Hi there! I am a historian of Iran and Central Asia undertaking an @SWWDTP-funded PhD at @ExeterIAIS. My research examines medieval Muslim Persian and Arabic sermons and popular preaching to learn about religion and society in the 13th-15th Centuries 1/2
@hamood7abibi7 Did a deep dive on this a few years ago - it’s a textbook example in how orientalism bleeds into the popular imagination (while also revealing the level of anxiety that existed around Iran/Lebanon in the American psyche!)
https://t.co/0t0avrBSQI
1/BATMAN IN BEIRUT: I recently came across a Batman comic whose plot revolves around the Middle East. It gets a lot of details *hilariously* wrong, but it also provides a perfect illustration of the problem with how pop culture represents the region and its people—buckle up!🧵
@gbrew24 I would read میزِ واقعیتها as the opposite of the negotiating table - he means Trump must now negotiate not with Iran, but rather with hard objective realities (the limits of US power, as Tehran sees it). Jalili is not referring to negotiation, but capitulation.
This is beyond shameful. Do we only care about women’s rights when they can be weaponised to justify wars? Britain should be looking to attract the best and brightest from all over the world. Sincerely hope that @ShabanaMahmood does the right thing and reverses this awful policy.
@MayShaddel Agree to disagree. Drawing a strong conclusion from silence seems untenable in this case: Many reasons a source might omit a detail, "he didn't exist" is only one, and IMHO not a very likely one given other affirming contemporary sources.
@MayShaddel Yes, but it seems unsound to infer his non-existence from Mus'ab's silence when Abi Mikhnaf, Ibn Sa'd, and al-Fudayl ibn al-Zubayr (all early sources) report that al-Husayn had an infant son who was slain at Karbala.
@MayShaddel The earliest source on the Battle of Karbala (Abi Mikhnaf) reports that al-Husayn’s infant son (no name mentioned) was shot by an arrow while his father held him. This has been embellished in later accounts, but I don’t think it can be dismissed as a later fabrication.
We're very excited to announce the publication of the first issue of Islamic Intellectual Traditions! In print and online (open access).
Wonderful articles in this issue, so please have a look:
https://t.co/Uit0ccb1Iv
I’m afraid the reading of this statement that’s gaining traction online is done by non-specialists who don’t understand Shii clerical culture. Sistani didn’t issue this; his local office in Mashhad did. It is not a fatwa. And it doesn’t call communal defence.
IRAN: A fatwa from the office of Sayyid al-Sistani is circulating and being widely misinterpreted. To help clarify the context — it's actually a response to a question — there are (unofficial) translations in multiple languages here: https://t.co/4xpibUZQeB
Islamic history is full of women scholars & scientists, some of the first, like mathematician Sutayta al Mahmali, pious teachers like Umm al-Darda as-Sughra & Hafsa bint Sirin, astronomers like Mariam al Astrulabiyya & chroniclers like Gulbadan Begum
Shame on the Taliban
In light of the Taliban’s un-Islamic restrictions on women’s access to education, I am reposting this thread I wrote a few years ago, highlighting some of the brilliant women from the history of Afghanistan:
1/ WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: People often describe the Taliban as “medieval” because of (among other things) how they treat women, as they imagine this reflects the status of women in pre-modern Islamic society. History, however, tells a different story!🧵⬇️
https://t.co/NLMmLhwfa8
International Law will not protect us if it does not also protect our enemies. That’s the point of justice: It’s for everybody. A reminder to those abetting war crimes.
@SanaSaeed@ProfSunnySingh Recall that the outrage caused by the IDF driving through a Shi’a Muharram procession in Lebanon in 1983 helped galvanise armed resistance to the Israeli occupation amongst Lebanese Shi’as.
@SanaSaeed@ProfSunnySingh Recall that the outrage caused by the IDF driving through a Shi’a Muharram procession in Lebanon in 1983 helped galvanise armed resistance to the Israeli occupation amongst Lebanese Shi’as.
@SanaSaeed@ProfSunnySingh Also important: This is a short distance from the Sayyida Zaynab Shrine belonging to the grand daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, hugely significant to Shi’a Muslims. Any perceived threat to the shrine likely to trigger a response.