakwah dan syariat Islam diseluruh dunia sejak dahulu lagi. Mempelajari sirah Nabi ini bukanlah semata-mata untuk mengetahui peristiwa menarik dan aneh yang berlaku di zaman Nabi SAW.Pengkajian sirah ini juga bukan sekadar ingin mengetahui peristiwa-peristiwa yang telah melakar sejarah sebagaimana kajian-kajian sejarah yang lain sebagai contoh sejarah hidup seorang khalifah atau sejarah tamadun yang silam. Sirah juga bukanlah sekadar satu kisah yang dibaca pada hari keputeraan baginda SAW sahaja. Apa yang lebih besar sebenarnya adalah ikatan seseorang Muslim dengan Rasulnya sehinggakan pada akhirnya Muslim itu berjaya menjadikan sirah sebagai sesuatu yang dapat menambahkan iman, memperelok akhlak, menyemarakkan perjuangan Islam serta dapat mendorong Muslim itu untuk terus berpegang dengan kebenaran dan seterusnya istiqamah kepadanya. Kajian ini akan mengetengahkan peranan sirah dalam mengukuhkan aspek sosial masyarakat dan perkara ini akan dilihat berdasarkan kepada pandangan Syeikh Ramadan al-Buti. Kaedah analisis kandungan akan digunakan dalam mengkaji kitab Fiqh as-Sirah an-Nabawiyyah bagi mendapatkan data. Data tersebut akan dianalisis secara deskriptif dan eksplanatori. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa keperluan pendekatan sirah dalam aspek sosial adalah tinggi bagi membentuk aspek sosial yang baik itu sendiri. Walau bagaimanapun, Syeikh Ramadan al-Buti telah membuka ruang sepenuhnya supaya aspek sirah diaplikasikan kedalam perubahan sosial masyarakat islam dari masa ke semasa. Implikasi kajian menunjukkan bahawa sirah Rasulullah telah berjaya membentuk satu Kerajaan Islam yang baik berbanding sejarah tamadun Barat yang musnah ekoran tiada sisa-sisa kemanusiaan yang dihidupkan.


Author(s):  
Laura Quick

This chapter argue that ritual behaviours might be just as good a source as literary texts for the diffusion of traditional cursing and treaty material across different cultures in the ancient Near East. In particular, the role of ad hoc oral Targum in the ritual process could have been an important means by which traditions were shared between different language communities. Recognition of the ritual context of this material also provides insights for the comparative method, the dating and authorship of Deuteronomy 28, and the subversive impetus thought to have stood behind its composition. Ultimately, the function of the written word in a largely oral world is shown to be fundamental to understanding the composition, function and the early history of the curses in the book of Deuteronomy.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-632
Author(s):  
Maria W. Piers

Discrimination against the unwed mother runs like a red thread through the history of Western civilization. It became blatant in eighteenth-century France (and Germany and, undoubtedly, in other European countries). It did not matter how the infant had been conceived, i.e., by way of rape, excessive pressure, prostitution as a means to stay alive; the father was only interesting as a source of money. Whatever punishable acts were committeed, such as abandonment or killing of a baby, the guilt was fastened exclusively on the mother, and the penalty was usually a cruel death ... the condemned woman was faced with a variety of death penalties, of which decapitation was considered the most merciful. Other means were burial alive, impalement, and "sacking" (drowning), which was frequently the penalty of choice.... The infanticidal mother was stuffed into a black sack together with a dog, a cat, a rooster, or a viper. The sack had to remain under water for six hours and the choir boys sang "Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu Dir." Then the deceased was interred.


2012 ◽  
pp. 804-815
Author(s):  
Anne DiPardo ◽  
Mike DiPardo

This chapter presents a case study detailing how geographically dispersed software developers employ writing in the process of creating and troubleshooting products for use in the healthcare industry. It focuses particularly on their efforts to arrive at language that unambiguously reflects functional requirements and optimal design principles. After a brief history of the company and the evolution of its national and international virtual collaboration practices, the authors turn to the role of text across particular task cycles, exploring the uses of writing in generating, designing, and refining plans and products. Focusing on a series of three composing sequences, the authors highlight the incremental process by which the team moves toward a shared sense of understanding and linguistic precision. They argue that in contrast to common conceptions of texts as simple containers for preformed ideas, these episodes provide a more nuanced picture, as writing comes to play a central role in constituting and fine-tuning meaning and in maintaining strong working relationships throughout the processes of developing and refining products. They close with implications for preparing diverse virtual teams for participation in tasks that demand exacting uses of the written word.


1981 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 587
Author(s):  
Melvin T. L. Ang ◽  
Edward Anson ◽  
James Brodman ◽  
Thomas Kaiser

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 114-117
Author(s):  
Andrew Rippin

Qur’an manuscripts have attracted a good deal of attention from scholars, especiallyin the wake of the spectacular finds in the Great Mosque in Sanaa in1972. Some might suggest that this attention is superfluous or even reflectiveof a willful ignoring of the significance of the scripture’s oral transmissionand a privileging of the written word over the oral. However, careful studiesof these manuscripts tell us many things, such as early Muslim attitudes towardthe text, that cannot be documented otherwise. In fact, early manuscriptsare the only tangible source about the oral tradition itself. We can also see thatchanges in appearance in early manuscripts provide evidence of the perceptionand role of such copies and that this went through a significant transformation,especially during the Umayyad period (661-750).Studies done by knowledgeable scholars do not aim to establish an “original”text or to find fault with the modern version; rather, they aim to focuson such matters as the history of the Arabic script’s development and howmanuscripts were used. Of course, such early manuscripts also provide evidenceof textual variation, the precise dimensions of which have not alwaysbeen preserved by Muslim tradition. It is worth reiterating, however, that thesevariations are never of such extent that one can doubt the integrity of the textor its doctrinal or legal contents. Overall, the study of early Qur’an manuscriptsis a challenging task, subject to much scholarly speculation and thusdifference of opinion, especially due to the absence of colophons on the availabletexts thought to stem from the Umayyad period. This is generally the resultof the lost first and last pages in such manuscripts, for they are the first tobecome worn and detached and then disappear. Most of those manuscriptsavailable to us today are in a highly fragmented condition.François Déroche is the world’s leading scholar on matters related toQur’an manuscripts. The vast majority of his writing until now has been inFrench; his masterful examination of a single early exemplar, La transmissionécrite du Coran dans les débuts de l’islam, appeared in 2009. Thus many readersto whom his scholarship has not otherwise been accessible will welcomethis book written in English and marketed in a relatively inexpensive paperbackformat. The work originated as a series of four lectures given at the LeidenUniversity Centre for the Study of Islam and Society in 2010. Thoselectures were primarily the result of an extensive use of the resources held inIstanbul’s Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum ...


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