Shii News – Academic Items
1. CfP: “Muslims Between Fragility and Hope in an Age of Existential Crisis”
Online Conference (MS Teams), Tuesday 29th September 2026
Hosted by The MUSER Project, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University
of Glasgow
How do Muslims understand and make sense of the multiple existential crises that face
humanity in 2026? For the first time in human history, these crises present species-level
threats to the future of life on our planet. They include (but are not limited to): the climate
emergency, the rise of potentially malevolent Artificial Intelligence (AI), the prospect of
nuclear annihilation through escalating international warfare, and future pandemic diseases.
This one-day, online international conference will explore how Muslims experience,
understand, and respond to these threats as well as to existential crisis more broadly
conceived.
We invite abstract submissions from across the humanities and social sciences which explore
how both ‘fragility’ and ‘hope’ are visible in the ways Muslims and the Islamic tradition
engage with questions of existential risk. While studies that focus on the four ‘big risks’ listed
above are welcome, we also encourage submissions that consider alternative epistemic
perspectives on current existential crises, and which decolonise the literature on existential
risk by critiquing the secular paradigm at the heart of the ex-risk literature and/or
foregrounding Muslim perspectives on what constitutes ‘risk’. Such ‘alternative’ existential.
risks that Muslims experience within the spiritual and intellectual realms in addition to
physical risks could include: the widespread loss of imān and adab, the break-down of
families, the ubiquitous riba-based economic system, disconnection from ‘ulamā, amongst
others.
We therefore welcome papers which address one or more of the following questions:
- In Muslim contexts, how are existential risks defined and understood?
- What resources does the Islamic tradition offer on the question of humankind’s
relationship to risk?
- How do questions of existential risk feature in Muslim eschatological futures?
- How do Muslims across diverse cultural, political, and geographical contexts
experience and respond to risk differently?
- What conceptions of the human being’s relationship to the world and the cosmos
underlie Muslim engagements with existential risks?
Across all these areas, we encourage submissions which explore ways in which Muslims
perceive human fragility and vulnerability – as is emphasised by the Qur’an itself (Q 4.28, Q
35.15) – in connection to our current circumstances, and/or devise pathways to hopeful
futures in spite of these challenges. The analytical categories of ‘fragility’ and ‘hope’ are
themselves open to critical scrutiny and interrogation.
Papers may draw on empirical and/or textual methodologies and may engage historical as
well as contemporary case studies. The focus can be on any geographical, social or political
context around the world where Muslims live or have lived.
The language of the conference will be English. There are plans for conference proceedings
to be published, and authors should indicate on submission of the abstract whether they wish
their paper to be considered for inclusion.
Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words long, and should be submitted along with a
one-page CV to muser@glasgow.ac.uk . The deadline for submissions is Monday 25th May
2026 at midnight BST.
2. The British Library:
Iranian Womens’ Voices
Writers Mosaic presents an evening of conversation, poetry, film, music and protest.
Monday 16 March 19.00
3. Transform Ottoman Documents into Searchable Digital Archives with Osmanlica.com
4. WEBINAR | Archaeology as National Archive: Herzfeld’s History of Iran
The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies and Invisible East present ‘Rethinking History: Returning to Archives and Documents’, a series of monthly online seminars.
Convened by Arezou Azad and Mohamad Tavakoli, the seminars are held on Zoom.
Please join us on Wednesday 11 February at 12PM EST / 5PM GMT to hear Jennifer Jenkins of the University of Toronto speaking on ‘Archaeology as National Archive: Herzfeld’s History of Iran’. Pre-registration is essential.
5. New from SUP | Muslims in Milwaukee
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/9496/muslims-in-milwaukee/
6. Join Our Persian Language & Culture Residency Program
Hikmat International Institute – Qom
For registration and more details, please visit:
https://hikmat-ins.com/persian-language-culture-residency/
7. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Pashto program!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of language in 2 months
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- May 21, 2026
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/pashto-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/pashto-workshop
8. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive online Persian program!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of language in 2 months
- Multiple levels of instruction
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Accelerate your learning with daily 1-on-1 skills training
- Speed up your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- MaY 21, 2926
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/persian-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/persian-workshop
9. Indiana University’s Summer 2026 Language Workshop is now accepting applications for its intensive, accelerated Arabic programs!
Online Courses
- Learn 1 year of Arabic in 2 months
- 5 levels of study
- Enjoy 18 hours of live instruction per week, plus cultural activities
- Combine the effectiveness of intensive study with the convenience of an online class
- Speed your learning by studying alongside enthusiastic and talented language learners
Funding Opportunities
- Explore your funding options here: http://go.iu.edu/language-workshop-funding
Priority Application Deadline
- May 21, 2026
Learn more and apply here: go.iu.edu/arabic-workshop
Questions? Email the Language Workshop at languageworkshop@iu.edu or join virtual office hours.
Contact Information
Kathleen Evans, Director, Indiana University Language Workshop
Contact Email
URL
http://go.iu.edu/arabic-workshop
10. CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Textile Museum Journal
Volume 54 2027
The Textile Museum Journal publishes high-quality academic research on the textile arts and serves as an interface between different branches of academia and textile scholars worldwide. International in scope, the journal is devoted to the presentation of scholarly articles concerning the cultural, technical, historical, and aesthetic significance of textiles.
This volume will be dedicated to the untold stories of how museum textile collections come to be and how museums develop identities around their textile collections. Studies centering on the history of individual textile collections, problems inherent in acquiring museum collections, the creation of textile collections, provenance research on collection materials, repatriation of textiles, and identification of forgeries will be considered. Research from all disciplinary perspectives is welcome. Manuscripts should be based on original documentary, analytical, or interpretive research.
Deadline for abstract submissions: April 30, 2026.
Deadline for full manuscript submissions: August 31, 2026.
Manuscripts should be submitted by email to the Editorial Assistant of The Textile Museum Journal at tmjournal@gwu.edu.
For Manuscript Submission and Author Style Guide documents, please visit https://museum.gwu.edu/submit-research
11. Christian Voices in Arabic: A Manuscript Heritage
About six weeks ago, I launched an online programme dedicated to reading Christian Arabic manuscripts for students and academics. Since then, I have shared eighteen excerpts from a wide range of manuscripts, each accompanied by a transcription, translation and explanatory notes. Here are some of my personal favourites from the series:
- A Syrian Orthodox Scribe on Cyprus (posts 12a and 12b, 17a and 17b)
Yūsuf b. Sabāṭ, the scribe in question, claims that the Torah was revealed to Moses in Syriac and the seventy sheikhs translated it into Hebrew. He refers to this original Syriac version of the Torah as the Targum.
- Islamic versus Christian Purification (posts 5a and 5b)
Attributed to a monk named Ibrāhīm b. ʿAmr, this short text argues that Christians are no less pure than Muslims despite not practicing ritual ablutions.
- The Youngest Copyist in History? (posts 4a and 4b)
This colophon comes from a horologion copied by a twelve-year-old boy, ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Ḥannā. His handwriting is remarkably clear—better than that of many experienced scribes. Throughout the manuscript, numerous pages are adorned with beautifully executed decorative borders.
You can find them all here: https://drkrisztina.substack.com/
These posts are a useful resource for anyone interested in Christian Arabic literature, manuscript studies and book history—as well as for those looking to sharpen their Arabic. If your Arabic is at an intermediate level or beyond, reading these manuscripts will not be an exercise in frustration and it becomes more rewarding with every text you tackle. After sharing a manuscript excerpt, I give readers a few days to try their hand at it before posting the full transcription and translation.
Free subscribers are very welcome!
Best wishes,
Krisztina Szilágyi
Contact Information
Dr Krisztina Szilágyi
Contact Email
URL
https://drkrisztina.substack.com/
12. ONLINE Seminar “Nile Floods and Delta Revolts in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries CE” by Prof. Andrew Marsham (University of Cambridge) and Prof. Philip Booth (St Peter’s Col-lege, Oxford), SSE1K Project, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, 9 February 2026, 17:00 CET
Part of the series “People and their Environments in the First Millennium CE” (SSE1K), this sem-inar investigates the causal relationships between environmental change – specifically variations in Nile flooding – and fiscal revolts during the 8th and 9th centuries.
Registration: https://shorturl.at/FpIAR \
13. HYBRIDE Atelier-rencontre avec Chantal Verdeil : “Femmes missionnaires dans les mondes musulmans”, Institut d’études de l’Islam et des sociétés du monde musulman (IISMM), Paris, 11 février 2026, 12h00 – 13h30 CET
Ce livre s’attache à rendre compte du foisonnement de l’action des missions féminines dans les mondes musulmans du XIXe siècle à nos jours. Personnalités très fortes ou figures plus discrètes catholiques ou protestantes, religieuses ou laïques, seules ou membres d’une congrégation, ces femmes, plus nombreuses que les hommes, ont mené des actions très diverses, ouvert des clas-ses, dirigé des écoles, tenu des dispensaires, exercé comme médecin, mais aussi secouru des réfugiés ou créé une société de colporteurs.
Information et inscription:
https://iismm.ehess.fr/evenement/atelier-rencontre-avec-chantal-verdeil
14. HYBRID “Celebrating 20 Years of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation”, SOAS, University of London, 13 February 2026, 19:00 CET
Join us for a keynote lecture by Boyd Tonkin, reflecting on the past quarter-century of literary translation in a talk titled “Republic of letters or global bazaar: literary translation in the new mil-lennium.” Following the lecture, the 20th year Saif Ghobash Banipal prize winner Marilyn Booth will discuss her acclaimed translation of “Honey Hunger”.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/48fsybdy
15. Conference “The Concept of Suffering and the Concept of Happiness in Judaism, Chris-tianity and Islam”, Bayerisches Forschungszentrum für Interreligiöse Dialoge (BaFID), Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen, 25-27 February 2026
Detailed program at https://tinyurl.com/2jazz8s4.
Deadline to register for participation: 18 February 2026
16. ONLINE Webinar “The Heirs of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 1505 AD). Zoom Series on the Persistence of Islamic Scholarship in the Early Modern Period”, by OIB/University of Bam-berg/University of Göttingen, every Wednesday, 22 April – 15 July 2026, 18:00 pm CET
The Ottoman conquest of Egypt was long regarded as marking the decline of Islamic scholarship, with al-Suyūṭī as its last great figure. Despite all efforts, the “Middle Period” remains insufficiently explored. Thus, the series explores Suyūṭī’s legacy between the 16th and 19th centuries, from the Maghreb to Southeast Asia.
Information: hhttps://tinyurl.com/y3p7c2ch
17. Conference “Fairytales of the Other: The Orientalist Gaze, the Villain, and the Cultural Myths from Beyond”, School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen, 23-24 April 2026
the conference brings together scholars, filmmakers, students, and wider audiences to examine how stories of difference are crafted and experienced across global film traditions. Drawing on postcolonial studies, psychology, and visual culture, we explore how moving images generate empathy or fear and how narratives from beyond the western canon challenge our most funda-mental cultural assumptions.
Deadline for abstracts: 2 March 2026. Information: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/llmvc/events/23383/
18. Workshop “Demarcating Literary Genres in Premodern Arabic Literature. Semantics, Pragmatics, and the Question of Fictionality”, Orient-Institut Beirut, 3-5 June 2026
Through presentations delivered in Arabic, the workshop will explore how we can demarcate and interrelate premodern Arabic literary genres and systems of generic classification, what specific functions genres serve in changing social and cultural contexts, and to what extent the use of genre terms and concepts can be indicative of fictionality. Full travel and accommodation ex-penses of the participants will be covered.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2mbj5yeb
19. Regional Conference of the Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS): “(Re)thinking Central Eurasia: Spaces, Societies, and Power” (Focus Iran), Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan, 16-19 June 2026
We invite submissions relating to all aspects of humanities and social science scholarship that fall within the conference theme.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/4uxvf4fu
20. Third Turkic World Summer Forum “The Future of the Turkic World”, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, 6-15 July 2026
We invite scholars, practitioners, and students to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue on the evolving political, economic, cultural, and technological landscape of the Turkic region. Main themes: 1. Historical and Civilizational Perspectives. – 2. Politics, Governance, and Security. – 3. Economy, Energy, and Connectivity. – 4. Society, Culture, and Soft Power. – 5. Future Visions and Global Outlook
Deadline for abstracts: 20 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yavua94a
21. Second Khalaqat Conference: “Gender and Contemporary Arab Artistic Creation”, Sa-pienza University of Rome, 9-10 July 2026
The conference aims to place Arab artistic creation at the centre of contemporary debate, recog-nising its value within and beyond the region and contributing to the questioning of colonial and orientalist frameworks that have shaped its reception. We invite proposals addressing contempo-rary Arab artistic and literary production from a gender perspective. Interdisciplinary, practice-based, and artistic contributions are welcome. Languages: Arabic, English, Spanish
Extended deadline for abstracts: 28 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yy27hppj
22. International Conference “God, Human, Machine: Images and Imaginations of Religion in the Age of AI” (Focus Islam), University of Erfurt, 28-30 September 2026
The conference draws attention to the hitherto largely neglected aesthetic, ethical, and intellectual implications of AI-generated imagery in religious contexts. We invite theoretical and empirical re-search papers that examine how AI-generated imagery offers new avenues to render the Unseen tangible and enact the expressive dimension of religious texts, as well the ways in which these technologies are employed by religious practitioners to inform their ideas about human relations to the world and the Sacred.
Deadline for abstracts: 22 February 2026.
Information: https://www.uni-erfurt.de/to/godhumanmachine
23. Colloque « De la poésie préislamique, 1926-2026 : Bilan et perspectives sur un siècle de débat », Inalco, 21-22 octobre 2026
Ce colloque international entend interroger son héritage à la lumière d’un siècle de recherches et de débats. Il se propose de revenir d’une part sur l’histoire du débat intellectuel ouvert par la parution de cet essai dans et hors des milieux académiques arabes, et d’autre part sur les diffé-rentes tentatives et propositions de chercheurs qui ont tâché de répondre à la question de l’au-thenticité dans sa dimension philologique, historique, linguistique ou esthétique. Les langues de travail du colloque seront le français, l’arabe et l’anglais.
Date limite : 23 février 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2b2wywnm
24. Seminar “Travellers in Ottoman Lands”, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece, 21-24 April 2027
The speakers will explore many fascinating subjects relevant to travel to and from Thessaloniki (previously Salonica) as well as other Ottoman Lands during the Ottoman period, including: • Artist-travellers and early photographers • Horticulturalists and botanists • Women travellers • Support networks: Consulates, dragomans and merchants • Travellers at classical and archaeo-logical sites • Architecture and landscapes • Ports, coasts and seascapes • Etc.
Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/3t64zfv7
25. Call for Hosting the “XII Islamic Legal Studies Conference” of the “International Society for Islamic Legal Studies (ISILS)”, 2028
ISILS, the leading international professional association for scholars of Islamic law, invites ex-pressions of interest from institutions wishing to host its next triennial conference in 2028. The conference combines an invited panel or roundtable, developed in collaboration with the host, with approximately twenty peer-reviewed papers spanning Islamic legal studies in its broadest sense.
Deadline for applications: 15 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/tntxhksr
26. Open Rank Professorship in Social Anthropology (Including Migration Studies on the Middle East), Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Bern
The successful candidate will represent the discipline of social anthropology in its entirety with a special focus on the anthropology of migration. The position is advertised as open rank (tenure-track Assistant Professorship, Associate Professorship, or Full Professorship). Appointment level will be decided by the appointment committee on the basis of candidates’ prior experience and qualifications.
Deadline for applications: 15 February 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/2et5h58e
27. Junior Fellowships (6 Months, 50 %) for Postdoctoral Researchers from the Humani-ties, Cultural and Social Sciences (Including Middle East Studies), University of Bern
Requirements: You hold an excellent PhD in a discipline within the humanities, cultural studies, or social sciences. – You are working on an interdisciplinary postdoc project. – You have knowledge of German (at least passive) and English (active and passive).
Deadline for applications: 1 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yj2trfav
28. Lecturer (50 %) in Qualitative Methods (Including Studies on Middle East Societies), Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies, University of Bern
The successful candidate will teach and conduct research broadly with a focus on qualitative empirical (ethnographic and historical) methods. In addition to research-based teaching, the po-sition involves the supervision of students (BA, MA, and possibly PhD), as well as active collabo-ration within the Department and with related disciplines.
Deadline for applications: 8 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/bdddphsa
29. Visiting Fellowship (3 Months) for Palestinian Scholars or PhD Students, University of Bologna
This call is for scholars and PhD students from Palestinian Territories whose research has been compromised by the ongoing conflict in the region. Selected applicants will be invited to carry out activities related to the dissemination of their knowledge, research methodologies, and results.
Deadline for applications: 19 March 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/mrysdtrw
30. Two Open Rank Faculty Positions in Islamic Ethics, Research Center for Islamic Leg-islation and Ethics, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar
We are seeking dynamic scholars whose work bridges the Islamic scholarly tradition with con-temporary moral challenges. We are particularly interested in candidates who can bring fresh perspectives to both theoretical and applied Islamic ethics across diverse disciplines.
Applications will be reviewed immediately. Closing date: 25 April 2026
Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycx3ktsp
31. 8th Leiden Summer School on “Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World”, Leiden University, 17-28 August 2026
Invitation to participate in two weeks of lectures, exchange and hands-on practice with examples (of the student’s choice) in Leiden University’s rich collection of Oriental manuscripts. The summer school is meant for graduate students (MA and PHD), post-doc’s and researchers.
Deadline for applications: 4 May 2026. Information: https://tinyurl.com/yefzk2yj
32. New Book: “Before the Qur’an: Material Sources at the Advent of Muslim Scripture” by Suleyman Dost, Edinburgh University Press, 2026, 248 Pages
Information: https://tinyurl.com/b25cjbhx
33. New Book: “Colonial Legacies and Arab-Majority Regions: From Contemporary Condi-tions to Alternative Futures”, Edited by Ali Kassem, Bristol University Press, 2026, 300 Pages
Information: https://tinyurl.com/bd9p6h4k
Posted in: Academic items
- February 07, 2026
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