Categories : News

In Memoriam – Professor Tomoko Masuya
It is with profound sadness that I write to inform you that our dear supervisor, Professor Tomoko Masuya (Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo), passed away on the morning of 21 June from gallbladder cancer, which she had been battling since the autumn of 2024.

Until the very end, she remained deeply committed to her research, working to complete her projects on the tiles from Takht-i Sulayman and the Daniel Marie Fouquet Collection at the Ohara Museum of Art. She was particularly proud of her recently published volume, Persian World Histories in the Mongol Era: The Compilation and Transmission of Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tavarikh, edited with Osamu Otsuka and Masatomo Kawamoto (Edinburgh University Press, 2026), which made the rich body of Japanese scholarship on Ilkhanid history accessible to a wider international readership. Although she grew increasingly frail, her final days were filled with moments of joy, surrounded by her family, friends, and two of her students, Yumiko Kamada and Yui Kanda.

Her funeral ceremonies will take place in Tokyo on 4 and 5 July at the “Tsuru” Hall of Kirigaya Funeral Hall (5-32-20 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wm5PFG1sY56cVw2b6). Condolence telegrams will be gratefully received. In the meantime, we would be glad to pass on any messages you may have for her family, colleagues, or friends, and we would also be grateful to receive any memories of Tomoko that you would like to share with us. Please write to Yumiko (yumiko-kamada@est.hi-ho.ne.jp) or Yui (kanda@aa.tufs.ac.jp).

She has left us far too soon, and her loss is immeasurable. We will remember her not only as an exceptional scholar and devoted supervisor but also for the warmth, generosity, and joy she brought into the lives of those around her.

With deepest sorrow,
Yumiko Kamada and Yui Kanda

C’est avec une profonde tristesse que nous avons appris la disparition de Charles-Henri de Fouchécour, survenue vendredi dernier, 19 juin 2026, à l’âge de 100 ans.

Éminent spécialiste de la langue et de la littérature persane classiques, dont il a éclairé l’étude de contributions fondatrices (dont le célèbre Moralia: les notions morales dans la littérature persane du 3e-9e au 7e-13e siècle, Éditions Recherche sur les civilisations,1986), Charles-Henri de Fouchécour a enseigné à l’Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) ainsi qu’à la Sorbonne nouvelle, succédant à Gilbert Lazard comme Professeur et directeur de l’Institut d’études iraniennes. Il a également dirigé l’Institut français de recherche en Iran (IFRI) et fondé, en 1978, la revue de bibliographie critique en études iraniennes Abstracta Iranica. Dans le riche héritage que constituent ses nombreux travaux et publications, sa traduction intégrale commentée du Divân de Hâfez (Verdier, 2006), la première en français, comme celle des Maqâlât de Shams de Tabriz (La quête du joyau, les Éditions du Cerf, 2017) comptent au nombre des trésors les plus précieux qu’il lègue, par-delà la communauté scientifique, à des générations de lecteurs, étudiants, et amoureux de la littérature et de la pensée.

Certain.e.s d’entre vous s’en souviennent: Charles-Henri nous avait encore honorés de sa bienveillance en nous rejoignant en visioconférence, grâce aux bons soins de ses proches, à l’occasion de l’hommage qui lui était rendu lors de la XVIe Journée Monde Iranien organisée par notre collègue Wouter Henkelman au Pôle des Langues et Civilisations au printemps 2025. Une exposition, coordonnée par notre collègue Farzaneh Zareie, avait alors été organisée à la BULAC, qui salue aujourd’hui sa mémoire sur cette page.

C’est un savant passionné, un maître généreux et pour nombre d’entre nous, un ami qui nous quitte.

Un hommage lui sera rendu le samedi 27 juin, à 11 heures, au crématorium de Beaumont-lès-Valence.
Ses cendres reposeront au cimetière du Montparnasse, à Paris 14e, dans le caveau familial. Une cérémonie sera organisée en son honneur en septembre, dont nous vous ferons partager les détails lorsqu’ils seront connus.

Au nom du CeRMI, nous adressons à sa famille et à ses proches nos plus sincères condoléances,

Pour la direction,
Justine Landau, avec Denis Hermann et Matteo de Chiara

This story will be behind a paywall, but the headline tells the story.

https://x.com/NABEELRAJAB/status/2053075873994256620

Bahrain makes rare arrest after AP report

Steve authored such works as
Astronomy and astrology in the Islamic world (2016)
Time in early modern Islam : calendar, ceremony, and chronology in the Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman empires (2013)
Half the world : the social architecture of Safavid Isfahan, 1590-1722 (1999)
Shahjahanabad : the sovereign city in Mughal India, 1639- 1739 (1993)

and, as your moderator, was an alumnus of Dartmouth College.

See also:
https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/2/6/dozens-killed-in-suicide-bomb-attack-at-pakistan-mosque

On ISIL’s involvement, see

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/6/explosion-rocks-mosque-in-pakistans-islamabad

Hikmat International Institute:

‘It is with deep sorrow that we received the news of the passing of Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina [3 December, 2025]. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, students, and all those whose lives were touched by his scholarship and character. May God grant him forgiveness, mercy, and everlasting peace.
Dr. Sachedina was a distinguished scholar whose contributions to Islamic thought—particularly in Shi‘i theology—continue to influence and inspire. We at the Hikmat International Institute were honored to host him as an instructor during our 2021 International Intensive Academic Course on Shi‘i Studies, where he delivered an insightful and memorable session on “Doctrine of Imam Mahdi and the Occultation.”
In honor of his legacy, and so that students, researchers, and all those interested in academic Islamic studies may benefit from his work, we are making this session available to the public. The lecture can now be viewed on the official YouTube channel of the Hikmat International Institute.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HABa778NB3U

See also: https://x.com/themaydan/status/1996370470091018395