This volume of collected studies in classical Arabic literature and Islam opens a window into the fascinating world of medieval Muslim scholarship. It explores issues in the intellectual heritage of Islam, which have universal appeal and are, therefore, of interest to both specialist and non-specialist readers alike.

Mathematical Methods for Signal and Image Analysis and Representation presents the mathematical methodology for generic image analysis tasks. In the context of this book an image may be any m-dimensional empirical signal living on an n-dimensional smooth manifold (typically, but not necessarily, a subset of spacetime). The existing literature on image methodology is rather scattered and often limited to either a deterministic or a statistical point of view. In contrast, this book brings together these seemingly different points of view in order to stress their conceptual relations and formal analogies. Furthermore, it does not focus on specific applications, although some are detailed for the sake of illustration, but on the methodological frameworks on which such applications are built, making it an ideal companion for those seeking a rigorous methodological basis for specific algorithms as well as for those interested in the fundamental methodology per se. Covering many topics at the forefront of current research, including anisotropic diffusion filtering of tensor fields, this book will be of particular interest to graduate and postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of computer vision, medical imaging and visual perception.

This book explores how terrorists have been portrayed in the Western media, and the wider ideological and social functions of those representations. Developing a theory of scapegoating related to narrative closure, as well as an integrated, genealogical method of intervisuality, the book proposes a new way of thinking about how political images achieve power and influence the public. By connecting modern portrayals of terrorists (post-9/11) with historical and fictional images of villains from Western cultural history, the book argues that the portrayal and punishment of terrorists in the Western media implicitly perpetuates neo-Orientalist attitudes. It also explains that by repeating these narrative patterns through a ritual of scapegoating, Western media coverage of terrorists partakes in a social process that uses punishment, dehumanization and colonialist ideas to purge the iconic ‘villain’, so as to build national unity and sustain hegemonic power following crisis.

This book is a comparative analysis of the medieval Sunni historiography of the caliphate of Uthman b. Affan and the revolt against him. By comparing treatments of Uthman in pietistic literature and universal chronicles, the work traces the gradual silencing of more critical accounts in favor of those that portray Uthman as a saintly companion of the Prophet Muhammad. Through a comparative analysis of authors between genres and time periods, this book shows how authors were able to convey their personal perspectives on important religio-political tensions that emerged through the revolt against Uthman, namely the tension between Sunnis and Shiis, religious and political authority and appeals to maintain stability and unity vs. appeals for greater justice. This last debate, which in many ways began with the revolt against Uthman, has been repeated most recently in the Arab Spring. This work therefore provides readers with helpful historical context for important contemporary debates.

In Reflecting Mirrors, East and West Enrico Boccaccini investigates the transcultural phenomenon of advice literature for rulers, commonly referred to as Mirrors for Princes, by bringing together, for the first time, texts from multiple literary traditions.

Buku ini melewati semula agenda pembaharuan dengan menelesuri tradisi yang tercerah, yang tersudut dalam sejarah serta harus dapat dikembalikan peranannya tanpa pula kita terjebak meromantiskannya, yang mengidamkan pulang ke tradisi semata-mata sebagai jalan keluar dari segala kemelut dan permasalahan yang kita hadapi. Pembaharuan akan bisa berakar sekiranya tampil di kalangan agamawan dan aktivis-santri yang bukan sahaja teryakin dari gagasan reformis, tetapi juga datang dari sekelompok tradisionalis yang tercerah. Yang terakhir ini dapat membedakan peranan tradisi yang dinamis sifatnya, sebagai gerak nilai dan budaya yang mampu menawarkan nilai-nilai ulung dan universal sepanjang perjalanan sejarah, tanpa terikat dengan pola pemikiran sesuatu zaman. Yang paling jelas, pembaharuan tradisi agama akan terbantut selagi agama tidak bergerak dalam ranah yang bebas, yakni dibelenggu dengan hegemoni konservatisme yang pantang mendengar ungkapan baru yang tidak selari dengan ideologi mereka, ataupun wacana itu sendiri senang dikotak-katikkan oleh pihak berwewenang, yang lebih cenderung untuk memaksakan fahaman dominan ke atas semua, atas nama mengekalkan kemurniaan dan kepersatuan agama dan jemaahnya.

The study of Islamic education has hitherto remained a tangential inquiry in the broader focus of Islamic Studies. In the wake of this neglect, a renaissance of sorts has occurred in recent years, reconfiguring the importance of Islam’s attitudes to knowledge, learning and education as paramount in the study and appreciation of Islamic civilization. Philosophies of Islamic Education, stands in tandem to this call and takes a pioneering step in establishing the importance of its study for the educationalist, academic and student alike. Broken into four sections, it deals with theological, pedagogic, institutional and contemporary issues reflecting the diverse and often competing notions and practices of Islamic education. As a unique international collaboration bringing into conversation theologians, historians, philosophers, teachers and sociologists of education Philosophies of Islamic Education intends to provide fresh means for conversing with contemporary debates in ethics, secularization theory, child psychology, multiculturalism, interfaith dialogue and moral education. In doing so, it hopes to offer an important and timely contribution to educational studies as well as give new insight for academia in terms of conceiving learning and education.