scholarly journals Islamic Studies Library: Growth and Evolution

Fontanus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Swanick
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
Islamic Civilization

The Islamic Studies Library (ISL) was founded in 1952 in conjunction with the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS). The founder, Dr. Wilfred Cantwell Smith, persuaded Principal F. Cyril James in 1951 that the study of Islam at McGill University was a worthwhile pursuit. From 1952 to the present, the ISL has grown from a modest 250 books to a collection of over 150, 000 volumes. The Library works to highlight and illustrate the breadth of Islamic civilization. This paper examines the ISL’s growth and evolution in its 60 years of existence.ResuméLa Bibliothèque d’études islamiques (BEI) fut fondée en 1952 en conjonction avec l’Institut d’études islamiques (IEI). Le fondateur, le docteur Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a persuadé le Principal F. Cyril James en 1951 qu’il serait souhaitable que les études islamiques deviennent un domaine d’activité à l’Université. Dotée en 1952 d’une modeste collection de 250 livres, la BEI possède aujourd’hui plus de 150 000 volumes. La Bibliothèque vise à mettre en relief et à illustrer l’ampleur de la civilisation islamique. Cet article examine la croissance et l’évolution de la BEI au cours de ses 60 années d’existance.

Papyrus, Parchment, and Paper in Islamic Studies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Ready Availability ◽  
Islamic Civilization

Islamic civilization has had an intimate relationship with writing from its very origins. Although Muslim tradition holds that the angel Jibra’il (Gabriel) orally revealed the Qurʾan to Muhammad in the early 7th century, and orality and oral transmission remained central features of Islamic civilization, the first verses revealed to the Prophet are said to have been “Recite, recite in the name of thy Lord, Who . . . taught man by the pen what he knew not” (Q. 96). Within the Prophet’s lifetime, individual verses or groups of verses were transcribed onto whatever media were available—ranging from flat bones to sheets of leather and papyrus—and soon after Muhammad’s death in 632, Muslim tradition records that his successors had all the revelations transcribed onto parchment sheets for preservation—the first manuscripts of the Qurʾan. By the 10th century, Muslim libraries from Iran to Spain contained thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of books, made possible by the ready availability and relative affordability of paper, which Muslims had encountered in Central Asia. The use of paper encouraged the development of new styles of calligraphy as well as new types of bookbindings. Christians in Spain and Italy eventually learned about paper from Muslims, and they began making it themselves in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the availability of paper in 15th-century Germany was undoubtedly one of the factors in the ultimate success of Gutenberg’s print revolution.

Islam and National Movements in West Africa

1962 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hodgkin
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
African Studies ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Boston University ◽  
National Movements ◽  
Mcgill University

This is a topic which I discussed in a series of five lectures given under the auspices of the Program of African Studies at Boston University, in April 1961. It had previously been the theme of a seminar conducted during two terms in 1960–1 at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal.

scholarly journals Gender Equality in Iranian History

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 103-105
Author(s):  
Nasrin Rahimieh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Status ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Iranian History ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
Status Of Women

This ambitious undertaking, comprising 6 chapters, 16 tables, 4 appendixes,and a glossary, is the culmination of a doctoral program at McGill University’sInstitute of Islamic Studies. A specialist in Islam, world religions, andgender studies, Minoo Derayeh is now an assistant professor at York Universityin Toronto.Gender Equality in Iranian History seeks to uncover the social, political,and economic status of women across the vast expanse of Iranian history.In her “Foreword,” Ratna Gosh (McGill University) applauds theauthor’s contribution for showing that the “concept of Islamic feminism isfounded on the idea of complementary rather than equal rights” and, equallyimportantly, for laying bare “the root of cultural patriarchy” (p. ii). The veryidea of complementarity, as the book’s chapters reveal, has not always beenunproblematically present in Iran’s encounter with Islam ...

ORIENTALISM AND OCCIDENTALISM: A NOTE ABOUT THE DIDACTICS OF INTERRELIGIOUS ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

Exchange ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-84
Keyword(s):  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Mcgill University ◽  
Time Basis ◽  
Academic Year

AbstractDuring the academic year 1992-1993 Karel Steenbrink of IIMO-Leiden had the opportunity to serve as a Visiting Professor to the Institute of Islamic Studies at the McGill University of Montreal. During this period IIMO engaged two specialists of Christianity in Africa, Wiel Eggen and Gerard van 't Spijker, to perform a study on theology of creation in Africa, on a part-time basis. From Montreal Karel Steenbrink writes about his experiences.

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