2013 Annual Report Institute of Islamic Studies Faculty of Arts McGill University Submitted by Rula J. Abisaab, Acting Director (30 May 2014) Report Summary During 2013 the Institute of Islamic Studies continued to host celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of its establishment in 1952. The Year 2013 was a very active year in the life of the Institute, and we thank the State of Qatar for its generous gift in 2012, which enabled the Institute to host an unprecedented number of events and lectures. A comprehensive series of events, exhibits, and lectures were held throughout the year beginning with an exhibition of manuscripts and other objects entitled: Strokes and Hairlines: Elegant Writing and its Place in Muslim Book Culture on display from February through May 2013 in the McLennan Library. The complete list of events is listed under the section Involvement in the community. Research and Publications A comprehensive list of faculty publications for 2013 may be found at: http://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/publications/faculty-publications/2013 Teaching and Learning The Institute of Islamic Studies continues to undergo a major expansion in its teaching mission. With the arrival of several new faculty members since 2012, the Institute has continued to increase the number and type of courses offered to undergraduates at the 300 and 400 levels, in addition to our language course offerings in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Turkish. As for graduate studies at the doctoral level, a total of eight (8) PhD degrees were awarded in 2013: Nathan Spannaus, PhD (February 2013), “Islamic thought and revivalism in the Russian Empire: an intellectual Biography of Abū Nasr Qūrsāwī (1776-1812)” Supervisor: Robert Wisnovsky Emre Unlucayakli, PhD (February 2013), “The official discourse on religion in post-1980 Turkey: the official boundaries of the religious field, national belonging and heritage” Supervisor: A Üner Turgay & Rex J. Brynen Selim Argun, PhD (May 2013), “Elite configurations and clusters of power: the Ulema, Waqf and Ottoman State 1789-1839” Supervisor: A Üner Turgay & Malek Abisaab Carl Sharif El-Tobgui (May 2013), “Reason, revelation & the reconstitution of rationality: Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Taymiyya's (d. 728/1328) Dar' Ta 'ārud al- 'Aql wa-l-Naql or ‘The refutation of the contradiction of reason and revelation’” Supervisor: Robert Wisnovsky & Wael Hallaq Bilal Ibrahim (May 2013), “Freeing philosophy from metaphysics: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's philosophical approach to the study of natural phenomena” Supervisor: Robert Wisnovsky Gregory Gordon Mack (May 2013), “The modern muhtasib: religious policing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” Supervisor: F. Jamil Ragep & Wael Hallaq Nadira Mustapha (May 2013), “Islamic legal theory and practice in the North American context: an epistemological and methodological analysis of the Fiqh council of North America” Supervisor: Laila Parsons & Hatem Bazian Fachrizal Halim (October 2013), “The axis of authority in the later Yahyā b. Sharaf al- Nawawi (631-76/1233-77)” Supervisor: Ahmed F. Ibrahim At the Master’s level no MA degree were awarded. Involvement in the community The following list outlines the numerous events, lectures and special exhibitions that took place during 2013 as the Institute continued to celebrate 60 years of existence. A detailed summary can be found here: http://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/news-events/past- events/2012-2013 Strokes and Hairlines: Elegant Writing and its Place in Muslim Book February 11 – June 30 Culture. An Exhibition in Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Curated by Adam Gacek Strokes and Hairlines: Elegant Writing and its Place in Muslim Book February 13 Culture. Public Lecture by Adam Gacek, Research Assistant and former Head Librarian, Islamic Studies Library, McGill University. Islamic Calligraphy Series February 13-20 Muslim Women Calligraphers Throughout History February 15 An evening of Arabic calligraphy demonstrations by master calligrapher Dr. Hilal Kazan. Held in in conjunction with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Sini Calligraphy - Arabic Calligraphy in the Chinese Tradition February 19 An evening of Arabic calligraphy demonstrations by master calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang. Held in in conjunction with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Visiting Writers Series March 18-29 Book Signing with Musharraf Ali Farooqi, author, novelist and March 26 translator. Held in conjunction with Paragraphe Bookstore. Book Signing with Iman Humaydan, Lebanese writer, translator, and March 27 editor. Held in conjunction with Librarie Le Port de tete. Panel Discussion: Language, Translation and Travel. Musharraf Ali March 28 Farooqi and Iman Humaydan. McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Tehran Branch Celebrations April 2-5 Gala Dinner Celebrating Institute of Islamic Studies’ Tehran Branch, April 3 1969-2013. Luncheon and Public Lecture with Professor Mehdi Mohaghegh, April 5 Director of McGill Institute of Islamic Studies’ Tehran Branch, University of Tehran, Iran. Brown Bag Talk: The RaSI Database: A Tool for Historical and April 9 Sociological Research. Sally Ragep, PhD Candidate, Institute of Islamic Studies and Department of History, McGill University. Public Lecture: Mahmud ibn al-Malahimi, son oeuvre et sa réfutation des April 10 philosophes. Dr. Hassan Farhang Ansari, Senior Research Associate, Freie Universität Berlin. Public Poetry Reading by Lebanese poet, novelist, and journalist Abbas April 11 Baydoun. Public Lecture: Texts and their Making in Islamic Literature: Authors April 16 and their Works from Manuscript to Printing and Digital Ages. Prof. Roberto Tottoli, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Naples “L’Orientale”. McGill Islamic Studies Student Council Third Annual Symposium May 3-4 https://sites.google.com/site/miisscsymposium/2013-symposium Fall 2013 events http://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/news-events/past-events/2013-2014 Public Lecture: Releasing the music of the archive: opening our ears to September 16 the historical ghazal. Katherine Schofield, Lecturer in Music at King’s College London and David Lunn, Postdoctoral Research Associate and Leader of the India–Malay Case Study on the ERC Musical Transitions project, King’s College London. Brown Bag Talk: Ali Qoli Jadid al-Islam: Conversion and Polemics in September 24 Late Safavid Iran. Alberto Tiburcio, PhD Candidate, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University. Public Lecture: Ottoman Legacies and post-WWI Insurgencies. Professor October 3 Michael Provence, Department of History, University of California, San Diego. 45th Anniversary Commemoration of the 1968 Congress of Black October 18-20 Writers, co-sponsored by the Institute of Islamic Studies. Brown Bag Talk: Islamophobia: the making of a new concept. The October 22 current state of academic research in English and French. Houda Asal, Researcher with ERIS (Equipe de Recherche sur les Inégalités Sociales) Centre Maurice Halbwachs (Ecole Normale Supérieure), Paris. Public Lecture: A brief history on Iranian Cinema and Film Screening: November 14 Once Upon a Time, Cinema (1991 Persian: Nasseroddin Shah Actor-e Cinema). Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian film director, writer and producer. Public Lecture: Humanitarian Theater: Gender, the ordinary and the November 18 Carnivalesque in ‘post-war’ Afghanistan. Julie Billaud, postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany Brown Bag Talk: The Wound That Doesn’t Bargain: Reclaiming al- November 19 Karam-(a). Khadija Fritsch-Al Alaoui, Visiting Scholar, Institute of Islamic Studies in 2013. Visiting Filmmaker-in-Residence: Shahin Parhami November 12-26 Shahin Parhami has pursued film studies and production at Carleton University as well as Concordia University. Film Screening with Q & A: Amin (2010) November 20 Workshop Film Screening of Shahin Parhami’s current project November 21 Partnerships Major ongoing collaborative research projects were at the forefront of the Institute’s activities in 2013, namely: the Rational Sciences in Islam: An Initiative for the Study of Philosophy and the Mathematical Sciences in Islam (Canada Foundation for Innovation, 2008-2013) and the Ghafiqi Project. Partners outside the Institute include: the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin), and the Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill. In January 1969 McGill’s Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Professor S. B. Frost and Professor Charles Adams, the Institute’s Director were in Tehran to inaugurate the McGill Institute of Islamic Studies’ Tehran Branch. The study of the philosophical and mystical heritage of Persianate societies has been an integral part of the Institute and its legacy since its inception. In April 2013 the Institute celebrated the forty-four years of this relationship with a gala dinner, which included the launch of a website dedicated to e-publishing the Tehran Branch’s publications: http://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/publications/tehran-branch- publications, a project between the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Islamic Studies Library at McGill to digitize the publications of the Tehran Branch. Milestones In June Professor Robert Wisnovsky was promoted to Full Professor and appointed to a James McGill Professorship in Islamic Philosophy. In August Professor Mohamad ‘Pasha’ Khan was appointed to the Chair in Urdu Language & Culture for a three-year initial term, following the retirement in 2010 of Dr. Sajida Alvi, Professor Emerita in Urdu Language & Culture. Honours,