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Ice Cream Social

Come and learn about the different majors and minors offered by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Meet other students in the majors and minors and current faculty.

Philosophy in Context: Arabic and Syriac Manuscript Transmissions in the Mediterranean

This European funded project aims at understanding the conditions of the reception and transmission of philosophy of Greek tradition in the Arabic and Syriac languages in the geographical frame of the Mediterranean World, and describing the vast amount of philosophical works preserved in libraries around the Mediterranean in a systematic way. The codicological description is...

Kitāb al-Ḥayda and Early Ḥanbalī Creeds

Among Islamic groups, Sunnī traditionalists, especially Ḥanbalīs, were strongly opposed to kalām (dialectical theology). Their condemnation of kalām was such that it became an established article of their creeds. Notwithstanding this official condemnation, there is evidence in their writings that they practiced kalām. For example, Ḥanbalī practices of kalām have been examined in the work...

Islam and Muslims in an Age of ISIS and Islamophobia

with Professor Omid Safi Director, Islamic Studies Center Duke University A public event sponsored by the UCLA Islamic Studies-MRI Fund Co-sponsored by the Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) and the Center for the Study of Religion (CSR) Fifteen years after the horrific attacks of 9/11, the American Muslim community and the American democratic experiment both...

The Arabic Freud: Psychoanalysis and Islam in Modern Egypt

Presented by Omnia El Shakry, Associate Professor of History at UC Davis What might it mean to think through psychoanalysis and Islam together, not as a problem, but as a creative encounter of ethical engagement? Traversing literatures minor and major, Omnia El Shakry shows how postwar thinkers in Egypt translated and blended psychoanalytic theories with...

New Methods in the Study of the Qur’an

The date and provenance of the Qur’an, as with all the literary sources for early Islamic history, have been the subject of scholarly disagreement for decades. So have the questions of whether the Qur’an had one author or multiple authors, and whether the suras are random mishmashes of verses from different periods or somewhat coherent...

The Anatomy of Loyalty and Patterns of Patronage in the Religio-political Culture of Sixteenth Century Iran

Dr. Khafipour discusses the spiritual dimensions of political loyalty that was instrumental in the formation of strong ties between the Safavid rulers and their chiefs at the epicenter of the order, where power was continually contested. Drawing on a wide variety of historical and literary sources, Islamic theology, and theories of power, he discusses the...

David Hirsch’s Retirement Party

Please join us in bidding a fond farewell to David Hirsch, longtime Librarian for Jewish, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, South Asian, and Armenian Studies at UCLA. Champagne and pastries will be served.

Rare Manuscripts of the Moroccan Royal Library: An Introduction and Overview

This lecture will describe some of the rare holdings of al-Khizāna al-Ḥassania, discuss issues related to Maghribi paleography, codicology, and art, imagery, and the symbolism and significance of color used in selected manuscripts. The lecture will also offer advice for potential researchers and suggest fruitful avenues for research in manuscripts at the Ḥassania Library.  ...