During the socially and politically turbulent seventeenth century, Moroccan scholars studied the natural and mathematical sciences throughout a network of rural and urban institutions of learning that were closely associated with Sufi orders, the Maliki school of jurisprudence, and the Ash‘ari creed of theology. Their study of these sciences resulted in their writing works in […]
Read MoreThe decorative work on the iwan, sponsored by Shah ʿAbbas I, Safavi Photo © 2021 Shivan Mahendrarajah
Read MoreThere are not many good things about this COVID-19 era we are living in. One of the few positive side effects one might celebrate, though, is that it has permitted many of us to rediscover the joys of slowing down and paying attention to things that we have been otherwise thoughtlessly passing by, looking at […]
Read MoreIt was a decade ago in graduate school when I read Shahla Haeri’s magnificent book, Law of Desire, for the first time. Haeri’s book became the inspiration for a series of papers, conference presentations, and ultimately this book. Temporary Marriage in Iran: Gender and Body Politics in Modern Iranian Film and Literature emerged out of […]
Read MoreWe do not yet know whether President Trump’s killing of Qassim Suleimani, Iran’s second most powerful leader, will prove to be a masterstroke or a disaster. The president’s antipathy toward the Islamic Republic is easier to discern. Its roots lie in the Cold War. Trump may have been acting on short-term intelligence in targeting the […]
Read MoreHerman Melville’s last novel, The Confidence-Man, was published on April Fool’s Day, 1857. Aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi, a series of plausible projectors invite their fellow passengers to interest themselves – and invest – in a wild variety of impressive schemes. Touting ventures which range from the Black Rapids Coal Company to the Philosophical […]
Read MoreIn both academia and the media, a well-known perception is that Christianity essentially embraces religion-state separation whereas Islam essentially rejects it. Defenders of this perception provide some textual evidences. To show religion-state separation in Christianity, they quote a Biblical phrase, “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are […]
Read MoreAssaf Likhovski, author of Tax Law and Social Norms in Mandatory Palestine and Israel, tells us more about his latest book...
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