CSI Monday Majlis Nuha Alshaar

Monday, 25 May 2026 at 17:00

Muslim Sicily: Fāṭimid and Kalbid Policies Towards Their Christians and Muslim Populations

Event details

Abstract: My presentation explores the intellectual, social, and political landscape of Sicily under the Arab Fāṭimid rule (909–965) and their Kalbid allies (948–1053). Building on research from my edited volume Muslim Sicily: Encounters and Legacy, it further examines Sicily’s connections with al-Andalus, Qayrawān, and Cairo. The talk highlights the dynamic nature of Christian–Muslim relations within a broader context of interaction among diverse ethnic and religious communities over several centuries. Drawing on recently published Arabic and Coptic texts, it also considers Fāṭimid state policies and Sicily’s role as a key player in the medieval Mediterranean.

Bio: Nuha Alshaar is Professor of Islamic Intellectual History, Ethical and Political Thought, and Director of the Center of Arab Studies and Islamic Civilizations (CASIC) at the American University of Sharjah. Her books include Ethics in Islam: Friendship in the Political Thought of al-Tawḥīdī and His Contemporaries (Routledge 2015), On God and the World: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistles 49-51 (co-authored with W. Madelung, C. Baffioni, and C. Uy, Oxford University Press 2019), as well as the edited volumes Sources and Approaches across Disciplines in Near Eastern Studies (co-edited with V. Klemm, Peeters 2013), The Qur’an and Adab: The Shaping of Literary Traditions in Classical Islam (Oxford University Press 2017), The Humanities in the 21st Century: Perspectives from the Arab World and Germany (co-edited with B. U. La Sala, J. R. Oesterle, and B.Winckler, Dossiers Forum Transregional Studies, 2022), Muslim Sicily: Encounters and Legacy (Edinburgh University Press, 2024), and Storytelling, Seafaring, and Travel Writing: The Arabian Seas, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean (co-edited with B. U. La Sala & D. Wilmsen Brill, 2026). 

https://www.aus.edu/faculty/nuha-alshaar

Organiser

Centre for the Study of Islam

Location

Online Only: https://universityofexeter.zoom.us/meeting/register/TBJgbYt6Rk2rVXgQvpdvvA