An interview with Abdulaziz Sachedina on His Life and Scholarship – Maydan

The following interview with Professor Abdulaziz Sachedina was conducted in 2016 and presented here after his editorial interventions for purposes of accuracy. We hope that scholars of all age cohorts will benefit from this interview on Professor Sachedina’s life and scholarship. Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu (AT): Thank you, Professor Sachedina for agreeing to speak to Maydan.

Saudi Prince Mohammed’s religious moderation unlikely to change Asian realities

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may be seeking to revert his kingdom to an unspecified form of moderate Islam but erasing the impact of 40 years of global funding of ultra-conservative, intolerant strands of the faith is unlikely to be eradicated by decree.

The FRONTLINE Interview: Vali Nasr

In this interview for the FRONTLINE documentary “Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia,” Middle East scholar Vali Nasr talks about the history driving today’s wars in the Middle East, whether these conflicts can be solved, and the parallels between ISIS and the nightwalkers from “Game of Thrones.”

The February 2018 PBS documentary ‘Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia’, for which this interview was conducted, can be accessed here.

DYNTRAN Symposium: Paris 2018

Symposium of the DYNTRAN Project (ANR-DFG): Dynamics of Transmission: Families, Authority and Knowledge in the Early Modern Middle East (15th-17th centuries) 7-9 March 2018 Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 Maison de la Recherche, 4 rue des Irlandais, 75005 Paris Salle Athéna Following the three previous workshops held in Marburg (2015), Cairo (2016) and Naples …

2017 Annual Report – Shia Rights Watch

2018 marks the 7th anniversary of Shia Rights Watch. Over the past seven years, our organization and our team have grown from a Washington, DC-based minority rights group to an internationally renowned institution active in both the United Nations and the International community.

Bahrain: Another Year of Deep State Repression

This past year in Bahrain, much like those preceding it since the popular uprisings of 2011, was one of unending repression and persecution of human rights activists. Yet, the Trump administration and the British government, arguably two of the most influential actors in Bahrain, have remained silent in the face of al-Khalifa atrocities against human rights activists, especially within the Shia majority.

See also: NY Times

Before the Printed Word: Texts, Scribes and Transmission | The Institute of Ismaili Studies

Ismaili historiography has often lamented the destruction of renowned libraries developed under the Fatimids in Egypt (10th-12th centuries) and the Nizaris of Alamut times (11th-13th centuries). In many ways, this loss represented the eclipse of an important chapter in Muslim history that had witnessed the flourishing of learning and intellectual exchange across different societies.

Arab Gulf States: Assault on Online Activists

Gulf governments have sustained their campaigns to silence peaceful critics during the first half of 2017, Human Rights Watch said today, updating an interactive website, created in November 2016, featuring targeted human rights activists.

Shia Muslims Population

According to Pew Research Institute, A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.6 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of…

Commentary: Inside Trump’s Middle East mess

President Donald Trump’s attempt to bring peace and stability to the Middle East has backfired spectacularly. He has put a major U.S. ally, Qatar, in a serious geopolitical crisis and damaged the efforts of his own cabinet to calm regional tensions.