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Dr Orkhan Mir-Kasimov

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    Department of Academic Research Shi'i Studies
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Books (sole author)

  • Words of Power: Ḥurūfī Teachings between Shiʿism and Sufism. The Original Ḥurūfī Doctrine of Faḍl Allāh Astarābādī. London and New York, I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, (Shiʿi Heritage, 3), 2015. Now available in Open Access.
  • Christian Apocalyptic Texts in Islamic Messianic Discourse, Brill, (History of Christian – Muslim Relationships, 30), Leiden and Boston, 2017.

Books (academic editor)

  • Intellectual Interactions in Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread, I.B. Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies (Shi’i Heritage series), London, 2020.
  • (Co-edited with M.A. Amir-Moezzi, M. De Cillis and D. De Smet), Shiʿi Esotericism: Roots and Developments, Brepols, Turnhout, in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies (UK) and École Pratique des Hautes Études (France), 2016.
  • Unity in Diversity: Mysticism, Messianism and the Construction of Religious Authority in Islam, Boston – Leiden, Brill (Islamic History and Civilization 105), 2013.
  • (Co-edited with D. De Smet), Les Nuṣayris et les Druzes, deux communautés ésotériques à la périphérie doctrinale de l’islam, thematic issue of the Arabica 58/1-2 (2011).

Books (translations)

  • (Co-translated with M. De Cillis), M.A. Amir-Moezzi, The Proof of God: Shiʿi Mysticism in the Work of al-Kulaynī (9th-10th centuries), B. Tauris, IIS Shii Heritage Series, 2023.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles and Book Chapters

  • ‘Use of Diagrams in the Ḥurūfī and Nuqṭavī Manuscripts, and Possible Links between the Ḥurūfī ‘Verbal’ and the Bektashi Visual Iconographies’, G.M. Martini (ed.), Visualizing Sufism: Studies on Graphic Representations in Sufi Literature (13th to 16th Century), Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2023, pp. 192-230.
  • ‘Nuqṭavis, SafavidsA major Shi’i dynasty which ruled Persia (1501-1732 CE), and was succeeded by the Afsharids. (See also Qizilbash, Safawiyya.) and Shiʿism in 9th/15th – 11th/17th Centuries’, in F. Daftary and J. Esots (eds.), The Renaissance of Shīʿī Islam in the 15th–17th Centuries: Facets of Thought and Practice, B. Tauris (Shiʿi Heritage) in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2022, pp. 131-175.
  • “Niʿmatullāhī Manuscripts in the Holdings of the Institute of Ismaili Studies”, Texts, Scribes and Transmission: Manuscript Cultures of the Ismaili Communities and Beyond, W. A. Momin (ed.), I.B. Tauris, London, 2022, pp. 331-346.
  • ‘Connaissance divine et action messianique : la figure de ʿAlī dans les milieux mystiques et messianiques (5ème/11ème – 10ème/16ème siècles)’, M.A. Amir-Moezzi, Ali, le secret bien gardé, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2020, pp. 325-352.  Translated into English as “Divine Knowledge and Messianic Action: The Figure of ʿAlī in Mystical and Messianic Circles (5th/11th-10th/16th Centuries)”, M.A. Amir-Moezzi, Ali, The Well-Guarded Secret: Figures of the First Master in Shiʿi Spirituality, Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2023, pp. 265-287. Translated into Italian as “Conoscenza divina e azione messianica: la figura di ʿAlī negli ambienti mistici e messianici (secoli V/XI-X/XVI)” in M.A. Amir-Moezzi, Ali segreto, Rome: Istituto per l’Oriente C.A. Nallino, 2022, pp. 299-323.
  • ‘Victims or Rivals? The Persecution of the Ḥurūfīs and its Possible Reasons’, in L. Lewisohn and R. Tabandeh (eds.), Sufis and Their Opponents in the Persianate World, Jordan Centre for Persian Studies, Irvin (CA), 2020, pp. 239-257.
  • ‘The Nizārī Ismaili theory of the qiyāma and the post-Mongol Iranian messianism,’ Intellectual Interactions in Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread, O. Mir-Kasimov (ed.), I.B. Tauris (Shiʿi Heritage) in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2019, pp. 323-352.
  • Introduction, Intellectual Interactions in Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread, O. Mir-Kasimov (ed.), I.B. Tauris (Shiʿi Heritage) in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, 2019, pp. 1-9.
  • “The Occult Sciences in Messianic Discourse: Science of Letters, Alchemy and Astrology in the Works of Faḍl Allāh Astarābādī”, Occult Sciences in Pre-Modern Islamic Culture (Beiruter Texte und Studien 138), N. El-Bizri and E. Orthmann (eds.), Orient Institut Beirut and American University of Beirut, Ergon Verlag, Beirut, 2018, pp. 201-221.
  • “Jesus as Eschatological Saviour in Islam: An Example of the ‘Positive’ Apologetic Interpretation of the Christian Apocalyptic Texts in an Islamic Messianic Milieu”, Intellectual History of the Islamicate World 6 (2018), pp. 332-358.
  • “Paradise is at the Feet of Mothers’: the Ḥurūfī Road”, Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam, S. Günther and B.T. Lawson (eds.), 2 vols., Leiden – Boston, Brill (Islamic History and Civilization, 136), 2017, vol. 1, pp. 701-734.
  • “Esoteric Messianic Currents Between Sufism and Shiʿism in 7th/13th -9th/15th  Centuries,” Esoteric Shiʿa: Its Origins and Developments, M.A. Amir-Moezzi, M. De Cillis, D. De Smet and O. Mir-Kasimov (eds.), Brepols, Turnhout (Shiʿi Heritage and BEHE), 2016, pp. 643-664.
  • “Moïse et le Verbe primordial : la figure de Moïse dans le Jāvidān-nāma de Faḍlallāh Astarābādī (m. 796/1394)”, D. Aigle and F. Briquel Chatonnet (eds.), Figures de Moïse, Paris, Editions de Boccard (Orient & Mediterranee 18), 2015, p. 305-320.
  • “Takfīr and Messianism: the Ḥurūfī Case”, Accusations of Unbelief in Islam: A Diachronic Perspective on Takfīr, C. Adang, H. Ansari, M. Fierro, S. Schmidtke (eds.), Leiden, Brill (Islamic History and Civilization, 123), 2016, p. 189-212.
  • “L’épistémologie et l’anthropologie mystique dans le Jāwidān-nāma-yi kabīr de Faḍlallāh Astarābādī (m. 796/1394) ”, Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook, 5 (2014), p. 332-351.
  • “The Word of Descent and the Word of Ascent: Canonical and Extra-Canonical Texts in the Spectrum of the Sacred in Islam”, D. De Smet and M. A. Amir-Moezzi (eds.), Controverses sur les écritures canoniques de l’islam, Paris, Les éditions du Cerf, 2014, pp. 297-336.
  • “Le turc” (on semantic evolution of selected concepts in Turkish language), Tour du monde de Concepts, P. Legendre (ed.), Paris, Fayard (Poids et Mesures du Monde), 2014, p. 389-418.
  • “Ummīs versus Imāms in Ḥurūfī Prophetology: An Attempt at a Sunni/Shīʿī Synthesis?”, Unity in Diversity: Mysticism, Messianism and the Construction of Religious Authority in Islam, O. Mir-Kasimov (ed.), Boston – Leiden, Brill (Islamic History and Civilization), 2013, p. 221-246. Translated into Azerbaijani as “Hurufi peyğəmbərlik təlimində ümmi-imami qarşılaşması: Sünni-Şiə sintezinə cəhd”, Nəsimi və Hurufilik Qərb Şərqşünaslığında (Nasimi and Hurufism in Western Scholarship), Aida Qasımova (tr.), Baku, 2022, pp. 189-221.
  • “Introduction: Conflicting Synergy of Patterns of Religious Authority in Islam”, Unity in Diversity: Mysticism, Messianism and the Construction of Religious Authority in Islam, O. Mir-Kasimov (ed.), Boston – Leiden, Brill (Islamic History and Civilization 105), 2013, p. 1-20.
  • “La lecture par les ḥurūfī de l’épisode biblique de la Table brisée”, A History of Jewish-Muslim Relations, A. Meddeb and B. Stora (eds.), Paris, Albin Michel – Princeton University Press (electronic edition), 2013, p. 502-506.
  • “Historical Development of the Paradox of ‘Likeness’ between Divine and Human as Source of Religious Knowledge in Islam” (in Russian), Ishraq: Islamic Philosophy Yearbook, 3 (2012), p. 331-352.
  • “Techniques de garde du secret en Islam”, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, 228/2 (2011), p. 265-287.
  • “Le ‘Journal des rêves’ de Faḍlallāh Astarābādī: édition et traduction annotée”, Studia Iranica, 38/2, 2009, p. 249-304.
  • “Study of the Early Ḥurūfī Texts: the Foundational Work of Faḍlallāh Astarābādī”, Revue de l’Histoire des Religions (Paris), 226 (2009/2), p. 246-260.
  • “Some Specific Features of the Ḥurūfī Interpretation of the Qurʾanic and Biblical Episodes Related to Moses”, Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 10/1 (2008), p. 21-49.
  • “Deux textes ḥurūfī: Jāvdān-nāme de Faḍlallāh Astarābādī et l’un de ses commentaires, Maḥram-nāme de Seyyid Isḥāq”, Studia Iranica, t. 35/2 (2006), p. 203-235.
  • “Les dérivés de la racine RḤM: Homme, Femme et Connaissance dans le Jāvdān-nāme de Faḍlallāh Astarābādī”, Journal Asiatique 2007/1, p. 9-33.
  • “Ḥurūfiyya,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd edition, 2016/2, Brill Academic Publishers, p. 139-144.
  • “Astarābādī, Faḍl Allāh”, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3rd edition, 2015/1, Brill Academic Publishers, p. 35-43.
  • “Les hurûfis : un mouvement messianique fondé sur la science des lettres”, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds.), 100 fiches pour comprendre l’Islam, Breal (France), 2015, p. 150-151.
  • “Le bektachisme : un ordre hétérodoxe au sein de l’Empire ottoman”, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds.), 100 fiches pour comprendre l’Islam, Breal (France), 2015, p. 152-153.
  • “Le rôle social et politique des bektachis”, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds.), 100 fiches pour comprendre l’Islam, Breal (France), 2015, p. 154-155.
  • “La naqshbandiyya : un important ordre mystique sunnite”, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds.), 100 fiches pour comprendre l’Islam, Breal (France), 2015, p. 156-157.
  • “La naqshbandiyya : rénovations à l’époque moderne et contemporaine”, in D. De Smet and M. Sebti (eds.), 100 fiches pour comprendre l’Islam, Breal (France), 2015, p. 158-159.
  • “Nawm-nāma”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Columbia University, New York (ed. E. Yarshater), online publication.
  • “Jāvdān-nāma”, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Columbia University, New York (ed. E. Yarshater), vol. 14/6, 2008, p. 603-605.
  • “Faḍl Allāh Astarābādī”, Christian-Muslim Relations 500 – 1600, A Bibliographical History, Brill Online Reference Works, 2018.
  • “Jāvdān-nāma-yi Kabīr”, Christian-Muslim Relations 500 – 1600, A Bibliographical History, Brill Online Reference Works, 2018
  • ‘Hurufiyya’, The Encyclopedia of the IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (d. 765), as his successor., F. Daftary (ed.), forthcoming.
  • ‘Nuqtaviyya’, The Encyclopedia of the Ismailis, F. Daftary (ed.), forthcoming.
  • Mir-Kasimov, Orkhan, translation from French of the Foreword by Christian Jambet, in Ḥasan-i Maḥmūd-i Kātib, Spiritual Exegesis: A Medieval Ismaili Treatise on Resurrection, ed. and tr. by S.J. Badakhchani, London, I.B. Tauris/IIS, 2017.
  • Mir-Kasimov, Orkhan, translation from French of the article of Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, ‘The Tafsīr of al-Ḥibarī (d. 286/899). Qur’anic exegesis and early Shiite esotericism’, The Study of Shii Islam, ed. F. Daftary and G. Miskinzoda, London, I.B. Tauris/IIS, 2014, pp. 113-134.
  • Mir-Kasimov, Orkhan, translation from French of Introduction to Part VIII, ‘Philosophy and Intellectual Traditions’ by D. De Smet, The Study of Shii Islam, ed. F. Daftary and G. Miskinzoda, London, I.B. Tauris/IIS, 2014, pp. 545-561.

Book reviews

  • Todd Lawson, Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam: Qurʾan, Exegesis, Messianism, and the Literary Origins of the Babi Religion. London – New York, Routledge 2012 (Iranian Studies 12), in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 165/1 (2015), pp. 231-233.
  • Le Shīʿisme imāmite quarante ans après: hommage à Etan Kohlberg, M.A. Amir-Moezzi, M.M. Bar-Asher, S. Hopkins (eds.), Brepols, Turnhout, 2009, in Revue de l’Histoire des Religions, 230/3 (2013), p. 417-418.
  • Yaron Friedman, The Nuṣayrī–ʿAlawīs. An Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria, Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2010, in Arabica 60/1-2 (2013), p. 222-225
  • Josef van Ess, Der Eine und das Andere, Beobachtungen an islamischen häresiographischen Texten, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin – New York, 2011, in Le bulletin critique des annales islamologiques, 27 (2011), p. 40-41
  • William F. Tucker, Mahdis and Millenarians: Shīʿite Extremists in Early Muslim Iraq, Cambridge University Press, 2008, in Le bulletin critique des annales islamologiques, 25 (2009), p. 49-50
  • Yves Porter, Les Iraniens, Paris, 2006 – in Le bulletin critique des annales islamologiques, 24 (2008), p. 109-111
  • Shahzad Bashir, Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis. Oneworld, Oxford, 2005 – in Abstracta Iranica, vol. 28 (2005), p. 155-156
  • Kāmil Muṣṭafā al-Shaybī, Al-ṣila bayna al-taṣawwuf wa al-tashayyuʿ, 2 vol., Beirut, 1982 – ibid.
  • Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi (dir.), Dictionnaire du Coran, Paris, 2007, ibid.
  • Daniel De Smet, La philosophie Ismaélienne : un ésotérisme chiite entre néoplatonisme et gnose, Paris 2012, Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 141 (2017), online edition.
  • ‘Intellectual Interactions in the Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread’, conference report, Shii Studies Review 1 (2017), pp. 257-260.
  • “Introduction aux doctrines ésotériques de l’Islam”, Annuaire de l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses, Résumés des conférences et des travaux, academic year 2008/2009, t. 117 (2011), p. 151-156.
  • “Introduction aux doctrines ésotériques de l’Islam”, Annuaire EPHE, Sciences Religieuses, academic year 2009/2010, t. 118 (2011), p. 101-105.
  • “Mystique, messianisme et formulations de l’autorité religieuse dans le monde musulman entre les 5ème/11ème et 10ème/16ème siècles,” Annuaire de l’Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses, Résumés des conférences et des travaux, academic year 2016/2017, t. 125 (2018), pp. 379-394.

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