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When the 13th-century Coptic official Ibn al-ʿAmīd was thrown into prison by Sultan Baybars, he set out to compile a summary of universal history from the creation to his own days. His work was to become one of the major instances of Christian-Muslim intellectual exchange in the pre-modern era.

This chapter presents the most representative poets of the Abbasid age and the genres in which they excelled: love poetry (al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Aḥnaf), wine poetry (Abū Nuwās), ascetic poetry (Abū l-ʿAtahiya), and panegyric poetry (Abū Tammām, al-Buḥturī, and al-Mutanabbī). After a brief hint at mannerist poetry, the chapter ends with al-Maʿarrī's Luzūmiyyāt (the Risālat al-Ġufrān is analyzed in a separate box in chapter 6). The text alternates biographical elements and stylistical analysis. Additional translation of selected Abbasid odes and pieces are offered in the on-line material.

The chronography of al-Makīn Ibn al-ʿAmīd (1206–1293) is a major work in the Copto-Arabic historiographical tradition. Its importance is twofold: on the one hand, its author, a high-ranking official in the Ayyubid and Mamluk administration, drew from different sources, some of them still close to late antiquity, to present an orderly picture of the events from Creation to his own time. On the other hand, his summary of Biblical, Graeco-Roman, and Islamic history attracted the interest of various readerships. It enjoyed widespread popularity among Oriental Christians, in Arabic-speaking communities but also in Ethiopia. It was consulted and quoted by several Mamluk historians, including Ibn Ḫaldūn and his pupil al-Maqrīzī; and finally, it was translated into Latin as early as 1625 by the Dutch Arabist Erpenius, providing early modern Europe with the first clear exposé of Islamic history. Thus, Ibn al-ʿAmīd’s chronography proved influential upon different audiences in various epochs; at the same time, it also constituted a major instance of Christian-Muslim intellectual interaction in the pre-modern era. This critical edition covers the section from Adam to the end of the Achaemenids (ch. 1–91). The text was established on 25 of the 29 known manuscripts and is accompanied by an annotated English translation and an introduction covering the author’s life, the genre of late antique and medieval chronographies, the different recensions in which Ibn al-ʿAmīd’s work has been transmitted, its sources, and its afterlife.

If Paris was, according to Walter Benjamin's famous definition, the capital of the 19th century, then Baghdad was the capital of the 9th and 10th. Its history is to a large extent the history of classical Islam. The first feature of this city was its diversity: a plurality of religions and, as far as Islam is concerned, a plurality of ways of being Muslim. While this plurality came to an end with the decadence and ruin of the Abbasid caliphate, it can still serve as a symbolic resource for contemporary Iraq.

The relationship with Muslims and the attention to the peripheries are two priorities of Pope Francis. A conversation with Mgr. Paolo Martinelli, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, on the Pope and Islam, the House of the Abrahamic Family, and the situation of the Church in the Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.

The Book of the Examples is the first attempt ever at writing a global history of pre-modern humankind by preserving a maximum of neutrality. With its qualities and its many shortcomings and weaknesses, it can inspire anyone who is struggling today with the problem of how to write world history and on what basis.

i Versetti satanici di Rushdie può vantare un primato: quello di primo caso di blasfemia globalizzata. Nel 1989, con la fatwa di Khomeini scoprimmo di colpo che la tecnologia non ci consentiva più di ignorarci. E con il crescere dell’interconnessione è cresciuta esponenzialmente la possibilità di incidenti, riproponendo il dilemma tra libertà di creazione artistica e rispetto del sentimento religioso.

Quando i frati francescani, sulle orme del loro fondatore, si spingono stabilmente “tra i saraceni”, il compito che gli si presenta dinanzi è immenso. Innanzitutto, devono apprendere la lingua di tutti i giorni, per poter comunicare con la popolazione. D’altra parte è necessario apprendere anche l’arabo classico, per poter leggere il Corano e, contemporaneamente, per produrre nuove traduzioni delle Scritture cristiane. All’inizio si procede a tentoni: i frati, come anche i viaggiatori e gli ambasciatori inviati dall’Europa, si procurano tutto quello che capita loro sotto mano, nella misura in cui riescono ad avere accesso al mercato librario. Ci vorranno secoli per riordinare le idee e comprendere il valore relativo delle diverse opere. Di questa avventura intellettuale la biblioteca della Custodia ci restituisce ora uno snodo decisivo, nei suoi contorni autentici.

La visita di Papa Francesco in Iraq, nel marzo 2021, ha dato origine a un sorprendente e fino a qualche tempo fa inimmaginabile triangolo del dialogo interreligioso e interconfessionale tra il Vaticano, il Cairo e Baghdad/Najaf. Questo report di ricerca è stato realizzato con il contributo dell’Unità di Analisi, Programmazione, Statistica e Documentazione Storica del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale.

This the last issue of Oasis, a journal launched in 2004. It is the occasion for a retrospective appraisal of the last 20 years in the Arab-Islamic world. The cycle opened by the September 11 2001 attacks has come to an end with the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Middle East exits from the terror impoverished and less diverse. It has undergone dramatic changes during the Covid pandemics and is facing an impending ecological crisis. Challenges are immense, but hope is not yet lost.

Book review of Mustafa Akyol, Reopening Muslim Minds, St. Martin's Essentials, New York 2021.

To console people from their misfortunes, the Basran judge and writer al-Tanukhi collects a series of short narratives populated by the most diverse characters. In line with his Mu'talizi beliefs, al-Tanukhi's happy-ending stories all convey the same message: God does not forsake His servants who put their trust in Him. (The Italian translation of the stories is taken from Antonella Ghersetti's Il Sollievo dopo la distretta (Ariele, Milano 1995) with the addition of four new passages. See pag. 127 for more details).

An interview with Ghassan Salamé. While many Middle Eastern countries are struggling with the weakness of their institutions, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan has highlighted a deep movement of civilization. The US still posses indisputable military superiority, but the alleged universality of Western values is increasingly contested.

Ibn Khaldūn spent the last 24 years of his life in Egypt. There he enlarged the scope of his history, venturing beyond the boundaries of his own civilization. In this process, three authors played a crucial role: the Coptic-Arabic historian Ibn al-ʿAmīd al-Makīn, the Josippon, and the Arabic translation of Orosius. Adopting a “coring method”, and based on Ibn al-ʿAmīd’s forthcoming edition, this article studies the use of the Coptic historian in a very limited, but significant, sample of Ibn Khaldūn’s history, i.e. the passage devoted to the Achaemenids. The comparison between the two texts allows to draw some conclusions regarding the process of transmission of historical materials from late antiquity to Islam. First, historiography was perceived by Ibn Khaldūn and several other Muslim authors as a discipline in which non-Muslims could participate, and the Bible was generally considered as a reliable source of information. Second, the accounts on pre-Islamic history which were more likely to be preserved shared three traits: they were mostly understandable, relevant to the readers, and non-controversial.

La libertà di coscienza resta l’unica possibilità di creare nel lungo periodo un’alternativa durevole e convincente all’ideologia del sultanato e alla mitologia dell’imamato. Tutto il resto sono palliativi.

Un’intensa riflessione sui Nomi Bellissimi. Si può leggere anche così il recente lavoro di Ida Zilio-Grandi, che si propone di «illuminare l’elemento morale necessariamente sotteso alla religione islamica». In un contesto in cui ancora una volta l’attenzione è pressoché totalmente catturata dal tema del jihadismo e del fondamentalismo, il volume propone una documentata e partecipata meditazione sui valori etici veicolati dall’esperienza di fede musulmana.

Pre-modern history writing in Arabic is a remarkable genre not only for the sheer amount of works which have been preserved, but also for their sustained circulation among different religious communities. In spite of this, it remains under-researched in terms of critical editions, channels of transmission, centers of learning and scholarly networks. This issue of Quaderni di Studi Arabi sets out to address this gap by adopting a fresh perspective, focusing on inter-confessional and inter-cultural processes of circulation, reception, appropriation, adaptation and change. While history is often perceived as—and sometimes actually is—a divisive matter, especially in modern Middle East, this issue shows that it also operated as a common ground, a way to make sense of our shared experience as “beings-in-time.”

Pre-modern history writing in Arabic is a remarkable genre not only for the sheer amount of works which have been preserved, but also for their sustained circulation among different religious communities. In spite of this, it remains under-researched in terms of critical editions, channels of transmission, centers of learning and scholarly networks. This issue of Quaderni di Studi Arabi sets out to address this gap by adopting a fresh perspective, focusing on inter-confessional and inter-cultural processes of circulation, reception, appropriation, adaptation and change. While history is often perceived as—and sometimes actually is—a divisive matter, especially in modern Middle East, this issue shows that it also operated as a common ground, a way to make sense of our shared experience as “beings-in-time.”

Religious freedom has increasingly taken center stage in post-conciliar Catholic magisterium, both in the reflection on the correct patterns of Church-State articulation and the practice of interreligious dialogue. In particular, the tortuous path that led the Catholic Church to achieve a non-relativistic foundation of religious freedom seems to be potentially relevant for the Islamic world, which is faced today with the same problem. Compared to the period of Dignitatis Humanae, however, the real novelty of our time is represented by the digital revolution. On the one hand, this allows for troubling forms of control of the conscience, but on the other hand it facilitates individual paths of spiritual research, increasing the opportunities of changing religious affiliation (or opting for no affiliation). The picture is therefore a contrast of light and dark. And yet, one thing is certain: religious freedom will continue to be central also in the future, because it touches the most intimate dimensions of the human person.

This article explores the three main axes of Pope Francis' imminent journey to Iraq: the encounter with the Iraqi Christian community; dialogue with Islam, especially Shi’i Islam; and a response to the political crisis into which Iraq has been plunged for decades. Sixteen scholars and religious leaders expound the multiple dimensions of the first papal visit to the Land of the Two Rivers.

In his Self-Criticism after the Defeat, the Syrian philosopher Sadiq al-'Azm voiced scathing criticism of the so-called 'progressive' Arab regimes. Written in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, this harsh and at times unfair essay expoundes the reasons behind the failure of the Arabic post-colonial revolutions. Half a century later, many of 'Azm's remarks are still relevant. The excerpts, translated for the first time into Italian, discuss conspiracy theories, the persistence of the 'clever personality', female condition, revolution and science.

In December 2019, the Charter of the New Alliance of Virtue was presented in the Emirates. The document, alongside more traditional statements, presents some new elements in the wake of an ethical reflection initiated by Shaykh Bin Bayyah, in particular concerning a possible Islamic foundation for natural law. This article is the German translation of "The Alliance of Virtue: Towards an Islamic Natural Law?" (Oasis, 2020)

Book review of: Jon Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya, OneWorld Academic, London 2019

This essay argues that René Girard's mimetic theory can help scholars better to understand the context wherein Islam first saw the light, some of its rites (in particular the norms regulating sacrifice, pilgrimage and jihad), as well as the whole theme of difference in the Qur'anic discourse. According to this hypothesis, Islam could be understood, from a Christian perspective, as a partial return to the sacrificial order, which delays the outburst of violence, unmasked, once and for all, by the Paschal event.

In December 2019, the Charter of the New Alliance of Virtue was presented in the Emirates. The document, alongside more traditional statements, presents some new elements in the wake of an ethical reflection initiated by Shaykh Bin Bayyah, in particular concerning a possible Islamic foundation for natural law. This article has been translated into German as "Die Tugendallianz: unterwegs zu einem islamischen Naturrecht?" (CIBEDO 3/2020, 112-115)

In 1961 the Cairo publishing house Dār as-Salām issued an Arabic translation of the Psalms by a Muslim intellectual, Mohammad al-Sadeq Hussein, with the participation of the French Dominican Serge de Beaurecueil. This instance of Islamic-Christian biblical teamwork, in which also the future Archbishop of Algiers, Henri Teissier, was partly involved, is rather extraordinary in its kind, as is the cultural atmosphere in which the project was first conceived. What is more, the translation, profoundly marked by the Qur'anic style, obtained the imprimatur of the Vicar Apostolic of Alexandria of the Latins.

The motif of the clashes between Egyptians and Ethiopians over the waters of river Nile are millennia-old. This article retraces it back to Josephus Flavius passing through Agapius and an unpublished elaboration by the Coptic-Arabic historian al-Makin (13th century), who added the element of a dam stopping the flow of the river. This legend shows the persistence of the theme of water in the Egyptian collective imaginary down to the present confrontation with Ethiopia.

Shocked by the Arab Defeat in 1967, the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani engages in harsh criticism of his own culture. Part of his polemic belongs to the past, but the vibrant denounciation of authoritarianism has not lost its relevance, as proved by the success of Qabbani's poems among contemporary protesters. The article contains the first full translation fo Qabbani's acclaimed poem "Marginal Notes on the Playbook of Defeat".

With an estimated presence of 2.5 million Muslims, Islam has taken center-stage in the Italian public debate. The most common approach is a securitarian one, often with openly hostile tones, and recurrent conflicts arise around mosques, as well as possible State recognition for the Muslim community (or rather some of its braches). In perspective, however, the most pressant issue is the training of religious leaders. Despite some praiseworthy initiatives, Italy is lagging behind in this field. An inspiration should come from the German experience of the Centers of Islamic Theology, which are embedded in the Faculties of Theology. Also in the case of European Islam, theology does matter.

Global warming is just one aspect of a much larger ecological crisis that is already raging in the Middle East and whose effects will long be felt also in European societies. Critically adopting ecology as a response to this crisis is an opportunity for a larger project of Islamo-Christian cooperation.

In his "Al-Insāf fī bayān asbāb al-ikhtilāf", the major Indian thinker Shāh Walī Allāh ad-Dihlawī (1703-1762) retraces the essential stages in the formation of classical Islamic law and the Sunni juridical schools. He argues that diversity of opinions, up to a point, is not an evil, but a necessity.

The 2003 American intervention in Iraq set off an imposing restructuring of the Middle East, triggering a struggle between different ethnic and religious communities. In Syria Sunnis, underestimating the regional nature of the conflict, deluded themselves into thinking that they could topple al-Asad's regime by virtue of their overwhelmingly demographic superiority. Amongst the losers there are also the Christians who, unlike the Alawis or the Curds, are not a compact minority.

Compte rendu de LARCHER Pierre, Orientalisme savant, orientalisme littéraire. Sept essais sur leur connexion, Sindbad Actes Sud, Arles 2017.

An overview at the end of the research project "Understanding the métissage, governing change", promoted by the Oasis International Foundation in 2014-2015. The project brought together scholars from different specializations and backgrounds in an attempt to jointly address the unprecedented phenomenon of a massive Islamic-Christian encounter, induced by globalization and migrations. One may be cautiously optimist about its outcome: Reasonable and inspirational voices are not absent and the project is proud to have contributed to make some of them known to the Italian audience.

Early Islam, as it emerged from the Qur'an and the fragmentary testimonies of non-Muslim nearly contemporaries, exhibited a marked return to a sacrificial order, which may be best understood as a response to what René Girard would have called a 'sacrificial' crisis in pre-Islamic Arab society. But the Qur'an also contains a harsh criticism of this sacrificial order. As a result, it produces an unstable balance, which might be understood theologically as a means to retard the explosion of violence brought about by the demystification of the archaic sacred in the biblical message.

Migrants heading towards Europe come either from "crises without States" or from "States in crisis". The regional order in the MENA and Sahel regions is challenged not only politically, but also at a demographic and environmental level. The European response cannot be merely securitarian. Paraphrasing Böckenförde, the neo-liberal system is in perennial need of new human resources, which it is not able to produce by itself. It therefore pursues a risky migration policy, oscillating between assimilation and distancing.

Italian translation of Abdelmajid Charfi's paper "Tahawwulāt al-muʾassasa ad-dīniyya fī zaman al-ʿawlama", "Transformations of the religious institution in the age of globalization". The paper was given in Tunis, November 29, 2014, within the symposium organized by the Foundation "Muʾminūn bilā hudūd" (Believers without frontiers") on the subject "Religious Institution and globalization". Not only does Islam possess religious institutions, but they have undergone significant changes in the modern era, as an effect of State pressures and persistent competition by rival forces. The result is a form of hybrid and unstable religiosity. An 'aggiornamento' of the Islamic thought is urgently needed to overcome the present status of fragmentation.

The real novelty brought about by the 2011 revolutions is not the Saudi-Iran confrontation, but the exposure of the crisis of Sunnism.

Contrary to popular belief, there are many forms of religious authority within Islam. However, they are scarcely institutionalized and hierarchized, especially in the Sunni world. This article aims at clarifying the role and function of ulama, by retracing their history and showing their significance for the present. In fact, their voice is still influential both in Islamic countries and among European Muslims. While many predicted their end, they were able to adapt to the radical changes induced by technology and today they are at the center of a project of re-institutionalization of Islam actively pursued by several states. Italian version: https://www.oasiscenter.eu/it/ulema-chi-sono French version: https://www.oasiscenter.eu/fr/qui-sont-les-oulmas

Taha Hussein, the great Egyptian intellectual of the 20th century, recalls in the third part of his autobiography his encounter with the modern Western university, first in Cairo and then in France. In Paris he is able to pass the much-feared exam of Latin and he gets to know his future wife. Back in Cairo after World War I, he will work throughout his life to foster the encounter between Europe and Egypt, on the basis of a shared humanism.