The Islamic Studies Library will hold its last film screening of the academic year on Friday April 10th, 2015 at 5 p.m. in the Tuesday Night Cafe (Morrice Hall, room 017).

The Dupes is a stark, beautifully photographed black and white film tracing the destinies of three palestinian refugees brought together by dispossession, despair and hope for a better future.

The setting is Iraq in the 1950s and the protagonists,concealed in the steel tank of a truck, are trying to make their way across the border into Kuwait, the “promised land.”

The Dupes is considered a masterful adaptation of Ghassan Kanafani’s acclaimed novella, Men Under the Sun, The Dupes is also one of the first Arab films to address the Palestinian predicament.

Professor Malek Abisaab, McGill History Department and Institute of Islamic Studies, will moderate the post screening discussion.

Come on come all!

In anticipation of next week’s public discussion “Issues Around Representations of the Prophet” hosted by the Institute of Islamic Studies, there are some recent writings worth your time to read in advance. Many of these are found online (I’ve included the links) while others are found in the ISL—come for a visit.

Choix discutable, choix discuté Quelques voix apportent une perspective musulmane sur la publication des unes: http://www.delitfrancais.com/2015/01/20/choix-discutable-choix-discute/. Interview with Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim of the IIS.

The History and Philosophy of Representational Art in Islam: http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2012/10/the-history-and-philosophy-of-representational-art-in-islam.html

The Prophet Muhammad Was Once Glorified In Art: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/01/16/quran-prophet-images

Ways of Looking at the Prophet: http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-lives-of-muhammad-by-kecia-ali-1420841587

Drawing the prophet: Islam’s hidden history of Muhammad images: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/10/drawing-prophet-islam-muhammad-images

The Koran Does Not Forbid Images of the Prophet: http://www.newsweek.com/koran-does-not-forbid-images-prophet-298298

There are of course a number of worthwhile academic books, articles, etc. some of which include the following:

Khalidi, Tarif. 2009. Images of Muhammad: narratives of the prophet in Islam across the centuries. New York: Doubleday.: http://mcgill.worldcat.org/oclc/243960546

Hillenbrand, Robert, and B. W. Robinson. 2000. Persian painting: from the Mongols to the Qajars : studies in honour of Basil W. Robinson. London: I.B. Tauris in association with the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge.: http://mcgill.worldcat.org/oclc/46642670

Asani, Ali S., Kamal Abdel-Malek, and Annemarie Schimmel. 1995. Celebrating Muḥammad: images of the prophet in popular Muslim poetry. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press.: http://mcgill.worldcat.org/oclc/32201887

The Story of Portraits of the Prophet Muhammad Oleg Grabar Studia Islamica No. 96, Écriture, Calligraphie et Peinture (2003), pp. 19-38+VI-IX http://www.jstor.org/stable/1596240?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Gruber, Christiane. 2009. Between Logos (Kalima) and Light (Nur): Representations of the Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Painting. In Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World XXVI. 229-262.: Available as Open Access via Archnet, http://archnet.org/publications/6805.

Gruber, Christiane. 2009. MEʿRĀJ ii. Illustrations. From the turn of the 14th century onward, depictions of the Prophet Moḥammad’s night journey (esrāʾ) and heavenly ascent (meʿrāj) were integrated into illustrated world histories and biographies.http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/meraj-ii-illustrations

Join us on Thursday January 29th, at 5:30 pm in the Octagon room (Islamic Studies Library, Morrice Hall) as we discuss -for the second time- the novel Mornings in Jenin, the acclaimed novel by Palestinian-American author and activist Susan Abulhawa.

The One Book, Many Communities: Mornings in Jenin reading campaign was initiated by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine, a network of self-defined librarians, archivists, and information workers in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

To access this event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1515299365406523/

Born in Romania, raised in Sudan and Qatar where he is still based, Sudanese artist Khalid Albaih has been leaving his mark on Sudanese, Arab and global politics. His series of online political cartoons, known as Khartoon!, gained international attention during the Arab Spring, where they were turned into stencils and sprayed onto walls in Beirut and Cairo. His name is quickly becoming synonymous with political art in the Middle East and beyond; he has been featured in international media outlets, including the BBC and the New York Times, and exhibited in Doha, Cairo, London, New York, and now here in Montréal.

For a full interview of Khalid Albaih, you can go here.

Khalid Albaih is in Montreal this week (Nov.2-8) for a series of events, at McGill Institute of Islamic Studies and in other places. Come on, come all!

Hi friends! In less than 2 weeks le Cénacle culturel Liban-Québec invites you for an Arabic poetry reading by current Director of the IIS, Prof. Rula Jurdi Abisaab. This will be followed by poems translated into English and French by Prof. Michelle Hartman of the IIS, Poet Nadine Ltaif and McGill Doctoral candidate Hadi Fakhoury. Oud musician, Mr. Isam Haddad will play some pieces of Arabic music.

The event will take place on Saturday, January 25th, 2014 from 5:00-7:00 at the Ballroom on the 3rd Floor of Thomson House, 3650 McTavish Street, Montreal, H3A 1Y2 Phone:(514)398-3756. (Between Pine Avenue and Dr. Penfield Avenue).
The Event is also supported by Nelson Publishing House.