The Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Utrecht University, in collaboration with the SENSIS project, will host a workshop on the Quran’s and early Muslims’ conceptualization of the senses and sense perception. The workshop’s aim is two-fold: first, to unearth the roots of the qur’anic/early Islamic sensorium in Late Antique culture, and secondly, to examine the processes of sensory disambiguation of “Muslim” identity as distinct from other identities (Christian, Zoroastrian, etc.) in the formation of Islam. Sources considered include the Qur’an, sīra and Hadith (both Sunni and Shiʿi), as well as texts from the surrounding literary cultures, and potentially non-textual evidence. Prior to the meeting, but no later than 18 October, participants will circulate one or several short texts (in the format of a handout) for close reading in the workshop. Each paper will be 40 minutes long, and include a paper presentation (20 minutes); Q&A (10 min.); a.nd a joint reading and discussion of texts led by the presenter (10 min).
Utrecht in the heart of the Netherlands
Programme
Location: Janskerkhof 13, 3512 BL Utrecht, room 0.06
Panel 1: Scriptural bases
9:00-9:40: Nora Schmid (Berlin), “Sense perception and the formation of ascetic knowledge in the Meccan surahs of the Qur’an”
9:40-10:20: Thomas Hoffmann (Copenhagen): “The Weltinnenraum of the Qur’an: Towards a visceral phenomenology”
10:20-11:00: Christian Lange (Utrecht): “Sensation in the canonical Sunni hadith corpus”
11:00-11:30: COFFEE BREAK
Panel 2: Sensations in early Islamic thought and sensory practices
11:30-12:10: Adam Bursi (Utrecht), “The old women of Quraysh did that: Touch and its contestations in early Islamic pilgrimage rituals”
12:10-12:50: Maroussia Bednarkiewicz (Oxford): “Diversity in the acoustic space: From the birth of the ādhān to the disappearance of the nāqūs”
12:50-14:00: LUNCH
14:00-14:40: Youshaa Patel (Lafayette College): “Looking different: Some hadith traditions against imitation”
Panel 3: Sensory alterities
14:40-15:20: Eyad Abuali (Utrecht): “Voices and Visions in Early Sufi Qur’an commentaries”
15:20-15:50: COFFEE BREAK
15:50-16:30: Arash Ghajarjazi (Utrecht): “The senses in Nahj al-balāgha”
16:30-17:10: Mary Thurlkill (University of Mississippi): “Muhammad’s sweet sweat: Modeling ritual purity in early Islam”
17:10-17:30: Concluding session
18:30-: DINNER (for speakers and invited guests)
No registration is required for participation, but those interested in attending are kindly requested to contact the event’s co-organizer Dr. Adam Bursi at: a.c.bursi@uu.nl
© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2018. All rights reserved.