January 2016
Dr Farhad Daftary and Dr Gurdofarid Miskinzoda visited Atlanta, Austin and Houston in the USA to launch the first two publications of the Shi‘i Heritage Series. Dr Miskinzoda also visited Nairobi, Kenya, where she conducted further presentations on the Series.
The Ikhwan al-Safaʾ (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safaʾ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables.
The IIS-ISMC Joint Library in Central London warmly invites applications for a five-day workshop entitled Introduction to Arabic Manuscript Studies, led by world expert on Islamic manuscripts Adam Gacek.
The primary focus of the workshop is to provide an overview of writing supports and structures of Islamic manuscripts, bookbinding and decoration, scripts, as well as composition and transmission of texts. The last day will feature a hands-on session where participants will be able to examine rare manuscripts from the Institutes’ collections under the supervision of the instructors.
The workshop is open to suitably qualified academics, scholars and students.
The deadline for applications is March 4, 2016.
The fee for the five-day workshop is £500, with an early bird discount of £50 for bookings received by Friday 29 February 2016.
Applicants should email Walid Ghali at walid.ghali@aku.edu with their affiliation and contact details. Payment will be required by bank transfer on successful registration.
Javdan-nama (also known as Javdan-nama-ye kabir or Javdan-nama-ye elahi), the major work of Fadhl-Allah Astarabadi (d. 1394; q.v.), the founder of the Hurufi movement. The title, which can be translated from Persian either as the “Eternal Book” or as the “Book of Eternity”, has been transcribed here as Javdan and not Javidan (although this latter form is more current in Persian and is often used in contemporary literature on the Hurufis
), because early Hurufi authors mostly use the form without the “ya” between the “waw” and the “dal”.
The main aim of the publication is to explain how interpreters of the Qur’an have used the actual words of the text to articulate different views and interpretations.