Given the continued risk and danger due to the Coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19), the Boston Annual Meeting 2020, originally scheduled November 22-25, has been cancelled and moved online. The meeting will be 100% virtual and hosted by our affiliate, the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).
While an online meeting cannot fully replace the multi-faceted benefits of meeting in person, IQSA is optimistic about the new opportunities this brings its members and guests, especially colleagues with limited access to funds to travel or face travel restrictions.
The online meeting will widen access for members without funding or resources to attend an in-person meeting, including international members, students, adjunct and contingent faculty, and independent scholars. It will open up possibilities for both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) participation. It will allow attendees to avoid the inevitable scheduling conflicts that prevent participation in sessions of interest. We are exploring options to allow some presenters to pre-record presentations. The executive office is working directly with SBL and can offer the following preliminary guidance to virtual presenters and attendees:
* The new meeting schedule will be extended to avoid potential timing conflicts, time zone limitations, and religious and Thanksgiving holidays. The meeting will take place Monday – Thursday over two weeks. The new dates are November 30 – December 3 and December 7 – 10, from 9AM to 9PM EST / 1PM to 1AM ECT.
* Conference attendees will have access to recorded presentations through a meeting application for approximately one month.
* Conference attendees will have access to a virtual book exhibit, including the possibility of meeting virtually with publishers.
* We are working on holding virtual receptions, business meeting and committee meetings.
* The IQSA Program Book AM 2020 will be published online as normal. No print copies will be available.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, Standing Committees, and our partners we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all friends of IQSA. We understand these are challenging times, and offer our heartfelt gratitude for your patience and trust.
Sincerely,
Emran El-Badawi
Executive Director
July 17, 2020
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.
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.”
European Association of Biblical Studies Annual Meeting and Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting July 30 – August 3, 2018 | Helsinki, Finland
The University of Helsinki hosted the European Association of Biblical Studies’ annual meeting, which this year was held together with the Society of Biblical Literature’s international meeting, from July 30 – August 3, 2018.
View from Helsinki Harbour of the Cathedral
Delegates were welcomed to the conference by Outi Lehtipuu, chair of the local organizing committee, John F. Kutsko, SBL’s executive director and Dominika Kurek-Chomycz, EABS’ executive officer, in the historic surroundings of the University’s Great Hall. This was followed by a reception at the City Hall, hosted by the major of Helsinki.
Delegates were treated to a concert in the Rock Church, one of Helsinki’s most popular attractions (Photograph courtesy of SBL)
The conference included a wide range of papers on qur’ānic studies:
Sayed-Hassan Akhlaq (Boston) “The Inspirational Aspect of the Idea of “Tahrif” for Interreligious Dialogue” and “The Biblical and Qur’ānic Image of Moses and Jesus”
George Archer (Iowa State) “Ephrem’s 27thHymn on the Nativity in the Qur’anic Landscape”
Rachel Claire Dryden (Cambridge) “How al-Shayṭān got his Name: The Arabic Recensions of the Narratives from the Syriac Cave of Treasures”
Alyssa Gabbay (North Carolina) “Jesus, Son of Mary: Lineage and Descent in the Bible and the Qur’ān”
Abdulla Galadari (Khalifa University) “The Qur’ān: Authorship between Muhammad and the Divine”
Jusuf Salih (Dayton) “Mustafa Sabri Efendi’s Views on the Resurrection of Jesus”
Mohammad Ghandehari (Tehran) “Clarifying the Divine Teachings for Thee”: The Qur’ān’s Self-Identified Role in Clarifying the Bible”
Kate Tinson (Cardiff) “Moses and His Leprosy: Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Texts and the Qur’ān”
The conference provided an important forum for scholars of the Qur’ān to interact with biblical scholars as well as being a key meeting point for the field in 2018, when there is no IQSA international meeting. Many thanks to the local organizing committees and the staff and graduate helpers at the University of Helsinki for such a warm welcome to a beautiful city and for an extremely well-organised conference – kiitos!
EABS’ next Annual Meeting will be held from August 11 – 14, 2019 in Warsaw, Poland.
SBL’s next International Meeting will be held from July 23 – 26, 2019 in Bangalore, India, which will coincide with IQSA’s biannual International Meeting.
The calls for papers for the above will be announced in due course.
How to Register for the 2018 Annual Meeting: Step by Step Instructions
Registration is NOW OPEN for the IQSA Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings in Denver, Colorado from November 16-19, 2017. You can save on the registration fee by joining IQSA and registering for the Annual Meetings as an Affiliate Member! Go HERE for Step by Step Instructions on Joining IQSA. Scroll down for Step by Strep Instructions on registering for the Annual Meeting.
Step 1: Open a web browser and go to SBL’s Meetings and Events page. Select “Register for the Annual Meeting” under the “Registration and Housing” heading.
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “New Registration” under the “Affiliate Members” heading.
Step 3: Click “New Registration.”
Step 4: Fill in your Last Name and Email address (there is no identifier code for IQSA members). Click “Continue.”
Step 5: Select “International Qur’anic Studies Organization” from the drop-down menu and fill in the rest of the required fields. Click “Continue.”
Step 6: Select your Child Care, Visa Letter, and Program Book preferences and fill in your disability accommodations and emergency contact information. Click “Continue.”
Step 7: Complete your preferences for events, tours, environmental options, and luncheons (noting the extra charge per item). Click “Continue.”
Step 8: Select your housing and accommodation preferences and click “Continue.”
Step 9: Fill in your arrival and departure dates, occupancy, special requests, and payment information. IQSA events will take place from November 17-20. Click “Continue.”
Step 10: Choose if you will be registering as a guest, noting the additional price. Click “Continue.”
Step 11: Complete method of payment information, noting the Terms and Conditions and Cancellation Policy. Click “Make Payment.”
Step 12: Print or email the confirmation and receipt/invoice for your own records, following the instructions in the dialog boxes.
You are now finished registering for the IQSA Annual Meeting! We look forward to seeing you in Denver!
The fifth Annual Meeting of the International Qur’ānic Studies Association, held in Boston from November 17-21, brought together many of the foremost scholars within qur’ānic studies, for four days of engaging panels, presentations, and roundtables on all aspects of the text and its reception. Taking place concurrently with the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature conferences, IQSA served as a nexus for conversations which brought together new research from historians, philologists, Late Antique specialists, manuscript scholars, and many others.
Daniel Madigan (Georgetown Unviersity) and others participate in the joint session roundtable Discussion of Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity and the Qur’an
The weekend began on Friday afternoon with the program unit on The Qur’ān and the Biblical Tradition with talks from Devin Stewart and Nicolai Sinai, focusing on Abraham’s lies and his general qur’ānic profile respectively, from Shari Lowin, on the nature of the Qur’ān’s claim that “the Jews say the Hand of God is chained” (Q. 5:64), Gavin McDowell, on the Qur’ān and Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer, and Faris Casewit, on Jesus’ sayings in al-Harrālī’s exegesis. This was followed by Gerald Hawting’s presidential address, entitled “The House and the Book”, which focused on the tensions between scripture and sanctuary, as early elements of the emergent Islamic movement, and for which Sean Anthony served as respondent.
Saturday kicked off with a lively roundtable on the new book Islam and Its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qur’an (OUP, 2017), co-edited by Carol Bakhos, who chaired the session, and Michael Cook. The discussion focused on paradigms for the study of early Islam vis-à-vis the jāhilī and/or Late Antique milieux, from which it is seen to have emerged. The early afternoon saw a panel on various aspects of sūrat al-Aḥzāb, including its legislative content (Joseph Lowry), its relevance for blasphemy law (Matthew Anderson), the translation of verse 35 (Bruce Lawrence), and a comparative reading of sūra 45 (Ghazala Anwar). The late afternoon/early evening slot was the busiest of the weekend, with three concurrent panels: one on Mustafa Akyol’s new monograph The Islamic Jesus (Macmillan, 2017), one on the implications of sūra titles for the study of the Qur’ān, and one on reconceptualizing Late Antiquity before and after Muhammad.
The third day of the conference continued these conversations with Late Antiquity with a session dedicated to qur’ānic themes and rites seen against their Late Antique background. Abraham Winitzer began with a presentation on the Akkadian expression ‘kipir kishâdim‘ and its possible qur’ānic resonances. He was followed by talks fromJavad Hashmi, on the influence of a jāhilī ethos on the Qur’ān’s view of just war; Johanne Christiansen, on the notion of processions; Ari Gordon, on Late Antique discussions of ‘liturgical direction’ and their potential importance for understanding the Qur’ān’s qibla; and Karen Bauer, on comparing the emotional content of the Qur’ān and pre-Islamic poetry. The afternoon concluded with another session from the unit on The Qur’ān and the Biblical Tradition, with presentations by Rachel Dryden (biblical angels in the Qur’ān), Holger Zellentin (the prohibition of incest), Thomas Hoffman (the doxological mode of religiosity in the Qur’ān), Gabriel Said Reynolds (biblical turns of phrase in the Qur’ān), and Cornelia Horn (oral and written transmissions between the Bible and the Qur’ān).
Members of the IQSA community gather over light refreshments at the General Reception following Gerald Hawting’s Presidential Address
The first panel of the final day began with some of the widest-ranging discussions of the weekend, under the theme of ‘Minority and Marginalized Hermeneutics.’ Falling under this ambit were new theorizations of Ismāʿīlī hermeneutics (Khalil Andani), the trajectory of the Indian Nazm school of Qur’anic exegesis (Charles Ramsey), conversations around women’s veiling at the turn of the twentieth century (Orhan Elmaz), the importance of critiques of gender and gender inequality within Islamic studies (Shehnaz Haqqani), and medieval Islamic debates over whether Samaritans were ‘people of the Book’ (Joseph Stewart). This was followed by two afternoon panels, one on the Qur’ān Gateway project and the digital study of the Qur’an, the other on re-evaluating the relevance of ‘Jewish Christianity’ as a lens through which to study early Islam. Finally, the last session of the day focused on the manuscript tradition and textual criticism. Shady Nasser (the evolution of the system of qirāʾāt or variant qur’ānic readings) and Raymond Farrin (the evidence for consistent verse numbering systems), both used the extant Islamic literature to study the Qur’ān’s changing status in early Islam, while Joshua Falconer (systems of marking variant readings in different colors) and Elif Behnan Karabiyik (dating the MS 4313 Qur’ān) worked with extant manuscripts themselves.
An eager crowd attends the roundtable book discussion of Mustafa Akyol’s recent monograph The Islamic Jesus (Macmillan, 2017)
The conference was one of IQSA’s most successful yet, with consistently high attendance, wonderful presentations, and growing conversations with other units under the general umbrella of the Society for Biblical Literature. We look forward to seeing many of the same faces, and many new ones, next year in Denver for IQSA’s 2018 Annual Meeting!
-Conor Dube (Harvard University) and Rachel Dryden (University of Cambridge
*A special thanks to Conor Dube (Ph.D. Candidate, Harvard University) and Rachel Dryden (Graduate Student – Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge) for their assistance at conference events and composition of the above report.
Urgent: New US Visa Restrictions before Nov 17 Boston Meeting
Dear Members of the International Qur’an Studies Association,
In advance of the 2017 Annual Meeting in Boston one month from today (November 17, 2017), certain dual US citizens and non-US citizens should note the urgent advice below. If you have not already you need to apply for a visa to enter the United States through the new Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) system.
Speakers at the Annual Meeting of SBL, AAR, and IQSA who do not hold a US passport and intend to travel as part of the Visa Waiver Program should note the following:
According to current US Government advice, dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen are not anymore considered eligible to take part in the Visa Waiver Program even if they hold a first or second passport by a country that is part of the Visa Waiver Program.
Furthermore, and this may be much less well known, anyone who has merely travelled to one of the above-mentioned countries after 1 March 2011 is also considered ineligible to take part in the Visa Waiver Program even if he/she does not hold dual nationality. An ESTA application submitted is likely to be declined.
Thus, any speaker to whom (1) or (2) applies will need to submit a full visa application in order to travel to the Annual Meeting. This is a complex, costly, and time-consuming process that ought to be commenced immediately in order to ensure that travel to the US will be possible in November.
Finally, it is advised that those already granted permission before the new ESTA regulations re-apply immediately. We apologize for any inconvenience this will cause you. IQSA is doing everything it can to help its members and ensure a safe and fruitful meeting in Boston. Should you have any further questions please write contact@iqsaweb.org.
Emran El-Badawi, Executive Director, International Qur’anic Studies Association
IQSA Annual Meeting in Boston: Preliminary Schedule Now Available!
IQSA has an exciting program lined up for the Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The preliminary program book is now available! To view the full schedule and abstracts please visit the Annual Meeting 2017 page HERE. For a preview of exclusive IQSA events, see below!
The IQSA Annual Meeting in Boston is scheduled to take place November 17-20, 2017 in conjunction with the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings. Registration is open at the SBL page HERE. Save big on registration by joining IQSA or renewing membership and registering for the Annual Meetings as an Affiliate Member. If you are not yet an IQSA member we encourage you to please join us HERE. Visit the following links for detailed instructions on registering for the Annual Meeting and/or IQSA Membership .
IQSA members will also enjoy the added benefits of full access to the Journal of the International Qur’anic Studies Association and the monthly Review of Qur’anic Research, professional development opportunities, and more! Read about all membership benefits HERE.
Support IQSA’s work and the Annual Meeting through a tax-deductible contribution. All contributors will be formally recognized in Boston at the IQSA Reception on November 17, 2017.
We look forward to an exciting meeting of members and friends in Boston!
Preliminary Schedule: IQSA Events
You can now view the full schedule of IQSA events HERE.
How to Register for the 2017 Annual Meeting: Step by Step Instructions
Registration is NOW OPEN for the IQSA Annual Meeting held in conjunction with the SBL/AAR Annual Meetings in Boston, Massachusetts from November 17-20, 2017. You can save on the registration fee by joining IQSA and registering for the Annual Meetings as an Affiliate Member! Go HERE for Step by Step Instructions on Joining IQSA. Scroll down for Step by Strep Instructions on registering for the Annual Meeting.
Step 1: Open a web browser and go to SBL’s Meetings and Events page. Select “Register for the Annual Meeting” under the “Registration and Housing” heading.
Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “New Registration” under the “Affiliate Members” heading.
Step 3: Click “New Registration.”
Step 4: Fill in your Last Name and Email address (there is no identifier code for IQSA members). Click “Continue.”
Step 5: Select “International Qur’anic Studies Organization” from the drop-down menu and fill in the rest of the required fields. Click “Continue.”
Step 6: Select your Child Care, Visa Letter, and Program Book preferences and fill in your disability accommodations and emergency contact information. Click “Continue.”
Step 7: Complete your preferences for events, tours, environmental options, and luncheons (noting the extra charge per item). Click “Continue.”
Step 8: Select your housing and accommodation preferences and click “Continue.”
Step 9: Fill in your arrival and departure dates, occupancy, special requests, and payment information. IQSA events will take place from November 17-20. Click “Continue.”
Step 10: Choose if you will be registering as a guest, noting the additional price. Click “Continue.”
Step 11: Complete method of payment information, noting the Terms and Conditions and Cancellation Policy. Click “Make Payment.”
Step 12: Print or email the confirmation and receipt/invoice for your own records, following the instructions in the dialog boxes.
You are now finished registering for the IQSA Annual Meeting! We look forward to seeing you in Boston!
CFP: Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective
The 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.
IQSA held its first organizational meeting over two days on November 18-19, 2012, which coincided with the annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) as well as the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The directors and steering committee had a fruitful discussion concerning the future of IQSA and put several plans into place for the short term. The details of the meeting will follow in a forthcoming blog post. We did, however, want to share with you a brief overview.
The main subjects discussed at the meeting were governance and membership; prospective plans for publication; the IQSAWEB online platform; national and international relationships; and finally the plan for our 2013 meeting.
IQSA will meet with SBL and AAR on November 23-26, 2013 in Baltimore, MD. The Baltimore meeting will consist of an inaugural keynote lecture and a small number of meeting sessions where papers will be presented. IQSA directors and members of the steering committee remain in dialogue with our partners at SBL and AAR especially, as we move forward. We hope to see you in November.
Society of Biblical Literature Supports Exploration of Qur’an Scholar Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE SUPPORTS EXPLORATION OF QUR’AN SCHOLAR NETWORK
ATLANTA, May 29, 2012 – The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) has been awarded a $140,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support a three-year consultation that will explore the formation of an independent network of Qur’anic scholars. This international consultation will meet to evaluate and frame a vision and mission for a professional organization, namely, a *Society for Qur’anic Studies.
“Considering the enormous cultural importance and global influence of the Qur’an, a pressing need exists for an independent and self-defined association of scholars of the Qur’an to do collaborative research and to enrich and inform courses at colleges and universities,” says John F. Kutsko, executive director of SBL and director of the initiative.
The goal of the consultation is to give the academic study of the Qur’an the attention it deserves, says Kutsko, who is also affiliate professor of biblical studies at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. “By providing more opportunity for research and by bringing more conversation into the classroom, such an organization will also foster mutual understanding and appreciation in the public square.”
“The level of interest in the Qur’an and Islam in the West today is unprecedented. Questions surrounding the Qur’an and its teaching on religious, social and political issues are increasingly raised in educational institutions and popular literature,” says Emran El-Badawi, Assistant Professor of Arab Studies at the University of Houston and co-director of the consultation. “A vast and ever-growing number of websites and online forums are devoted to discussions on the meaning and interpretation of the Qur’an, but no learned society dedicated to the study of the Qur’an exists.”
A Society for Qur’anic Studies (SQS) would play an important role as a meeting place where scholars and students of the Qur’an might present their particular contributions to the study of the Qur’an, while learning from others, says El-Badawi.
At the same time, an SQS would foster the study of the text for its own sake. “The Qur’an is a work of extraordinary importance, both for its witness to the rise of Islam, and for its central place in Islamic societies through the centuries and still today,” says Gabriel Said Reynolds,
Tisch Family Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at the University of Notre Dame and co-director of the consultation.
The network will be an academic forum in which scholars from around the world discuss and publish scholarship on the Qur’an. “Participants will be encouraged to share diverse perspectives and cutting edge research on the Qur’an’s language, its dialogue with other scriptures, and the context in which the text arose,” notes Reynolds. “By approaching the Qur’an as an historical, literary and religious text, SQS will demonstrate the extraordinary and wide-ranging scholarly value of the Qur’an.”
“It cannot be overstated that the agenda of the scholars in this consultation will not be determined or directed by SBL,” says Kutsko. He emphasizes that SBL will serve only to provide the logistical support for Qur’anic scholars to foster their work.
“The guiding principle for the consultation is to ensure that scholars of Qur’anic Studies set their own research and publishing agendas, that our colleagues in this discipline have the resources to determine their own future, and that their impact transcends institutional and international lines,” Kutsko says.
“The founding of a new society for the study of the Qur’an will provide an institutional forum for Qur’anic Studies equal to the study of other religious texts and traditions,” says Vincent Cornell, chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University. “This establishes a base for Qur’anic Studies that hasn’t existed before, and thereby makes an important intellectual claim.”
The past two decades have witnessed tremendous growth in scholarship on the Qur’an, says Reynolds. “An annual academic forum on the Qur’an and related publications will allow scholars from a wide range of disciplines a context for collaboration and dialogue. It also will give students and informed members of the public access to a common forum where they will learn from and contribute to this rich discussion.”
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For an Arabic version of this news release, please see below.
The Society of Biblical Literature, founded in 1880, is the oldest and largest learned society devoted to the critical investigation of the Bible from a variety of academic disciplines. As an international organization, the Society offers its members opportunities for mutual support, intellectual growth and professional development and is a member of the American Council of Learned Societies.
The Henry Luce Foundation, established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.
*The Society for Qur’anic Studies (SQS) is now the International Qur’anic Studies Association (IQSA)
The Qur’an and Islamic Tradition in Comparative Perspective program unit of the 
