Narratives of Danger: The Sun of Knowledge in Arabic Occulture

Liana Saif guides us through the history of what is considered a “most dangerous grimoire” and traces the development of its dark reputation.

Religious practices, ideas and experiences

Muslim Pilgrimage in Bali

In Indonesia, ziarah or pilgrimage to sacred sites is a booming industry: every day, thousands of Muslims make a pilgrimage to the graves of Muslim saints on Java, but increasingly also to graves on Bali, a Hindu island. Syaifudin Zuhri saw ziarah on Bali become a phenomenon among Javanese Muslims.

State, politics and society · Religious practices, ideas and experiences

Is the Waqf Islamic?

What do waqfs or charitable endowments tell us about forms of religiosity in society today? Nada Moumtaz provides answers, based on her recent book, God’s Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State

Islam, law and ethics

Between Family, Islam, and State: Marital Dispute and Divorce in Senegal

In Muslim contexts across the world, sharia family norms tend to operate among a variety of other normative orders. How do sharia norms function in the secular Muslim majority country of Senegal? Annelien Bouland shares some of the findings of her PhD dissertation.

Art, literature and media

Grenzeloos modernisme

In het Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Amstelveen opent op 15 april 2022 de tentoonstelling “Het andere verhaal: Kunst uit het Marokkaans modernisme”. Gastcurator Abdelkader Benali vertelt over de tentoonstelling.

History · State, politics and society

Understanding Mass Violence in the Middle East

Laura Robson explains how mass violence came to be a constitutive element of the state and of political authority in the Middle East.