Events
All are welcome to attend any of the events. If you have any questions contact the Centre’s Director: Associate Professor Sajjad Rizvi
| When | Time | Description | Add to your calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 April 2024 | 17:00 | CSI Monday Majilis: Text and Stone: A history of Christian Symbols in Mamluk Architecture in Cairo (1250-1517AD)Text and Stone: A history of Christian Symbols in Mamluk Architecture in Cairo (1250-1517AD). Full details | Add event |
| 20 May 2024 | 17:00 | Monday Majlis: The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of IslamThis lecture will explore early relations between Zoroastrians and Muslims by examining the most important polemical treatise in the Zoroastrian tradition, the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār (“The Doubt-Dispelling Disquisition”), written by the ninth/tenth century theologian and philosopher Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād. A sophisticated work of rationalist theology, the treatise systematically critiques several rival religions of the late antique and medieval Middle East, including Islam. The critique of Islam in chapters 11 and 12 is the only sustained, systematic polemic against Islam in premodern Zoroastrian literature, one that attacks monotheism by focusing on the problem of evil. This lecture will consider Zoroastrians’ relationship with Muslims, the influence of Islamic theology on Zoroastrian thought, and the place of the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār in Middle Persian literature.. Full details | Add event |
| 27 May 2024 | 17:00 | Monday Majlis: The Qurʾān and Its Masculine God: A Historical Feminist AnalysisA major pursuit of hermeneutic feminists is to modify the traditional understanding of the Qurʾān in order to present a pattern of gender equality, and consequently, enhance the status of women in Islam. While they emphasize the historical view and the non-selective approach to the Qurʾānic verses, they deviate from these assumptions in practice. In particular, when it comes to the supernatural realm of the Qurʾān, especially Allāh’s character, they portray it as devoid of sexism, repression, and discrimination. Full details | Add event |
| 3 June 2024 | 17:00 | CSI Monday MajilisThe Novel in Adab: A Modern Genre in Conversation with al-Tanukhi and al-Tawhidi. Full details | Add event |
| 10 June 2024 | 17:00 | Monday Majlis: On Animals, Stones, and Alphabets: The 14th-Century Egyptian Alchemist Aydamir al-Jildakī and His Natural EncyclopaediaDespite his large and – in his time – well-received oeuvre, the Egyptian scholar Aydamir al-Jildakī (fl. middle of the 14th century) so far is known to specialists of Islamic alchemy only. Yet, Manfred Ullmann, writing in 1972, insisted that he was one of the “greatest scholars of the Islamic cultural sphere”. In his natural encyclopaedia entitled Durrat al-ghawwāṣ (“The diver’s pearl”), al-Jildakī treats the whole sublunar nature, from humans to animals, plants, and minerals. Perhaps following Qur’anic concepts of sign (āya), he also considers languages and scripts as part of the ordered natural world. This paper will offer an introduction to al-Jildakī and his concepts of nature and culture and thus into concepts of post-classical Arabic science.. Full details | Add event |