Dear friends,
In the face of the dramatic situation that is shaking the Arab world, the victims of which are Muslims and Christians, atheists, believers and non-believers of all religions, more and more people are getting up and engaging in the discovery of the beautiful internal diversity of this Arab world in crisis. At the IDEO, we are witnessing an increasing will among each other to overcome our mutual fears through study, culture, education, and cooperation.
We hope that our conference on Ḥadīṯ on January 11, 12 and 13 in partnership with al-Azhar University and the French Institute will be another occasion to build our knowledge together. Click here to read the presentation of the conference… Click here to download the programme…
Seminars
On December 12th, Guillaume de Vaulx, led a seminar on the topic “No one will be saved if all are not saved”. The author of Rasāʾil Iḫwān al-ṣafā, whom Guillaume de Vaulx believes to have discovered to be Aḥmad al-Ṭayyib al-Saraḫrsī (d. 286/899), offers an original solution to the question of universal salvation, based on complementary relationships between religions. Click here to read the report…
Lectures and conferences
On December 2nd, Amir Jajé, OP participated in a conference entitled “Migration, Displacement and Diaspora: Demographic Changes in the Arab World 1917-2017”, organized by the by the Christian Academic Forum for Arab Citizenship (CAFCAW) in Limassol, Cyprus.
On December 4th, Amir Jajé, OP attended the meeting of the Administrative Council of the “Network of Religious Faculties in the Arab World” in Limassol, Cyprus.
On December 8th, Dennis Halft, OP gave a lecture entitled “New Evidence for the History of Iranian Jewry and Imāmī-Jewish Relations from Shīʿī Manuscript Repositories in Iran”, at the international conference “Shii Studies: The State of the Art” at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J., USA.
On December 21st, Guillaume de Vaulx organized a study day dedicated to The Brethren of Purity (Rasāʾil Iḫwān al-Ṣafā), whose studies have been revolutionized in recent years, in the SPHERE laboratory of History of Science at Paris-Diderot University. Discussions with speakers Pascal Crozet, Ahmad Hasnaoui, Cristina Cerami, Mehrnaz Katouzian, Husein Massoumi, and their doctoral students have allowed some progress in the field of the Arab pythagorianism.
Thesis defense
On December 2nd, Adrien de Fouchier, OP defended his doctoral thesis entitled “The Christian Arabic Manuscript of the 13th century: Considerations from the Vatican Archives”.
On December 7th, under the supervision of Dominique Avon, Anaïs-Trissa Khatchadourian defended her doctoral thesis entitled “Moussa Sadr: The Intellectual Biography of a Shiite cleric” at the University of Maine. The other jury members were Mohammad-Ali Amir-Moezzi, Constance Arminjon, Céline Borello, Pierre-Jean Luizard, and Chantal Verdeil.
Book Fair
From December 4-10th, Mr. Ahmad Chleilat and René-Vincent du Grandlaunay, OP went to the Arab Book Fair to purchase books. In total, they bought 300 titles, mostly old texts.
Open House Day
On December 16th, Mr. Guillaume de Vaulx organized an open house day to introduce the library and IDEO to new readers (photo). Around twenty students and researchers came from different universities and specialties. Their diversity is impressive: men, women, Egyptians, foreigners, Muslims, Christians, Salafists and Sufis, Liberals, Coptic, Evangelicals…And their interest in our work encourages us.
Interviews
On December 15th, Jean Druel, OP was interviewed by Mrs. Alessandra Buzzetti (MediaSet) and Mrs. Cristiana Caricato (TV2000) during their trip to Cairo organized by the Ministry of Tourism to encourage Italian pilgrimages in the footsteps of the Holy Family in Egypt.
Visits
On December 5th, we received the visit of Mrs. Nayla Tabbara from the Lebanese Foundation Adyan, which works in the field of interreligious dialogue and citizenship.
On December 9th, we welcomed for lunch Mr. Kamal al Ekhnawy a representative of the Bahá’í community in Egypt.
On December 20th, we welcomed for lunch Mr. Ibrahim Mansour, Ph.D student at the University of California, Sainta Barbara, and ARCE fellow in Cairo, who is working on the origins of the Shadhiliyya Sufi.
On December 21st, we received the visit of about twenty researchers from the Coptic Studies Center of the Alexandria Library.
Scholars’ House
In December, we had the pleasure of receiving at the Scholars’ House Mrs. Fabienne Laumonier who makes radio documentaries for France Culture and Arteradio, and Mrs. Anne-Sylvie Boisliveau, Professor at the University of Strasbourg.
Click here to subscribe or unsubscribe to our newsletter. If you would like to receive our invitations for the seminar, please mark the corresponding box.