On the Wehr dictionary
This is a fascinating history of a Jewish scholar who worked on the Wehr Arabic dictionary. https://qantara.de/en/article/islamic-history-scholar-sabine-schmidtke-holocaust-reshaped-knowledge-prod…
Tag: Scholars
The Ignorance of the Jahiliyya
This is an excellent Youtube talk by Ahmad al-Jallad on the evidence from the rock inscriptions and graffiti from the Arabian Peninsula. Also check out his excellent book…
Jere Bacharach
On April 9 the Middle East historian Jere Bacharach, emeritus professor at the University of Washington, passed away. He was an amazing individual, great scholar and friend. He…
Controversy in Swedish Missionary Studies
A PhD dissertation defence, in some countries called a viva, is usually a ceremonial event only attracting a few other academics from the same field, and perhaps the…
Where are the Himyarite Kings?
The war that has dragged on in Yemen for seven years has created a major humanitarian disaster. Yemen has experienced war and conflict before since the early days…
Tim MacIntosh Smith
Read the article about Tim, whose writing on Yemen is terrific.
Researching Islamic Manuscripts
Mahmoud Zaki has assembled a major resource on sources for the study of Islamic manuscripts, including links to major digital collections and publications. It can be accessed here.…
Al-Jallad on Pre-Islamic Arabian Inscriptions
One of the foremost scholars of the pre-Islamic languages and inscriptions of the Arabian Peninsula is Dr. Ahmad al-Jallad. Here is a Youtube video of a lecture he…
Online Books in Halle
At least 337 Books published in Germany on Islam and history of the Middle East are available to read online or download. Most are in German but a…
al-Qazwini Manuscript
check it out here…
Hanbali Resource
This is a useful source with pdfs of books from and about the Hanbali school. including a number by Ibn al-Jawzi.
Varisco on the Baghdadi Ratl
On Thursday, July 8 , 2021 (4 pm Berlin time, 10 am New York time) I will be giving an online presentation on my search for the metric…
Googling Ibn Majid
One of the most famous Arab navigators is the Omani Ahmad b. Majid, who flourished in the latter half of the 15th century. If you google his name…
Handbook of Sufi Studies
Brill has recently published a Handbook of Sufi Studies. One of the editors, Alexander Knysh, discusses the new volume here.
The Al-Khalidi Library in Jerusalem
There is a recent article in the Arab News on the Al-Khalidi library in Jerusalem. You can also visit the website of the library here. I attach the…
David King on Islamic Astronomy
The historian of Islamic astronomy and mathematics, Dr. David King, recently gave a fascinating lecture at the Furqan Foundation in London. Here is the Youtube video of the…
Arabic Dictionaries Online
In 1981, while visiting Egypt for a consulting assignment with USAID, I purchased the old Cairo edition of the massive dictionary Tāj al-‘Arūs of Murtaḍā al-Zabīdī (d. 1790).…
Pierre Cachia 1921-2017
Pierre Cachia 1921-2017 Pierre Cachia slipped away peacefully on 1st April, a few days shy of his 96 th birthday, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. With the…
The Anthropoliteia #BlackLivesMatter Syllabus Project, Week 19: Anne Galvin on Reflexivity and the White Anthropologist
The editors of Anthropoliteia are happy to continue an ongoing series The Anthropoliteia #BlackLivesMatterSyllabus Project, which will mobilize anthropological work as a pedagogical exercise addressin…
Sadiq al-Azm (1934-2016)
The loss of a true intellectual. May he rest in peace as the world he loved continues to spiral in conflict.
Sadiq al-Azm (1934-2016)
The loss of a true intellectual. May he rest in peace as the world he loved continues to spiral in conflict.
Al-Nuwayri on the Pleasures of Life
A post about the famous 14th century Mamluk text of al-Nuwayri, with a new English translation of excerpts from this classic compendium now available.
Onomasticon Arabicum
Onomasticon Arabicum (OA) is a long-living database project. This new online-version informs on more than 15000 scholars and celebrities from the first Muslim millenary. Its entries in Arabic…
Morocco’s Sociologist Fatima Mernissi Dies at 75
by Scheherazade Bloul, Morocco World News, Monday 30 November 2015 Rabat – One of Morocco’s most celebrated feminist writers and sociologists passed away aged 75, on Monday. Born…