The Intriguing Messages of a Muslim Slave's Tombstone Jelle Bruning taps a new source for the history of slavery among early Muslim communities and shows what funerary epigraphy can tell us about how ninth-century Muslims dealt with their deceased slaves. Jelle Bruning • January 21, 2021 • 1 comment
Middle Eastern Manuscripts in the Digital World Peter Webb discusses the shortcomings of studying printed editions of Arabic sources, and introduces a new Leiden initiative designed to help overcome the pitfalls: Mouse&Manuscript, a free online suite of lessons covering the essentials of how to read Middle Eastern manuscripts. Peter Webb • January 07, 2021
Mirroring the Other: The Feminist Narration of Islamic Glass Art in Works of Monir Farmanfarmaian Delaram Hosseinioun discusses the mirror art of dame Monir Farmanfarmaian, through the lens of Judith Butler’s theories on feminine Otherness, highlighting the influence of the fourteenth-century Shāh Chérāgh Mosque on Farmanfarmaian’s work. Delaram Hosseinioun • December 11, 2020
The Mughal Experiment with Islamic Extremism: A Sixteenth-Century Lesson for Today Religious extremism is not limited to Islam or to the present. Said Reza Huseini delves into the past to find a policy that actually worked: Mughal Emperor Akbar’s “Peace with All” ideology. Said Reza Huseini • November 25, 2020
Het Nederlands waardendebat en islam 'Is islam verenigbaar met westerse waarden?' Maurits Berger ontleedt het ‘waardendebat’ en beargumenteert dat wat er schuurt tussen gelovige moslims en de Nederlandse samenleving niet de politiek-juridische waarden van vrijheid en democratie zijn, maar cultureel-religieuze tradities en gewoontes. Maurits Berger • November 11, 2020
Dutch Fire Diplomacy in Early Modern Istanbul Like in any other metropole of the early modern world, city fires formed an imminent danger in Ottoman Istanbul. The diplomatic representatives of the Netherlands reported dozens of these fire incidents from their Dutch Palace in the Galata district, not only as spectators but also as victims. Burak Fıçı • October 29, 2020 • 2 comments
Dietary Laws and the Birth of Islam Foodways are an integral part of identity, and the proto-Muslim community was no exception. Based on Quranic proclamations on dietary laws, Mehdy Shaddel shows that among the early opponents of Islam there probably were “gentile” adherents of “Jewish” food laws. Mehdy Shaddel • October 14, 2020 • 1 comment
Christian Missions and Humanitarianism in the Middle East, from 1850 to 1950 Christian missions have played a significant role in humanitarian aid in the Middle East. The 1850s to the 1950s saw a significant change in their orientation: from pietist movements to social service-centred institutions. Karène Sanchez Summerer and Inger Marie Okkenhaug • October 01, 2020
The Nile: Between Arab and African Geopolitics The Ethiopian mega dam on the Nile raises not only hydro-technical disagreement between Egypt and Sudan (downstream countries) and Ethiopia (the source of the Blue Nile); it also underscores latent contested perceptions of Arabs versus Africans. However, the Nile flow transcends this division. Abeer Abazeed • September 17, 2020
