Newsletter — October 2020

Summer is always, for scholars, a season both of writing and of intense reading. This year, we immersed ourselves in several works recently published by members of IDEO, and it was with particular enthusiasm that we delved into the critical edition of part of the Kitāb of Sībawayh, the great grammarian of the Arabic language. This edition, the fruit of many years of persistent labor by Jean Druel, OP presents the three recensions preserved in the Milan–Kazan codex, arranged in parallel columns. The stated ambition is to invite scholars to reconsider the shifting history of the Kitāb, its extraordinary plasticity during the early phases of its transmission, the role of its transmitters, and the richness of a tradition of commentary that continually deepened it. A singular mystery remains: that a scholar who lived in obscurity, and who never taught his own work, could nevertheless have engendered such a fertile and sophisticated legacy. Carried out with meticulous care and evident passion, this edition testifies to the ability of our researchers to produce scholarship that makes a significant contribution to both the academic community and the field of Islamic studies. We extend our warmest thanks to Jean Druel, OP for his patience and the quality of his research, and we wish you all a fruitful beginning to the academic year. Anawati Chair Postdoctoral Fellowship in Textual Editing From July 20 to 29, researcher Ahmed Mobarak, carried out a research stay at the British Library. The purpose of this visit was to consult the original manuscript that is the focus of his research, entitled “The Noble Virtues in Human Qualities”. Delegation from al-Azhar Observatory to the European Academy of Religions From July 8 to 12, a delegation from the al-Azhar Observatory—composed of Mrs. Reham Salamah, Mr. Abdullah Abdeen, Mr. Ossama Raslan, and Mr. Ahmed Hamza—accompanied by the director of IDEO, Emmanuel Pisani, OP, traveled to Vienna to participate in the eighth annual conference of the European Academy of Religions, held under the general topic “Religion and Socio-Cultural Transformation: European Perspectives and Beyond”. The delegation moderated two panels entitled: Collaborative Solutions between the al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism and the Dominican Institute of Oriental Studies in Egypt (chaired by Emmanuel Pisani, OP). Cultural and Religious Challenges in Europe: The Case of Muslim Communities (chaired by Mrs. Reham Salamah, Director of the Observatory). Furthermore, each researcher presented a paper: 1. Human Fraternity: A Universal Call for Peace and Coexistence | Mr. Abdullah Abdeen. 2. Cultural and Religious Challenges in Europe: Muslim Communities | Mr. Ahmed Hamza. 3. The Role of the al-Azhar Observatory in Raising Awareness and Promoting Critical Thinking | Mrs. Reham Salamah. 4. Islamic Cultural Identity and the Quest for European Integration | Mr. Ossama Raslan. Summer School “Citizenship and Religious Pluralism” From July 15 to 21, the Summer School brought together nineteen European and Egyptian doctoral researchers and students for a week of exchanges and sharing. Each researcher delivered a keynote lecture, while the students presented their dissertation topics. Among the topics explored were the relationship between citizenship and freedom of belief, legal translation, gender and political transitions, confessionalism, religious pluralism, and family law in Egypt and Tunisia. Certificate Awarding Ceremony On July 21, a closing ceremony was held to mark the end of the Summer School and to present certificates to the participants of the program “Islam and Other Religions.” The event took place against the iconic backdrop of the Pyramids, in the presence of EU representatives Ms. Anne Kofoed and Ms. Ilaria Betti. The ceremony featured speeches by Emmanuel Pisani, OP, Director of IDEO, and Ms. Anne Kofoed. Introductory Course in Arabic Language and Islamic studies From July 14 to August 8, 2025, six Dominican brothers participated in an introductory course in Arabic language and Islamic studies. We were delighted to welcome: 1. Raymond Djaoyang, OP, Cameroonian 2. Arsène Tirmadjingar Adoumbey, OP, Chadian 3. Martin Zenga, OP, Congolese 4. Alphonse Wawey, OP, Congolese 5. Jaynnoã Fernando Silva Lopes, OP, Brazilian 6. Aloysius Luis Kung, OP Indonesian The course was organized with the support of the Church in Need (AED) and the Network of Centers for Christian-Muslim Relations (NCCMR). Lecture On July 24, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture at the Temple of Perros-Guirec on the topic of “Israel-Palestine: The Urgency of a Different Reading of the Bible”. Scholarships | Calls for Applications Scholarships to Participate in the 5ᵗʰ PLURIEL Congress in Córdoba PLURIEL is offering students a scholarship to enable them to participate in the 5ᵗʰ International Congress “Ethics and Aesthetics in Islamic Heritage”, which will be held in Cordoba from February 10 to 14, 2026. All details as well as the eligibility requirements are available in the call for applications (in French). Scholarship from the Chair “Mediterranean, Religions, and Societies” A second phase of applications is open for the first year of activity (2025–2026) of the Chair “Mediterranean, Religions, and Societies”. This call is addressed to doctoral and postdoctoral researchers interested in Mediterranean issues in the social sciences and humanities. The application deadline is September 20, 2025. Call for Applications – University Certificate in Islamic Studies In partnership with the French Institut for Islamic studies (IFI), IDEO is offering a one-year program for French-speaking students enrolled in a Master’s or PhD program at an academic institution in Egypt, aimed at acquiring methods applied to Islamic studies.  Applications are open until September 30: secretariat@ideo-cairo.org. The program will be led and directed by Adrien Candiard, OP. Research Seminar On July 5, Mr. Dominique Avon co-organized the seminar “Identifying and Deconstructing Intransigent Discourses: Contributions of the Human and Social Sciences in Relation to Religious Issues”, held at Campus Condorcet (Paris–Aubervilliers). The aim of this seminar was to strengthen the capacity of Muslim actors to analyze intransigent religious discourses by situating them within their historical context. Publication of MIDEO 40 The full volume 40 of MIDEO is now available online on the OpenEdition platform. This issue, devoted to The Religious Other in Quranic Tafsīr, brings together the work of several international

We are always delighted to announce the release of our Institute’ journal, MIDÉO. This year’s volume is devoted to a topic as fascinating as it is urgent, particularly given its profound relevance to the current Middle Eastern landscape, where war wounds and kills innocent people with horror and savagery. The fruit of the study days held at IDEO in May 2023, this volume brings together contributions from international scholars exploring how the Qurʾān and its commentaries have perceived the “Religious Other”. Jews, Christians, and polytheists—figures who appear at times as partners, witnesses to an earlier revelation, or doctrinal opponents. Through historical, linguistic, literary, and artistic approaches, these studies offer new insights into tafsīr, where faith, scholarship, and political context intersect. As July begins, we wish you all a wonderful summer filled with rest, discovery… and reading! For us in Cairo, summer will be a time of study: in a few days, we will have the joy of welcoming six young Dominican Brothers for a language internship, and we will launch our summer school on the topic “Citizenship and Religious Pluralism” as part of the Anawati Chair. A beautiful intellectual and fraternal adventure awaits us—one that is also, for us, a sign of hope. Lecture On June 9, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture in Noirmoutier on the topic “Tibhirine: A Monastic Presence in the Land of Islam”. Call for Applications | Chair “Mediterranean, Religions and Societies” The Chair “Mediterranean, Religions and Societies” is launching a call for applications for its first year of activity. This call is open to PhD students whose research focuses on the Chair’s topics (interreligious dialogue, social and religious dynamics in the Mediterranean, etc.). The application deadline is July 25, 2025. Click here for more details in French… Thesis Defense On July 7, Mr. Pierre Courtain defended, at the University of Louvain, the private defense of his doctoral dissertation entitled “The Dominican Quran in Latin Europe in the 13ᵗʰ Century”, under the joint supervision of Mr. John Tolan (Nantes Université) and Mr. Paul Bertrand (UCLouvain, secretary of the jury). The jury was made up of Mr. Mehdi Azaiez (UCLouvain, president of the jury), Ms. Cándida Ferrero Hernández (Autonomous University of Barcelona, external reader), and Emmanuel Pisani, OP (IDEO/ICP). General Assembly of the Association “Friends of IDEO” On June 30ᵗʰ, Emmanuel Pisani, OP took part in the board meeting and the general assembly of the “Friends of IDEO” association, without whose support the Institute’s activities and operating costs could not be covered. Visit On June 12ᵗʰ, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ms. Magdalena Cruz Yábar, Counselor for Cultural and Scientific Affairs at the Embassy of Spain in Egypt. Scholars’ House During the month of June, we had the pleasure of welcoming the following researchers to the Scholars’ House: Anna Giaconia, a PhD student in the Department of History at Ghent University, working on political thought in Late Antiquity. Charlotte Courreye, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Languages, Lyon III University, researching educational cooperation between the Mashreq and the Maghreb during the Arabization period, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Publications Emmanuel Pisani, « Les chrétiens et les religions dans le Laṭāʾif al-išārāt d’Abū al-Qāsim al-Qušayrī (m. 465/1073) », MIDÉO 40, 2025, p. 113-144. Emmanuel Pisani, « Louis Massignon ou le verbe s’est fait chair », in Piotr Sękowski, Chrześcijańska teologia islamu Louisa Massignona (Louis Massignon’s Christian Theology of Islam), Gliwice-Rome, SEKO, 2024, p. 67‑71. Dominique Avon, « Dialogue entre catholiques et musulmans : une mise en perspective historique », En Dialogue, mars-juin 2025. Walid Saleh, “The Quran and the Mountains: A Reading of Q. al-Raʿd 13:31 in the Tafsīr Tradition”, MIDÉO 40, 2025, p. 87-112.

A Shared Understanding of Religions IDEO remains steadfast in its conviction that only a patient, rigorous, and shared understanding of religious knowledge can open paths to collaboration and reconciliation. But words alone are not enough—they must be put into action. The “Islam and Religions” certificate program, held this May as part of the Anawati Chair and directed by Aziz Hilal, is a new example of this commitment. Every Friday, our Institute had the honor of hosting three eminent scholars whose work is recognized as authoritative in this field. First, Tunisian professor Faouzi Bedoui, a master of critical analysis of Islamic sources and a specialist in Jewish studies on the Qur’an during the era of Haskalah (the Enlightenment); next, Lebanese philosopher Nayla Abi Nader, a specialist in Mohamed Arkoun. She sought to demonstrate how Arkounian concepts contribute to a renewed reading of the Qur’an and make it possible to fully recognize the place of other religions within Islamic thought. Finally, we welcomed Egyptian thinker Yassin Abdelgawad, whose stimulating contributions always spark passionate debates among our audience. As a sign of growing interest in these topics, we received nearly eighty applications for only forty available spots. In their motivation letters, several candidates expressed their gratitude to IDEO for being a space of free debate, exchange, and reflection. Participants clearly understood that the speakers were presenting the state of a question and opening up avenues for exploration. For us, the goal is not to turn them into disciples of the speakers’ thought, but to give them the opportunity to broaden their intellectual horizons and to discover authors they may have heard of but never truly read. Witnessing these debates, we are delighted to see a young generation engaged and open to the contributions of social sciences in order to better ground, within Islam, the relationship with religious otherness. Anawati Chair Certificate “Islam and Other Religions” The Anawati Chair is organizing a training course for a Certificate in “Islam and Other Religions”. The training took place over four seminars: On May 9, Mr.  Faouzi Bedoui, Professor of Jewish and Arabic Studies at the University of Tunis, gave a lecture entitled “The Impact of the Jewish Haskalah on the Development of Orientalist Studies on Islam”. On May 16, he discussed the topic “How to Approach the Anglo-Saxon Revisionist School in the Field of Islamic Studies?”. On May 23, Ms. Nayla Abi Nader, Lebanese researcher and professor at the Lebanese University, gave two lectures: “The Foundations of the Critical Method in the Approach to Heritage. The Project of Mohammed Arkoun as a Model” and “The Anthropological Triangle and the Deconstruction of Violence in the Thought of Mohammed Arkoun”; On May 30, Mr. Abdelgawad Yassin, Egyptian jurist, researcher, and thinker, gave a talk entitled “Christianity and Islam: Mutual Stereotypes. An Introduction to the Question of Religious Pluralism Lecturer”. Researcher Mobility As part of the researcher mobility grant, the researcher Mahmoud El-Mezayen participated in the second edition of the international conference “Nadwat al-Andalus,” organized by the Institute of Applied Humanities Studies of Sbeïtla, affiliated with the University of Kairouan (Tunisia), from April 22 to 24, 2025. On this occasion, Mr. El-Mezayen presented a scientific paper entitled “Four Arabic Documents Related to the City of Granada in al-Andalus”. Lectures On May 20, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture in Trévou-Tréguignec for the France-Palestine Solidarity Association, on the topic: “The Archaeology of Gaza, a Heritage in Peril”. On May 22, Emmanuel Pisani, OP gave an online presentation entitled “Why have we forgotten Toumliline”?, during an evening event organized by the al-Mowafaqa Institute in Rabat, focused on the Toumliline Monastery. On May 24, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture in Metz on the topic: “Christians in a Middle East in Crisis: Situation and Prospects”. Workshop On May 6, Jean Druel, OP gave a talk on the topic: “Collation Marks in the Milan-Kazan codex of Sībawayh’s Kitāb: The Case of ġayn” as part of the 5ᵗʰ International Workshop on Codicology and Critical Edition organized by the Rawafed Center in Fez. Scientific Council From May 15 to 17, Emmanuel Pisani, OP as deputy coordinator, took part in the scientific council of the Academic Platform PLURIEL held in Cordoba, to prepare the upcoming conference “Ethics and Aesthetics in Islamic Heritage”, scheduled for February 2026. Master in Arabic Studies On May 22, Matthieu Palayret, OP completed his Master in Arabic Studies at the American University in Cairo by defending a thesis entitled “Beyond Logic: Ibn al-Sarrāǧ’s (d. 316/928) al-Uṣūl fī al-naḥw and the Formation of the Islamic Disciplines”. Visits On May 6, we had the pleasure of welcoming the “Religion and Diplomacy” Group, whose visit was organized by the Austrian Embassy in Cairo. The delegation was made up of: Mr. Alexander Rieger (Austria), Coordinator and founder of the Vienna Group for Religion & Diplomacy, Head of the Unit Intercultural and interreligious dialogue, Head of the Task Force Dialogue of Cultures and Religions; Mr. Constantinos Alexandris (European External Action Service), advisor for “Religion and Diplomacy” Group; H.E. Mr. Ivan Picukaric (Croatia), advisor for “Religion and Diplomacy” to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs; H.E. Ms. Nathalia Feinberg (Denmark), Special Representative for Freedom of Religion or Belief; H.E. Mr. Pekka Kosonen (Finland), Ambassador for Peace Mediation; Ms. Anke Oppermann (Germany), Head of the Unit of the Federal Government Commissioner for Freedom of Religion or Belief; Mr. Theofilos Zafeirakos (Greece), Head of the Directorate for the Council of Europe, Human Rights at the United Nations, Minorities, Migration, and Refugees; Mr. Iarfhlaith Manny (Ireland), Deputy Director in the International Policy and Technology Coordination Unit, in charge of the religion and diplomacy portfolio; H.E. Ms. Ulrika Sundberg (Sweden), Special Envoy to the OIC for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue. On May 24, Dr. Sameh A. Khadra, director of the “Taqeen” Foundation, visited us to discuss a possible collaboration. On May 26, we welcomed a delegation from the European Parliament as part of the activities of the Political Section of the European Union Delegation in Cairo. Scholars’ House During the month of May, we