Newsletter August-September 2025

Sometimes a place calls upon those who inhabit it to bring it out of oblivion. When Francesco Antonini came in September 2023 as a recipient of the IDEO-Ifao-IFI predoctoral fellowship, as a philosopher and historian by training, he did not remain long deaf to this call. Because our walls are not only meant for sleep and study; they carry a memory waiting to be heard again. Who, then, were these Dominican brothers who founded this Institute in 1953? What hope guided them, and what understanding of Islam did they wish to convey? How did this venture take shape, and by what paths did it become today’s Idéo? To such questions, one must turn either to the patience of conventual archives or to the biography that Jean Jacques Pérennès devoted to this history. It is this second path that Francesco chose. And he emerged deeply marked, not only by the scope but also by the rigor and boldness of a project that did not separate the intellect from faith, nor scholarship from hospitality. From this reading arose a conviction: the necessity of making this story known in his own language, for his country, Italy. From this conviction arose a gesture: an Italian translation, which we could only welcome with gratitude. Thus, day by day, with meticulous attention, he set to work, allowing the sentences and paragraphs written in French to pass into another language without losing their breath. The visit of Brother Jean-Jacques to Cairo helped refine his work, shed light on obscure points, and render the transmission he sought even more accurate. Thus this book was born, published at the very moment when we commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, whose influence by Father Anawati was decisive for the fathers of the Council. Francesco Antonini is warmly thanked here for this remarkable, discreet, yet essential work. He reminds us that transmitting a history is answering a voice that precedes us, so that it may continue to call other readers, other brothers and scholars, elsewhere, today, here and there, in Alexandria as in Italy. Lectures and talks On December 3, as part of the Orient Institut Beirut lecture series, Emmanuel Pisani, OP gave the conference “From Ideology to Critique: History in the Thought of the Iraqi Philosopher ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār al-Rifaʾī (b. 1954)” at the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in Zamalek. On December 13, Jean Jacques Pérennès gave a lecture on the topic “How Does One Become Henri Teissier?” For context, Mgr Henri Teissier (1929–2020), former Archbishop of Algiers, was an intern at IDEO from 1956 to 1958. Distinction On December 20, Jean Druel, OP alongside five other individuals, received an award from the Cairo Academy of the Arabic Language as a “Personality of the Year” on the occasion of World Arabic Language Day. Launch Ceremony On December 22 and 23, Jean Druel, OP was invited to the launch of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language in Doha, Qatar. He also attended the conference on artificial intelligence applied to the Arabic language. IDEO in the Medias On December 24, Mr. Raphaël Georgy published an article entitled “These Christians Who Pray in Arabic”, in Résonances Abrahamiques No. 12. In December, the French Embassy in Egypt produced two videos dedicated to IDEO. In the first, its director leads a tour in Arabic to introduce the Institute and some of its treasures. In the second, young Egyptian researchers share their experiences and impressions of IDEO. Thesis Defense On 12 December, at the University of Nantes, Emmanuel Pisani, OP second rapporteur, presided the thesis committee of Mr. Pierre Courtain, entitled “The Dominican Qur’an in Latin Europe in the 13th Century”, supervised by Mr. John Tolan, a 488-page thesis. The committee was composed of Mr. Mehdi Azaiez, Mr. Paul Bertrand, Mr. Thomas Burman, Ms. Candida Ferrero Hernández, and Mr. John Tolan. Visits On December 2, we welcomed for lunch Mr. Yousef Elzalabany, he has just defended his Master’s thesis at the Aga Khan University (London). On December 27, we welcomed Mrs. Reham Salamah (Al-Azhar Observatory), Mr. Ibrahim Salamah (British University in Cairo), and Mrs. Mona Sabry (CEF, Al-Azhar) to discuss planning of various activities for the Anawati Chair. Scholars’ House During the month of December, we had the pleasure of welcoming to the Scholars’ House: Mr. Walid Saleh, Professor at the University of Toronto (Department of Religious Studies), member of IDEO and specialist in the Qurʾān and the history of its interpretation (tafsīr). Publications Jean Jacques Pérennès, Georges Anawati (1905-1994). Un cristiano arabo, traduzzione Francesco Antonini, Castelvecchi, Collana Teologia dalle periferie, 2025. Dennis Halft,  “Ḥabīb al-ḥaqq’s Miftāḥ al-ḥuqūq: A Persian Treatise on the Qurʾān and the Bible by a Catholic Missionary in the Persianate World”, in: Mission Studies 42, 2025, Issue 3: Special Issue: Indo-Persian Missions and Their Interreligious Challenge, pp. 426‒450. Dominique Avon et Othman El Kachtoul, « Une fatwā saoudienne portant sur la question de ’l’unité des religions’ ». Deux versions : 1997 et 2023, Studia Islamica, 120, 2025, p. 1-22.

– €35,000! This year’s deficit has gradually decreased over the months thanks to tight management, but it still remains very significant! If you love IDEO, if you believe in our mission and in its many activities dedicated to research in Islamic studies, to supporting Egyptian and international students, to the careful development of a unique specialized library recognized worldwide, and to our efforts toward high-level dialogue, then we need you today. How can you help? By joining the Friends of IDEO Association, you can provide financial support simply through this link. And don’t forget that donations from donors residing in France are eligible for a significant tax deduction (66% deduction from taxable income). In the meantime, every donation counts, every donation directly supports and strengthens our work. The year is not over. The budget is not closed. The estimated deficit is only an estimate. You can still help us reduce it! We’re counting on you. Anawati Chair Seminars of the French Teaching Center of al-Azhar (CEF) On 12 November, Mr. Riccardo Paredi, (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Global Fellow at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and at New York University Abu Dhabi), led a seminar at IDEO, attended by students from the Department of Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Languages and Translation. The seminar, entitled “Working on Early Sufism in the Digital Age: Methods and Tools”, explored what it means to study early Sufi literature in the digital era, at a time when neither the boundaries of “Sufism” nor its canonical corpus are clearly defined. On 19 November, Mr. Grégory Vandamme (Catholic University of Louvain), a scholar of classical Sufi thought with a particular focus on the works of Ibn ʿArabī, gave a seminar to the students of the French Teaching Center of al-Azhar entitled “Women and Sufism”. He discussed the complex relationship between Muslim women, tradition, and patriarchal structures, and questioned how these dynamics are reflected in, or transcended by, the Sufi tradition. Academic talks On 7 November, Dennis Halft, OP gave a lecture during the 8ᵗʰ Study Day on Contemporary Shiʿism, organized at the Maison des sciences de l’homme of the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, on the topic “Interreligious Encounters in Safavid Iran: Ḥabīb al-Ḥaqq’s Miftāḥ al-ḥuqūq [The key to the truths]”. On 27 November, Emmanuel Pisani, OP presented “Tawḥīd, Image, and Royal Metaphor in al-Ġazālī (d. 505/1111)”,  at the international conference “The Divine One and Its Multiples: Models of Tawḥīd in Philosophy, Shiʿism, and Sufism”, organized by IREMAN (Aix-Marseille University) from 27 to 29 November, under the direction of Mrs. Olga L. Lizzini (AMU) and Mr. Mathieu Terrier (EPHE). On 27 November, Alberto Fabio Ambrosio, spoke at the Study Day “Encounters between Muslims and Yogis in South Asia and Beyond”, organized by the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, where he focused on “Yogic Practices and Spiritualism in Ottoman Sufism”. Lectures and talks On November 5, Jean Druel, OP gave a lecture on religious diversity in Egypt to a French delegation of Crédit Agricole bankers. On November 13, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP spoke in Liège (Belgium) for the association Solidarité-Orient, on the topic “Where does Islamic-Christian dialogue stand 60 years after Nostra Aetate?” On November 21, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP gave a lecture in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) for the Islamic-Christian Friendship Group (GAIC), in collaboration with Mohamed Khenissi, on the topic “Beyond humiliation, what resources and paths are available?”. On November 25, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP spoke at the Catholic Institute of Paris as part of the course “Pastoral in Dialogue with Islam”. Teaching In November, Jean Druel, OP began teaching a course in liturgical Arabic for first-year students at Dar Comboni (two sessions of 30 hours each). Sībawayh Seminar On November 7, Mr. Muhammad Gomaa al-Dirbi, a professor of Arabic Grammar at Luxor University, gave a presentation as part of the “Sībawayh Seminar”, organized by Jean Druel, OP.  He presented his project for a bibliogram of Sībawayh’s Kitāb. Read the report of this session… Formation in Islamic studies As part of the 2025–2026 University Certificate in Islamic studies, organized by IDEO in partnership with IFI, two lectures were given to the students: On November 14, Mr. Grégory Vandamme, gave a lecture entitled “Studying Sufi Thought: Methods and Issues”. On November 21, Mr. Mehdi Azaiez, Professor of Islamic Studies at the Catholic University of Louvain, spoke on the topic “The Qurʾān as an Object of Science”. Thesis Defense On November 24, Emmanuel Pisani, OP, as the second rapporteur, presided over the thesis defense of Mr. Benoît Tissot, entitled “Critical Edition, French Translation, and Study of the Treatise On Human Freedom (fī taḥqīq ḥuriyat al-insān) by Theodore Abū Qurra”, supervised by Mr. Éric Crégheur and Mr. Charbel Maalouf. The thesis was a joint degree between Laval University in Quebec and the Catholic Institute of Paris. Interview On November 13, Souffle inédit published an interview with Alberto Fabio Ambrosio, OP. He discussed the history of the Order of Preachers in the Middle East and highlighted the role of Dominican institutions such as IDEO. Scientific Council of the NCCMR From November 15 to 20, the scientific council of the NCCMR (Network of Centers for Christian Muslim Relations), in which IDEO participates, met in Cairo. Call for Abstracts | Conference “Priests and Sufis” The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Department of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, in collaboration with the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO), invites researchers to participate in the international conference “Priests and Sufis: Rethinking Catholic Knowledge on Islamic Mysticism” (Cairo, June 6–7, 2026). Researchers from all disciplines are invited to submit an abstract by December 15, 2025. For more information… Visits On November 3, we received Ms. Marie-Laure Boursin, an anthropologist at CNRS and research fellow at the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille 1). On November 4, we welcomed for lunch Mr. Guy Boursier, a PhD student in Arabic linguistics at the University of Aix-Marseille. He is working on issues related to the written representation of the Egyptian dialect. On November 16,

Since October, IDEO, in partnership with the French Institute of Islamic studies (IFI), has inaugurated a seminar on methodology applied to Islamic studies, whose studies unfold within the fertile soil of the human sciences. Ten students participate: enrolled in Egypt in master’s or doctoral programs, they attempt the challenging art of interrogating—and sometimes testing—the texts of the Islamic heritage, much like probing an ancient soil in search of its layers and eruptions. Under the guidance of Brother Adrien Candiard, they are introduced to research not as a body of knowledge, but as the unveiling of a heuristic tension. To define a research problem is to discern a paradox, a point of friction between the known and the unknown, where thought is born. To formulate a hypothesis is to embark on an adventure whose outcome is still elusive, for science does not consist in rehashing what it already knows, but in living through what it has yet to discover. Through carefully supervised presentations, our students are invited to present articles on Islamic studies—not to summarize them or paraphrase their ideas, but to extract their essence and interrogate them critically. In these initial sessions, we see them at work, engaging their minds in the traversal of these texts. The journey is not always easy, but we trust in the curiosity and vitality of their youth. This training in no way seeks to replace one method with another; rather, it aims to create a space for methodological transversality that allows these students to discover how each discipline within the human sciences illuminates the Islamic heritage according to its own genius: history, by restoring to the texts their context of origin and reception; sociology, by revealing the social and cultural dynamics that run through them; philosophy, by questioning their conceptual assumptions and universal significance. Anawati Chair Mobility Grant Mrs. Reham Salama, Director of the Observatory, received a mobility grant to participate in activities related to the 60th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate Declaration in Rome, on October 22 and 23. Lectures and talks From September 29 to October 2, Jean Jacques Pérennès, participated in the conference organized by the Dominicans of Istanbul (DOSTI) on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The topic of this gathering was “Reflecting on the Mystery of God from the Ruins of the Empire”. On October 13, Mr. Dominique Avon gave the inaugural lecture of the “Mediterranean, Religions, and Societies Chair”, organized in partnership with the French Institute Saint-Louis Center, with IDEO as a partner. On October 14, Jean Jacques Pérennès, OP spoke in Saint-Brieuc on the topic “Can Shared Holy Sites Serve as Bridges Between Believers?”. On October 30, Emmanuel Pisani, gave a lecture in Rome on the topic “At the Service of Research and Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue: The Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO) in Cairo, Egypt,” as part of the study day entitled “Constellations of Educational Networks”, organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education. Formation in Islamic studies On October 7, we launched the Certificate in Islamic studies Methodology, led by Adrien Candiard, OP and attended by ten young students (eight Egyptians and two Congolese). For the inaugural session, we welcomed Professor Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge from the Collège de France, who gave a lecture entitled “What Is ‘Religion’? Constructing an Operational Concept”. Call for Abstracts | Conference “Priests and Sufis” The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Department of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, in collaboration with the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO), invites researchers to participate in the international conference “Priests and Sufis: Rethinking Catholic Knowledge on Islamic Mysticism” (Cairo, June 6–7, 2026). Researchers from all disciplines are invited to submit an abstract by December 15, 2025. For more information… Visits On October 2, we had the pleasure of welcoming Professor Ibrahim Salama, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the British University in Egypt and Director of the Center for Human Rights Research and Training, as well as Ms. Reham Salama, Director of the al-Azhar Observatory. On October 3, we received Ms. Misun Pak Fedzer, Acting Deputy Management Counselor, Senior Financial Management Officer, U.S. Embassy Cairo, her husband, Mr. Glenn Fedzer, a retired Foreign Service Officer, and Mr. Rustin Zarkar, Field Director, Library of Congress Cairo Overseas Office. Scholars’ House During the month of October, we had the pleasure of welcoming to the Scholars’ House: Sophie Pommier, a researcher specializing in the Arab world and the Near East; Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, Professor at the Collège de France, historian specializing in ancient Greek religion; Andrew Sutherland, a researcher holding a Master’s degree in History and History of Religions from the University of Lausanne. He is currently specializing in the history of medieval Islam, particularly Twelver Shiʿism; Charlotte Courreye, historian and lecturer in Arabic Studies at the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, member of the Institute for Transtextual and Transcultural Studies; Nicolas Michel, Professor of Contemporary History at Aix-Marseille University, Head of the History Department, and Corresponding Member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Publications Dominique Avon, « Récits de “Vie de Muhammad”. Auteurs sunnites et orientalistes. Une histoire tressée (XIXᵉ-XXIᵉ siècles) », dans Mohammad-Ali Amir-Moezzi et John Tolan (dir.), Le Mahomet des historiens, Paris, Cerf, 2025, p. 1193-1266. Jean Jacques Pérennès, Georges Anawati (1905-1994). Un cristiano egiziano davanti al mistero dell’islam, traduction de Francesco Antonini, Milano, Castelvecchi, 2025. Upcoming activities Sībawayh Seminar The next session of the Sībawayh Seminar, organized by Jean Druel, OP, will take place on Friday, November 7 at 5:00 PM, both in person at IDEO and on Zoom. The speaker will be Dr. Muhammad Gomaa al-Dirbi, a lecturer at the University of Luxor. He will present his project on the bibliogram of Sībawayh’s Kitāb. More information can be found here (In Arabic)… Teaching In 2025–2026, Jean Druel, OP will begin teaching a course in liturgical Arabic for first-year students at Dar Comboni (two sessions of 30 hours each). Conference | The Divine One and Its Multiples On November 27–29, Emmanuel Pisani, OP and Adrien Candiard, OP will