In the age of COVID-2019, we at the Islamic Law Blog have curated a set of essays on the theme of pandemics in Islamic history and thought. Leading scholars and advanced students of Islamic law and history comment on the phenomena of plagues and epidemics across centuries and geographic boundaries, giving us an opportunity to collectively reflect about how much has changed, and how much has not.
The Black Death in the Middle East and Central Asia
By Stuart Borsch, Associate Professor of History at Assumption College
A Tale of Two Contagions: Science, Imperialism, and the 1883 Cholera in Egypt
By Christopher Rose, postdoctoral fellow at University of Texas at Austin (UT)
“It was a Memorable Day” – Plague Gatherings and their Critics
By Younus Mirza, Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University
Economic Impact and Consequences of the Plagues on the Medieval Middle East
By Şevket Pamuk, Professor of Economics and Economic History at Bogaziçi University, Istanbul.
Against “flattening the [curve of] diversity of approaches” to Muslim understandings of contagion in a time of pandemic (Part One, Part Two)
By Justin Stearns, Associate Professor, NYU Abu Dhabi
By Ari Schriber, PhD Candidate, Harvard University