Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists
@alusuralwusta.bsky.social
Journal of Middle East Medievalists (@mideastmedieval.bsky.social), a peer-reviewed, open-access journal on the medieval Middle East. Edited by Zayde Antrim (zaydeantrim.bsky.social) & Alison Vacca (@medievalqabq.bsky.social)
Imperial Islam is Moon-worshiping—but Sun-worshiping too, straining algorithmically for the stars. Symbolized by 'Ali and Jesus, early modern Persianate Selenocentrism and Heliocentrism are Hermetically useful global-comparative categories for decolonizing the historiography of science and empire.
October 29, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Imperial Islam is Moon-worshiping—but Sun-worshiping too, straining algorithmically for the stars. Symbolized by 'Ali and Jesus, early modern Persianate Selenocentrism and Heliocentrism are Hermetically useful global-comparative categories for decolonizing the historiography of science and empire.
New article alert!
Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.
[image: British Library Or 1524]
Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.
[image: British Library Or 1524]
September 27, 2025 at 1:30 PM
New article alert!
Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.
[image: British Library Or 1524]
Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.
[image: British Library Or 1524]
New article alert!
The exploits of the ʿudhrī lovers Jamīl and Buthayna are well known, full of potential for romance and scandal and violence. This article asks how such celebrated stories read differently when read with an eye to Buthayna’s experiences instead of Jamīl’s performances
The exploits of the ʿudhrī lovers Jamīl and Buthayna are well known, full of potential for romance and scandal and violence. This article asks how such celebrated stories read differently when read with an eye to Buthayna’s experiences instead of Jamīl’s performances
July 17, 2025 at 3:28 PM
New article alert!
The exploits of the ʿudhrī lovers Jamīl and Buthayna are well known, full of potential for romance and scandal and violence. This article asks how such celebrated stories read differently when read with an eye to Buthayna’s experiences instead of Jamīl’s performances
The exploits of the ʿudhrī lovers Jamīl and Buthayna are well known, full of potential for romance and scandal and violence. This article asks how such celebrated stories read differently when read with an eye to Buthayna’s experiences instead of Jamīl’s performances
New article alert!
Explore the history of 15th-century Diyarbakır with us today! This new article relies on literary & epigraphic sources to tell a story of Aqquyunlu rulers & their relationship to the famous Armenian bishop, painter, & poet Mkrtičʻ Nałaš
[shown here: remains at nearby Ergani]
Explore the history of 15th-century Diyarbakır with us today! This new article relies on literary & epigraphic sources to tell a story of Aqquyunlu rulers & their relationship to the famous Armenian bishop, painter, & poet Mkrtičʻ Nałaš
[shown here: remains at nearby Ergani]
January 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
New article alert!
Explore the history of 15th-century Diyarbakır with us today! This new article relies on literary & epigraphic sources to tell a story of Aqquyunlu rulers & their relationship to the famous Armenian bishop, painter, & poet Mkrtičʻ Nałaš
[shown here: remains at nearby Ergani]
Explore the history of 15th-century Diyarbakır with us today! This new article relies on literary & epigraphic sources to tell a story of Aqquyunlu rulers & their relationship to the famous Armenian bishop, painter, & poet Mkrtičʻ Nałaš
[shown here: remains at nearby Ergani]
New article alert!
We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it
We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it
January 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM
New article alert!
We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it
We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it
New article alert!
Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima offers the most extended reading of a series of maps known from medieval literature. In this article, Alfred Hiatt parses Ibn Khaldūn’s text alongside manuscripts of al-Idrīsī’s 12th-cent. geography, prompting questions about Ibn Khaldūn’s art of history
Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima offers the most extended reading of a series of maps known from medieval literature. In this article, Alfred Hiatt parses Ibn Khaldūn’s text alongside manuscripts of al-Idrīsī’s 12th-cent. geography, prompting questions about Ibn Khaldūn’s art of history
January 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
New article alert!
Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima offers the most extended reading of a series of maps known from medieval literature. In this article, Alfred Hiatt parses Ibn Khaldūn’s text alongside manuscripts of al-Idrīsī’s 12th-cent. geography, prompting questions about Ibn Khaldūn’s art of history
Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddima offers the most extended reading of a series of maps known from medieval literature. In this article, Alfred Hiatt parses Ibn Khaldūn’s text alongside manuscripts of al-Idrīsī’s 12th-cent. geography, prompting questions about Ibn Khaldūn’s art of history
We published the remarks of the 2023 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Middle East Medievalists (@mideastmedieval.bsky.social), acknowledging the significance of the work of Carole Hillenbrand
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
December 20, 2024 at 5:31 PM
We published the remarks of the 2023 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Middle East Medievalists (@mideastmedieval.bsky.social), acknowledging the significance of the work of Carole Hillenbrand
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
We close out the 2024 issue with a thousand and one thanks to our authors, reviewers, & readers! 618 pages of research articles, thought pieces, pedagogy file, conference reports & book reviews. here is a master thread that describes them all! 🧵⬇️
Share & follow because 2025 is going to bring more!
Share & follow because 2025 is going to bring more!
December 20, 2024 at 5:31 PM
We close out the 2024 issue with a thousand and one thanks to our authors, reviewers, & readers! 618 pages of research articles, thought pieces, pedagogy file, conference reports & book reviews. here is a master thread that describes them all! 🧵⬇️
Share & follow because 2025 is going to bring more!
Share & follow because 2025 is going to bring more!
Included in the file are coins that help complicate stories of Empire by showing how students can think with them cross-culturally. Shown here: Queen Tʻamar’s coin (c. 1200 CE) w/ the title Queen of Queens (ملكة الملكات) in Arabic. Others show Byzantine-inspired iconography
December 19, 2024 at 7:18 PM
Included in the file are coins that help complicate stories of Empire by showing how students can think with them cross-culturally. Shown here: Queen Tʻamar’s coin (c. 1200 CE) w/ the title Queen of Queens (ملكة الملكات) in Arabic. Others show Byzantine-inspired iconography
Check out Stephen Rapp’s pedagogy file on medieval Georgian coins to use in undergraduate classes!
This example combines familiar format: “there is no god but God alone, who has no associate; Muhammad is the messenger of God” in Arabic, w/ Georgian margin “Christ, exalt Bagrat, king of the Apʻxaz”
This example combines familiar format: “there is no god but God alone, who has no associate; Muhammad is the messenger of God” in Arabic, w/ Georgian margin “Christ, exalt Bagrat, king of the Apʻxaz”
December 19, 2024 at 7:18 PM
Check out Stephen Rapp’s pedagogy file on medieval Georgian coins to use in undergraduate classes!
This example combines familiar format: “there is no god but God alone, who has no associate; Muhammad is the messenger of God” in Arabic, w/ Georgian margin “Christ, exalt Bagrat, king of the Apʻxaz”
This example combines familiar format: “there is no god but God alone, who has no associate; Muhammad is the messenger of God” in Arabic, w/ Georgian margin “Christ, exalt Bagrat, king of the Apʻxaz”
UW announces the publication of its first-ever roundtable! it showcases a variety of perspectives on the Global Middle Ages—its possibilities, perils, & problems—from fields associated w/ Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies.
December 18, 2024 at 2:11 PM
UW announces the publication of its first-ever roundtable! it showcases a variety of perspectives on the Global Middle Ages—its possibilities, perils, & problems—from fields associated w/ Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies.
Did you ever wonder how tile makers in the pre-modern Islamic world planned and created complex designs? Patricia Blessing delves into the logistics of tile production in 12th-14th cent Iran & 15th-cent Ottoman Anatolia.
December 16, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Did you ever wonder how tile makers in the pre-modern Islamic world planned and created complex designs? Patricia Blessing delves into the logistics of tile production in 12th-14th cent Iran & 15th-cent Ottoman Anatolia.
Samet Budak & Michael Pifer explore multilingualism at the 15th cent Ottoman court w/ a hexaglot grammar in Persian, Ottoman Turkish, ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek, Latin, & Armenian. they bring in additional mss to present a place where the Armenian vernacular not only survived, but even thrived.
December 16, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Samet Budak & Michael Pifer explore multilingualism at the 15th cent Ottoman court w/ a hexaglot grammar in Persian, Ottoman Turkish, ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek, Latin, & Armenian. they bring in additional mss to present a place where the Armenian vernacular not only survived, but even thrived.
Enki Baptiste investigates the famous khuṭba of Abū Ḥamza al-Shārī. The first part is devoted to the history of Ibāḍism in the Arabian Peninsula during the 2nd/8th century. The second part contains an extensive translation based on a longer version of the khuṭba preserved by Ibn Sirḥān al-Izkawī.
December 16, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Enki Baptiste investigates the famous khuṭba of Abū Ḥamza al-Shārī. The first part is devoted to the history of Ibāḍism in the Arabian Peninsula during the 2nd/8th century. The second part contains an extensive translation based on a longer version of the khuṭba preserved by Ibn Sirḥān al-Izkawī.
Said Aljoumani & Benedikt Reier present audition attendance lists (awrāq al-samāʿ) that preceded the better-known audition certificate (samāʿ). This article studies an audition attendance list produced in the 9th/15th cent in Cairo for a transmission of the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.
December 16, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Said Aljoumani & Benedikt Reier present audition attendance lists (awrāq al-samāʿ) that preceded the better-known audition certificate (samāʿ). This article studies an audition attendance list produced in the 9th/15th cent in Cairo for a transmission of the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī.
Kristof D’hulster describes divinatory lot books (qurʿas) that were once owned by Qāniṣawh al-Muḥammadī, an early 10th/16th-cent governor of Mamluk Damascus. The article includes a transcription, translation, & instructions to make your own!
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
December 16, 2024 at 9:11 PM
Kristof D’hulster describes divinatory lot books (qurʿas) that were once owned by Qāniṣawh al-Muḥammadī, an early 10th/16th-cent governor of Mamluk Damascus. The article includes a transcription, translation, & instructions to make your own!
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...
New article alert!
10th-c. traveler Ibn Faḍlān describes non-Muslim Rūs: “When the chieftain dies, the members of his household ask his jawārī and ghilmān, ‘Who will die with him?’ One answers, ‘I will.’”
Arabic texts suggest most funerary sacrifices among the Rūs were women
10th-c. traveler Ibn Faḍlān describes non-Muslim Rūs: “When the chieftain dies, the members of his household ask his jawārī and ghilmān, ‘Who will die with him?’ One answers, ‘I will.’”
Arabic texts suggest most funerary sacrifices among the Rūs were women
November 17, 2024 at 11:31 PM
New article alert!
10th-c. traveler Ibn Faḍlān describes non-Muslim Rūs: “When the chieftain dies, the members of his household ask his jawārī and ghilmān, ‘Who will die with him?’ One answers, ‘I will.’”
Arabic texts suggest most funerary sacrifices among the Rūs were women
10th-c. traveler Ibn Faḍlān describes non-Muslim Rūs: “When the chieftain dies, the members of his household ask his jawārī and ghilmān, ‘Who will die with him?’ One answers, ‘I will.’”
Arabic texts suggest most funerary sacrifices among the Rūs were women
al-Usur al-Wusta articles reached readers in 108 countries this year alone! Could we all agree to send an article to our friends in Turkmenistan in 2024??
November 30, 2023 at 7:37 PM
al-Usur al-Wusta articles reached readers in 108 countries this year alone! Could we all agree to send an article to our friends in Turkmenistan in 2024??