Alchemy was a widespread practice in the Islamicate world that was taught from early on to the 19th/20th century. In spite of its popularity attested to by historical references as well as the wealth of alchemical manuscripts that have come down to us, the study of Arabo-Islamic alchemy has been neglected for the last decades. Only recently have we seen a renewed interest in the field, giving rise to a number of publications.

Among its extensive collection of Oriental manuscripts, Gotha Research Library also houses a significant number of alchemical manuscripts (for the Gotha alchemical manuscripts in Arabic see Siggel, Katalog der arabischen alchemistischen Handschriften Deutschlands, vol. 2, Berlin 1950). The workshop aims at bringing together established and younger scholars working on alchemy and providing them with the opportunity to engage directly with the alchemical manuscripts of the Gotha collection. The exploratory character of the workshop refers not only to the direct engagement with the Gotha collection, but also extends to the field of Arabo-Islamic alchemy more generally. Possible questions to be discussed are: Which aspects of alchemy have received significant attention, what aspects deserve to be addressed more in the future? Which theoretical assumptions and methods have guided the research on alchemy, what theories and methods are relevant for future research? What are the current challenges in studying the alchemy of the Islamicate world and how could they be overcome?

We invite papers from a variety of disciplines (for ex. philology, philosophy, history of science, history of religion, art history, paleography), on all aspects of alchemy, for example….. Read more

The Thousand Year School of Shīa: Kūfa, Ḥilla, Najaf, Al-Aḥsā, Baḥrain, Jabal āmil , Aleppo, Esfahan and Qum

“Shīa studies” nowadays is in the focus of interdisciplinary studies of many academic centers, research institutes and scholars. For this reason, and considering the importance of the exchange of ideas and approaches in Shi’a Studies, the Iran-House in Germany is calling for a two-day seminar on Shia studies entitled “The Thousand Year School of Shīa: Kūfa, Ḥilla, Najaf, Al-Aḥsā, Baḥrain, Jabal āmil , Aleppo, Esfahan and Qum.” With the aim of fostering the exchange between researchers and experts, the organizer would like to present the latest discussions and research outcomes on the following topics by experts:
۱. Historical Shia studies: •  From Shaykh Tūsī to Allāma ḥillī •  From Allāma ḥillī to Ākhund Khurāsānī (Author of Al-Kifaya  From Ākhund Khurāsānī up to date.
۲. Development of Shī’ite jurisprudence (Fiqh) by the founding of the Uṣūlī School by Allāma Waḥīd Bihbihānī in Karbala.
۳. The Science of Uṣūl of the Shiites
۴. Ethics (اخلاق) in the thinking and the spiritual attitude of the Shia
۵. The Shi’ite Seminaries (حوزه) and their teaching methods; Developments and diversities.
۶. Shi’ite Quran interpretation
۷. Permanent legacy of the Shia (manuscripts and their reach)
۸. Societal and political developments of Shia from the Tobacco boycott (Mīrzā Shīrāzī and Seyed Jamāl al-Dīn) to this day.
The conference will take place from October 6 – 8, 2017 in Berlin, after that you would have the opportunity to visit Frankfurt Book Fair. The conference languages are English, Arabic, and Persian.

E-mail: iranhaus@irankultur.com

Deadline: October 6, 2017

Journal of Sociolinguistics

Edited by Bahman Zandi, Arezoo Najafian

Published by Payame Noor University

The Journal of Sociolinguistics is a double-blind peer- reviewed forum for research into the social aspects of language. We welcome original contributions (both linguistic and interdisciplinary) on aspects of language and society including (but not limited to) the social embedding of language variation and change, issues of language contact and conflict, multilingualism, the social stratification of journalistic material and cyberspaces, issues of language and culture, the social stratification of language and identity, the development of language norms and the impact of language policies. Journal of Sociolinguistics also publishes book reviews of recent work in these domains?? Both the managing editorial team and the editorial board are members of the
established academic members and sociolinguistics researchers. Journal of Sociolinguistics is currently accepting submissions. Manuscripts should be submitted only through journal website:
sociolingustics.journals.pnu.ac.ir

Editors-in-Chief…. Read more

A refereed journal with an international editorial and advisory board, the Shii Studies Review provides a scholarly forum for researchers specializing in all fields of Shii studies. Issued twice a year, the journal publishes peer-reviewed original studies, critical editions of classical and pre-modern texts, and book reviews on Shii law, ḥadīth, Qurʾānic exegesis, philosophy, kalām, ritual and practices, classical and contemporary literature, and other aspects of the history of Shiism. It is dedicated to the study of Imami, Ismaili, Zaydi, and other other trends in Shii thought throughout history. Taking an expansive view of the richly variegated Shii traditions in both thought and practice and their cultural and social contexts, the Shii Studies Review makes a distinctive contribution to current scholarship on Shiism and its integration into the broader field of Islamic studies. The Shii Studies Review welcomes previously unpublished manuscripts and invites submissions for its second issue, to be published in November 2017. The issue will contain a monographic section devoted to the eminent Imāmī theologian al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā (b. 355/965, d. 436/1044).

Editorial Board:

Executive Editors: Hassan Ansari and Sabine Schmidtke

Associate Editors: Bella Tendler-Krieger and Sean Anthony

Book Review Editor: Aun Hasan Ali and Najam Haider

Editorial Office:

Institute for Advanced Study, The School of Historical Studies / Near Eastern and Islamic Studies, ssr@ias.edu

Deadline: February 16, 2016

Muslim cultures of the Indian Ocean

International Conference

The Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

Aga Khan University, London

۱۸-۲۱ September 2018

Rationale:
Over the past couple of decades, significant new research has been undertaken across East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent leading to fresh insights on a number of facets of Indian Ocean Cultures. Our objective is to study these multiple facets through the prism of one religion, Islam.  How did one religion managed to unite different people from different area with different cultures?  Since the Prophet, Islam was a mercantile religion par excellence and was favored through trade all over the Indian Ocean. As it was defined by Fernand Braudel for the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean became a “Muslim Mare Nostrum”.

……. Read more

Seminar on Indian Publisher’s Role in Promoting Persian Language and Literature
The first international seminar on ‘Role of Newal Kishore in Promotion of Persian language and Literature across the World’ will be held on February 21-22, 2017 in New Delhi.

Indian publisher Munshi Newal Kishore (1836-1895) published over 5,000 books in Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, English, Marathi, Persian, Punjabi, Pashto, Sanskrit and Urdu in 1858-1885.

To highlight the significant role of this cultural figure in dissemination of Persian language, the Book City Institute, in cooperation with the University of Delhi and the Iranian Embassy in India, will run a two day seminar in February 2017.
…… Read more

Call for Research Papers
Islamic Ethics and the Genome Question
April 3-5, 2017
Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics (CILE)
Doha, Qatar
Background Paper
The  20th  century  has  been  called  the  century  of  the  gene, reaching  a  pinnacle  moment  at the beginning  of  the 21st century. This  was on  26 June 2000 when  the  US  president Bill Clinton highlighted the  successful  completion  of  the first  ever survey  of  the entire  human  genome, epitomized  in the  Human  Genome  Project.  This  breathtaking incident  was  compared  to  the “moonshot”, equivalent to the meticulous planning through to the successful landing of humans on the moon and to the splitting of the atom. In contrast, some critical voices have cautioned against the unfounded  or  exaggerated  genomic exceptionalism represented  in a sometimes pervasive tendency to hype up the impact of genomics, especially with regards to healthcare. Both the rise of genomics as a research field and the intense debate surrounding its potential impact on healthcare have  generated an unstoppable flow  of  deep  and  complex  ethical  questions,  which  we have incorporated  here under  the broad heading of  the “Genome  Question”, referred  to  henceforth  as the GQ.
For More Information Click Here.

Deadline: August 16, 2016