Your search

In historic times, two catastrophic fissure eruptions originated in the Eastern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, known as Eldgjá eruption (934–940 CE) and Laki eruption (1783–1784 CE). Eldgjá produced 19.7 km3 of lava flows and 1.3 km3 of tephra; Laki emitted 14.7 km3 of lavas and 0.4 km3 of tephra. They released 232 and 122 megatons of SO2 into the atmosphere, respectively. Abundant historic descriptions of the effects of the Laki eruption indicate that the SO2 release produced a sulphuric aerosol that spread across the northern hemisphere with devastating impacts on the population and the environment, especially in Europe. In this study, we present two new written sources that enable the effects of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions to be fixed to an exact date and place of occurrence in North Africa. These are a medieval North African chronicle known as Rawḍ al-Qirṭās, written in 1326 CE and describing events in Morocco, and a chronicle of events in the island of Djerba (southern Tunisia), written by Muhammad b. Yusef al-Musabi in 1792–1793 CE. These previously unrecognized sources describe in detail the fading of sunlight coupled with the persistent presence of a thick fog made up of fine particles carried over from long distances. The chronicles report events in Morocco in the time period October 938–October 939 CE, and in Tunisia in the year 1783 CE. These data can be interpreted as the first detailed evidence of the consequences of the Eldgjá and Laki eruptions in North Africa. They also can be helpful in dating and determining the area of influence of the eruptions; this may be useful for several applications, such as the numerical simulation of these events, or hazard planning in case of possible future similar eruptions from the same Icelandic area.

This work is focused on the Halachic Approach of Rabbi Moshe Chalfon HaCohen from Djerbah. Rabbi Moshe Chalfon HaCohen was born in 1874 and died 1950. He was appointed Chief Rabbi of Djerbah, an island near Tunisia, in 1935, and is considered to have been one of the greatest rabbis of North Africa, particularly of Tunisia and Djerbah. With the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881, French culture, technological innovations and modernity penetrated the community. All of these affected life in Djerbah and the rabbis, including Rabbi Chalfon, needed to relate to this new situation. This research deals with two of Rabbi Chalfon’s essays dealing with Halachic responsa: “Brit Kehuna” – a compilation of the Halachic responsa and customs of the Jewish community in Djerbah, and “Shoel Venishal,” a book of Halachic responsa which deals with questions and his answers. Among other aspects, this research shows Rabbi Chalfon's unique emphasis on the humane aspects of Halacha and his ability to utilize them versus formal considerations.

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"--