Newsletter July-September 2022

Closing night on the Nile, language summer session 2022

The International Forum of Social Sciences and Humanities (Insaniyyat) will be held from September 20ᵗʰ to 24ᵗʰ, 2022 in Tunis. Several researchers from the IDEO will be present and four of us will lead an “IDEO Workshop” in which we will present the results of our latest researches. It will be an opportunity for us to meet again with well-known researchers of the IDEO, to make new contacts and to deepen the bond between Islamic studies and human and social sciences. We should benefit from such a forum, the spirit and purpose of which is to “react to the partitioning between academic traditions, between generations, as well as to the linguistic and logistical barriers between bibliographies and reference tools” and thus contribute to the circulation of scientific knowledge. Our integration in the Egyptian environment will allow us, without any doubt, to take into consideration the Egyptian intellectual dynamics beyond traditional academic circles.

Contributions and lectures

During the month of August, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture entitled “Charles de Foucauld and Islam”, he gave it in Tréguier and in Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer.

From August 2ⁿᵈ to 26ᵗʰ, Mateus Domingues da Silva participated in the 15ᵗʰ conference organized by the International Society for the Study of Medieval Philosophy (SIEPM) in Paris on the topic of “Radical thinking in Medieval philosophy”, during which he gave a talk entitled “Plato, pure quiddities and forms according to Suhrawardī’s metaphysics of lights”.

Exhibition of the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts

On July 20ᵗʰ, Emmanuel Pisani, OP participated in the exhibition “Calligraphy and Manuscript” organized by the Institute of Arabic Manuscripts in Cairo in partnership with the Museums Sector of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Midād Association for Arabic Calligraphy. This exhibition took place at the Mohammed Ali Palace in Cairo, on the anniversary of the foundation of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (Alecso).

Introductory session in Arabic language at the IDEO

From July 18ᵗʰ to August 12ᵗʰ, an introductory session in Arabic was held for Dominicans brothers in formation. In addition to Arabic classes, the students have been initiated into Islamic studies, Codicology, Christian Arabic liturgy and the history of the Arabic language. During the session, we organized a visit to Islamic Cairo, exchanges with Egyptian thinkers, meetings with young Muslims and Christians within the framework of the Dominican Youth, and a visit to the library of Alexandria.

Interviews and meetings

On July 4ᵗʰ, Emmanuel Pisani, OP was interviewed by Soheir Abdel-Hamid for al-Ahram newspaper on the history of the IDEO and the future of the Islamic-Christian dialogue. Read the interview (in Arabic)…

On August 9ᵗʰ, Emmanuel Pisani, OP went to the al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism to meet the new director, Mrs. Reham Salama.

Visits

From May 13ᵗʰ to July 15ᵗʰ, we received Aquinas Beale, OP, PhD student in Comparative Religion at Notre Dame University in Indiana, USA.

From July 15ᵗʰ to August 17ᵗʰ, we received four young Dominican brothers, Donald Bikioli Martimien, OP, Jonathan Kamgang Nzegang, OP, Patryk Pajęcki, OP et Matthew Wanner, OP as part of the introductory session in Islamic studies and in the Arabic language organized by the IDEO.

On August 11ᵗʰ we received Mr. Amr Nour el-Din, from the Hindawī Foundation for Education and Culture.

From August 26ᵗʰ to September 2ⁿᵈ, we received Dennis Halft, OP director of the publication of the periodical MIDEO, the journal of the IDEO.

Scholars’ House

During the months of July and August, we had the pleasure to receive in the Scholars’ House Dr. Matthew Crippen, a researcher at Pusan National University, Korea, and at “Mind and Brain” school at Humboldt University of Berlin and a student of theology at the University of Toronto; Professor Karim Ifrak, researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and specialist of Qurʾānic manuscripts; Mr. Matthias Ausloos, PhD student in religious sciences at the Faculties of Theology at the Catholic Universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve; Miss Antoinette Ferrand, PhD student in the history of contemporary Egypt at the Sorbonne University and new editorial secretary of the MIDEO; Mr. Robin Schmahl, PhD student in modern Egyptian history at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient at the Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany, and on a doctoral exchange program with the American University in Cairo.

Publications

  • Dominique Avon, « Guerre, religion et territoire : positions de juristes sunnites contemporains », dans Maria Paiano (dir.), Violenza sacra. Guerra santa, sacrificio e martirio in età contemporanea, Viella, Rome, 2022, p. 299‒333.
  • Dominique Avon, « Hommes de religion, femmes, féminismes », Annuaire de l’École pratique des hautes études, tome 129 (2020‒2021), 2022, p. 499‒508.
  • Dominique Avon, « La problématique de l’apostasie et ses déclinaisons dans les États à référence musulmane. Autour de l’article 18 de la Déclaration universelle des Droits de l’Homme », dans Valentine Zuber, Emmanuel Decaux et Alexandre Boza (dir.), Histoire et postérité de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme. Nouvelles approches, Rennes, PUR, « L’univers des Normes », 2022, p. 167‒178.
  • Emmanuel Pisani, « Emilio Platti. De Molenbeek à Molenbeek », En dialogue 18, janvier – juillet 2022, p. 20-23.
  • Ilyass Amharar & Jean Druel, “‘A little yesterday’: The canonical text of Sībawayhi’s teaching confronted to two unedited manuscripts of the Kitāb”, dans Manuel Sartori & Francesco Binaghi (éd.), The Foundations of Arab Linguistics V, Brill, 2022, p. 37‒51.

Upcoming activities

From September 20ᵗʰ to 24ᵗʰ, Adrien Candiard, OP, Jean Druel, OP, Dennis Halft, OP, and Emmanuel Pisani, OP will participate in the International Forum for humanities and social Sciences “Insaniyyat”.

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