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At first sight, North African Ibāḍism emerged during the Berber uprisings against Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid rule and stayed at the margins of the empire. The imamate of Tāhart even stood, in the posthumous memory of the school, as an ideal counter-model of the caliphate. In fact, during the 8^th and 9^th centuries western Ibāḍism remained under the influence of its eastern strongholds, in particular Baṣra where the sectarian elite was well integrated into ʿAbbāsid culture. Intense scholarly exchange linked west and east thanks to intermediary meeting points like Mecca and Fusṭāṭ. The Ibāḍī political opposition of ‘Berber’ and ‘Arab’ ethnicity certainly worked against the imperial discourse, but the Persian shuʿūbiyya shaped it. The Rustamid imamate came to be the symbol of a Persian state in a Berber milieu and its capital and state apparatus underwent a gradual orientalization. Trade also played a key role in connecting the Ibāḍī network with the empire. Baṣra was a notorious emporium and Ibāḍī merchants circulated widely between the ʿAbbāsid realm and its western fringes. The Maghribīs owned stores in Fusṭāṭ and traveled as far as Baghdad and Sāmarrāʾ. Trans-Saharan trade, including slaves and gold, also presumably saw its first development thanks to imperial demand.

This thesis examines the Ibadi nahda of 1913 through an Islamic Modernist framing to show links between the Ibadi revival and a wider pan-Islamist and anti-colonial moment. The main focus are the writings of Nur al-Din al-Salimi (d. 1914) and Abu Muslim al-Bahlani (d. 1920), two luminaries and revolutionaries of the Ibadi revival movement. An 'episodic discourse' model of ideology production is used to relate the social and material conditions of turn of the century colonial Zanzibar and Oman to modernist religious discourse.

In 2011, after a popular uprising overthrew President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, several issues came to the fore in Tunisia: among them was racism targeting "black" individuals. The few black rights organizations that emerged managed to obtain passage of a law punishing racist acts and words in October 2019. This historic step stems from Tunisia’s far-seeing policy concerning human and civil rights. In 1846, Tunisia was the first country in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle Eastern world to abolish slavery and the slave trade. Becoming the 'Abid addresses the legacy of slavery in a southern Tunisian governorate, where racism towards "black" individuals is still a painful experience and takes the form of professional, educational, and marital discrimination. Referring to the concept of structural inequality, the book goes beyond the simplistic idea that race is limited to phenotype; instead, it distances itself from Western racial concepts and highlights how processes of racialization are contextual, processual, and changing constructions.

Episode 92: The Buffalo Agency: Maghribi Ibadis in Cairo, 1850-1950 In this interview, Paul Love discusses the early stages of his new book project on the history of Ibadi Muslims from the Maghrib who lived, worked, and studied in Ottoman Cairo. Tentatively titled The Buffalo Agency: Ibadi Muslims in Ottoman Cairo, the book follows the history of a trade agency, school, and library known as the ‘Buffalo Agency’ (Wikalat al-jamus), operated by Ibadis for nearly four centuries in the Tulun district of Cairo. From its founding in the 17th to century to its closure in the 20th, the Agency served as a waystation for students, scholars, and merchants on their journeys through Cairo. During that same period, it also became a school and library for Ibadi students and scholars connected to the famous al-Azhar mosque, some of whom stayed in Egypt for decades. By exploring the lives of Ibadi Muslims as they moved through the world of sharʿiah courts, made use of waqf to endow properties and books, and studied alongside and did business with their Sunni coreligionists, The Buffalo Agency shows the way in which Ibadis belonged fully to the Ottoman world. At the same time, the book shows how Ibadis in Cairo maintained connections with their coreligionists in North Africa, East Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. The interview focuses on the early chapters of the book, including those based on research in the Tunisian National Archives during summer 2019. Paul spent part of the summer on an AIMS grant, which allowed him time to examine the correspondence of one of the most prominent Ibadis of the Ottoman Empire: Saʿid b. Qasim al-Shammakhi, who served as both the director of the Buffalo Agency and the representative of the Tunisian Bey in Egypt during the mid-19th century. Paul Love earned his PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (2016). He is currently Assistant Professor of North African, Middle Eastern, and Islamic History at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. His research focuses on the history of Ibadi Muslim communities in northern Africa, the Arabic manuscript traditions of the Maghrib, and colonial knowledge production in North Africa and the Sahara. His first book, Ibadi Muslims of North Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2018), traced the history of the formation of an Ibadi Muslim tradition in the Maghrib from the 11th-16th centuries. His recent publications have appeared in the Journal of African History, the Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, and Etudes et Documents Berbères. This interview was led by CEMAT Director, Dr. Laryssa Chomiak, and was recorded on July 19, 2019, at the Centre d'Études Maghrébines à Tunis (CEMAT). Posted by Hayet Lansari, Librarian, Outreach Coordinator, Content Curator (CEMA).

Ce présent travail se penche sur l’Histoire du peuplement et de la gestion des ressources naturelles, ainsi que de l’organisation territoriale de l’île de Djerba entre le XIIe et le XVIe siècle, au travers des sources médiévales et modernes musulmanes et latines. Il sera mesuré l’impact des événements historiques et de l’environnement sur le paysage insulaire, comment elle façonne les spécificités de Djerba, et son insertion dans l’espace méditerranéen.

Although Ibāḍīs wrote frequently on philology, rhetoric, theology, and the sciences of Qur’an interpretation, there has been little interest in the composition of complete Ibāḍī tafsīrs until the modern period. Ibāḍī teachers taught Qur’anic interpretation to their students using Sunni tafsīrs as their reference before the publication of Aṭfiyyash’s tafsīrs in the nineteenth century. Ibāḍī commentators have based their works on Sunni tafsīrs, inserting the distinct doctrinal perspectives of their school at relevant points. Ibāḍī tafsīrs share a perspective on the necessity of interpreting the Qur’an in a non-literal manner if the literal meaning of the text contradicts Ibāḍī doctrines on God, faith, and the afterlife.

"Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change is a pioneering collection of essays on the historical developments, ideals, and practices of Islamic learning and teaching in the formative and classical periods of Islam (i.e., from the seventh to fifteenth centuries CE). Based on innovative and philologically sound primary source research, and utilizing the most recent methodological tools, this two volume set sheds new light on the challenges and opportunities that arise from a deep engagement with classical Islamic concepts of knowledge, its production and acquisition, and, of course, learning. Learning is especially important because of its relevance to contemporary communities and societies in our increasingly multicultural, "global" civilizations, whether Eastern or Western. Contributors: Hosn Abboud, Sara Abdel-Latif, Asma Afsaruddin, Shatha Almutawa, Nuha Alshaar, Jessica Andruss, Mustafa Banister, Enrico Boccaccini, Sonja Brentjes, Michael G. Carter, Hans Daiber, Yoones Dehghani Farsani, Yassir El Jamouhi, Nadja Germann, Antonella Ghersetti, Sebastian Günther, Mohsen Haredy, Angelika Hartmann, Paul L. Heck, Asma Hilali, Agnes Imhof, Jamal Juda, Wadad Kadi, Mehmet Kalayci, Alexey A. Khismatulin, Todd Lawson, Mariana Malinova, Ulrika Mårtensson, Christian Mauder, Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Maryam Moazzen, Angelika Neuwirth, Jana Newiger, Luca Patrizi, Lutz Richter-Bernburg, Ali R. Rizek, Mohammed Rustom, Jens Scheiner, Gregor Schoeler, Steffen Stelzer, Barbara Stowasser, Jacqueline Sublet, and Martin Tamcke"--

[Un livre, des collections] Rencontre avec Augustin Jomier, auteur du livre Islam, réforme, colonisation : une histoire de l'ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962) En partenariat avec les Éditions de la Sorbonne Comment écrire une histoire des temps coloniaux à partir de points de vue d'Algériens et comment penser le réformisme musulman, problème majeur de l'histoire contemporaine de l’islam ? C’est à ces deux questions connexes, aussi centrales qu’irrésolues, que s’attaque simultanément Augustin Jomier dans son étude sur l’ibadisme contemporain, qui vient de paraître aux Éditions de la Sorbonne. La rencontre sera animée par Benjamin Guichard, directeur scientifique de la BULAC, qui présentera en préambule les collections ibadites de la BULAC. L'intervenant : Docteur et agrégé d’histoire, ancien élève de l’École normale supérieure de Lyon, Augustin Jomier a enseigné aux universités du Mans, de Paris-Est-Créteil, à l’EHESS et à l’EPHE. Il a été pensionnaire de la Fondation Thiers (2013-2016), puis lauréat d’une Chaire d’excellence de l’Université Sorbonne-Paris-Cité (2016-2019) et Visiting research fellow au Near Eastern Studies Department de l’Université de Princeton, USA (2018). Il est actuellement maître de conférences à l’Inalco en histoire du Maghreb aux périodes moderne et contemporaine et chercheur au CERMOM. À la jonction entre l’histoire coloniale et l’histoire de l’islam, il s’intéresse aux mutations sociales et culturelles du Maghreb à la période contemporaine, histoire qu’il écrit à partir de sources en langue arabe et en langues européennes. Son premier livre, Islam, réforme et colonisation : une histoire de l’ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962), Paris, Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2020, enquête sur la question du réformisme musulman parmi les populations ibadites du Mzab, dans l’Algérie coloniale. Le chantier principal auquel il s’attèle à présent porte sur l’histoire sociale et culturelle du livre et de la lecture au Maghreb (XVIIIe-XXe siècle). Il est aussi investi dans un projet intitulé « L'orientalisme en train de se faire », mené à l'EHESS autour des archives de René Basset (1855-1924), fonds d’archives dont il est le responsable scientifique.

In the bilingual English-Arabic work, The Oral Art of Soqoṭra: A Collection of Island Voices, Miranda Morris and Ṭānuf Sālim Di-Kišin, in collaboration with Soqoṭrans from all parts of the island, present over a thousand examples of poems and songs, prayers, lullabies, work-chants, messages in code, riddles, examples of community wisdom encapsulated in poetic couplets, and stories centred on a short poem or exchange of poems. These were documented by oral transmission directly to the authors, or through recordings collected by them. They are presented in Soqoṭri (transcribed phonetically in Roman and in Arabic script), and in English and Arabic translation.

The present article analyses the impact of different East African geographical, social and economic conditions on the settlement model of the Omani in this area in 1806–1856. The article indicates that the Oman settlement model has undergone significant changes, including the appearance of new forms of settlement, a change in building material, and the adoption of solutions practiced by African cultures. On the other hand, however, many important elements, such as the architecture and tribal settlement structure, were transferred to East Africa.

The paper, based on archival sources and Arabic press, addresses the emergence and construction of a Libyan nation and nationalism, particularly among Libyan exiles, in the Mediterranean region from the 1930s until independence. Since the 1930s, associations of Libyan exiles in Tunisia, Syria and Egypt began to imagine the future of their country in an attempt to find an alternative to both Italian colonial occupation, and the older previous political system, which had collapsed in its wake. I discuss how the influence of Pan-Arabism in the theoretical elaboration of a “Libyan nation-state” led to referring to the Libyan nation as an Arab nation. The paper stresses the contribution of Sulayman al-Baruni to the debate. Particular attention is devoted to a series of articles published in 1937 by al-Baruni in al-Rabita al-‛Arabiyya. This weekly Egyptian magazine was an important instrument in giving voice to different points of view on the Libyan question. I argue that al-Baruni’s stress on an Arab-Islamic identity probably aimed at appeasing and overcoming the divergences between Tripolitanians and Cyrenaicans concerning the “imagined” future Libyan nation. (Upon independence, the Arabism-Islam binomial became the watchword for the construction of a new national identity. This binomial did not include the Berbers and other minority groups and denied them any official recognition).