Categories : Field-specific (academic)

‘The Qizilbāsh and their Shah: The Preservation of Royal Prerogative during the Early Reign of Shah Ṭahmāsp’
G. Aldous
JRAS, 2021

The ‘Alawī Religion: An Anthology
M. Bar-Asher, A. Kofsky
Brepols, 2021
The ‘Alawī religion, known for most of its history by the name Nuṣayriyya, emerged in Iraq over a millennium ago. An esoteric, syncretistic religion with a close affinity to Shī‘ī Islam, its origins are shrouded in obscurity. Over time, beliefs and rituals deriving from paganism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity were grafted to the radical Shī‘ī substrate, giving the religion its distinctive character. Throughout their history the ‘Alawites were a persecuted religious minority, but in the 1970s they came to power in Syria and retained absolute rule until recently. There is also a significant population in Hatai Province in southern Turkey.
Arising from the authors’ long-standing interest in the ‘Alawī religion, this anthology offers for the first time a selection from the distinctive literature of the mysterious religion. The book opens with a detailed introduction setting the background for the themes it will cover: the mystery of the divinity in the ‘Alawī faith; rituals and ceremonies; calendar and festivals; the doctrine of reincarnation; initiation into the divine mysteries and the esoteric circle; and finally, the identity and self-definition of the religion’s followers vis-à-vis Islam and other religions.

ONLINE Humboldt Research Award Lecture / Goettinger Orient-Symposium: “Towards a History of Libraries in Yemen” by Prof. Sabine Schmidtke, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 3 November 2021, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm CET
Zaydi Yemen is characterized by a religio-dynastic continuance that stretched over nearly a millenium until the abolition of the Zaydi imamate in 1962. During this periods, the production of books increased exponentially and new libraries were founded. The preserved material allows for a meticulous longue durée study of Yemen’s religio-cultural history through its libraries, the outlines of which will be sketched out in the lecture.
Information and registration: https://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/651367.html

The Clergy and the Modern Middle East
Shi’i Political Activism in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon
M Kalantari
Bloomsbury, 2021

Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is an academic peer-review journal that publishes on Shiite studies.
Submission of articles for the new issue (December 31, 2021, Volume:3, Issue:2) continues to Nov 30. Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is a double-blind peer review and no fee is requested from the author before or after the publication.

For the details and submission:
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/siader

‘Dynamic Quietism and the Consolidation of the ḥawza ʿilmīyya of Qum during the Pahlavi Era’
Mohammed Mesbahi,
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies,
20 October, 2021

ONLINE Lecture: “Ismaʿili Revolts in Their Wider Historical Context (9th-10th c. CE)” by Dr Christian Sahner (University of Oxford), Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 28 October 2021, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm GMT
This lecture will examine the Ismāʿīlī revolts and assess what these movements reveal about the spread of Islam in remote, rural environments and the capacity of these environments to produce new political and religious powers.
Information and registration:
https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/isma-ili-revolts-their-wider-historical-context-9th-10th-c-ce?utm_source=hnet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IHTLS

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The Saudi Struggle for Iraq
K Harvey
Hurst, 2021

The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan
K Babayan
Stanford University Press, 2021

‘Divine Sovereignty, Morality and the State: Maududi and His Influence’
H Iqtidar, O Scharbrodt
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
doi: 10.1017/S1356186321000766, 17 pages