A Safavid Bureaucrat in the Ottoman World: Mirza Makhdum Sharifi Shirazi and the Quest for Upward Mobility in the İlmiye Hierarchy

This present article examines Mirza Makhdum Sharifi Shirazi’s (1540-87) life and career in the Ottoman Empire. Mirza Makhdum was a high-ranking Twelver Shiite bureaucrat in Safavid Iran, but after taking refuge with the Ottomans, he converted to Sunnism and started a new career as a judge in Diyarbakir, Bilad al-Sham, Baghdad, and the holy cities of the Hijaz.

5 UN Experts Call on Bahrain to Halt Executions of Two Individuals Amid Torture Allegations

21 May 2019 – Today, five UN experts appealed to Bahrain to halt the execution of two men, Ali Al-Arab and Ahmed Al-Malali, amid “serious concerns” that their convictions were based on confessions extracted under torture and that they did not receive a fair trial. BIRD has documented nine individuals currently at risk of imminent…

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The War Between the Turks and the Persians

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  1.3rd Annual Edinburgh International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies Historical discourse has long concerned itself with patterns of change and discontinuity to demonstrate and validate models of periodisation and the compartmentalisation of the wider historical field. Building on these themes, this conference has chosen to

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The East India Company’s Farmān, 1622‒1747

The East India Company’s presence and ongoing trade in Persia was reliant on the privileges outlined in the Farmān, granted after the capture of Hormuz in 1622. The relationship between these two powers was cemented in the rights enshrined in the Farmān, which was used by both to regulate their varying needs and expectations over the course of 125 years.

17th Annual UMAA Conference

UMAA2019 will take place at Tysons Corner Sheraton in Tysons, Virginia from July 5th-July 8th. Room Information Rooms can be booked directly with the Tyson’s Sheraton at (703) 448-1234 under the UMAA room block. $99/night including Breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning.

    1. Arabeya Arabic Language Center in Cairo, Egypt still has  spots open in  for the  upcoming Summer Intensive Arabic Program.   We offer customized, intensive Arabic classes taught by native-speakers, and provide students with accommodation, excursions and cultural immersion. We are looking for professor recommendations for students who

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Dr. Hossein Kamaly to Fill Imam Ali Chair for Shi’i Studies | Hartford Seminary

President Joel N. Lohr and Hartford Seminary are pleased to announce that, as of July 1, Dr. Hossein Kamaly will hold the Imam Ali Chair for Shi’i Studies and Dialogue among Islamic Legal Schools. He will also be Associate Professor of Islamic Studies.

Opinion | Saudi Arabia’s repression shouldn’t be rewarded with a World Cup

May 15 at 11:24 AM Minky Worden is director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch and oversees the organization’s work on human rights and sports. In 2010, when FIFA announced that the 2022 World Cup would be held in Qatar, there was an outcry over that country’s human rights record.

Bahrain: Suspend Death Penalty

(Beirut) – The Bahrain Court of Cassation, the country’s court of last resort, upheld the death sentence against two men on May 6, 2019, Human Rights Watch said today. A court convicted the men, Ali al-Arab and Ahmad al-Malali, of terror offenses in a mass trial on January 31, 2018.