Call for abstracts – Bridging the Gap: Texts, Commentaries and the new Audience

Papers are welcome that focus on a commentary or a commentary tradition consisting of several commentarial writings (sharḥ, ḥāshiya, nukat). They should highlight the role of the commentator as the intermediary between the base text and the changed audience. The conference is open with regard to the fields of Islamic studies, such as Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh), ḥadīth, Qurʾān commentaries (tafsīr), Grammar, Medicine, Philosophy, Logic, Kalām, Ṣufism etc. For a better comparison of the case studies, we invite abstracts focusing on pre- modern and modern periods and on different regions.


Abstracts of 300 to 500 words shall be send no later the January 31st to mohammad.gharaibeh@hu-berlin.de.


Organization
The conference will be organized by Mohammad Gharaibeh, Asad Q. Ahmed,
and Walid Saleh. The conference will take place in Berlin July 27th–30th 2023. Expenses for travel and accommodation will be covered by the chair for Islamic Intellectual History at the Berlin Institute for Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Time Frame
We might organize a preparatory workshop (online) before the conference to exchange
ideas, expectations and concepts in April or May 2023
The conference will take place in Berlin July 27th–30th 2023

For more information on the conference download the full call or visit Mohammed Gharaibeh’s Academia profile.

New Publication by Pavel Pavlovitch

Pavel Pavlovitch is dedicating his latest monograph to Muslim al-Naysaburi, arguably one of the most influential figures in Hadith studies. The theology and methodology of this third/ninth century scholar have considerably participated in shaping Hadith literature until today, and the comprehensive reflection which Pavel Pavlovitch is sharing with us in this book is an important contribution to a better apprehension of some of the key moments in the history of our field. This reading will surely inspire many future discussions and further investigations in the life and legacy of the greatest ‘influencers’ in Hadith studies.

For an excerpt from the monograph please have a look at Pavel Pavlovitch’s Academia page.

New Publication by Yasmin Amin on Umm Salama

Yasmin Amin has made sure we will not be bored as the new year starts and people come back from holidays! She has uploaded yet another paper on a different aspect of her research in Hadith studies: Umm Salama and her role in the legitimisation of the Imams’ authority. You can read “Umm Salama: A Female Authority Legitimating the Authorities” on Yasmin Amin’s Academia profile or directly on the DeGruyter’s website.

New Publication by Mathieu Tillier

If you have not read the latest article by Mathieu Tillier and you’d be happy to practice your French, I highly recommend you

Vers une nouvelle méthode de datation du hadith : les invocations à Dieu dans les inscriptions épigraphiques et dans la sunna.

Mathieu Tillier has gathered a corpus of epigraphic invocations (duʿāʾ) which he compares with invocation formulae contained in ḥadīth narratives. He covers the first three centuries of Islamic history and anaylses in details what he has coined the “prophetisation” of ḥadīth narratives, whereby formulae attributed to anonymous figure slowly become the saying of companions, successors and finally Muḥammad. His comparative approach, in which he combines lexical and textual analysis, allows him to uncover the rare formulae that could be traced back to the first century of the Islamic era and were preserved untouched in the literature. His scrupulous comparison also highlights the evolution of the different phenomena observed regarding the formulae that remained untouched, those which were attributed to non-prophetic figures and finally the ones which were ‘prophetised’, i.e. attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad. It is to be hoped that this well-documented work will inspire more similar interdisciplinary studies and help us understand better the ḥadīth literature in its historical context.

New Publication by Mehmetcan Akpinar

The latest article by Mehmetcan Akpinar has just been published. You can visit his academia page to discover

Medinan Scholars on the Move: Professional Mobility at the Umayyad Court

a refined analysis of scholars’ interaction with the ruling elites during the Umayyad period. By following two Medinan scholars, Mehmetcan Akpinar investigates the personal and professional motivations behind the scholars’ movements and their services to the authorities of their time. He compares their respective ascensions and the various stages which led to their prominent and influential positions at the Damascene court. In the differences that distinguish the careers of these two scholars, one is made to observe the interests of the Umayyad court and the subtle ways it fulfilled its particular needs. Through the combination of a wide range of sources and the detailed exploration of their correlations, the reader gains a new outlook on this complex period and the understudied relationships between the rulers and the scholars of that time.

Akpinar, Mehmetcan. “Medinan Scholars on the Move: Professional Mobility at the Umayyad Court.” In: El Merheb, Mohamad and Berriah, Mehdi. Professional Mobility in Islamic Societies (7000-1750). Leiden/Boston, 2021, 15-39.

 

Third Summer School in Islamicate Digital Humanities for Scholars in Manuscript Studies

The University of Hamburg is hosting a four-day summer course from August 30th to September 10th for graduate students and researchers who work with manuscript materials in Arabic script and want to learn how to choose tools and resources that are available to them and how to apply digital technology in their research. It includes theoretical and/or practical sessions on digital encoding and editing of manuscript texts, data modelling and annotation, advanced search, and visualization.

Date: 30 August – 10 September 2021 (twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays)
Venue: online, hosted by Hamburg Universität, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, 20146 Hamburg
Director of the Course: Alba Fedeli
IT Coordinator: Alicia González Martínez and Cristina Vertan
Deadline for applications: 2 July 2021
Registration free of charge
Number of Participants: a limited number of participants will be selected, up to 15 people

Contact details: Alba Fedeli at alba.fedeli@uni-hamburg.de

As the number of participants is limited to fifteen people for the effectiveness of the practical sessions, students and researchers interested to participate in this summer course must apply by Friday 2 July 2021 by submitting the following details:

  • A one-page CV.
  • A motivation letter (maximum 200 words) explaining their interest in the course and their field of research.
  • A list of their technical skills in order to organize the practical sessions in the more effective way although they are not a requirement for participating in the course. Applicants have to indicate – for example – their knowledge of any software for annotation, searching and/or any type of data handling; data formats; digital editing; programming languages, etc.
  • City from where the participant will attend the summer school, so that we can arrange the time slots in the most convenient way for the majority of the people.

As this year the summer school will be held online, all participants applying MUST make sure that they have a stable and adequate fast internet connection, video camera and microphone, during the duration of the school.

All documents have to be sent as a single PDF-file attachment named as “LastName_Name_Hamburg_DHSchool_2021” to Alba Fedeli at alba.fedeli@uni-hamburg.de and Alicia González Martínez at alicia.gonzalez@uni-hamburg.de

Further details will be uploaded soon on InterSaME website, www.intersame.uni-hamburg.de.