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May 23, 2004
In brief
From Eden to Exile: The Epic History of the People of the Bible
By David Rohl
Arrow Books
Available with Paramount Books, 152/O, Block 2, PECH Society,
Karachi-75400
Tel: 021-4310030. Email: paramount@cyber.net.pk
ISBN 0-09-941566-6
485pp. Rs545
A LAYMAN’S Jewish history would begin with the Exodus and end with Captivity, with the reigns of David and Solomon as its high point. Jezebel would be the personification of evil, although her only fault was that she retained her pagan belief even after marrying the King of Israel.
Rodinson’s question whether the “Jewish people” really constituted the “Jewish question” was with reference to modern Zionism. But it could equally pinpoint the contradiction of a race-religion professing monotheism. If there is only one Creator, He must be the God of all humanity. But the Jews claim Yahweh as their tribal god and call themselves “the children of Yahweh”. Where does that leave the rest of humanity? Above all, where does that leave the Jews themselves? It is their refusal to accept converts, while the Jews may pass to other religions, that has left them as a small minority.
The roots of the contradiction lie in Judaism being the first monotheist religion in the midst of tribal gods all around. The Jews accepted one Creator. But the concept was difficult to grasp. Secondly, they felt insecure that, while every tribe or people had an exclusive god to protect it, their God belonged to all. So they came to believe in a double divine role: He was the God of the whole humanity and, at the same time, their tribal god.
David Rohl presents the Old Testament here as a history of Jews, in plain modern language. His narrative can be treated as history, since the latest research has synchronized the events narrated in the Bible with the archaeological finds, once it is accepted that the Jews entered Palestine not in the late Bronze Age, as thought previously, but in the Late Middle Bronze Age, that is, the 15th-14th century BC.
The author explains many of the miracles associated with Jewish history, in terms of natural phenomena. He says about the Great Flood that there had been a huge volcanic eruption in the Aleutian Islands in 3119 BC which dimmed the sunshine for five years and caused severe winters. As the atmosphere cleared in the sixth year, the snow pile on the hills melted fast and the waters rushing down the rivers drowned the Mesopotamian lowlands.
Again, the sea which parted to let the Israelites cross from Egypt into Sinai, was not the Red Sea but the Sea of Reads, a patch of marshland to the west of the modern Bitter Lake. The waters had been driven back by a strong northern wind. By the time the Egyptians waded in, the wind had subsided.
True, all these were natural events. But they are miracles because each occurred at a time God wished to either punish some nation or aid another.
Another feature of this history, which stands out, is the extreme violence used by the Israelites during their conquest of the Holy Land. They did not take prisoners. When they conquered a city, they invariably killed every man, woman and child in it and razed the city itself. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they had come to settle there and so needed to clear the ground of all inhabitants.
I would not say that the book should be read only by those familiar with the Old Testament. But such persons will enjoy it more. — M. Abul Fazl
Advertising Basics! A Resource Guide for Beginners
By J. V. Vilanilam and A. K. Varghese
Response/ Sage Publications, B-42, Panchsheel Enclave, Post Box 4109, New Delhi-110017, India
Tel: 91-11-2649 1290-7
Email: marketing@indiasage.com Website: www.indiasage.com
ISBN 0-7619-9810-1
200pp. Indian Rs295
ADVERTISING is defined as an organized method of communicating information about a product or service which a company or individual wants to sell to the people. This paid announcement is conveyed through words, pictures, music and action in a medium used by the prospective buyers. In other words, advertising is the process by which a product or service is introduced with the purpose of persuading the people to utilize it.
To outsiders the world of advertising may appear as a place that’s full of glamour and magic. The people involved in creating ads are admired for their bright and innovative ideas. But advertising as such is not all imagination; nor is it all inspired creativity. It is hard work.
The book Advertising Basics! by J.V. Vilanilam and A.K. Varghese gives a complete and true picture of this so called magical world. Starting with a brief history of advertising, the writers show you how things were advertised in the olden days in the teeming bazars to the sophisticated and technologically advanced world of today.
There are basically three components of the business of advertising — the advertiser, the advertising agency and the mass media. The book discusses each aspect of the industry, such as the role of advertising agencies in the creation and dissemination of advertisements through the media, client servicing, copy writing, and creative aspects; giving pointers, suggestions and indepth analyses of how things work in each department. Tips on how to select an advertising agency and in what circumstances the agency should be changed are also given.
Many think that advertising these days is usually done through the print or electronic media — newspapers, radio or television — although there are other open venues such as direct mail, posters, wayside hoarding, placards and boards, transport vehicles, store fronts, compound walls of small and big buildings as well. The book discusses in detail the nitty-gritty of copy writing for the mainstream media, that is, newspapers, magazines, radio, film, TV and the Internet. The changes that have taken place in the world of advertising in recent years, due to the expansion in the electronic media, specially resulting from the application of the latest in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the Internet and telemarketing are also discussed.
Combining theory and practice, this insightful and practical book is an invaluable source of information for students of advertising. It will also be useful for professionals engaged in advertising and promotion, relationship marketing, consumer marketing and retailing. — Rizwana Naqvi
The Forgotten Queens of Islam
By Fatima Mernissi
Oxford University Press,
Plot # 38, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi
Tel: 111-693-673.
Email: ouppak@theoffice.net Website: www.oup.com.pk
ISBN 0-19-579868-6
229pp. Rs595
THE aim of this book as Mernissi, the author, asserts is “... not to describe superb ancestors without faults... I do not believe that a woman, either yesterday or today, needs to be perfect, superb, and marvellous in order to enjoy all her rights. It is this very idea that has led women to believe that they have to be exceptional in order to be the equal of men and have the right to their privileges”.
The queens who have been described had their faults too. There is Sultana Razia who took power in Delhi in the year 634 of the Hijra (AD1236). Another queen bearing the title of Sultana was Shajarat al-Durr, a ruler of Egypt, who gained power in Cairo in 648/1250, like any other military leader, through her command of strategy. She brought the Muslims a victory, which the French would remember well, because she routed their armies during the crusades. Both Razia and Shajarat al-Durr were Turks. The similarities in the careers of these two sultanas are strange indeed. Both of them were enthusiastically borne to power by their supporters and stoutly defended by them against their enemies, and they both ended in the same fashion, abandoned by their armies, deserted and, finally, savagely murdered.
Yemen is exceptional in the Arab world, not because many women exercised political power there, but because two of them, Malika Asma and Malika ‘Arwa, enjoyed the privilege and unquestioned criterion of a head of state: the khutba was proclaimed in their name in mosques. No other Arab woman had this honour in any Arab country. Asma and ‘Arwa exercised power in San’a at the end of the 11th century. Asma reigned only briefly and jointly with her husband Ali, the founder of the Sulayhi dynasty. Queen ‘Arwa, on the contrary, held power for almost a century; she directed the affairs of state and planned war strategies until her death in 484/1090.
These were the original ‘queens of sheba’ as the Yemenis bestowed upon queens a title that was theirs alone — balqis al-sughra. Malika was a convenient title easily given to any woman who obtained a bit of power anywhere in the Muslim world. Many Berber queens had the right to the title. The most famous was Zainab al-Nafzawiyya, who shared power with her husband, ruler of a huge empire extending from North Africa to Spain between 1061 and 1107. In the 15th and 16th centuries, several Andulusian queens played important roles on both sides of the Mediterranean.
Women seem to emerge on the political scene at the time of great catastrophes. The fall of Granada in 1492, when Christians ousted Muslims from Spain, was one of those occasions. The most famous of these women was Aisha al-Hurra, who won the admiration of her enemies at the time of the Muslim debacle.
After the Mongol invasions the thrones of Muslim states were occupied by an impressive number of Mongol Khatuns with the blessings of the Mongol princes. Among the first were Turkan Khatun and Padishah Khatun. The Island Queens are another group of women heads of the state. They ruled in the island kingdoms of Southeast Asia — seven sultanas reigned in the Indies, three in the Maldives and four in Indonesia. — A. Rahman
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