Hi friends!
Another successful year is descending upon us–we close today at 6pm and reopen on the 2nd of January, 2013. Many thanks for your visits and feedback! We wish you a Happy Holiday season and best wishes for the new year! To our Christian friends, Merry Christmas and to our Jewish friends, a belated, Happy Hanukkah.
See you in 2013!
Hi friends! Dr. Medani of the IIS has just published a comparative piece on Egypt’s current changes and challenges and those of the Sudan in 1989.
Hot tip of the day: If you wish to continue reading more about the Sudan and not sure where to begin, go to McGill’s WorldCat Local catalogue and type in SU: Sudan. The SU stands for Subject and will return all titles with Sudan as a subject heading.
Enjoy!
Hi friends! Over the Christmas break don’t forget to begin studying Baluchi! McGill has recently digitized the 1969 publication by IIS members Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker and Aquil Khan Mengal. Good luck!
http://www.library.mcgill.ca/hostedjournals/002201021.html.
Dirk Wintergruen, Robert Casties, Sally Ragep, Jamil Ragep (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science / McGill)
The Open Mind database of the Islamic Scientific Manuscript Initiative (ISMI)
Dec 13, 1pm, Arts 160
Traditional databases work well with structured data that can be organized into tables. But humanist scholars often deal with very unstructured information that is fluid and in need of flexible structures. The Open Mind database of the Islamic Scientific Manuscript Initiative (ISMI) was developed by humanist scholars and technical experts working jointly through a partnership between the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin and McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies. The technical humanists and humanist technicians from both Institutes will discuss their experiences over almost a decade in developing the database and answer questions about how other projects can profit from the experiences made during the development of the project and how this open-source data structure might be re-used by other humanist scholars.
Arabic scripts developed over time and by the 13th century 6 scripts (الأقلام الستة) became the most prominent for a variety of reasons: thuluth, rayḥān, muḥaqaq, naskh, tawqīʿ and riqʿa. These scripts were formalised by a calligrapher known as Yāqūt al-Mustaʻṣimī in the early 13th century. This example is known as a kara-lamah which is Turkish for ‘black writing’. It is a practice sheet and in this instance it is written in the hand of Yāqūt by an unknown, probably 19th century calligrapher. The calligrapher would practice her/his penmanship to perfect it but also to try different nibs of his qalām, or reed pen. It is interesting to note that calligraphers were in want of ensuring secrecy of their trade, so almost all calligraphers would break their nibs after having completed a project.
This image comes from the Islamic Studies calligraphy collection. The calligraphy collection maintains some 200 specimens in Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish. This example is a kara-lamah in the hand of the eminent calligrapher, and former librarian Yāqūt al-Mustaʻṣimī (ca. 618-98 Hijri/ca. 1221-98 A.D.). Yāqūt’s “nisba was derived from his master, the last ʿAbbāsid caliph in Bag̲h̲dād, al-Mustaʿṣim [q.v.], who brought him up and had him educated.” (Encyclopaedia of Islam, v. 2)
Yāqūt is one of the most influential calligraphers along with other prominent figures such as Ibn al-Bawwab and Ibn Muqla.
RBD AC24 located in Rare Books and Special Collections
Further information about Yāqūt al-Mustaʻṣimī:
Munajjid, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn. 1985. Yāqūt al-Mustaʻṣimī. Bayrūt: Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadīd. (Call no. NK3633 Y3 M8 1985)
Canby, Sheila R.. “Yāḳūt al-Mustaʿṣimī.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill Online, 2012. Reference. McGill University. 02 December 2012 <http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/yakut-al-mustasimi-SIM_7972>
Hi friends! Applications are now being accepted for this year’s MIISC symposium:
Tracing Encounters
The 3rd Annual McGill Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council Graduate Symposium McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council (MIISSC) invites abstracts for scholarly papers to be presented at its third annual graduate symposium to be held on the 3rd & 4th of May 2013 in Montreal, Quebec.
Go on, send in your paper proposals today and participate in this the 3rd annual symposium!
Hi friends! In addition to the newly curated exhibition celebrating Book Culture in the Mediterranean, there will be a short presentation followed by a wine and cheese reception. The event will take place on Wednesday 28 November, for the McGill Medievalists second annual rare books workshop. Last year our workshop on medical manuscripts in the Osler Library of the History of Medicine was very well attended. This year, Cecily Hilsdale (McGill, Art History and Communication Studies), Jennifer Garland (McGill, Liaison Librarian, Art History and Communication Studies), and Sean Swanick (Liaison Librarian, Islamic Studies) will lead us in a viewing of the exhibition: “Book Culture in the Medieval Mediterranean”. We will meet at 5:30 pm (slightly later than normal) on the 4th floor of McGill’s McLennan Library (the location of Rare Books and Special Collections). A wine and cheese reception will follow.
Check out the poster: Poster November 28 RBSC
This exhibition highlights the rich and diverse cultures surrounding book production throughout the medieval Mediterranean. Drawing on the considerable holdings of Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University, it includes many items that have never before been exhibited. Visitors will encounter complete copies of the Qur’an, the gospels, and books of hours in addition to a wide array of single leaves in Greek, Arabic, Latin, and Persian.
The exhibition is arranged thematically highlighting cross-cultural connections. The scientific and cosmological works, for example, feature an anonymous Latin treatise on logic and a vernacular illustrated herbal leaf exhibited alongside the celebrated Farrukh nāmah and the ʿAjā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt. Similarly, under the rubric of power and storytelling, an exquisitely detailed genealogical scroll adumbrating the kings of England is juxtaposed with lavishly illustrated leaves of the Persian royal epic, the Shahnameh, in order to illuminate distinct modes for visualizing sovereignty. Together these materials evoke the varied conceptions of the natural, political, and cosmic world, while also attesting to dynamic traditions of script, ornamentation, and illumination across the many cultures of the medieval Mediterranean.
Curators:
Cecily Hilsdale, Assistant Professor, Art History and Communication Studies
Jennifer Garland, Art History and Communication Studies Liaison Librarian
Sean Swanick, Islamic Studies Liaison Librarian
The exhibition runs from November 2012 to January 2013 in Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University, McLennan Library Building, Fourth Floor, 3459 McTavish St.
Hi friends! We know you regularly seek the Islamic Manuscripts subject guide. We’ve updated the guide to include Glenn Lowry’s 1977 unpublished catalogue of Persian miniatures in the Islamic Collection. Check under the section “Articles about…”.
Check the guide: Islamic Manuscripts Subject Guide.
Hi friends! This Tuesday the IIS will host it’s second Brown Bag Lunch Talk. The speaker will be Professor Khalid Medani who will discuss “Understanding the Challenges and Prospects of another Popular Intifada in Sudan in the Context of the Arab Uprisings.” The talk begins at 1. Come one, come all!