The Arab World Institute’s website provides access to 15 online interactive exhibits on various topics.
Covering a wide span of topics from the Arts of Islam to Andalusia passing by Pharaos, these virtual 360° exhibits are great opportunities for both beginners and specialists to learn more about the Arab World, and to discover Islamic Art Collections held in France.
The website is accessible in French and Arabic.
Hi friends!
Recently, Dr. Robert Wisnovsky of the IIS of McGill was promoted to full professor and has also been appointed to a James McGill professorship. This is of course wonderful news and a much deserved recognition for his individual achievements, but it also is an important milestone for the Institute for which we can all be proud.
In related news, Dr. Wisnovsky was recently interviewed by the Montreal newspaper, Le Devoir: Humanités 2.0 – Le zéro et l’infini McGill numérise la science et la philosophie islamiques.
In addition, Dr. Wisnovsky has an article in the forthcoming Cambridge University Press publication entitled Interpreting Avicenna Critical Essays.
Many congratulations, Dr. Wisnovsky!
source: http://blogyac.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Ramadan-Kareem-ramadan-kareem-1280×960.jpg
Hi friends!
The recent uprisings in Gezi Park have peeked people’s interest in Turkey and the various uprisings across the Middle East, particularly those of the 2011 Arab Spring. Our colleague, John Eilts at Stanford University wrote an informative post on sources on and about Gezi. And our friend Rifat Bali of Libra Books has listed the following websites and resources:
http://taksimdayanisma.org/?lang=en
http://www.geziparki.org/english/
https://www.facebook.com/geziparkidirenisi
http://www.geziparkiguncesi.com/#
http://revoltinturkey.tumblr.com/
http://resisttaksim.blogspot.com/?zx=3f097ebe37b5a5dc
http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/
http://occupygezi.blogspot.com/
However, most interesting (to me!) is today’s al-Jazeera photo essay “In Pictures: The Taksim Square Book Club” which depicts numerous people reading in the park. And a couple of weeks ago the Turkish newspaper, Hurriyet, had an article on “Publishing houses to unite in Gezi Park to distribute major resistance material: Books.”
For those curious to read more about reading habits and the evolution of reading in Ottoman Turkey and the early Republic take a look at:
Şahbaz, Namık Kemal. 2009. Türkiye’de ilkokuma ve yazma öğretiminin tarihsel gelişimi. Ankara: MEB.
Fortna, Benjamin C. 2011. Learning to read in the late Ottoman Empire and the early Turkish republic. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hi friends! Arabic calligraphy is one of the finest arts of Islamic culture. The illustrious Dr. Annemarie Schimmel noted calligraphy to be “an art which can be called without exaggeration the ‘quintessential’ art of Islam” (Schimmel in Highlights of Persian art. Richard Ettinghausen; Ehsan Yar-Shater, eds. 1979).
McGill is fortunate to have several hundred calligraphy specimens, including 200 in Arabic alone. This particular calligraphy piece is a Ḥadīth. Unfortunately the calligrapher did not autograph the work but we may guess that this is a later calligraphy piece, perhaps 18th-19th century. An interpretation of this particular Ḥadīth was recently commented on in al-ahram (Egypt).
The ISL, itself holds a number of pertinent resources in Arabic, English and other languages on Ḥadīth. One may find these through searching WorldCat using “su: hadith” (su stands for subject as in subject heading) to guide your search.
Enjoy!
RBSC AC187
Congratulations, Mr Hamid!
Hi friends!
A short news piece released yesterday has announced a joint effort between the Yunus Emre Institute and several Balkan libraries in order to digitize various Turkish manuscript collections.
For those of you inclined to read about the Turkish manuscript holdings of the Vatican Library, take a look Rossi, Ettore. 1953. Elenco dei manoscritti turchi della Biblioteca vaticana: vaticani, barberiniani, borgiani, rossiani, chigiani. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana (Ref. Z6605 T8 R6 ).
For more information on the Vatican’s manuscript collections take a look at St Louis University’s Vatican Film Library subject guide.
May 20, 2013 marks the launch of global fund-raiser, T160K: Timbuktu Libraries in Exile.
A far cry from the fabled ends of the earth, Timbuktu, a small, northern enclave in the West African nation of Mali, is at the heart of a modern-day quest: to save the city’s many ancient libraries from destruction. Action must be taken immediately to preserve these ancient writings. Last year, after more than seven centuries in generational homes of dedicated safe-keepers, this collection of over 300,000 medieval manuscripts was suddenly caught in the middle of an ideological, territorial war. At great urgency and peril, a team of local stakeholders led by Abdel Kader Haidra and Dr. Stephanie Diakité conspired to rescue their beloved treasure.
This group of brave librarians, couriers and local Mali citizens risked everything to smuggle over 1,000 trunks of manuscripts by donkey cart, bicycle, on backs, and in boats, out of the city to new hideaways in other parts of the country. Not one document, not one person was lost during the evacuation.
Now that they are safely re-located away from the Sahara, the libraries have new enemies: humidity and tight quarters. This fatal combination could lead to devastation by mold and mildew. Most of these documents are made of rag paper and unstable inks, too fragile, even, to endure scanning digitization. The most immediate need is to re-package them in archival materials, index and re-secure them in their temporary sanctuaries. When it is again safe, they will be returned to their original guardians in Timbuktu.
Though the libraries are now secure from certain destruction by combatants in the war in Mali, a massive undertaking is required to prevent these exiled manuscripts from self-destructing. $7 million is needed to procure archival and storage materials and the labor necessary to preserve this priceless cultural heritage.
According to Dr. Diakité, “We saw the power of these libraries when people from all walks of life, whole villages, and speakers of every language in the region gave their time and effort, even under considerable risk, to help us evacuate them to the South. We believe that securing these manuscripts is a positive step towards a process of enduring peace and a reduced toll of human misery for this entire region.”
The rainy season is upon us. Every day counts.
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