L’objet de ce travail est d’étudier le lien entre le mécénat et le décor architectural à Damas de l’arrivée des Salğūqides à l’irruption des Mongols en Syrie et l'occupation destructrice de la ville, soit la fin de la dynastie ayyūbide.Un recensement des monuments conservés, replacés pour certains dans le contexte d’un mécénat qui dépasse largement la métropole syrienne, permet de mettre plusieurs groupes de mécènes, un groupe princier (le dynaste et sa famille directe), celui des émirs qui gravite autour de ce pouvoir central sans toujours résider et se rend ainsi visible dans la capitale, et celui des groupes de juristes et de religieux (soufis notamment) qui, tracent avec leurs fondations une géographie dans la ville et dans ses faubourgs.Une présentation des monuments par étapes chronologiques, et par réseaux (familiaux, sociaux) illustre des moments-clefs de la création artistique à Damas (milieu du XII° siècle: Nûr al-Dîn; début XIII°: al-'Âdil) et des groupes d’édifices liés par des caractères originaux: muqarnas de plâtre au XII° siècle et de pierre au XIII° siècle n'ornent longtemps que les portails des familles princières.Le décor réside dans les choix architecturaux (salles à coupoles, transition sur trompes ou sur pendentifs), mais aussi dans le choix des matériaux avec le goût pour la peinture et la sculpture sur plâtre et pour les assises de pierre colorées (ablaq).L’étude des ornements, montre des liens durables avec l’art fatimide jusqu’au début du XIII° siècle, mais aussi des échanges constants avec les foyers de l'espace zankide et ayyûbide, mais aussi de Mésopotamie, d’Iran et d’Asie Centrale, qui pourvoient Damas en savants et combattants. / This work is a study about the link that we can find between the Architectural Ornament and the patronage in medieval Damascus from the arrival of Salğūqids to the Mongol conquest.A listing of the still existing (or documented) monuments, put for some patrons into the context of their known architectural activity in order to point out the importance of the destroyed monuments, throws light on the activity of rulers and their family, military circles, and religious circles. This patronage outlines a geography of these groups in and around the city of Damascus.The study of the monuments, chronologically and by circles of patronage (families, social groups…) illustrates some moments of important artistic activity ( Middle of the XIIth century: Nûr al-Dîn; Beginning of the XIIIth century: al-Âdil), and also some groups of monuments with original ornamentation, or conception: plaster and stone muqarnas only occcur on portals built by the ruler and his family, not by the amirs, nor scholars.Architectural ornament is also based upon some choice, for cupolas on squinches or pendentives, for cut plaster or painted plaster, couloured stones for stripped walls (ablaq).The study of ornaments shows the links with Fatimid art till the beginning of the XIII° century, and with close Syrian and Mesopotamian sources, but also with the more remote oriental sources, with Iranian and Central Asian art, in this time many scholars and warriors.come to Damascus from these countries.

Sacred spaces have long existed due to their importance as a symbol of belief. Structures are designed to be timeless and forever lasting, representing the essence of faith. In this case, a Mosque has been designed for a site in La Jolla, California, keeping the sacred practices of the religion in mind during design composition. This includes the importance of connectivity for every man and woman, to God. The segregated praying areas for men and women are essential aspects of the design; from entering the site, the common area or courtyard at the center, to the separate walkways for each gender, symbolize the importance of gender segregation and yet a common ground for unity and equality at the holy site. A walk through the corridor leads to the washing area for self cleansing and ritual ablution in preparation for entering the sacred space for prayers, the entrance to a space for a spiritual connection with God. / Master of Architecture

“Making Falsafa in Modern Egypt” is an intellectual and institutional history of a phenomenon in colonial-national Egypt known to participants and observers as the “Islamic philosophy revival.” At the helm of this “revival” was an intellectually and politically diverse group of local scholars—shaykhs trained at Cairo’s venerable al-Azhar mosque-university as well as philosophers and Arabists with doctorates from the Sorbonne and Cambridge—united by a commitment to rehabilitating the legacies of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and other classical masters of the philosophical discipline known in Arabic as falsafa. My dissertation excavates the archive of this little-studied Egyptian revivalist movement to offer a situated intellectual history of the production, diffusion, reading, and uses of the Arabo-Islamic philosophical tradition in modern global thought. In so doing, I begin to address the neglected yet consequential question of how and to what end scholars in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Muslim world studied, taught, interpreted, and otherwise engaged their philosophical heritage in the modern era. In tracing the efforts of prominent twentieth-century Egyptian philosophers to reconstitute classical falsafa for modern thought and education, I rely on their published scholarship, conference presentations, personal papers, and articles on politics and education as well as archival records from the institutions where they worked and studied. I show that these scholars (re)made their philosophical tradition into a privileged subject and means of reform, taking its revival to be an essential precondition for Arabs’ modern becoming. By writing revisionary histories and building new archives of falsafa, they redefined its disciplinary bounds and canon as understood in Islamic and European scholarly traditions while also presenting novel genealogies of science, reason, and humanism that provincialized Western philosophy and configured its Islamic counterpart as an alternative universalism. As widely-read international scholars who studied and taught at universities across the Middle East and Europe, meanwhile, they played a crucial role in establishing “Islamic philosophy” as an object of international academic inquiry and a “world tradition.” Whereas the modern reconstruction of the Arabo-Islamic philosophical tradition is generally represented as a project internal to Orientalism driven by Europeans, my dissertation recasts this major hermeneutic enterprise as a chapter in the intellectual history of Islam and the Arab world. By tracing the meaning and making of falsafa in colonial-national Egypt through the works of its local revivers, I begin to document the formative role of colonized Arab and Muslim scholars in the global historical processes, networks, and debates that made their philosophical heritage into one of the most widely-studied thought traditions in the contemporary era.

<p>In this study, I emphasize the agency of the Malian arabisant community (individuals usually trained in médersas who use Arabic as their first language of communication and who often identify first and foremost as Muslims) in creating, maintaining, and improving an education system which provides the tools needed for young Malians to be pious Muslims and productive citizens of the Republic of Mali. By creating an extensive médersa system over the years, in collaboration and confrontation with the successive governments in Mali and abroad, Malian arabisants have answered the need for a new definition of what it is to be a modern Muslim democrat in a secular democracy. I suggest that the specific formation of the educational system in Mali is related to the development of the uniquely Malian configuration of what it is to be an arabisant.</p> <p>I show how médersas have allowed and still encourage the development of a new mentality that gives Malian Muslims the tools necessary to re-define themselves in their own environment. Malian arabisants have reformulated their religious practice and sociability towards what has been called Islam mondain: a moralization of the mundane. One's energy is focused on morally purifying daily life in order to render it “islamically” sound while living in an environment that is not Islamic <em>per se</em>. It is an internalization of faith that allows the believer to enjoy the benefits of a rapidly modernizing environment by re-imagining both modernity and tradition as compatible and complementary. Islam mondain offers a model for virtuous socio-economic comfort, and an islamization of the benefits of globalization and modernization that renders them morally pure.</p> <p>This research thus contributes to the theoretical and anthropological study of Islam as a lived faith in a secular democracy; such a study is central to an understanding of the developing relationships between Islam, modernity, and secular democracy across the Muslim world. It also speaks to the very current issues faced by Muslims living in “Western” countries and vice versa. This research illustrates the agency of the Malian arabisants in defining their relationship to modernity and democracy, and thus engages with the variety of research that shows other Muslim communities in the world also engaged in such a re-definition of themselves and of their tradition.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Afghanistan has a long history of Islamic education while Western type of education (<i>maktab</i>) is of more recent date. The latter type of education has expanded rapidly recently. However, girls’ enrolment remains low, around 35 per cent.</p><p>The present study examines children’s, particularly girls’, participation in the two educational systems. Throughout history three conflicting issues are apparent in Afghan education: state control over Islamic education, the role of Islam in education, and girls’ participation. A case study approach has been adopted providing an analysis of how history and the present globalisation processes affect current education, and how students, parents and teachers in two villages perceive the changes. The focus has been on capturing the meaning attached to education.</p><p>The findings indicate high expectations on education as a vehicle to peace, enhanced morals and living standards. The traditional <i>madrasas</i> have declined, other forms of Islamic education have emerged. The Mosque schools are neglected by education authorities but highly esteemed by villagers. Concerns are expressed with the amount of time in maktab and with the quality of learning. The Islamic concept of <i>farz</i> (obligation, responsibility) puts both types of education in high demand.</p><p>Dilemmas are associated with choosing between Islamic and Western type of education, applying <i>farz</i> to girls’ education and the encounter between Islam and globalisation. Two folk theories, one on globalisation and another on <i>farz</i> in education, were formulated as a basis for the further analysis. Worries are articulated about preserving Islamic values and ethics. Although ‘globalisation’ is a never heard of concept, villagers know some of its features, e.g. secularisation, individualism and consumerism, and fear these may lead to a weakened Islamic identity.</p><p>Girls’ education is generally accepted. Albeit some consider a few years enough, most consider girls’ right to education to be identical to boys’, on certain conditions. Besides security, a female teacher is the most important. However, findings from the village with a long established girl school with female teachers indicate that this is not the crucial factor. In Islamic education, girls will continuously be excluded from advanced Islamic studies since female mullahs do not exist.</p><p>Apparently, the real obstacles for girls’ education are the strictly segregated gender roles in Afghan society. Therefore, a new interpretation of <i>farz</i> is emerging, a ‘glocalised’ version. This is likely to be a decisive factor for giving girls equal access to education in both educational systems.</p>

Afghanistan has a long history of Islamic education while Western type of education (maktab) is of more recent date. The latter type of education has expanded rapidly recently. However, girls’ enrolment remains low, around 35 per cent. The present study examines children’s, particularly girls’, participation in the two educational systems. Throughout history three conflicting issues are apparent in Afghan education: state control over Islamic education, the role of Islam in education, and girls’ participation. A case study approach has been adopted providing an analysis of how history and the present globalisation processes affect current education, and how students, parents and teachers in two villages perceive the changes. The focus has been on capturing the meaning attached to education. The findings indicate high expectations on education as a vehicle to peace, enhanced morals and living standards. The traditional madrasas have declined, other forms of Islamic education have emerged. The Mosque schools are neglected by education authorities but highly esteemed by villagers. Concerns are expressed with the amount of time in maktab and with the quality of learning. The Islamic concept of farz (obligation, responsibility) puts both types of education in high demand. Dilemmas are associated with choosing between Islamic and Western type of education, applying farz to girls’ education and the encounter between Islam and globalisation. Two folk theories, one on globalisation and another on farz in education, were formulated as a basis for the further analysis. Worries are articulated about preserving Islamic values and ethics. Although ‘globalisation’ is a never heard of concept, villagers know some of its features, e.g. secularisation, individualism and consumerism, and fear these may lead to a weakened Islamic identity. Girls’ education is generally accepted. Albeit some consider a few years enough, most consider girls’ right to education to be identical to boys’, on certain conditions. Besides security, a female teacher is the most important. However, findings from the village with a long established girl school with female teachers indicate that this is not the crucial factor. In Islamic education, girls will continuously be excluded from advanced Islamic studies since female mullahs do not exist. Apparently, the real obstacles for girls’ education are the strictly segregated gender roles in Afghan society. Therefore, a new interpretation of farz is emerging, a ‘glocalised’ version. This is likely to be a decisive factor for giving girls equal access to education in both educational systems.

Le but de cette étude est de mettre en relief l'influence de la culture arabo-islamique sur le développement des médersas comme partie intégrante du système d'éducation malien. La recherche se base sur deux sources d'information. Premièrement, l'enquête de terrain, de mai à septembre 2005, dans huit médersas de Bamako, permet d'entrevoir la réalité des conditions d'enseignement, de prendre connaissance du curriculum et du fonctionnement des écoles ainsi que de répondre aux questions de leur financement. Deuxièmement, la documentation traitant du curriculum et de l'histoire des médersas, les études sur les politiques africaines de pays arabes et les documents gouvernementaux contribuent à une meilleure compréhension de l'évolution de l'enseignement islamique au Mali. Dès l'islamisation du Mali, l'influence économique, culturelle et religieuse du monde arabe se fait sentir sur la vie intellectuelle du pays. Le système d'éducation arabo-islamique tel qu'il existe aujourd'hui est une conséquence des liens qui se sont développés entre le monde arabe et la communauté musulmane malienne.

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