Al-Ghazali introduces the issue of doubt in his book al-Munqidh min al-Dalal [Deliverance from Error]. The book can be considered an intellectual autobiography of this philosopher. Here al-Ghazali describes his intellectual development and the method of his search for truth. He also discusses the ideas of various doctrines that were present in Islamic society in his period, including the philosophers, al-Mutakallimun (scholastics), al-Batiniyya (interiority), and Sufism. The book is a concise exposition of al-Ghazali’s experience in the field of research and epistemological criticism.

Ginan bolore nit nure bharea;
Evo haide tamare harakh na maeji.
Recite continually the ginans which are filled with light;
Boundless will be the joy in your heart.

Ginans are devotional songs rooted in the musical and poetic matrix of Indian culture. The term “ginan” carries a double significance: on the one hand, it means “religious knowledge” or “wisdom,” analogous to the Sanskrit word jnana (knowledge). On the other hand, it means “song” or “recitation,” suggesting a link to the Arabic ghanna and the Urdu/Hindi ghana, both verbs meaning “to sing.” For the past seven hundred years, Ismailis from the Indian subcontinent (Satpanth Khoja Ismailis) have been reciting ginans as a part of their daily religious devotions at the congregational hall (Jamat Khana).

Recent years have witnessed a concerted effort by researchers, archivists and others to preserve, catalog, and inform researchers about the many types of sources located in Lebanon. The publication of Part I of this guide to conducting historical research [see MESA Bulletin 37:1 (Summer 2003): 68-79] addressed archives, libraries, and institutes located in Beirut. This article is dedicated to those found in the rest of the country.

As with Part I, the archives and sources surveyed below comprise those that are open to the public and deemed to have the most potential for researchers. Although likely to be of most relevance to historians, these sources are such that they should also prove useful to scholars from other fields. Furthermore, access is constantly improving, thanks in no small part to the efforts underway at multiple institutions to organize and digitize manuscripts, court records, and a host of other documents.

On April 23-24, 2004 the conference “Filtering the Past, Building the Future: Archaeology, Tradition and Politics in the Middle East,” was held in the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. Funded by a grant from the United States Department of Education with supplemental funds provided by various contributors at the University of Utah, this conference was meant to act as a forum for participants to present and discuss innovative means of understanding the uses of the past and of archaeology in politicized cultural discourse in the Middle East. The conference organizers hold the view that multiple, competing versions of the past are mobilized in service of varying agendas both within and between cultural groups. Participants were invited to discuss theories, explore methods, or present case studies that illustrate the manipulation of archaeological data and practice to promote political goals in the Middle East, and within world communities that interact with and respond to each other on topics that concern the Middle East. The papers presented at this conference are currently being edited and the resulting collection will be submitted to the University of Arizona press in the coming months.