Call for Papers: IQSA 2024 in London

Call for Papers: IQSA 2024 in London

The International Qur’anic Studies Association is delighted to hold its Annual Meeting in person from July 15-18, 2024, hosted by the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London!

We are now accepting proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtable discussions to be held in-person at the Aga Khan Centre, King’s Cross, London. Proposals will be considered on any aspect of the academic study of the Qur’an or its reception history.

Individual papers: Individual paper proposals should be no more than 400 words long and should include the title of the paper, the name and affiliation of the presenter, and a 100-150-word biography.

Panel papers: Papers belonging to pre-arranged panels should indicate the name of the panel in the appropriate field in addition to providing a 400-word abstract and title for the individual paper. Only panel organizers should include a panel abstract in the submission. There is a dedicated field for submitting the panel abstract.

Roundtables: We will accept a limited number of proposals for lightning roundtable discussions. These are roundtables of up to seven participants, where two to three questions are given and each participant has no more than three minutes to address each question. Ample opportunity should be given for audience participation. Only roundtable organizers should submit an abstract which would include the rationale and the questions to be asked.

Please only submit one paper proposal (either individual or as a part of a panel); roundtable discussants may also give a paper.

Proposals for single and panel papers must include:

  • Author name and affiliation.
  • 100-150-word short bio (written in English).
  • Paper title.
  • 400-word paper abstract (written in English).

Proposals can be submitted here by January 31, 2024. For your proposal to be accepted and to attend the conference you must be an active IQSA memberYou can join IQSA here. If you are a graduate student, contingent faculty, or are from the global south and are unable to pay, please contact us (contactus@iqsaweb.org).

Registration for the conference will open soon and information will be made available regarding accommodations including discounted rates, travel grants, and child care.

Questions? Email contactus@iqsaweb.org. We look forward to receiving your submissions!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2023. All rights reserved.

IQSA International Meeting CfP Deadline Approaching

Friends of IQSA,

A friendly reminder that the Call for Papers deadline for IQSA’s fourth biennial International Meeting held in partnership with the “Giorgio La Pira” Library and Research Centre in Palermo, Sicily has been extended, and all paper and panel proposals are due this Friday May 7th, 2021.The organizing committee will send a notification of acceptance for abstracts by May 23, 2021.

Please note that all proposals for single papers must include:

  • Author name and affiliation
  • Paper title
  • 200-word paper abstract (in English)

while proposals for panels must include:

  • Chair name and affiliation
  • Panel title
  • 200-words panel abstract (in English)
  • speakers contacted and selected by the proponent and title of each paper.

Applicants are kindly asked to submit their abstracts to the attention of Dr. Alba Fedeli at iqsa2021@fscire.it. 

Conference registration fees are structured as follows:

  • Students to assistant professors – IQSA members: $50 USD / Non-IQSA members: $100 USD
  • Associate professors and above – IQSA members $75 USD / Non-IQSA members: $150 USD
  • Members of the public – $150 USD
  • Affiliates to the “Giorgio La Pira” Library will receive a special code for registration.

The event registration page is https://members.iqsaweb.org/event-4189882

Individuals in the Global South interested in attending the conference should email contactus@iqsaweb.org for accommodations. Any other questions concerning the registration process should also be addressed to contactus@iqsaweb.org.

The organizing committee thanks the IQSA community for its understanding and flexibility during these extraordinary times, and looks forward to convening in July!

Copyright © 2021 International Qur’anic Studies Association, All rights reserved.

Call for Papers: IQSA International Meeting 2021

Call for Papers: IQSA International Meeting 2021
“Giorgio La Pira” Library, Palermo, Sicily

The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) is happy to announce its fourth biennial conference from July 4-11, 2021, hosted by the “Giorgio La Pira” Library (Palermo, Italy). This International Meeting will welcome papers on any topic within the range of the interests of the Qur’anic text encouraging in particular papers that will explore the theme Qur’an in contact: Plurality of views from other traditions, disciplines and peripheries

PalermoThe “Giorgio La Pira” Library and Research Centre in Palermo, Sicily, is a ‘twin’ of the “Giuseppe Dossetti” Library in Bologna, both established by the Foundation for Religious Studies “John XXIII” (FSCIRE).

FSCIRE is a leading research institution in Italy. It coordinates the European starting community ReiReS (Research Infrastructure on Religious Studies) and the European research infrastructure RESILIENCE; it is the founder and promoter of the European Academy of Religion and it hosts the UNESCO Chair on Religious Pluralism and Peace.

In October 2018, the “Giorgio La Pira” Library was established as a research centre specialised in the history and doctrines of Islam, with the aim of representing all its linguistic, doctrinal, and cultural varieties. The library is dedicated to Giorgio La Pira (1904-1977), a Sicilian scholar and political leader who played a key role in the peace movement throughout his life and career.

One of the main goals of the “Giorgio La Pira” Library and Research Centre is to represent all traditions of Islam and to encourage their research cooperation, in an effort to create an area of rights and understanding through scientific progress in the fields of history, theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and philology.

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The organizers encourage submissions of proposals in any topic of Qur’anic scholarship, and in particular:

  1. a) themes related to other traditions within and outside Islam in order to foster plurality of views and a comparative perspective;
  2. b) contributions from scholars in other disciplines who are tangentially connected to the Qur’an and Qur’anic studies literature thus contributing their original voice into the flourishing of the discipline of Qur’anic studies.

If circumstances will allow for traveling and for people gathering in Palermo, the conference will be held in a hybrid format. The meeting will be structured as follows:

  • July 4-7, 2021: this portion of the conference will be entirely virtual.
  • July 8-11, 2021: this portion of the conference will be Hybrid. In-person attendees will be able to present at the La Pira Library. All equipment necessary to facilitate interaction between virtual and in-person attendees will be made available.

During registration you will be asked if you are interested in attending the conference in person. This is not a commitment to attending in person. We know that for many people, travel planning is currently not possible, and we expect the majority of participants to attend virtually. However, if circumstances do allow, and you would be open in coming in-person, please note your interest. We have a limited number of spots for which we can provide full or partial accommodation.

The Palermo IQSA Conference Committee welcomes proposals of single papers as well as panels that gather selected speakers invited by the proponent to present on a specific topic.

Please note that all proposals for single papers must include:

  • Author name and affiliation
  • Paper title
  • 200-word paper abstract (in English)

while proposals for panels must include:

  • Chair name and affiliation
  • Panel title
  • 200-words panel abstract (in English)
  • speakers contacted and selected by the proponent and title of each paper.

Applicants are kindly asked to submit their abstracts to the attention of Dr Alba Fedeli at iqsa2021@fscire.it, by April 23, 2021. The organizing committee will send a notification of acceptance for abstracts on May 16, 2021.

Should you have any questions regarding the submission of proposals, please contact the conference director, Dr Alba Fedeli, at iqsa2021@fscire.it.

Conference registration fees are structured as follows:

  • Students to assistant professors – IQSA members: $50 USD / Non-IQSA members: $100 USD
  • Associate professors and above – IQSA members $75 USD / Non-IQSA members: $150 USD
  • Members of the public – $150 USD
  • Affiliates to the “Giorgio La Pira” Library will receive a special code for registration.

The event registration page is https://members.iqsaweb.org/event-4189882

Individuals in the Global South interested in attending the conference should email contactus@iqsaweb.org for accommodations. Any other questions concerning the registration process should also be addressed to contactus@iqsaweb.org.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2021. All rights reserved.

Report on the International Qur’an Conference, July 25-26, 2019

Qur’anic studies may be commonly perceived as straddling something of a great divide, both institutional and intellectual, between Western scholarship and that produced in the Muslim-majority world. At the fourth biennial international meeting of IQSA held in Tangier, Morocco, scholars from at least 14 different countries convened under the aegis of an academic society helping to overcome that enduring assumption. The sheer range of topics covered suggests that as a matter of practice, the field exceeds any particular method, approach or discipline. The promise of productive debate in spite of this remains clear from the rich conversations that took place (in English, Arabic, and French) over two days at the wonderful Maghrebi-inspired architectural setting of the University of New England’s Tangier campus, where we were hosted by the Tangier Global Forum directed by Anouar Majid and facilitated by Mourad Benkirane.

tangierThe theme of this year’s meeting, “Reading the Qur’an in the Context of Empire,” provided a broad framework for vastly disparate perspectives, from the late antique world to the age of European colonialism and beyond. Bookending precisely those two periods were the presentations by historians Juan Cole (Ann Arbor) and John Tolan (Nantes). Cole argued for evidence of an ardent pro-Roman and even “pro-Christian” attitude in the Qur’an, reading Q 30:1-5 (Sūrat al-Rūm) and other passages in light of Roman-Sassanian geopolitics. Tolan then presented the case of Napoléon Bonaparte as an enterprising reader of the Qur’an, who arrived in Egypt with a copy of Claude-Étienne Savary’s 1783 translation of the Qur’an on board his ship. Using Savary’s admiring biography of the Prophet, Tolan highlighted the “intellectual baggage” of the first French expedition in the Arab world: not only that of the ambivalent early European scholarship on Islam, but also a certain Deist idealisation of Muhammad as a pure monotheist—whom Napoleon claimed to emulate in his quest for greatness.

Savary’s translation would make another appearance that afternoon in the French keynote lecture by Hela Ouardi (Tunis), entitled “Quatre siècles de lecture: Histoire de l’étude du Coran en France: essai de périodisation.” She surveyed the expansive terrain of European scholarship on the Qur’an since the Middle Ages, starting with the first French translation of André du Ryer in 1647 and ending with the far-reaching Dictionnaire du Coran (2007) edited by Mohammad Amir-Moezzi. The historical significance of modern printed translations would have been further explored in the next day’s planned second keynote in English by Johanna Pink (Freiburg), on “Dying Empires, Rising Empires, and the Qur’an: Print, Translation, and missionary movements, 1900–1938.” Unfortunately, she was unable to attend due to a family loss. Instead, Fred Donner (Chicago) delivered his paper, “The Qur’an and the State,” as a substitute keynote. He argued that the Qur’an’s individualist ethos reflects a lack of ideas about statecraft and any overt political theory, requiring later Muslim thinkers to reimagine such references as “ulī l-amr minkum” (Q 4:59) that only obtained a limited sense among early exegetes.

Tangier_GroupOf course, matters of communal identity and behavior otherwise abound in the Qur’an, variously addressed by a number of presenters. Hamza Zafer (Seattle) and Devin Stewart (Emory) both explored Qur’anic poetics as linked closely to prophetology: Zafer dwelled on the fascinating use of rainwater and its diverse fruits (Q 35:37) as metaphors for divine guidance and ecumenism, while Stewart presented a typology of the many enigmatic, “generic” stories of divine punishment of unnamed people in the past. The Qur’an can be said to articulate notions of religious authority in its critique of the rabbis, and Holger Zellentin (Cambridge) showed how it seems to be addressing a specific historical moment and type of Judaism, identifiable in his view with a “late Palestinian layer” of the Rabbinic tradition. Focusing on individual Qur’anic terms implicated in narratives about the formation of the early community, Raashid Goyal (Cornell)—on the Aʿrāb, and Suleyman Dost (Brandeis)—on the hapax “ibtahala” in Q 3:61, sought to reassess their meanings in relation to classical interpretations. Similarly focusing on a key term, Gabriel Reynolds (Notre Dame) turned his attention to tawba and its cognates to examine nuances in the Qur’anic theology of repentance, finding there a notion of divine pathos and even yearning for the human return to God.

A notable strand of presentations on both days dealt with issues of canonization and reception history. Marijn van Putten (Leiden) drew attention to a certain combination of non-canonical variant readings appearing in several early Qur’anic manuscripts but unattested in the classical qirāʾāt literature. The latest research in manuscripts could thus potentially reshape our understanding of how the text was read in its early history. Highlighting the ritual of reading itself as investing authority in scripture, Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau’s (Strasbourg) paper looked at the faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān genre for insights into the status of the Qur’an in ʿAbbāsid society. Emmanuelle Stefanidis (Sorbonne) and Amidu O. Sanni (Lagos) both dealt with debates around the canonical muṣḥaf: Stefanidis spoke about 4th-5th century AH polemical works written in its defence, while Sanni directed his interest in Arabic ideas of laḥn to al-Bāqillānī’s systematic response to claims of grammatical or linguistic “errors” in the ʿUthmānic text. Pertaining to later debates on a controversial classic of tafsīr literature, Mohammed Al Dhfar (Nottingham) spoke about the possible socio-historical factors behind the Mamluk scholar al-Subkī’s intriguing decision late in life to stop teaching al-Zamakhsharī’s commentary, the Kashshāf.

The analysis of Qur’anic rhetoric, structure and literary style naturally forms a major interest in the field, and seems to be an area of particular convergence between scholars operating in different contexts. On the French panel, Michel Cuypers (Cairo), perhaps the foremost recent proponent of a coherent Qur’anic composition, delivered a paper co-authored with Sami Larbes analyzing Q 8, Sūrat al-Anfāl. Meanwhile in one of the Arabic panels, Nadeen M. Alsulaimi (Jeddah) drew upon Cuypers’s method on ring structure and Amin Ahsan Islahi’s theory of semantic pairs to analyze Q 76, Sūrat al-Insān. To reassess its conventional assignment to a Medinan versus Meccan chronology, Alsulaimi invoked the now familiar discursive move of distinguishing conclusions derived from traditional sources (bi-l-riwāyāt) and those from the text itself (bi-l-naṣṣ nafsishi aw naẓmihi).

On the subject of specific rhetorical devices, Mehdi Azaiez (Brussels) shared his research on a striking Qur’anic motif, the reported speech of those condemned (“eschatological counter-discourse”), which he examines alongside notable parallels in late antique apocalyptic literatures. Comparison as a method of literary criticism, in fact to better understand “what makes a text unique,” was the subject of Bruce Fudge’s (Geneva) compelling take on Erich Auerbach: he extended Auerbach’s classic analysis of Homeric versus Biblical style (underutilized by Arabists, he feels) to reflections on a distinct Qur’anic poetics in relation to the Bible, using the narrative of Abraham’s trial and sacrifice as a case study. Further expanding on the possibilities of comparative readings, Morgan Davis (Brigham Young) spoke on resonances between punishment stories as an apocalyptic device in the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon, illustrating again how a text’s particular use of biblical themes can in fact help underscore what makes it original.

The Qur’an’s relationship to Biblical traditions was also the subject of two Arabic presentations, by Saber Moulay Ahmed (Rabat) and Rabii al-Hashimi Noqri (al-Qarawiyyin, Fez). What is often regarded as the defining preoccupation of Qur’anic studies in the West thus appears to garner interest in the Middle East as well, where scholars are following and critically engaging with recent literature. Noqri’s paper took up the significant contributions of Geneviève Gobillot on this topic, in an effort to delineate the basic working assumptions and the paradigm of “late antiquity” (now being adopted in Arabic as awākhir al-ʿaṣr al-qadīm) that current scholarship invokes to understand scriptural intertextuality. Ahmed spoke about the Qur’an’s method of recalling stories (qiṣaṣ) previously related in the Bible, as that of Adam’s sons (Q 5:27), and he argued for focusing primarily on the “founding” texts themselves without resort to other texts. While this remains a common methodological contention, the paper by Arafat A. Razzaque (Cambridge) on Q 6:75 explored how elements of the early tafsīr tradition can prefigure the insights of modern textual criticism and evince direct Muslim knowledge of specific late antique pseudepigrapha, in this case the Testament of Abraham. The problem of text versus tradition came up in an altogether different way in Hasan Bazayniyah’s (Tunis) presentation in Arabic on Régis Blachère’s Le Coran (1949-50), which appears to interpolate into Q 53:20 the so-called “Satanic Verses” derived from the Qiṣṣat al-gharānīq accounts. Interrogating the logic of representing what is not there in the text itself, Bazayniyah reflected on the limits of interpretation in light of classical Arabic translation theory and medieval Christian translations of the Qur’an.

A fuller appreciation of the Qur’an must of course involve not only textual and historical studies, but perspectives on its role as a living text in the modern world. Akrimi Matswah (Freiburg) spoke about her fascinating research on contemporary oral tafsīr on Indonesian social media, a phenomenon thriving on numerous dedicated YouTube channels led by charismatic young teachers (many trained at al-Azhar) who are repurposing as well as de-centering the methods of established schools like the pesantren. Zahrul Fata’s (Kuala Lumpur) presentation in Arabic addressed “liberal” Muslim efforts in Indonesia to historicize religious texts and the influence there of modern Arab intellectuals like Nasr Abu Zayd, Muhammad Arkoun and Hassan Hanafi. Turning to a case study from Morrocco, Mohamed Lamallam (Georgetown) spoke about the rising school of “terminological studies” (al-Dirāsa al-Muṣṭalaḥiyya) founded by al-Shāhid al-Būshīkhī, a leading cleric based in Fez who advocates a programmatic interest in Qur’anic concepts through etymological and other linguistic analyses of its vocabulary. All of these papers together shed light on how the Qur’an remains at the heart of Muslim intellectual life today, negotiated in both novel and conventional ways.

As might be obvious from this overview but bears emphasizing, the language of scholarship and its audience can often matter more than simple factors like “Western” or “Muslim.” Thus, major French contributions to Qur’anic studies sometimes appear to be engaged with more actively even by Arabic-speaking scholars in the Francophone Maghreb than by those of us in the Anglo-American academy—not to mention our relative lack of attention to contemporary Arabic scholarship (the pitfalls of which can only explain, for instance, lingering erroneous assumptions about the sole authorship of Rāzī’s Tafsīr, as Sohaib Saeed has pointed out elsewhere). The important implications of such observations were among the deeper impressions left by this tri-lingual conference.

There is a general sense today that Qur’anic studies is flourishing, IQSA itself being a testament to this, as is the number of newly established journals, dedicated monograph series and dissertations underway. In one of the conference’s opening addresses, Devin Stewart noted that this is a fairly recent development, whereas previously there was no such field to speak of and scholarship on the Qur’an was produced in isolation and from the vantage of other areas of Arabic and Islamic Studies. Stewart put this into context with a retrospective on the field, highlighting the strong tradition of earlier German scholarship on the Qur’an in the late 19th century, which got “broken up” in the 1930s-40s with the disruptions of the Nazi era and the dispersal or death of many Jewish scholars.

The institutional and indeed political conditions of scholarship remained a subtext in other ways throughout the conference, most notably in the conspicuous absence of none other than its tireless organizer Majid Daneshgar (Freiburg), IQSA’s director for the 2019 international meeting, who was regrettably unable to travel to Tangier on account of visa delays. Several presenters scheduled on the program were missing for likely the same reason, a problem increasingly gaining attention at major academic conferences especially in the UK and US. This helps underscore all the more the significance of IQSA’s rotating international meetings, which allows scholars to share a platform they might not otherwise for a host of logistical reasons. In his concluding remarks, Emran El-Badawi (Houston) recognized the demand for such opportunities felt through the sheer number of abstracts (over 300) the organizers had received for this Tangier conference. One hopes the academy at large can self-consciously improve its ability to respond to these imperatives, and that IQSA’s future activities continue with similar success.

Arafat Abdur Razzaque is a PhD candidate in History and Middle East Studies at Harvard University.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2019. All rights reserved.

SBL 2019 International Meeting

The Society of Biblical Literature’s 2019 International Meeting will take place from July 1- 5, 2019 in Rome, Italy at The Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University.

SBLIM

The SBL International Meeting is held annually outside North America. It provides a unique forum for international scholars who are unable to attend the North American meeting and for all who wish to engage more directly SBL’s growing international membership and scholarship.

Readers of this blog may want to give special attention to the following presentations:

Session 3-30, “Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective.”

July 3, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.

Saqib Hussain, Oxford University
Q 38 as Re-written Bible

Abbas Ashrafi, Allameh Tabatabai University
The Semantics of the Term “Logos” in the Qur’an and the New Testament

 

Session 4-23: “Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective”

July 4, 11 AM – 12:30 PM

Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, Trinity College, Dublin
Q 93 and Psalm 22: A Quranic Response to a Psalmic Question

Georgina L. Jardim, University of Gloucestershire
Psalm 31: Giving Voice to the Qur’an’s Mary and the Bible’s Hagar

Jusuf Salih, University of Dayton
Mary: The Bridge between Muslims and Christians

 

Session 5-5: “Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective / Biblical Characters in Three Traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)”

July 5, 9:00 – 10:30 AM

Abdulla Galadari, Khalifa University of Science & Technology
Abraham and the Birds: Comparing Qur’an 2:260, Genesis 15, and Romans 4

Kate Tinson, Cardiff University
Sura al Baqara: The Three Cow Narratives of Verses 51–95 and Their Relationship to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish Exegesis

Ali Aghaei, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Quranic Intertextuality with Jewish-Rabbinic Tradition: The Case of ‘the Cow’ in Q 2:67-74  

 

Session 5-16: “Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective”

July 5, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Daniel Bannoura, Bethlehem Bible College
The Promised Land: A Trans-textual Reading of the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible

David Penchansky, University of Saint Thomas (Saint Paul, MN)
By the Lote Tree

Almond Ka Kwan Sin, Vanderbilt University
From Pious to Profane: Changing Interpretations of The Wife of Noah from Early Judeo-Christian to Islamic Literature

 

For a complete program of presentations, including times and locations, see here. To register, visit the SBL website.

 

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2019. All rights reserved.

 

 

Reminder: Tangier Meeting Registration Open!

IQSA in

The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) is happy to announce its third biennial conference from July 25-26, 2019, hosted by the Tangier Global Forum of the University of New England, Tangier, Morocco. The main theme of the conference is Reading the Qur’an in the Context of Empire. 

REGISTRATION
Conference presenters and observers should register online. There is no registration fee for conference presenters or observers.

HOUSING
Option 1: 
Limited on-campus housing is available at the University of New England’s campus dormitory.

  • Rooms are double occupancy
  • $60 USD per night
  • Preference will go to accepted presenters
  • Apply by completing the online registration form

Option 2: Attendees are welcome to reserve a room in the Grand Hotel Villa De France Tangier (no group rate or discount code). Click here to book a room.

TRANSPORTATION
For those staying at the Grand Hotel Villa De France Tangier, it is approximately a 25 to 30 minutes walk to the UNE campus. Petit taxis are available for $1.00.

MEALS
The conference venue at UNE will provide meals at the following rates:

  • Breakfast 30 dirhams ($3.32 USD)
  • Lunch 60 dirhams ($6.64 USD)
  • Dinner 60 dirhams ($6.64 USD)
  • Snacks, a coffee break, and dinner are free for conference participants on July 25, 2019

Given the history and the pluralistic nature of the conference, participants are encouraged to exchange views on the relationship between the Qur’an and other religions. The conference will unveil new research on the Qur’an, and create a platform for connecting other religions to Qur’anic studies. Further attention will be paid to the important contribution of North African scholars to the emergence and flourishing of methods in the study of Qur’an, tafsir and translation. Also, particular attention will be paid to understudied texts, including Qur’anic commentaries, manuscripts, and translations produced under influential early, medieval and modern Islamic empires and sultanates in Turkey, Persia, Africa, Europe and the Malay-Indonesian world.

As there have been some long discussions about the way the Qur’an is [supposed to be] taught and examined in different Islamic and non-Islamic academic contexts, researchers will find a chance to discuss and challenge recent ideas and trends in Islamic studies by raising questions about: academic study of the Qur’an and its tafsir, reading the Qur’an along with other scriptures, reading the Qur’an in the light of recent archaeological and epigraphic discoveries, among others.

The sub-themes of the conference are as follows:

  • The Qur’an and Other Religions
  • Tafsir and the translation of the Qur’an
  • Qur’anic Manuscripts
  • The Qur’an and Mysticism
  • Modern African traditions of Qur’anic Exegesis
  • Method and Theory in the Study of the Qur’an and its commentaries (past, present, future)

The conference will take place in English, Arabic and French.

Should you have questions about the conference, please contact IQSA conference director, Majid Daneshgar (majid.daneshgar@frias.uni-freiburg.de) or the IQSA administration (contact@iqsaweb.org).

We hope to see you in Tangier!

Registration NOW OPEN! IQSA International Qur’an Conference 2019

Steeple and minaret2

International Qur’an Conference
Tangier Global Forum
University of New England
Tangier, Morocco
(25-26 July, 2019)

The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) is happy to open registration for its third biennial conference from July 25-26, 2019, hosted by the Tangier Global Forum of the University of New England, Tangier, Morocco. The main theme of the conference is Reading the Qur’an in the Context of Empire. 

REGISTRATION
Conference presenters and observers should register online. There is no registration fee for conference presenters or observers.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

HOUSING
Option 1:
Limited on-campus housing is available at the University of New England’s campus dormitory.

  • Rooms are double occupancy
  • $60 USD per night
  • Preference will go to accepted presenters
  • Apply by completing the online registration form

Option 2: Attendees are welcome to reserve a room in the Grand Hotel Villa De France Tangier (no group rate or discount code). Click here to book a room.

TRANSPORTATION
For those staying at the Grand Hotel Villa De France Tangier, it is approximately a 25 to 30 minutes walk to the UNE campus. Petit taxis are available for $1.00.

MEALS
The conference venue at UNE will provide meals at the following rates:

  • Breakfast 30 dirhams ($3.32 USD)
  • Lunch 60 dirhams ($6.64 USD)
  • Dinner 60 dirhams ($6.64 USD)
  • Snacks, a coffee break, and dinner are free for conference participants on July 25, 2019

FUNDING
Applications for funding are no longer being accepted. IQSA encourages participants to take advantage of institutional funding provided by employers and/or academic programs.

The conference will take place in English, Arabic and French. Read more about the program on the 2019 International Meeting webpage.

Should you have questions about the conference, please contact IQSA conference director, Majid Daneshgar (majid.daneshgar@frias.uni-freiburg.de) or the IQSA administration (contact@iqsaweb.org).

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2019. All rights reserved.

Results: IQSA International Meeting Accepted Presenters

The International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) is happy to announce the accepted presenters for its third biennial conference from July 25-26, 2019, hosted by the Tangier Global Forum of the University of New England, Tangier, Morocco. This year’s Call for Papers brought in hundreds of submissions, and the International Programming Committee had the daunting task of selecting the top 35 papers from a very strong pool of applicants.

The finalists chosen to present at the 2019 IQSA International Meeting are as follows:

1.     Amidu O. Sanni – Contestations on “Errors” in Consonantal Qur’an: a Rare Apologia from al-Bāqillānī (d.403/1101) 

2.    Gulfishan Khan

3.     Juan Cole – The Eastern Roman-Sasanian War (603-629) as a Key Symbolic Context for the Qur’an

4.     Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau – “Le statut d’autorité attribué au Coran dans les milieux sunnites de l’âge d’or abbasside : l’exemple des témoignages rassemblés par Abû ‘Ubayd b. Sallâm (m. 224/838).”

5.     Gabriel S. Reynolds – Divine Pathos and Tawba in the Qur’an

6.     Devin J. Stewart – Notes on Generic Punishment Stories in the Qur’an

7.     Anissa eL Gargari -سريانية القرآن وقريانية محمد عند الفرنسي كلود جيليو

8.     Hamza Zafer – {Do you not see that Allah sends down one water from the sky and [yet] brings forth from it fruits of different colors?} (Q35.27) : The Rainwater Metaphor for Communal Difference and Ecumenism in the Quran’s Communitarian Texts.

9.     Michel Cuypers & Sami Larbes – L’analyse rhétorique de la sourate al-Anfāl (8)

10.  Marco Demichelis – Late Byzantine Christological debate and the Qur’ān. Arab Christian Miaphysitism and ‘Īsā ibn Maryam as bi-Rūh al-Quds

11.  Faycal Naim – المظاهر الفنية بالمخطوطات القرآنية المحفوظة بالجزائر – بين الطراز المغربي و الطراز العثماني

12.  Nadeen M. Alsulaimi – سورة الإنسان مكية أم مدنية: قراءة موضوعية بلاغية لسورة الإنسان بالتوازي مع سورة القيامة

13.  John Tolan – Napoleon as reader of the Qur’an

14.  Emmanuelle Stefanidis – Les controverses autour du Coran au IVe-Ve siècles : Pouvoir, théologie et textualité sous l’empire abbaside

15.  Fred Donner

16.  Bahador Ghayem – الديانة الصابئية فی القرآن و تطبيق اصولها الثلاثة – التوحيد و المعاد و النبوة – بالقرآن

17.  Zahrul Fata – القراءة الحديثة للنص القرآني وأثرها في الدراسات القرآنية في إندونيسيا

18.  Holger M. Zellentin – Qur’anic Law and Anti-Rabbinic Polemics

19.  Suleyman Dost – The Rise and Fall of a Genre: The Maṣāḥif Books in Context

20.  Mehdy Shaddel – Satanic corruption of scripture between the pseudo-Clementina and the Quran

21.  Marijn van Putten – The Overrepresentation of Non-Canonical Readings in Early Manuscripts: A study of BnF Arabe 329d

22.  Morgan Davis – Punishment Stories in the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Book of Mormon

23.  Hasan Bazayniyah – ترجمة القرآن ومنازع التأويل: ترجمة بلاشير لسورة النّجم أنموذجا

24.  Saber Ahmed – كتاب القرآن: الاتصال والانفصال بالكتاب المقدس

25.  Monya El Almi – انتلجنسيا المناهج التفسيريّة بشمال إفريقيا من التّأصيل إلى التّحديث -تونس أنموذجا-

26.  Jamel el-Hamri –« Malek Bennabi ou Le phénomène coranique comme « vérité travaillante » au service d’un projet de société réformiste au Maghreb »

27.  Peter Riddell – The Signposts of the Revelation by al-Baghawi (d. 1122)

28.  Bruce Fudge – Odysseus’ Scar and Ibrāhīm’s Trial

29.  Ali Fathi – معيارية تفسير القرآن و تحدیاتها

30.  Mohamed Lamallam – Terminological Study: A Novel Exegetical Method in Morocco

31.  Mohammed Al Dhfar – Tafsīr and the conflict of the Empires in the 14th Century: al-Subkī on al-Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf

32.  Enno H. Dango – Demythologizing the Miracles of the Qurʾān, Muḥammad Asad’s Rationalist Translation and Interpretation

33.  Arafat Razzaque – Abraham’s Ascension and Vision of the World: Muslim Redactions of Jewish Pseudepigrapha in Tafsīr Literature

34.  Rabii al-Hashimi Noqri – علاقة القرآن بالكتب السابقة من خلال مفهوم النسخ ل “غوبيو جونفييف”

35. Raashid S. Goyal – The Qur’anic Aʿrāb: A Reassessment

36. Mehdi Azaiez

37. Nishadali Wafy

Details about conference registration, accommodations, funding, and travel are forthcoming. Paper presenters should expect an email with their official acceptance this week. Attendance to the International Meeting as non-presenters is permitted and encouraged for those who submitted proposals but were not accepted.

On behalf of the IQSA International Programming Committee, we thank all who submitted proposals. We are delighted to witness such overwhelming support from the global IQSA community and look forward to an exciting program in Tangier!

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2019. All rights reserved.

CFP: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective

Q2The Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective program unit of the Society of Biblical Literature welcomes proposals for both individual papers and pre-arranged panels at the international meeting in Seoul, 3-7 July 2016. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the Qur’an and Islamic tradition in the wider context of the history of Western monotheisms; Islam’s profound historical relationships with Judaism, Christianity, and the biblical heritage; and comparative inquiry and intercommunal dialogue more generally.

The Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective program unit of SBL, chaired by Zohar Hadromi-Allouche and John Kaltner, seeks to foster comparative research on the Qur’an and Muslim culture, discourse, and devotional life. For their full CFP, including contact information and submission guidelines, please visit the official SBL CFP page HERE. The deadline for submission of proposals is 3 February 2016.

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2016. All rights reserved.

IQSA 2015 – Updates & Announcements

Dear Friends,

I trust this message finds you well, and for those of us nearing the end of our academic year I wish you all the best of luck. Since our meeting in San Diego, the International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA) has successfully completed a number of important activities, and we continue to develop the organization to better serve our members and fulfill our mission and vision. The purpose of this message is to inform about our recent activity.

New Homepage & Welcome Video

To serve you better our landing page on IQSAWEB.ORG is now simpler than ever. Visitors are given a warm welcome and introduction to IQSA by watching leading members of the community speak on VIDEO. Furthermore, the number on the page has been reduced to include only what is essential—enjoy!

IQSA Membership & AM Registration

To become an official MEMBER of IQSA for 2015, and to receive exclusive mmber benefits, please GO HERE (http://members.iqsaweb.org). There is a flat $25 membership fee for 2015. (Note that if you became an IQSA member in 2014 you need to sign up once again for 2015)

To attend/present in our 2015 annual meeting, taking place in Atlanta this November, you will need to REGISTER through the SBL website HERE (https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=119829&categoryid=1021237&t=ccee0d3cfcb94900b333ce9916cb48fe). You will register as an “affiliate.”

Now Online: RQR and Membership Directory

Current IQSA members already have access to exclusive member benefits, namely:

* The Review of Qur’anic Research (ACTIVE)

* Membership Directory (ACTIVE)

Coming Soon: Qur’an Seminar, Job Board and JIQSA

Current and future members will soon have access to the following exclusive services and products as well:

* The interactive Qur’an Seminar website (2015)

* IQSA Job Board (2016)

* The Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association (2016)

2015 International Meeting (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Our much anticipated international meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia will take place August 4-7, 2015. We are very excited about this conference and the international scholarly exchange it will foster. We are also very pleased with the interest of our members and the public in attending this conference. For more information please GO HERE (https://iqsaweb.org/meetings/im2015)

2015 Annual Meeting (Atlanta, GA, USA)

The program for Atlanta is almost set and promises to be both informative as well as exciting. For more information please GO HERE (https://iqsaweb.org/meetings/) and do not forget to become a MEMBER and REGISTER (See above).

Be an IQSA citizen – nominate future officers

All IQSA members are encouraged to submit names of potential candidates for the following positions:

* President Elect for 2016

* IQSA Board Member

* Nominating Committee Member

Nominations should be sent to contact@iqsaweb.org. For more information please GO HERE (https://iqsaweb.org/2015/04/21/call-for-nominations)

Share your research – BLOG, RQR or JIQSA

If you or a colleague are currently undertaking research as a faculty member or post-doc, working on a new project as a graduate assistant or would like to share information about an upcoming Qur’an related conference, workshop or service, please consider writing a blog post for us. Your blog post will receive one to two thousand views in the first week! Blog posts in languages other than English are acceptable. Blog contributions should be sent to Dr. Vanessa Degifis (vdegifis@wayne.edu)

Scholarly reviews should be submitted to RQR and academic articles to JIQSA (See above).

Needed: Two Grad Student Assistants

We are seeking two graduate students assistants to help out with editorial and online assistance. This is a great opportunity for networking, professional development and hand-on experience. Learn more about these positions HERE (https://iqsaweb.org/2015/03/16/iqsa_jobs_grad_assts). Applications are welcome anytime but an initial review of applications will take place by June 1, 2015.

Social Media

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @IQSAWEB and Like us on Facebook, search “International Qur’anic Studies Association.”

Special Thanks

IQSA’s continued success is not possible without the dedication and skill of its officers and employees. I would especially like to thank Irfana Hussain, Vanessa DeGifis, Mun’im Sirry, Sean Anthony, Catherine Bronson, Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Reynolds, Nicolai Sinai as well as all unit chairs, Michael Pregill, Holger Zellentin and Missy Colee and her team at SBL.

Finally, please do not forget to join IQSA by becoming a MEMBER and REGISTERING for our 2015 Atlanta annual meeting by May 22, 2015. That’s one month away!


On behalf of the Board of Directors, Standing Committees and our partners I would like to express our deepest gratitude to all IQSA members and friends.

Sincerely,

Emran El-Badawi, Executive Director

Our International Meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland

By Emran El-Badawi and Gabriel Reynolds

The International Qur’anic Studies Association is happy to announce its first international meeting, taking place in St. Andrews, Scotland, from July 8-10, 2013. IQSA will be co-sponsoring a number of panels on the Qur’an with the Society of Biblical Literature, as well as a public lecture by Dr. Alain George. Please consult the schedule below for panel details. All meeting room assignments are currently TBD. Further details will be forthcoming here.

You are also strongly encouraged to subscribe to our blog in order to receive weekly news updates or informed posts on various dimensions of Qur’anic Studies today. On behalf of the co-directors, steering committee and partners we thank you for your enthusiasm and support for IQSA. We look forward to seeing you in St. Andrews!

St. Andrews (standrewsfreshers.com)

St. Andrews (standrewsfreshers.com)


Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective

July 8, 2013
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Theme: Islam and Interfaith Studies in Scottish Universities

Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen, Presiding

Hugh Goddard, University of Edinburgh
Islam and Interfaith Relations in Scotland (20 min)

Fiona McCallum, University of St. Andrews
‘Same Old’? Muslim-Christian Relations and the Arab Uprisings (20 min)

Discussion (35 min)

Break (30 min)

Johan Rasanayagam, University of Aberdeen
From an Anthropology of Islam to an Anthropology through Islam (20 min)

Saeko Yazaki, University of Glasgow
Dialogues between Islam and Judaism in Ethics and Spirituality: The Andalusi landscape and Zionism (20 min)

Discussion (35 min)


Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association
July 8, 2013
3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Theme: Prophets and Prophethood between Bible and Qur’an

Zohar Hadromi-Allouche, University of Aberdeen, Presiding

Emran El-Badawi, University of Houston, Introduction (7 min)

Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Introduction (7 min)

Anne-Laure Zwilling, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Moses and the Burning Bush: A Two-Voice Analysis (20 min)

David Kiltz, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
“Ebionism” and the Qur’an Revisited (20 min)

Discussion (16 min)

Break (30 min)

Mehdi Azaiez, IREMAM / CNRS
Prophetical Polemics in the Bible and the Qur’an: The Case of Counter-Discourse (20 min)

Michael Pregill, Elon University
Intertextual Complications: The Qur’anic Cain and Abel Reconsidered (20 min)

Tommaso Tesei, University of Notre Dame
Apocalyptic Prophecies in the Qur’an and in Seventh Century Extrabiblical Literature (20 min)

Discussion (20 min)


Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association
July 9, 2013
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Theme: Rhetoric and the Qur’an: Structure, Composition, Argumentation

Orhan Elmaz, University of St. Andrews, Presiding

Michel Cuypers, IDEO
Semitic Rhetoric in Sura 81 (Al-Takwir) and Chapter 10 of the Testament of Moses (20 min)

Ulrika Mårtensson, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Al-Tabari’s Rhetorical Concept of the Qur’an: Implications for Historical and Contemporary Research (20 min)

Discussion (35 min)

Break (30 min)

Mustansir Mir, Youngstown State University
Hamid al-Din al-Farahi on Qur’anic balaghah (20 min)

Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Respondent (20 min)

Discussion (35 min)

 

Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Joint Session With: International Qur’anic Studies Association, Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
July 9, 2013
3:00 PM to 4:15 PM

Gabriel Said Reynolds, University of Notre Dame, Presiding

Alain George, University of Edinburgh
On an early Qur’anic palimpsest and its stratigraphy: Cambridge Or. 1287 (45 min)

Break (5 min)

Discussion (25 min)


Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
Joint Session With: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective, International Qur’anic Studies Association
July 10, 2013
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Theme: Qur’anic and Biblical Discourses in Comparative Perspective

Andreas Görke, University of Edinburgh, Presiding

Keren Abbou Hershkovits, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Idris, Enoch, and Celestial Knowledge: Astronomical Knowledge Given (or Taken?) from Heaven (20 min)

Nadjet Zouggar, Louvain-la-Neuve University
The Biblical Prophets’ Place in the Elaboration of Sunni Prophetology (20 min)

Abdulla Galadari, University of Aberdeen
The Qiblah: A Qur’anic Allusion to the Shema (20 min)

Discussion (15 min)

Break (30 min)

Roy Michael McCoy III, University of Oxford
An Arabian Trudgman in Nazareth: The Gospel Narrative of al-Biqa’i’s Nazm al-durar fi tanasub al-ayat wa’l-suwar (20 min)

Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Messianism and the Idea of Universal Exegesis in Islam: The Parallel Interpretation of the Qur’an and the Bible in the Jawidan-nama of Fadlallah Astarabadi (d. 796/1394) (20 min)

Discussion (35 min)

© International Qur’anic Studies Association, 2013. All rights reserved.