by Jamie Callison Ask for a description of a mystic or a follower of mysticism, and you might be greeted with a portrait of an otherworldly recluse speaking in riddles and perhaps evincing some unusual physical symptoms like those found…
by Shuaib Ally, McGill University Around the turn of the 15th century in Cairo, a hadith scholar named Salah al-Din al-Aqfahsi heard Salah al-Din al-Kalai, a scholar associated with the Sufi Shadhili order, teaching the Quran. Part of his teaching…
by Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi How did patients feel when visiting mission hospitals built by British missionaries in Asia and Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? I am preoccupied with this question in my book, Emotion, Mission, Architecture:…
by Dženita Karić As I was doing research on the Hajj discourses in Bosnia from the 16th to the 21st century, I encountered a range of texts, published and unpublished, in Bosnian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish languages. Some of the…
By Elizabeth Marteijn Recent tragedies in the Middle East brought more attention to Christians living in the region. Events such as a series of popular uprisings (‘Arab Spring’) and humanitarian disasters in countries such as Syria and Iraq, have made…
by Elisabeth Özdalga The core of her new book Pulpit, Mosque and Nation, author Elisabeth Özdalga explores five key aspects of Turkey’s Friday preaching. 1. A Secular State Housing Thousands of Mosques and Pulpits Every Friday, millions of Muslims all…
by Shivan Mahendrarajah The Taliban are back in power, ushering in renewed fears of destruction of cultural heritages. Their first time in office (1996–2001), the Taliban destroyed edifices on the basis that they were ‘un-Islamic’ and/or ‘beacons’ for polytheists (mushrikin).…
By Professor Tayseer Abu Odeh Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies is an international refereed journal presenting a global platform and space for both critical…
by Ramon Harvey Ramon Harvey introduces his approach to Islamic theology in his new book Transcendent God, Rational World: A Māturīdī Theology. Thinking today has become dizzying. Attention spans are diminished. No sooner does someone have an idea, but it…