Cover of Shi‘ites of Lebanon
Institute Profs Rula Abisaab and Malek Abisaab's book The Shi‘ites of Lebanon is a crucial read in our time, challenging assumptions that the rise of Hizbullah was produced by a "secular vs. religious" dynamic. Read the Abisaabs' interview with Jadaliyya: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/31494.
Time Magazine cover from 1951 depicting Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddeq's face agains the backdrop of an oil tower flying the Iranian flag (illustrated by Boris Chaliapin).
Iranian Prime Minister Mosaddegh was ousted in 1953 in a coup orchestrated by American & British intelligence agencies, oil interests, & insiders in Iran. For a study based on unclassified CIA documents, you can read Gasiorowski and Byrne's edited volume Mohammad Mosaddeq and the 1953 Coup in Iran.
A copy of Muhammad Abdur Rahman Barker and Aqil Khan Mengal's second volume of A Course in Baluchi lying cover upward on a table with other books in Arabic and Punjabi around it, along with a black polished stone and an ink bottle.
In the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill had its own press. In 1969 we printed McGill Prof. MAR Barker and Aqil Khan Mengal’s 2-volume A Course in Baluchi, now available on our online Internet Archive repository as well.
Photograph of Prof. Qasim Zaman in a suit and tie standing in front of a wooden door beside verdant bushes.
Did you know that Institute of Islamic Studies alumnus Muhammad Qasim Zaman is the Robert H. Niehaus '77 Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Religion at Princeton University? He completed his PhD thesis in 1994 under the supervision of former Institute Director Prof. Donald P. Little.
A copy of a chapbook with a Sudanese woman in a robe standing and holding a flower aloft.
We are so proud of our Institute students who raised funds this year for Sudan humanitarian relief with the publication and launch of a chapbook, "Where the Hibiscus Still Blooms."
Manuscript image of Layli on a balcony kneeling, looking at the crescent moon with her hands raised to it.
You've experienced the strawberry moon in Montreal, but did you take the time to talk to it? Layli tells the moon the secret of her love for Majnun. From an 18th-century manuscript of Laylī o Majnūn (Persian) in McGill Rare Books/Islamic Studies. MS RBD Persian 15.
Anas Taleb with crown floating above his head, with Dr. Veysel Şimşek, Faculty Lecturer in Turkish
IIS student Anas Taleb has won the Ottoman Turkish Studies Association's Undergraduate Scholarship! This award is granted to just one student yearly to study Turkish language, history, or politics. It will allow Anas to stay in Turkey for 4 weeks this summer. We wish him a great trip!
Inshallah the Institute of Islamic Studies will begin an Islamic Studies celebrity magazine packed with shocking photos by Islamic Studies paparazzi.
Don’t miss that strawberry moon tonight! It will mark the lowest point for a full moon in nearly two decades.
Three copies of the book A Continuity of Sharia on a wooden table.
IIS alumnus Brian Wright's book A Continuity of Sharia (AUC Press 2023) considers homicide law in colonial Delhi, Egypt & Istanbul, & its continuity despite European influence. Dr Wright recently completed a fellowship at the American Research Center in Egypt. We're eagerly awaiting his future work!
Photograph of Professor Peiyu Yang standing beside a rough rock wall outdoors in spring or summer
Congratulations to Institute alumna Prof Peiyu Yang of George Mason University on being named one of this year's Luce/American Council of Learned Societies Fellows in China Studies! Her project is titled, "State and Popular Voices in China-Arab Solidarity Building, from 1949 to 1969."
🙏 Thank you very much to @vhtroyansky.bsky.social for his fascinating presentation for our seminar series:
Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State
If you missed it, you can watch the video now: youtu.be/g_uNSeWjvtM?...
Public transit workers are on strike in Montréal so I got into a cab & talked with the driver. Mouhamed is a Senegalese Wolof speaker. He came to Turtle Island 8 years ago. But did you know that in 1522 enslaved people described as Wolof led a revolt on the island of Hispaniola?
It also seems to kill off your curiosity in many ways, too. If all you want is "the product" without ever engaging in the process, you will never actually know anything.
I feel like Bluesky is unaware of Zohran Mamdani’s dark past as the hip hop artist Mr Cardamom? youtu.be/iQVsVNPkPmE?...
Eid Mubarak! Bayramınız kutlu olsun! We wish a blessed Eid al-Adha to all, and a bright future to all of our graduates from the Institute of Islamic Studies! Image: Calligraphy in jili thuluth script ca. 1835 by 'Abdullah Zühdi Efendi. McGill Rare Books and Special Collections, Arabic Calligraphy 4.
Why students are avoiding the US – and where they're going instead
www.timeshighereducation.com/counsellor/s...
Montréal, QC SPECIAL AIR QUALITY STATEMENT 11:54 AM EDT Friday 6 June 2025 Special Air Quality Statement in effect for: Montréal Island area As smoke levels increase, health risks increase. Limit time outdoors. Consider reducing or rescheduling outdoor sports, activities and events. You may experience mild and common symptoms such as eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches or a mild cough. More serious but less common symptoms include wheezing, chest pains or severe cough. If you think you are having a medical emergency, seek immediate medical assistance. When indoors, keep windows and doors closed as much as possible. When there is an extreme heat event occurring with poor air quality, prioritize keeping cool. Protect your indoor air from wildfire smoke. Actions can include using a clean, good quality air filter in your ventilation system and/or a certified portable air cleaner that can filter fine particles. If you must spend time outdoors, a well-constructed, well-fitting and properly worn respirator type mask (such as a NIOSH-certified N95 or equivalent respirator) can reduce your exposure to the fine particles in the smoke. Even though exposure may be reduced, there can still be risks to health. Check in on others who are in your care or live nearby who may be more likely to be impacted by outdoor air pollution. Always follow guidance from local authorities. Learn more at canada.ca/wildfire-smoke. Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. Follow:Regional ATOM feedRegional ATOM
Montréal friends (and others in Canada/northern parts of the US): please be safe!
We've got air quality alerts, wear a mask outside, tape a filter to a fan if you don't have an air filter at home!
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weather.gc.ca/en/location/...
Institute Prof. Michelle Hartman was interviewed in the Oman Daily about her work as a translator, the importance of Arabic-English translation, translating works from & about Palestine, & how translation can make change. In Arabic on the Oman Daily website!
Sepia photograph of a young Wilfred Cantwell Smith in a blazer and tie with fab glasses and great hair. Check this drip. Photo by William Notman & Son.
McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies was founded in 1952 by Prof. Wilfred Cantwell Smith. Prof. Smith had previously taught at Foreman Christian College in Lahore, until the bloody Partition of Punjab.
Follow us on Instagram @iismcgill and here on Bluesky. Mastodon account coming soon!
