Arabian History

Wahhabism is the most common form of politicized fundamentalist Islam, now most associated with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda and the official religion of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It is widespread throughout the Islamic world, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan (where it was the official religion of the Taliban). Together, the Saudi and al-Wahhab families formed a potent alliance, with the Saudis gaining an ideological backing for their small state and the Wahhabis gaining a powerful and increasingly wealthy patron.

ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - has taken on the mantle of being the single most dangerous terrorist threat to global security since al-Qaeda. In Defeating ISIS, internationally renowned intelligence veteran, author, and counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance gives an insider's view to explain the origins of this occult group, its violent propaganda, and how it spreads its ideology throughout the Middle East and to disaffected youth deep in the heart of the Western world.

From Fouad Ajami, an acclaimed author and chronicler of Arab politics, comes a compelling account of how a generation of Arab intellectuals tried to introduce cultural renewals in their homelands through the forces of modernity and secularism. Ultimately, they came to face disappointment, exile, and, on occasion, death. For anyone who seeks to understand the Middle East, here is an insider's unflinching analysis of the collision between intellectual life and political realities in the Arab world today.

Nineveh was an age-old Assyrian city in Upper Mesopotamia, near Mosul in modern-day Northern Iraq. It was the capital and biggest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and the world's biggest city for some decades, and is on the eastern bank of the Tigris River. It's now a prevalent name for the portion of Mosul that's on the Tigris' eastern bank, and it is also the name of the nation's Nineveh Governorate. It was the world's largest city for about 50 years till it was sacked by a union of its previous subject tribes.

This riveting memoir follows a Lebanese Muslim American and 30-year US Marine veteran who suffered a six-month ordeal at the hands of a brutal regime in Yemen - and remained loyal to his country through it all.

Former CIA operative Robert Baer examines the dangers behind America's collaboration with Saudi Arabia. Nominally based on a "harmony of interests" - the Saudis sold their oil to the American government very inexpensively - what we offered in exchange has damaged our position in the Middle East and left our country vulnerable to economic and terrorist threats. Baer goes behind the scenes to show how the US willingly overlooked the corruption of the Saudi royal family, its financing of violent Islamic fundamentalist groups, and its bribery of American officials.

The Mitanni Empire came to prominence at a time when the Egyptians, the Hittites, and the Assyrians were all angling for supremacy. Mitanni made alliances and conquered other lands, excelled at the military art of charioteering, suffered invasions, endured assassinations, and saw a dynasty rise and fall. For more than 3,000 years, the Mitanni Empire remained largely forgotten. Recently, archaeological excavations and translations of ancient texts have shed some light on these remarkable people who were the equals of their more-famous peers in Egypt, Hatti, and Assyria.

In Bana's own words, and featuring short, affecting chapters by her mother, Fatemah, Dear World is not just a gripping account of a family endangered by war; it offers a uniquely intimate child's perspective on one of the biggest humanitarian crises in history. Bana has lost her best friend, her school, her home, and her homeland. But she has not lost her hope - for herself and for other children around the world who are victims and refugees of war and deserve better lives.

نجحت الإمارات خلال العقود الأربعة الماضية في تجربتها الاتحادية حتى أصبحت كيانًا صلبًا قويًا عصي على التفتت. فقد ساعد تأسيس المجلس الوطني الاتحادي الإماراتيين على بناء اتحاد قوي والنجاح في صياغة هوية وطنية قوية؛ حيث شَكَّلَ السلطة الرابعة من السلطات الاتحادية الخمس المنصوص عليها في دستور.

David Headley, the American Pakistani also known as Daood Gilani, lived a double life. One day he would stroll through Central Park in his tailored Armani suit as a true New Yorker, and the next he would browse in the bazaar in Lahore wearing traditional Pakistani clothes. One day he would drink champagne at the most extravagant clubs; on another he would prostrate himself in prayer in remote Pakistan and pledge fidelity to Allah.

رحلة خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك سلمان بن عبد العزيز –حفظه الله- مع التراث قصة متعددة الفصول، اتسمت بالصبر والحكمة ومعالجة التحديات، والعمل بشراكة مع الجهات الحكومية والمجتمعات المحلية، حتى تحقق للتراث ما تحقق من نقلة نوعية وإنجازات ضخمة. لقد مر تراث المملكة وآثارها بمراحل كثيرة، وكان الملك سلمان المنقذ لها والمرجع والسند، وكنت شاهداص على ذلك بصفتي مهتماص بالتراث في فترة سبقت إنشاء الهيئة العليا للسياحة. ومع بداية ما يسمى بالطفرة، شهدت المواقع والمباني التراثية إهمالاً أدى إلى اندثار كثير منها وإزالته، ورافق ذلك نظرة سلبية من المجتمع للتراث، وفي مجال الآثار انتشرت مفاهيم خاطئة عن الآثار.

"بحر الحياة" للدكتور خالد الحداد، هو كتاب يحتوي على قصص واقعية واجتماعية من مد وجزر الحياة، حيث أن هذه القصص مقتبسة من بريده الإلكتروني، بصياغة أدبية من الأخصائية النفسية الأستاذة هاجرعامر. راودت فكرة عرض البريد الإلكتروني مراراً للدكتور الحداد، على قراءه في العالم العربي الذي يتّسِم بالتشابه في ثقافته وأحواله الاجتماعيّة، حيث أن بريده مُصاب بتُخمة دائمة.

At the behest of his teacher and some of the rulers of Saudi Arabia, al-Shaykh 'Abd Allah al-Qar'awi penned the story of his life and work. His memoirs, which were originally published in al-Manhal magazine, cover his family lineage, his birth, his upbringing, his education, his travels, his travails, and his tireless efforts to spread tawhid and uproot shirk and heresies in Southern Saudi Arabia and Northern Yemen. This work is a testimony to Shaykh al-Qar'awi's patience, resolve, and adherence to the methodology of the Prophets and Messengers.

As the Eastern Roman Empire and Sasanian Empire began to expand in the region through a combination of warfare, trade, and diplomacy, a number of Arab tribes caught in the middle coalesced to form their own powerful dynasties and states, one of which was the Lakhmid Dynasty. The Lakhmid Dynasty lasted for more than 300 years, which is an incredible span of time, considering how few states at the time came close to that. The Lakhmid Dynasty was able to survive and thrive for so long by being an effective middleman and power broker in the ever-changing geopolitical landscape.

This book is written by two of the leading terrorist experts in the world. Hacking ISIS will explain in graphic detail how ISIS produces religious cultism, recruits vulnerable young people of all religions and nationalities and disseminates their brutal social media to the world. More, the book will map out the cyberspace-level tactics on how ISIS spreads its terrifying content, how it distributes tens of thousands of pieces of propaganda daily and is winning the battle in cyberspace and how to stop it in its tracks.

Il Cairo, autunno 1914: l'archeologo Thomas Edward Lawrence entra a lavorare nei servizi d'intelligence britannici. In breve, i comandi militari di stanza in Egitto si accorgono delle sue eccezionali capacità. È l'inizio di una saga che nel giro di qualche anno trasformerà il giovane e sconosciuto sottotenente gallese nell'epica figura di Lawrence d'Arabia.

There is a conventional wisdom about oil that the US military presence in the Persian Gulf is what guarantees access to this strategic resource; that the "special" relationship with Saudi Arabia is necessary to stabilize an otherwise volatile market; and that these assumptions in turn provide Washington enormous leverage over Europe and Asia. Except, the conventional wisdom is wrong.

This audiobook begins with an account of the birth of John and of Jesus, the last representatives of prophecy in the house of Israel. The claim that Jesus is the son of God is firmly denied, as is the assertion of the pagans of Mecca that the angels are God’s daughters. It then mentions the missions of some earlier prophets, showing that only human beings are raised to reform the world. Consisting of 93 verses, this is one of the early Meccan chapters.

Surah al-Jinn (Arabic: “The Jinn”) is the 72nd chapter of the Noble Quran with 28 verses. The name as well as the topic of this chapter is jinn. Similar to angels, the jinn are spiritual beings invisible to the naked human eye. In the Quran, it is stated that humans are created from the earth and jinn (demon) from smokeless fire in more than one instance.

Journalist Krithika Varagur's Da'wa chronicles the House of Saud as it systematically transforms the Muslim world in its own image, in one of the major imperial projects in today's world, on par with China's economic diplomacy. Since 1979, Saudi Arabia has spent $1.8 billion per year, by one estimate, to propagate its puritanical brand of Islam, called Salafism or Wahhabism. It has kept scrupulous records of its religious activity in 27 countries, with over 4,000 Salafi preachers on its payroll worldwide.