SCHOLARSHIP ROUNDUP
On Islamic Law
- In How Commerce Became Legal: Merchants and Market Governance in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (Stanford University Press), Omar Youssef Cheta (Syracuse University) observes that “when Egypt’s markets opened to private capital in the 1840s, a new infrastructure of commercial laws and institutions emerged. Egypt became the site of profound legal experimentation, and the resulting commercial sphere reflected the political contestations among the governors of Egypt, European consulates, Ottoman rulers, and a growing number of private entrepreneurs, both foreign and local. How Commerce Became Legal explores the legal and business practices that resulted from this fusion of Ottoman, French, and Islamic legal concepts and governed commerce in Egypt.”
- In “Between Solidarity And Sovereignty: Morocco’s Humanitarian Tradition In Historical And Contemporary Perspective” (Eurasia Review), Mohamed Chtatou (University of Rabat) “examines the multidimensional humanitarian tradition of Morocco through a synthesis of Islamic ethics, Amazigh communal practice, royal diplomacy, and modern state policy. Drawing on historical, anthropological, and political science scholarship, [he] argues that Morocco’s humanitarian culture is not a recent construct but an enduring civilizational inheritance shaped by centuries of intercultural encounter, religious obligation, and collective survival.”
On Islam and Data Science
- In “Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Production in Brill’s Encyclopaedias of Islamic Studies: A Statistical and Analytical Investigation” (Contemporary Journal of Social Science Review), Hafiz Mohsin zia Qazi (Muslim Youth University) “critically examines the impact of AI on Islamic encyclopaedic scholarship, with a particular focus on Brill’s Encyclopaedia of Islam as a foundational reference work in modern Islamic studies. The research explores how AI-driven technologies influence the preservation of authenticity, the construction of scholarly authority, and the reinterpretation of classical Islamic knowledge in the digital age. By integrating perspectives from Islamic epistemology, digital humanities, and knowledge ethics, this study analyzes both the opportunities and challenges presented by AI in the context of encyclopaedic knowledge production. The article argues that while AI offers unprecedented possibilities for accessibility, organization, and interdisciplinary research, it also raises critical concerns regarding textual integrity, interpretive bias, and the future role of human scholarship.”
FIELD GUIDE TO ISLAMIC LAW ONLINE: RECENT SOURCES
The Field Guide to Islamic Law Online is an ever-growing collection of links to hundreds of primary sources and archival collections around the world, online. We recently added new resources to this list:
- “The Michaelides fragments comprise the largest private collection of Arabic papyri to be found in any institution worldwide.Cambridge University Library bought the collection in 1977 from the heirs of the antiques dealer Georges Anastase Michaelides (1900-1973). Born in Cairo and educated in Egypt and France, G.A. Michaelides developed a profound interest in the history and life of Egypt from its early civilisations to far beyond the Islamic conquest. At the time of his death he was in possession of over 1,700 fragments of papyri, paper and other materials in the ancient Egyptian languages, Coptic, Greek and predominantly Arabic. This collection comprises personal letters, legal texts, accounts, literary texts, recipes and other documents. Only a small number have been subject to academic study. This collection makes available online digital images of the Arabic papyri together with the descriptions produced in an unpublished hand-list by Professor Geoffrey Khan.”
UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Events:
- Workshop: Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Graduate Student Workshop, July 25–26, 2026
- Workshop: Archival Abundances and Silences in Islamic Studies, Princeton University, October 2–3, 2026
- Conference: Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, November 21–24, 2026
- Conference: The Institutional Embedding of Shiʿi Imams: Kinship, Caliphs, Courts and Companions (700-900), University of Leiden, January 13–15, 2027
Opportunities:
- Call for Papers: The Institutional Embedding of Shiʿi Imams: Kinship, Caliphs, Courts and Companions (700-900), University of Leiden, June 20, 2026
- Position Opening: Visiting Assistant Professor of Medieval Middle East, Colby College, July 1, 2026
- Call for Participation: Digital Medieval Studies Institute, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK, July 10, 2026
- Award: Gwenn Okruhlik Dissertation Award, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, July 15, 2026
- Award: Graduate Paper Prize, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, July 15, 2026
- Award: Student Travel Award, Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies, September 1, 2026