Ali S. Asani – författare

Let’s Study Urdu! is a comprehensive introduction to the Urdu language that draws on a range of real-life contexts, popular film songs, and prized works of Urdu literature. A variety of effective aural, oral, and written drills will help students master the language while keeping them entertained. Let’s Study Urdu! provides students of diverse backgrounds, including heritage speakers, the opportunity to enhance their competency over basic grammatical structures so that they can comfortably use the language in Urdu-speaking milieus from South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

The story of Islam is not one story, but many stories involving peoples of different races, ethnicities, and cultures. Every religious tradition is marked by internal diversity, manifested through its various communities of interpretation. Islam likewise is multifaceted, as are Muslim life and faith. Living Islam invites readers to appreciate ways in which Muslims from diverse backgrounds and traditions interpret and experience their faith. Adopting a cultural studies approach, Ali Asani begins by posing questions such as ‘Which Islam?’ and ‘Whose Islam?’, and he considers different conceptions of being Muslim. He then illustrates multidimensional ways in which Muslims relate to the Prophet Muhammad, including as messenger, model, intercessor, and beloved. Drawing on Muslim devotional practices and exploring the Islamic ‘artscape’, he showcases how the beauty of the transcendent can be experienced through sonic, visual and poetic arts.

The story of Islam is not one story, but many stories involving peoples of different races, ethnicities, and cultures. Every religious tradition is marked by internal diversity, manifested through its various communities of interpretation. Islam likewise is multifaceted, as are Muslim life and faith. Living Islam invites readers to appreciate ways in which Muslims from diverse backgrounds and traditions interpret and experience their faith. Adopting a cultural studies approach, Ali Asani begins by posing questions such as 'Which Islam?' and 'Whose Islam?', and he considers different conceptions of being Muslim. He then illustrates multidimensional ways in which Muslims relate to the Prophet Muhammad, including as messenger, model, intercessor, and beloved. Drawing on Muslim devotional practices and exploring the Islamic 'artscape', he showcases how the beauty of the transcendent can be experienced through sonic, visual and poetic arts.

The story of Islam is not one story, but many stories involving peoples of different races, ethnicities, and cultures. Every religious tradition is marked by internal diversity, manifested through its various communities of interpretation. Islam likewise is multifaceted, as are Muslim life and faith. Living Islam invites readers to appreciate ways in which Muslims from diverse backgrounds and traditions interpret and experience their faith. Adopting a cultural studies approach, Ali Asani begins by posing questions such as 'Which Islam?' and 'Whose Islam?', and he considers different conceptions of being Muslim. He then illustrates multidimensional ways in which Muslims relate to the Prophet Muhammad, including as messenger, model, intercessor, and beloved. Drawing on Muslim devotional practices and exploring the Islamic 'artscape', he showcases how the beauty of the transcendent can be experienced through sonic, visual and poetic arts.

The devotional and mystical literature of the Ismailis in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent is a little known but rich seam of creativity in the cultural heritage of Islam. This book focuses on the ginans - a large corpus of hymns and poems composed in a variety of Indic languages and attributed to a series of preacher-saints who propogated the Ismaili form of Islam in the subcontinent over several centuries. Situating the gians in the larger context of Sufi, Bhakti and Sant poetry in medieval India, the author explores their history, characteristics, themes and prosody, as well as the unique Khojki script in which they were recorded. He also highlights the continuing vitality of this tradition in the religious life of Nizari Ismaili communities of South Asian origin.

Architecture of Coexistence: Building PluralismThis book investigates how architecture can shape an open-minded and inclusive society, highlighting three internationally renowned projects: the White Mosque in Visoko, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1980); the Islamic Cemetery Altach in Altach, Austria (2012); and the Superkilen public park in Copenhagen, Denmark (2012). Scholarly essays across various disciplines, along with interviews with the architects and users of these projects, provide intriguing insights into architecture’s ability to bridge cultural differences. Soliciting a wide array of questions about migration, transculturalism, visibility, inclusion, and exclusion, the book sheds light on the long-term social processes generated between architectural form and its users.Architecture of Coexistence offers a truly interdisciplinary perspective on a very timely subject: “Building pluralism” means designing for a respectful inclusion of different cultural needs, practices, and traditions. With contributions by Azra Akšamija, Mohammad al-Asad, Ali S. Asani, Simon Burtscher-Matis, Amila Buturović, Farrokh Derakhshani, Robert Fabach, Eva Grabherr, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Tina Gudrun Jensen, Jennifer Mack, Nasser Rabbat, Barbara Steiner, Helen Walasek and Wolfgang Welsch.Photo essays by Velibor Božović, Cemal Emden, Jesper Lambaek, and Nikolaus Walter.