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يعالج هذا البحث الدور الذي اضطلع به مجلس العزّابة بوصفه مؤسسة اجتماعية–دينية ذات شرعية تاريخية عميقة يمتلك رصيداً تنظيمياً مميّزاً داخل مجتمع وادي ميزاب، في إدارة إحدى أبرز الأزمات المحلية حدّة وتعقيداً، والمتمثلة في أزمة بريّان سنة 2008-2009، وتتجه الإشكالية نحو بحث مدى تمكن مجلس العزّابة على التحكم في التفاعلات الاجتماعية وإدارة التوترات في ظل تحوّلات وتغيّرات قيمية يشهدها المجتمع المزابي، مع اختبار ما إذا كانت الآليات التقليدية التي يعتمدها قادرة فعلا على توجيه مسار الأزمة والحدّ من آثارها وأنها قد تصلح للنمذجة في مجتمعات أخرى مماثلة، وقد اعتمد البحث المنهج الوصفي–التحليلي مدعوماً بـ منهج دراسة الحالة، بهدف تحليل مسار الأزمة في ضوء البنى التنظيمية لمجلس العزّابة، وأدوات تدخّله، وفعاليته في احتواء التوترات. ولتحقيق ذلك، وظّف البحث مقابلات موجهة، وملاحظات مباشرة، وبيانات وثائقية وشهادات محلية، مكّنت من تفكيك أدوار المجلس في مراحل الأزمة المختلفة، لا سيما ما تعلق بالوساطة الاجتماعية، والتهدئة المجتمعية، والتنسيق مع السلطات الرسمية، وإعادة بناء الثقة داخل النسيج الاجتماعي بعد تفاقم موجة العنف. وتُظهر النتائج أنّ مجلس العزّابة، رغم تعرّضه لتحديات مرتبطة بتراجع تأثير المؤسسات التقليدية وتغير عديد المعطيات في المجتمع المعاصر، قد حافظ على قدرة معتبرة في تعبئة رأس المال الاجتماعي وتوجيهه نحو الحدّ من التصعيد، والوصول إلى بناء أرضية توافق واتفاق بين طرفي الصراع، مع قدرة على تحمل أعباء الأزمة وتسيير ما بعدها، بفضل ما يتمتع به من شرعية رمزية ومنظومة ضبط أخلاقي راسخة .ويخلص البحث إلى أنّ قراءة تجربة مجلس العزّابة خلال أزمة بريّان تقدّم أنموذجاً دالّاً على قدرة مؤسسات المجتمع التقليدية والعرفية على الإسهام في إدارة الأزمات المحلية، وعلى ضرورة بلورة مقاربة تكاملية بين البنى التقليدية والحوكمة الرسمية، بما يعزّز الاستقرار ويقوّي آليات الوقاية المجتمعية من النزاعات، وبناء استدامة السلم الأهلي. This study examines the role that has been played by the Council of ʿAzzāba as a societal religious body endowed with profound historical legitimacy, which has a distinctive organizational reservoir within the M’zab Valley society. This study also sheds light on how this Council has been able to manage one of the most intense crises in this community, which was known as the Berriane crisis in 2008-2009. The actual problematic of this research aims to examine how this Council has been able to control societal interactions and how it has been able to manage rising tensions amid societal transformation and value shifts among this society of M’zabis. The problem of research touches on the degree to which the ‘Azaba Council was able to impose control on social interactions and manage tensions in the face of transformative and value-shifting changes witnessed by the M'zabi society. It also explores whether the traditional mechanisms used by the Council were really capable of correcting the crisis's course and mitigating its implications, alongside if they could be applicable as models for similar societies. The study employed a descriptive and analytical method, coupled with a case study method that seeks to analyse the crisis management course in relation to organisational structures of the Council, its instruments of intervention, and its effectiveness in containing tensions. To this end, it used directed interviews, direct observations, and documentary evidence, which allowed it to deconstruct the different Council role types in the course of the crisis, in relation to issues such as social mediation, societal de-escalation, cooperation with official authorities, as well as rebuilding trust in society when faced with escalated violence. The conclusions demonstrate that despite being faced with challenges emanating from the waning potency of traditional institutions as well as from the complexities of societal transformation in contemporary society, ʿAzzāba Council has maintained a potent capability for mobilizing social capital and steering it towards de-escalation. The ʿAzzāba Council has been able to identify a middle ground that would facilitate agreement between the conflicting parties, showing tenacity in carrying the burden of the resultant crisis. This has been informed by its symbolic legitimacy as well as a robust ethical control system in place. This study concludes that in order to present an important model of how traditional institutions of society can be effective in the management of local crises, it would be essential to examine the experience of ʿAzzāba Council that occurred in the crisis of Berriane. This will help in highlighting the importance of a complementray approach in combining traditional structures with official governance, which would enhance stability, community-based conflict prevention, and establish peace in society.

تنشغل هذه الورقة بفحص الكيفية التي تنعكس بها الكفاءة الإدارية والتسييرية على ظاهرة الفشل المالي في المؤسسات المصغرة الجزائرية، عبر استقراء العلاقة الرابطة بين أبعادها الأربعة - التخطيط والتنظيم والرقابة المالية واتخاذ القرار - ومستوى التعرض للفشل المالي. ارتكز البحث على المنهج الوصفي التحليلي، مع توظيف الاستبيان أداة لجمع البيانات الميدانية من عينة ضمت 120 مؤسسة مصغرة ناشطة بولاية غرداية، وعولجت المعطيات إحصائيا عبر برنامج SPSS باستعمال الإحصاء الوصفي ومعامل ارتباط بيرسون والانحدار الخطي المتعدد. أسفرت المعالجة عن رصد علاقة عكسية ذات دلالة معنوية بين مستوى الكفاءة التسييرية ومستوى الفشل المالي، إذ فسرت أبعاد الكفاءة مجتمعة 64.3% من التغيرات الحاصلة في هذا الأخير، وبرز التخطيط الاستراتيجي والرقابة المالية بوصفهما البعدين الأشد تأثيرا. وعلى ضوء هذه المعطيات، أوصى البحث بتكثيف برامج التأهيل الإداري لأصحاب المؤسسات المصغرة، وبتوسيع الاعتماد على آليات الإنذار المبكر بالفشل المالي بما يكفل ديمومة هذه المؤسسات.

In old Muslim cities, community-based and individual building practices have long shaped the urban environment. These practices express the socio-cultural principles and values that historically guided urban formation and, thus constitute a key component of their intangible heritage. Yet contemporary preservation policies tend to prioritize the protection of physical urban fabrics, a fact that often overshadows the intangible dimensions that gave meaning and coherence to the urban environment. This paper argues that safeguarding the tangible heritage of old cities must thus be accompanied by the recognition and promotion of this intangible logic. It highlights the interactive and causal relationship between these two dimensions of heritage, with a geographic focus on North African cities. The study aims to contribute academically by articulating an Islamic perspective on urban form, and professionally by suggesting ways to refine current preservation policies through a more balanced integration of tangible and intangible values.

The East African islands of Zanzibar have long been situated at the nexus of multiple geographies, empires, and projects of reform. The islands were once made the capital of the Omani sultanate, served as the East African entry point for European missionaries, explorers, and colonial projects, and have received and debated Islamic reformist projects originating from Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. As a cosmopolitan center of exchange between Africa and the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar’s discourses and practices of Islamic knowledge transmission reflect these overlapping projects of reform, including the rapid transformation and modernization of Islamic education in recent centuries. This chapter traces the history and philosophical foundations of Islamic education in Zanzibar, as situated within broader trends in Africa and the Indian Ocean. Enduring and reinventing itself under the influences of European colonialism, postindependence socialism and development, and Islamic reformist projects from the Gulf, Zanzibar’s cosmopolitan madrasa education evidences the adaptability of the Islamic discursive tradition across time and place.

Religious and spiritual beliefs hold profound significance for parents of children with disability in Oman, shaping how they interpret experience, construct meaning and navigate their lives. However, parents may experience tension when challenging events disrupt their fundamental beliefs, prompting a complex process of meaning-making that requires exploration. We conducted a qualitative study using in depth interviews (n = 11) supported by photovoice, to investigate how parents interpret and integrate challenging experiences within their spiritual and religious frameworks, and to explore the transformative understandings that emerge. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of interview and photographic data revealed that parents wove religious understandings of their children’s disabilities into their accounts. Their spiritual beliefs shaped their perceptions of their parenting roles, forming a Group Experiential Theme (GET) “Managing Tensions at the Intersection of Spirituality and Disability.” Two sub-themes described this process: capturing efforts to reconcile their beliefs with their child’s disability, including shifts from viewing disability as punishment to seeing it as a divine gift. Prayers of faith – illustrating practices parents used to sustain faith and seek divine support. These findings highlight the influence of religious beliefs on coping strategies and sensemaking processes, offering implications for culturally attuned interventions.

The Anglo-Omani alliance remains the longest enduring diplomatic relationship that Britain has established with any Arab polity. This chapter traces the evolution of the Sultanate of Oman’s ‘sub-imperial’ position within Britain’s informal empire in the Middle East from the Napoleonic Wars to the ‘East of Suez’ withdrawals (1968–1971). It concludes that although the Anglo-Omani relationship during this period was a patron-client one, the survival of the Busaid dynasty was also an important British interest. In turn, Britain’s patronage not only enabled the survival of the Sultanate, but it also defined its territorial extent and also (from the First World War onwards) created and sustained the development of its military power against its internal foes.

This chapter analyzes the history, economy, politics, and foreign policy of the five smaller Arabian Gulf states: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. These countries have historically shared the same strengths and vulnerabilities – affluence and stability when hydrocarbon revenues flowed readily, and hardship and insecurity whenever conflict and crises enveloped the Gulf. All ruled by hereditary monarchies, but each facing unique challenges conditioned by their historical roots and royal inclinations, these five small states have well-defined political institutions but youthful populations and declining rentier wealth. This makes their future increasingly uncertain.

This research paper addresses a rare manuscript letter sent by the Beni Mzab community to Dey Ali during the Ottoman period in Algeria It aims to examine its historical, political, religious and social dimensions, while highlighting the nature of the relationship that linked the Ibadi Mozabites with the Ottoman authority in the city of Algiers The paper also discusses the circumstances surrounding the writing of the letter and its content, and presents a comparison between its different manuscript versions In addition, it analyzes the complaints expressed by the community regarding the sectarian harassment they faced inside mosques, while highlighting the economic and social status of the Beni Mzab and their role within Algerian society during the eighteenth century.