Abstract: My presentation explores the intellectual, social, and political landscape of Sicily under the Arab Fāṭimid rule (909–965) and their Kalbid allies (948–1053). Building on research from my edited volume Muslim Sicily: Encounters and Legacy, it further examines Sicily’s connections with al-Andalus, Qayrawān, and Cairo. The talk highlights the dynamic nature of Christian–Muslim relations within a broader context of interaction among diverse ethnic and religious communities over several centuries. Drawing on recently published Arabic and Coptic texts, it also considers Fāṭimid state policies and Sicily’s role as a key player in the medieval Mediterranean.

Register at:
https://universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/TBJgbYt6Rk2rVXgQvpdvvA?lt_utm_source=lt_admin_share_link#/registration

ONLINE Webinar “From Hidden Rooms to City Streets: Shia Rituals, Student Activism, and Public Space in Italy” by Minoo Mirshahvalad (University of Copenhagen), NYU-Roma Tre Permanent Global Seminar, 4 March 2026, 18:00 CET

This paper examines how Shia Muslims – particularly Iranian students – navigated and reshaped Italian urban spaces between the early 2010s and 2018. It explores how a marginal religious minority negotiates its right to urban presence through evolving practices of visibility, how students act as cultural mediators, and how Italian urban spaces both limit conventional forms of public religiosity, but also open space for creative and locally adapted modes of ritual expression.
Information and registration: https://tinyurl.com/4hc974ka

See

https://curis.ku.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/450132916/Research_Seminar_-_Shia_diaspora.pdf

for further information.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-55877-1

See also Human Rights Watch

Pope Francis to Visit Bahrain – a center of human repression and one-family rule

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