Sardar

Abstract: The economic power of US corporations and the virus-like power of American popular culture affect the lives and infect the indigenous cultures of millions around the world. The foreign policy of the US government, backed by its military strength, has unprecedented global influence now that the USA is the world's only superpower - its first 'hyperpower'. America also exports its value systems, defining what it means to be civilised, rational, developed and democratic - indeed, what it is to be human. Meanwhile, the US itself is impervious to outside influence, and if most Americans think of the rest of the world at all, it is in terms of deeply ingrained cultural stereotypes. Many people do hate America, in the Middle East and the developing countries as well as in Europe. Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies explore the global impact of America's foreign policy and its corporate and cultural power, placing this unprecedented dominance in the context of America's own perception of itself. In doing so, they consider TV and the Hollywood machine as a mirror which reflects both the American Dream and the American Nightmare. Their analysis provides an important contribution to a debate which needs to be addressed by people of all nations, cultures, religions and political persuasions.

Abstract: "I grew up reading the Qur'an on my mother's lap," writes Ziauddin Sardar. "It's an experience I share with most Muslim children. And so it is that our connection to the Qur'an is infused with associations of the warmest and most enduring of human bonds." In reading the Qur'an, Sardar - one of Europe's leading public intellectuals - laments that for far too many Muslims, the Qur'an he had learned in his mother's lap has become a stick used for ensuring conformity and suppressing dissenting views. Indeed, some find in the Qur'an justification for misogyny, validation for hatred of others, an obsession with dress and mindless ritual, rules for running modern states. Arguing passionately but reasonably against these trends, Sardar speaks out for a more open, less doctrinaire approach to reading the Qur'an. He contends that the Qur'an is not fixed in stone for all time, but a dynamic text which every generation must encounter anew, and whose relevance and implications for our time we have yet to fully discover. The words of the Qur'an imply movement: the religious life, it tells us, is not about standing still but always striving to make our life, our society, the entire world around us a better place for everyone. Sardar explores the Qur'an from a variety of perspectives, from traditional exegesis to hermeneutics, critical theory, and cultural analysis, drawing fresh and contemporary lessons from the Sacred Text. He also examines what the Qur'an says about such contemporary topics as power and politics, rights of women, suicide, domestic violence, sex, homosexuality, the veil, freedom of expression, and evolution. Ziauddin Sardar opens a new window on this remarkable Sacred Text, in a book that will engage all devout Muslims and will interest anyone curious about the Qur'an and Islam today.

Abstract: Sir Martin Ewans, former Head of the British Chancery in Kabul, puts into an historical and contemporary context the series of tragic events that have impinged on Afghanistan in the past half century During this period, following several decades of authoritarian but relatively stable rule, King Zahir failed in the 1960s and 70s in his attempt to introduce a more democratic regime and was overthrown by his cousin, Sardar Daoud The latter was in turn the victim of a Communist revolution, whose failure prompted a Soviet invasion A decade of Soviet occupation was followed by several years of civil war and the emergence of an extreme Islamic movement, the Taliban, which now controls the bulk of the country The book examines the roots of these developments in Afghanistan's earlier history and its external relationships, and examines their contemporary relevance, internally, regionally, and globally Within this overall context, the book gives a description of the country and its peoples, together with an account of the emergence of the Afghan kingdom and the perennial struggles between the monarchy and the tribes It also describes and analyses Afghanistan's interaction with its neighbours from the earliest times, through the Mogul and Safanid era and that of the competing British and Russian imperialisms, to its subjection to Communist ideology and Soviet pressure, and finally to its tensions with its contemporary neighbours