Archive for 2015
Shii News – International Conference: “Revisiting Sunni and Shi’ite”
International Conference: “Revisiting Sunni and Shi’ite: Thoughts, Spirituality, and New Movements”, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 6-8 November 2015
This is the Eighth Al-Jami’ah International Conference in collaboration with Kyoto University. All Issues related to Sunni and Shi´a are welcome.
Deadline for abstracts: 3 October 2015. Information: www.aljamiah.or.id/index.php/AJIS/announcement/view/1
- August 10, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
- 0 Comment
Shii News – Academic Items
1. Two PhD positions within the junior research group “Arabic Philology and Textual Practices in the Early Modern Period”.
Fachbereich Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften
Ostasien und Vorderer Orient
Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies
Junior Research Group: “Arabic Philology and Textual Practices in the Early Modern Period”
2 Research Associates (PhD Positions)
1/2-part-time job
Limited to 3 years
Pay grade 13 TV-L FU
Reference code: JRG ArabPhil
Freie Universität Berlin is one of only a few German Universities which have been awarded and maintained the status of excellence. The Dahlem International Network Junior Research Group investigates the history of language-based sciences and textual practices in the early modern Arab-Islamic world (1500-1900). The project is directed by Prof. Dr. Islam Dayeh, Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.
Job description: Two PhD positions are available in the frame of the Junior Research Group “Arabic Philology and Textual Practices in the Early Modern Period”. The successful candidate is expected to carry out original research leading to a doctoral thesis in the field of early modern Arabic philology and the intellectual and literary history of the post-classical period. The research topic may treat any of the fields of the post-classical period (linguistic sciences, logic, literature, rhetoric, exegesis, hadith criticism, usul al-fiqh, kalam, and sufi literature, including their commentary traditions). Research projects that explore the philological interaction between Arabic, Ottoman Turkish and Persian are also welcome, as are projects that examine the Arabic philological encounter with European philology in the 19th and 20th centuries. Members of the junior research group are expected to participate in the activities of the Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies and the research program “Zukunftsphilologie: Revisiting the Canons of Textual Scholarship” (Forum Transregionale Studien).
Requirements:
Applicants must have a university degree (Master, Magister, Diploma) in Arabic and Islamic studies or a related field
Desirable:
Applicants must have excellent reading skills in Arabic (and Ottoman Turkish and/or Persian, if required for research), and advanced proficiency in English
Prior experience in working with manuscripts and archives is especially welcome. For non-German speakers, working knowledge of the language is desirable.
Applications quoting the reference code should include a CV, a cover letter, a 3-page research proposal, copies of all certificates of academic qualification and a list of publications (as far as extant) should arrive no later than August 17th, 2015 via email to islamdayeh@zedat.fu-berlin.de
All documents must be combined into a single PDF-document. We do not accept applications sent via post. Applications must be sent in English or German. Questions about the position and the application process should be directed to islamdayeh@zedat.fu-berlin.de .
2. The Meaning of the word. Lexicography and Qur’anic exegesis
This is the edited result of a set of papers presented in London at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, in 2011
Burge (Stephen R.) (ed.), The Meaning of the word. Lexicography and Qur’anic exegesis, Oxford and London, OUP in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies (Qurʾanic Studies Series), 23 July 2015, 510 p., ISBN : 978-0-19-872413-1, 70 £,
Contents : 1. Introduction: Words, Hermeneutics, and the Construction of Meaning, S. R. Burge. Section I: Lexicology and the Formative Period of Qur’anic Exegesis. 2. In Search of Meaning: Lexical Explanation in Early Qur’anic Commentaries, Kees Versteegh. 3. Lexicological Hadith and the ‘School’ of Ibn ʿAbbās, Herbert Berg. 4. The Interpretation of Three Qur’anic Terms (Siyaha, Hikma and Siddiq) of Special Interest to the Early Renunciants, Christopher Melchert.
Section II: Lexical Methodologies in Action: Four Case Studies. 5. The Use of Lexicography in the Great Qur’anic commentary of al-Wahidi (d. 468/1076) Claude Gilliot (pp. 119-156). 6. Authority and the Defence of Readings in Medieval Qur’anic Exegesis: Lexicology and the Case of Falaq (Q. 113:1), S. R. Burge. 7.Poetic License and the Qur’anic Names of Hell: The Treatment of Cognate Substitution in al-Raghib al-Isfahani’s Qur’anic Lexicon, Devin Stewart. 8. Paradoxes in Shahrastani’s Lexicological Methodology. Toby Mayer.
Section III: Words, Interpretation and Legal Disputes. 9. From Qur’an to Fiqh: Sunni and Shi’i Tafsir on the Inheritance Verses and the ‘Named’ Cases’ (al-Masa’il al-Mulaqqaba), Agostino Cilardo.10. Marital Discord in Qur’anic Exegesis: A Lexical Analysis of Husbandly and Wifely Nushuz in Q. 4:34 and Q. 4:128. Ayesha S. Chaudhry. 11. The Optional Ramadan Fast: Debating Q. 2:184 in the Early Turkish Republic, M. Brett Wilson.
Section IV: The Word in Translation: Medieval and Modern Disputes. 12. The Persian Fatiha of Salman al-Farisi and the Debates Modern Controversy over Translating the Qur’an, Travis Zadeh. 13. The Qur’an Today: Translating the Translatable, Stefan Wild. Bibliography. Index of Qur’anic Citations. General Index.
3. Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies (tenure-track), Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut
The position is commencing with the 2016-2017 academic year. Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies with language competency in Arabic and, ideally, another Islamicate language, e.g., Persian, Urdu, Turkish, and Malay, and must demonstrate a strong record of teaching and a clear research program.
Deadline for application: 15 October 2015. Information: ellison.findly@trincoll.edu
4. Professor Working on the Sociology of the Middle East (Tenured, Senior Appointment), Brown University, Providence
The position in commencing 1 July 2016. We are seeking applicants whose research focuses on aspects of governance, development, and/or security broadly defined. The successful candidate must have an outstanding record of national and international scholarly achievement, a proven record of successful research funding.
Deadline for application: 15 September 2015. Information: http://apply.interfolio.com/30497
4. Professorship in the Islamic Studies with focus on Persianate World at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
Closing date: 4.9.2015
5. Stanford University – CURATOR OF THE MIDDLE EASTERN AND NORTH AFRICAN
COLLECTION
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51184
Stanford University – South Asian Studies – Assistant / Associate
Professor in Humanities
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51183
6. Residential Fellowship at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, Hemdon VA (near Washington DC)
Fellowship for three months during September-December 2015. Monthly stipend $4,000 etc. Deadline for application: 17 August 2015. For information contact Saulat Pervez at saulat@iiit.org
7. Articles on “Negotiating Gender Relations – Arab Women and the Transformation of Arab Societies” for Special Issue of “GENDER. Journal for Gender, Culture and Society”
This journal is well-established and provides a forum for academic debate and discourse between academics and practitioners. Given the journal’s multi-disciplinary setting, we welcome analyses from, for instance, sociology, educational science, political science, cultural science and history which correspond to the interdisciplinary nature of gender studies.
Deadline for abstracts: 7 December 2015. For information contact heidemarie.winkel@uni-bielefeld.de
8. University of Durham
Teaching Fellow in Arabic
Salary: £31342 to £37394
Fixed Term for 12 months
The School of Modern Languages and Cultures (MLAC) of the University of
Durham seeks to appoint a full-time, fixed-term (12 months) Teaching Fellow
in Arabic who is expected to be able to teach core Modern Standard Arabic in
Arabic language modules at all undergraduate levels, and contribute to
translation and interpreting modules in the MA in Arabic-English Translation
and Interpreting. The post is offered at grade 7 (the entry point for
lecturers). In addition, the teaching fellow will engage in administrative
duties involving at least some of the following activities: year abroad
coordination, examinations and assessment, course documentation and
curriculum development, module leadership and quality assurance, academic
guidance, and outreach.
You will have an MA or equivalent degree in language teaching or
translation, native proficiency in spoken and written Arabic and near-native
proficiency in spoken and written English, as well as experience in Arabic
language teaching at Undergraduate level at a UK University.
Informal enquiries may be made to Prof. Daniel Newman
(daniel.newman@durham.ac.uk ).
9. ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) conference will be at
Harvard University on March 17-20 2016, and I plan to organize a seminar,
“Comparative Middle Eastern Literatures: Forging a Discipline.” Please click
the link below to learn more about the panel:
http://www.acla.org/seminar/comparative-middle-eastern-literatures-forging-discipline
ACLA will open an online portal for paper submissions on September 1st. Please
submit an abstract by September 23rd if you are interested in presenting.
Should you have any questions, please send an e-mail to
10. Call for Papers: Political Parties in the Middle East : Past, Present and Future Perspectives
A conference to be held at the University of Manchester, 25-27 January 2016 [Dates to be confirmed]
Convened by the Subject Areas of History and Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Manchester, in Association with the Centre for Advanced Study of the Arab World
Co-organised by Dr Siavush Randjbar-Daemi and Dr Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi
Political parties have long been considered the staple of any modern political system. In the Western political tradition, parties have featured as the locus of organised activity by elites and politically conscious sectors of society, coalescing around the defining issues of the day, as well as shared socio-economic interests, demanding representation and a stake in the political order. Over time, political parties came to be seen as the sine qua non of assuming government and the exercise of power in any self-avowed parliamentary democracy.
In the aftermath of World War I the states comprising the MENA region began to increasingly witness the emergence political forms that resembled those found in the metropole, and the imperial powers which had overseen its incorporation into the world economy and subjugation to Europe’s competing global empires. Where people and social groups had previously pursued political activity by means of secret societies, or redress through traditional associations such as guilds, village elders, town notables, and the clergy, with the advent of the modern era, the political party came to be seen as an ever-more appropriate and efficacious means of organising and directing political action and expressing political demands. By the end of the British and French mandate a whole host of political parties had emerged, with some acting as the voice of traditional landed elites and urban notables, while others were born in response to the arrival of the new class of urban intellectuals, salaried professionals and civil servants under the sway of modern ideologies such as liberalism, fascism and communism.
Following WWII, with the onset of the Cold War this trend gathered pace and radical projects such as Nasserism and Baʿathism, whose chief concern was Arab unity and the overturning of the old sources of social power and elite rule, the region was transformed irrevocably in what became an epoch of decolonization and calls for non-alignment. Authoritarian presidencies forged off the back of military coups in Egypt, Syria and Iraq, had at their inception sought popular mandates and thereby attempted to build a single-party state order to mobilize a host of groups including recent urban migrants, the intelligentsia, members of the new professional classes and state bureaucracies and the peasantry. New genres of political literature were created and consumed, and novel ways of engaging an increasingly literate public, receptive to the ideas and discourses of the newly-minted anti-colonial elites, came into being.
In the aftermath of the defeat of the leading Arab nationalist states in June 1967 the Palestinian cause for national liberation assumed a more independent line as evident in the early politics of Fatah, while Israel’s party system found itself increasingly forced to come to terms with a rapidly shifting demography and a fragile PR system under the shadow of military occupation. One of the main features of Iranian politics, post-1941, has been the dichotomy between the Marxist, pro-Moscow Tudeh Party, widely considered to be Iran’s only mass political party of the 20th century, and its adversaries’ scorn and indirect emulation. In 1975, Iran would become what was possibly the only one-party monarchy in modern world history. Many of these political parties which endeavoured to fundamentally challenge the status quo in their societies were also often vehicles for social mobility, progressive gender norms and the promise of wealth redistributions, changing the nature of their societies in an unprecedented fashion.
Political parties also partook in the construction of new constitutional configurations, where until 2011 the prospect of dynastic presidencies in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Egypt backed by the one-party state held the promise of becoming a generalizable regional trend. By contrast, Iran following the Revolution of 1979 witnessed the birth of a factional order labouring under the imprimatur of theocratic rule, and has subsequently struggled to institute a stable party political system. Meanwhile, elsewhere in MENA Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood, despite their longevity, sought to persevere in debilitating authoritarian contexts through the cultivation of welfare regimes and networks so as to reach the wider population.
The wave of upheavals and euphoria which swept the Middle East following January 2011, has led to serious queries regarding the role and importance of political parties. A question remains as to whether the repression of organised political activity in several parts of the Middle East has led to their irrelevance, as social movements, both informal and highly integrated, take centre stage in this highly networked, information age. While the post-2011 Arab Uprisings may well have spoken to the bankruptcy of the traditional political party form, the counter-revolutions which almost invariably followed reaffirmed the importance of highly organized, hierarchical and more often than not, militarised, organizations to political outcomes in evolving social conflicts. The Green Movement of Iran and the Tahrir Square revolt were commonly seen as shunning structured political organisation, which made them all the more unpredictable, while sceptics pointed to their inherent limitations and ultimate unsustainability going forward. Moreover, the apparent sectarianization of several conflicts in the region has also been strongly linked to political groupings and mobilizations along sectarian lines, posing the question whether the “sectarian party” is with us to stay?
This international conference aims to make sense of past, present and future perspectives on political party organisation in the Middle East and North Africa. It will seek to understand whether political parties in MENA should still be considered an integral part to the creation of resilient democratic states or the enactment of radical social transformation, as well as chart the evolution of the single party system and the challenges it has faced over the past decade. It will aim to bring together a wide range of scholars studying topics ranging from the social bases of marginalized political organizations to mainstream parties which have held power for decades. It is the conference’s intention to contribute to extant international scholarship on political parties in the fields of history, political science, international relations, sociology and anthropology and the literature concerned with political parties in the post-colonial world.
Proposals might choose to focus on the following themes:
Nationalism and Political Parties
Ethnicity and Political Parties
Imperialism and Political Parties in the Middle East
State formation and Political Parties in the Middle East
Political Parties and Democratization in the Middle East
Political Parties and Class Politics
Modernization Theory and the Legacy of Political Parties
Political Parties in the Arab Spring
Does Political Pluralism in the MENA Require a Multi-Party System?
Political Parties in the Age of Social Media
Political Parties and the Legacy of the Left in the Middle East
Official Co-opted Political Parties in the Middle East
Loyal Oppositions in the Middle East
Political Parties and Welfare Networks
Political Parties and Sectarianism
Factionalism or Multi-Party System?
Political Parties and Revolutionary Elites
Political Parties and Arab Armies
Political Parties in the Middle East: A Spent Force?
The validity of the Western political party theory and conceptualisation in the modern Middle East.
Limited funding is available to cover select travel and accommodation expenses of accepted panellists.
Please complete the paper submission form on the conference website by no later than 5 October 2015. Selected participants will be contacted towards the publication of an edited volume.
https://politicalpartiesmiddleeast.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/hello-world/
11. The Islamic Manuscript Association, in collaboration with the Department of Classics at King’s College London and the Thesaurus Islamicus Foundation, is pleased to announce a symposium on the palaeography of Arabic-script languages at King’s College London’s Great Hall on the Strand, London, on Monday, 24 August.
Compared with the well-established Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Coptic palaeographic traditions, the study of Arabic scripts is still in its infancy. However, as the increasing number of studies published by scholars such as François Déroche, Adam Gacek, and Yusuf Raghib shows, interest in the field is growing.
In this symposium, five distinguished speakers will critically appraise the state of the field and explore new directions for study. The keynote address by Adam Gacek, author of multiple books and articles on the codicology and palaeography of Arabic manuscripts, including Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers (Brill 2011), and retired faculty lecturer and research associate at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, will assess the last quarter-century of palaeographic scholarship and suggest areas of future research. Additional presentations will explore current research and lacunae in scholarship on Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, and Jawi palaeography in more detail.
Admission is free of charge, but registration is essential. Presentations will be in English, and simultaneous Arabic interpretation will be available.
For further information and to register, see our website [as below].
Best wishes,
Armin
——
Armin Yavari
Assistant Director
The Islamic Manuscript Association
c/o 33 Trumpington Street
Cambridge CB2 1QY
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1223 303 177
F: +44 (0)1223 302 218
E: armin@islamicmanuscript.org
W: www.islamicmanuscript.org
12. “Kufic Inscriptions of the Historic Grand Mosque of Shoushtar”.
The authors of this book have taken a rare opportunity to bring together the many factors crucial to an adequate understanding of architectural inscriptions, and they have done so in relation to those in an important but sadly under-published historic mosque. The grand mosque of Shoushtar contains many historic inscriptions installed over time for documentary purposes, but the four monumental Kufic texts are integral parts of its design and meaning. They are here studied calligraphically, hermeneutically and phenomenologically, and in relation to the structure of the mosque itself, the whole being set against an outline of Shoushtar’s history and the features of the mosque.
Begun in the ninth century CE, the grand mosque of Shoushtar is one of the earliest hypostyle mosques in Iran. It was built in “the city of scholars” when its residents included two great Sufis, Sahl Ibn Abdullah Tostari and Mansur Hallaj. This scholarly, mystical emphasis is reflected in the mosque itself and it is tempting to wonder whether the eleventh Shiite Imam, Hassan al-Askari, under house arrest at the time of building, had anything to do with its design. This mosque is idiosyncratic and much modified and now presents a complex interpretational challenge.
This book is an important and long overdue contribution to our knowledge of Shoushtar and the historic application of monumental Kufic inscriptions. Its high quality illustrations allow personal study of all four Kufic inscriptions of the city’s grand mosque: Surat Ya-Sin which was once encircling the entire prayer hall, the dedicatory inscription above the secondary internal mihrab, its fascia inscription containing the last two verses of Surat al-Isra’ whose content parallels the fourth inscription of Surat al-Ikhlas (al-Tawhid) on the external mihrab.
Details: http://kuficpedia.org/publications/inscriptions-historic-shoushtar/
13. Bard Graduate Center – Bard Graduate Center Research Fellowship
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51212
University of Rochester – Spring 2016 Post-doctoral or Junior Faculty
Fellowship
http://www.h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=51216
14. ‘ISLAMIC STUDIES IN SCOTLAND: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT’
In October IMES, in conjunction with the Alwaleed Centre, will be marking the 50th anniversary of W. Montgomery Watt’s inaugural address
as the first Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Scotland with an evening and day of events.
This promises to be a most memorable occasion and will provide an opportunity not only to assess the state of the field
since Professor Watt’s pioneering work but will also emphasise the continuing strength of Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Both events will be held in the Playfair Library at the University of Edinburgh and are open to the public.
Further details will be advised in due course.
The programme:
Friday, 23 October, 6-8pm
On Friday evening, we will feature two celebrated scholars of early Islam.
Professor Carole Hillenbrand of the University of Edinburgh will begin proceedings with a presentation on ‘Montgomery Watt, the man and the scholar’.
Professor Fred Donner of the University of Chicago will follow with a lecture on ‘The Study of Islam’s Origins since W. Montgomery Watt’s Publications.
To conclude the evening’s programme, Dr Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, will offer a short talk on Professor Watt’s religious life.
Saturday, 24 October,
The following day, Saturday, 24 October, we will be holding an academic colloquium titled, ‘Representations of Muhammad’. This will bring together scholars from both Edinburgh and abroad.
Chaired by Dr Andrew Marsham, the speakers will be the following:
Dr Andreas Goerke, University of Edinburgh, Muhammad and the Biblical Tradition, The case of Zaynab bint Jahsh
Dr Christiane Gruber, University of Michigan, Muhammad among the Great Men of the World: Enlightenment, Nationhood, and Early 20th-Century Iranian Carpets
Prof. Wilferd Madelung, Institute of Ismaili Studies, Muhammad, Khadija and ‘Umar
Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz, University of Edinburgh, Representing Muhammad on Screen
Dr Nicolai Sinai, University of Oxford, Muhammad and the Prophetology of the Medinan Qur’an
Dr John Tolan, University of Nantes, The Ecumenical Turn: Massignon, Watt, and 20th-century European scholarship on Muhammad
- August 07, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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- August 04, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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- August 04, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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- July 31, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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- July 29, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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Jannat-ul-Baqee Protests
Al-Jazeera (America) report on last week’s protests over Jannat al-Baqee in the US.
- July 27, 2015
- by Andrew Newman
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- July 25, 2015
- by admin
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ADHRB and BIRD Cautiously Welcome Pardon of Nabeel Rajab
ADHRB and @BIRDBahrain_ Cautiously Welcome Pardon of @NabeelRajab: http://t.co/3FukDwcGTb #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/KAaWAgGPc7
— ADHRB (@ADHRB) July 14, 2015
- July 21, 2015
- by admin
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- July 20, 2015
- by admin
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