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Travis Zadeh

Yale University, Religious Studies, Faculty Member

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I received my B.A. from Middlebury College, and an A.M. and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

My areas of academic interest include frontiers and early conversion, Qur’anic studies, eschatology, mythology, and mysticism, pilgrimage and sacred geography, encyclopedism and cosmography, classical Arabic and Persian literary traditions, material and visual cultures, Islamic studies in the digital humanities, vernacularity and language politics, comparative theories of language and translation, secularism, colonialism, and Islamic reform, science, magic, miracles, and philosophies of the marvelous.
Phone: +1 (203) 432-6532
Address: 451 College St, New Haven, CT 06511-8906

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Books by Travis Zadeh

The Vernacular Qurʾan: Translation and the Rise of Persian Exegesis, Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2012 (xxii, 674 pages).

Examines the theological and juridical debates surrounding the translatability of the Qurʾān from... more Examines the theological and juridical debates surrounding the translatability of the Qurʾān from the eighth and tenth centuries, primarily in Iraq; this forms the basis for an extended exploration of the social and linguistic practices of translating the Qurʾān into Persian and the development of vernacular exegetical literature in Eastern Iran and Central Asia from tenth to thirteenth centuries.

Mapping Frontiers across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the ‘Abbasid Empire, London: I.B. Tauris, 2011 (xiv, 316 pages).

Explores the epistemic conceptualization of frontiers as articulated in the emergence of administ... more Explores the epistemic conceptualization of frontiers as articulated in the emergence of administrative geography in Baghdad during the formative period of the ʿAbbāsid state, from the eighth to tenth centuries. Particular attention is placed on the intersections between imperial administration, translation, scriptural exegesis, and the marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Arabic and Persian descriptions of the world.

Journal Articles & Book Chapters by Travis Zadeh

“Unruly Subjects,” Verge: Studies in Global Asias, 7.1 (2021): 98–111.

Response to the query, "We have never been premodern."

“Postscript: Cutting Ariadne’s Thread, or How to Think Otherwise in the Maze,” in The Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice, ed. Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Farouk Yahya (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 607–50.

Modern scholarship has long been making magic as much as observing it, by carving out and labelin... more Modern scholarship has long been making magic as much as observing it, by carving out and labeling particular domains and activities as rational, authentic, and normative, while marginalizing others as primitive, folkloric, and deviant. Magic-talk is never impartial or disinterested. The categories we use to analyze Islamic history are predicated on a set of unstated values and assumptions that can often obscure our understanding of the past. The ability to name, codify, and classify is precisely what generates scholarly authority through specialized knowledge. Yet, categories and the meanings behind them are also in a constant state of flux. This holds true both for the conceptual frameworks that govern western scholarship, as well as for our objects of historical inquiry. Critique does not end by merely abandoning outdated terms and the ideas that animate them or by simply fashioning new ones. Rather, the task at hand demands recognizing that second-order forms of conceptualization invariably foreclose certain possibilities of thinking in other terms. The challenge posed by our taxonomies extends beyond a matter of accounting for the surplus and deficit inherent in all translation; we must also mind how knowledge is generated and how power is exercised. Attention to the conceptual frameworks we have inherited is powerful, as it offers possibilities for thinking otherwise. This chapter reflects on the range of material covered in the present volume, while further exploring the categories we deploy to understand Islamic history, with examples drawn from the circulation and transformation of various practices and beliefs over time and place.

“Uncertainty and the Archive,” in Digital Humanities and Islamic and Middle East Studies, ed. Elias Muhanna (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), 11–64.

On the transformation of medieval Arabic and Persian book culture in the Digital Age, particularl... more

“The Art of Translation: An Early Persian Commentary of the Qurʾān,” The Journal of Abbasid Studies, 2.2 (2015): 119–95.

This article presents a description and analysis of a Persian translation and commentary of the Q... more This article presents a description and analysis of a Persian translation and commentary of the Qurʾān, entitled Tafsīr-i munīr, by Abū Naṣr al-Ḥaddādī (d. after 400/1009), the earliest exegetical work in Persian whose author can be identified. A manuscript of this multivolume work housed in the Topkapı Palace Museum of Istanbul offers an important historical testament to the calligraphic development of Persian exegetical writing and the manners in which scholars and authorities sought creative ways to visually balance the sacred Arabic text of the Qurʾān with vernacular exegetic material. The manuscript also reveals a good deal about Qurʾānic book art, as well as the development of Persian commentaries and translations, thus offering further insight into the history of the Qurʾān across the frontiers of Central Asia and Khurasan.

“The Early Hajj, 7th–8th centuries,” in The Hajj: Pilgrimage in Islam, ed. Eric Tagliacozzo and Shawkat Toorawa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 42–64.

An examination of early Arabic literary sources on the Meccan pilgrimage.

“The Fātiḥa of Salmān al-Fārisī and the Modern Controversy over Translating the Qurʾān,” in The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Tafsir, ed. Stephen Burge (Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2015), 375–420.

Examines the memory of early Persian Qurʾānic translation in the modern Arabic theological and ju... more

“Magic, Marvel, and Miracle in Early Islamic Thought,” in The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West, ed. David Collins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 235–67.

by Travis Zadeh and David Collins

“Persian Qurʾanic Networks, Modernity, and the Writings of ‘an Iranian Lady’, Nusrat Amin Khanum (d. 1983),” The Qurʾan and its Readers Worldwide: Contemporary Commentaries and Translations, ed. Suha Taji-Farouki (Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2015), 275-323.

“Commanding Demons and Jinn: The Sorcerer in Early Islamic Thought,” in No Tapping around Philology: A Festschrift in Honor of Wheeler McIntosh Thackston Jr.’s 70th Birthday, ed. Alireza Korangy and Dan Sheffield (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014), 131–60.

Magic and the Marvelous The popular Persian television serial Imām ʻAlī, a production of the Isla... more Magic and the Marvelous The popular Persian television serial Imām ʻAlī, a production of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Channel, directed by Dāvūd Mīrbāqirī, premiered in 1997 with the story of the Companion Jundab b. Kaʻb al-Azdī confronting the drunkard al-Walīd b. ʻUqba, governor of Kūfa under the caliph ʻUthmān b. ʻAffān (r. 23-35/644-56). The first episode of the series opens with the trickery of a Jewish magician (sāḥir), known in the early Arabic historiographical sources as Buṭrūnī or Bustānī. The ghoulish buffoon entertains al-Walīd in the congregational mosque of Kūfa, by transforming his pliant and addled slave into a dog and back again, all with the toothy grin of a hennaed madman. This witchcraft is captured through the magic of trick cinematography. The sorcerer is poised to decapitate his captive and magically bring him back to life, when Jundab, played by ʻInāyat Allāh Shafīʻī, rushes forward and puts an end to the grisly scene. The righteous Jundab scolds al-Walīd and the audience gathered around for promoting magic, claiming that sorcery is an illicit activity forbidden by Islamic religious law. Jundab then turns his fury to the crazed magician, rebuking him as an infidel. A lively debate ensues as the magician contends that the marvels of the prophets Moses and Jesus were themselves magic. Fervently rejecting this, Jundab argues that the prophets produced divine miracles from God. The ghastly sorcerer, played by Murtaḍā Ḍarrābī, retorts that knowledge of magic is knowledge of the unseen (ghayb); whoever possesses this knowledge commands the secrets of creation (asrār-i khilqat) and can in turn perform miracles (muʻjiza). Furthermore, the magician contends that the possession of such power serves as a basis for denying the existence of God. Infuriated, Jundab demands to know whether it is the magician or God who truly has the power to kill a man and bring him back to life. When the sorcerer cackles that he indeed wields such power, Jundab unsheathes his sword and swiftly decapitates his adversary. Standing over the severed head, Jundab taunts the dead magician to bring himself back to life. This graphic opening scene, which ultimately leads the pious Jundab to seek protection from Imām ʻAlī as he is pursued by the debauched governor, follows the general outline of the original Arabic source material on the anecdote. 1 To be sure, much of the dialogue represents a significant expansion of the early account, specifically the debate between Jundab and the magician. In this vein, the theological tension concerning the secrets of creation and the category of the muʻjiza as an evidentiary basis for prophethood are rather

“An Ingestible Scripture: Qurʾānic Erasure and the Limits of ‘Popular’ Religion,” in History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, ed. Benjamin Fleming and Richard Mann (New York: Routledge, 2014), 97–119.

“Of Mummies, Poets, and Water Nymphs: Tracing the Codicological Limits of Ibn Khurradādhbih’s Geography,” Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, no. 4 (2013): 8–75.

Explores problems of medieval manuscript culture through the modern reception history of early Ar... more

“The Wiles of Creation: Philosophy, Fiction, and the ʿAjāʾib Tradition,” Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures, 13.1 (2010): 21–48.

On the antecedents in Greek, Arabic, and Persian to Qazwīnī’s (d. 1283) natural history of wonders

“Touching and Ingesting: Early Debates over the Material Qurʾān,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 129.3 (2009): 443–66.

Examines discourses on the sanctity of the Qurʾān as a physical object expressed in early theolog... more

“Fire Cannot Harm It: Mediation, Temptation, and the Charismatic Power of the Qurʾān,” Journal of Qurʾānic Studies, 10.2 (2008): 50–72.

This paper examines debates concerning the theological status of the material Qur'anic codex, ... more This paper examines debates concerning the theological status of the material Qur'anic codex, by focusing on a range of interpretations of a widely circulated ḥadīth which states ‘if the Qur'an were written on a hide, fire would not harm it’. This particular saying appears as a flashpoint in a series of on-going debates, which begin during the third/ninth century, concerning the otherworldly status of the Qur'an. By exploring the broader implications of these debates, as they inflect Ḥanbalī, Muʿtazilī, Imāmī, Ashʿarī and Māturīdī theological positions, this paper demonstrates how broad disputes over the eternality and inimitability of the Qur'an impacted on the status of scripture as a material object. Thus, while the physical Qur'anic codex became a sanctified object of veneration, the exact nature of its charismatic power remained contested.

“From Drops of Blood: Charisma and Political Legitimacy in the translatio of the ʿUthmānic codex of al-Andalus,” Journal of Arabic Literature, 39.3 (2008): 321–46.

The account of the ʿUthmānic muṣḥaf of Córdoba, which passed from generation to generation acros... more The account of the ʿUthmānic muṣḥaf of Córdoba, which passed from generation to generation across the western shores of Islam, has played a prominent role in the history of al-Andalus and the Maghrib. The prized codex appears throughout historiographical and literary discourses, stretching from the Hispano-Umayyad caliphate to the dynasty of the Banū Marīn in North Africa. Brought into battle against Christians and fellow Muslims, decorated with ornate coverings, and made into the object of countless panegyrics, the ʿUthmānic codex of al-Andalus offers a glimpse into a sustained network of meaning and power. The codex came symbolically to align successive Muslim dynasties to the early history of Islam. Drawing attention to the parallel phenomena of the furta sacra and the translatio of relics in medieval Christian tradition, this article explores the broader political, religious, and literary dimensions which silhouette the veneration toward the ʿUthmānic codex.

Book Reviews by Travis Zadeh

“Imperfect States,” Contending Modernities, October 28, 2020.

Reflects on the gendered and hierarchical values behind the idea of perfection in Islamic ethics ... more

“On Reading the Library of Arabic Literature,” Journal of Arabic Literature, 47.3 (2016): 307–335.

Full article available here: booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1570064x-1... more

“Qurʾānic Studies and the Literary Turn,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 135.2 (2014): 329–42.

This review essay examines current trends in the field of Quranic studies, as expressed in recent... more This review essay examines current trends in the field of Quranic studies, as expressed in recent introductory works on the Quran, which in turn reflect developments in more specialized publications. A prominent characteristic in this body of scholarship is an increased emphasis on approaching the Quran as a literary text, as conceived within the structures of textual criticism. Much of this work strives to bypass the autochthonous exegetical corpus developed by Muslim authorities and read the Quran on its own terms, as a text best situated within a sectarian milieu of late antiquity. Particular attention is given here to the configuration of literature as a secular category of analysis and the implications it bears for this growing field.

The Vernacular Qurʾan: Translation and the Rise of Persian Exegesis, Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2012 (xxii, 674 pages).

Examines the theological and juridical debates surrounding the translatability of the Qurʾān from... more Examines the theological and juridical debates surrounding the translatability of the Qurʾān from the eighth and tenth centuries, primarily in Iraq; this forms the basis for an extended exploration of the social and linguistic practices of translating the Qurʾān into Persian and the development of vernacular exegetical literature in Eastern Iran and Central Asia from tenth to thirteenth centuries.

Mapping Frontiers across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the ‘Abbasid Empire, London: I.B. Tauris, 2011 (xiv, 316 pages).

Explores the epistemic conceptualization of frontiers as articulated in the emergence of administ... more Explores the epistemic conceptualization of frontiers as articulated in the emergence of administrative geography in Baghdad during the formative period of the ʿAbbāsid state, from the eighth to tenth centuries. Particular attention is placed on the intersections between imperial administration, translation, scriptural exegesis, and the marvels and monsters inhabiting medieval Arabic and Persian descriptions of the world.

“Unruly Subjects,” Verge: Studies in Global Asias, 7.1 (2021): 98–111.

Response to the query, "We have never been premodern."

“Postscript: Cutting Ariadne’s Thread, or How to Think Otherwise in the Maze,” in The Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice, ed. Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Farouk Yahya (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 607–50.

Modern scholarship has long been making magic as much as observing it, by carving out and labelin... more Modern scholarship has long been making magic as much as observing it, by carving out and labeling particular domains and activities as rational, authentic, and normative, while marginalizing others as primitive, folkloric, and deviant. Magic-talk is never impartial or disinterested. The categories we use to analyze Islamic history are predicated on a set of unstated values and assumptions that can often obscure our understanding of the past. The ability to name, codify, and classify is precisely what generates scholarly authority through specialized knowledge. Yet, categories and the meanings behind them are also in a constant state of flux. This holds true both for the conceptual frameworks that govern western scholarship, as well as for our objects of historical inquiry. Critique does not end by merely abandoning outdated terms and the ideas that animate them or by simply fashioning new ones. Rather, the task at hand demands recognizing that second-order forms of conceptualization invariably foreclose certain possibilities of thinking in other terms. The challenge posed by our taxonomies extends beyond a matter of accounting for the surplus and deficit inherent in all translation; we must also mind how knowledge is generated and how power is exercised. Attention to the conceptual frameworks we have inherited is powerful, as it offers possibilities for thinking otherwise. This chapter reflects on the range of material covered in the present volume, while further exploring the categories we deploy to understand Islamic history, with examples drawn from the circulation and transformation of various practices and beliefs over time and place.

“Uncertainty and the Archive,” in Digital Humanities and Islamic and Middle East Studies, ed. Elias Muhanna (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), 11–64.

On the transformation of medieval Arabic and Persian book culture in the Digital Age, particularl... more

“The Art of Translation: An Early Persian Commentary of the Qurʾān,” The Journal of Abbasid Studies, 2.2 (2015): 119–95.

This article presents a description and analysis of a Persian translation and commentary of the Q... more This article presents a description and analysis of a Persian translation and commentary of the Qurʾān, entitled Tafsīr-i munīr, by Abū Naṣr al-Ḥaddādī (d. after 400/1009), the earliest exegetical work in Persian whose author can be identified. A manuscript of this multivolume work housed in the Topkapı Palace Museum of Istanbul offers an important historical testament to the calligraphic development of Persian exegetical writing and the manners in which scholars and authorities sought creative ways to visually balance the sacred Arabic text of the Qurʾān with vernacular exegetic material. The manuscript also reveals a good deal about Qurʾānic book art, as well as the development of Persian commentaries and translations, thus offering further insight into the history of the Qurʾān across the frontiers of Central Asia and Khurasan.

“The Early Hajj, 7th–8th centuries,” in The Hajj: Pilgrimage in Islam, ed. Eric Tagliacozzo and Shawkat Toorawa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 42–64.

An examination of early Arabic literary sources on the Meccan pilgrimage.

“The Fātiḥa of Salmān al-Fārisī and the Modern Controversy over Translating the Qurʾān,” in The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Tafsir, ed. Stephen Burge (Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2015), 375–420.

Examines the memory of early Persian Qurʾānic translation in the modern Arabic theological and ju... more

“Magic, Marvel, and Miracle in Early Islamic Thought,” in The Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West, ed. David Collins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 235–67.

by Travis Zadeh and David Collins

“Persian Qurʾanic Networks, Modernity, and the Writings of ‘an Iranian Lady’, Nusrat Amin Khanum (d. 1983),” The Qurʾan and its Readers Worldwide: Contemporary Commentaries and Translations, ed. Suha Taji-Farouki (Oxford: Institute of Ismaili Studies/Oxford University Press, 2015), 275-323.

“Commanding Demons and Jinn: The Sorcerer in Early Islamic Thought,” in No Tapping around Philology: A Festschrift in Honor of Wheeler McIntosh Thackston Jr.’s 70th Birthday, ed. Alireza Korangy and Dan Sheffield (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014), 131–60.

Magic and the Marvelous The popular Persian television serial Imām ʻAlī, a production of the Isla... more Magic and the Marvelous The popular Persian television serial Imām ʻAlī, a production of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Channel, directed by Dāvūd Mīrbāqirī, premiered in 1997 with the story of the Companion Jundab b. Kaʻb al-Azdī confronting the drunkard al-Walīd b. ʻUqba, governor of Kūfa under the caliph ʻUthmān b. ʻAffān (r. 23-35/644-56). The first episode of the series opens with the trickery of a Jewish magician (sāḥir), known in the early Arabic historiographical sources as Buṭrūnī or Bustānī. The ghoulish buffoon entertains al-Walīd in the congregational mosque of Kūfa, by transforming his pliant and addled slave into a dog and back again, all with the toothy grin of a hennaed madman. This witchcraft is captured through the magic of trick cinematography. The sorcerer is poised to decapitate his captive and magically bring him back to life, when Jundab, played by ʻInāyat Allāh Shafīʻī, rushes forward and puts an end to the grisly scene. The righteous Jundab scolds al-Walīd and the audience gathered around for promoting magic, claiming that sorcery is an illicit activity forbidden by Islamic religious law. Jundab then turns his fury to the crazed magician, rebuking him as an infidel. A lively debate ensues as the magician contends that the marvels of the prophets Moses and Jesus were themselves magic. Fervently rejecting this, Jundab argues that the prophets produced divine miracles from God. The ghastly sorcerer, played by Murtaḍā Ḍarrābī, retorts that knowledge of magic is knowledge of the unseen (ghayb); whoever possesses this knowledge commands the secrets of creation (asrār-i khilqat) and can in turn perform miracles (muʻjiza). Furthermore, the magician contends that the possession of such power serves as a basis for denying the existence of God. Infuriated, Jundab demands to know whether it is the magician or God who truly has the power to kill a man and bring him back to life. When the sorcerer cackles that he indeed wields such power, Jundab unsheathes his sword and swiftly decapitates his adversary. Standing over the severed head, Jundab taunts the dead magician to bring himself back to life. This graphic opening scene, which ultimately leads the pious Jundab to seek protection from Imām ʻAlī as he is pursued by the debauched governor, follows the general outline of the original Arabic source material on the anecdote. 1 To be sure, much of the dialogue represents a significant expansion of the early account, specifically the debate between Jundab and the magician. In this vein, the theological tension concerning the secrets of creation and the category of the muʻjiza as an evidentiary basis for prophethood are rather

“An Ingestible Scripture: Qurʾānic Erasure and the Limits of ‘Popular’ Religion,” in History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, ed. Benjamin Fleming and Richard Mann (New York: Routledge, 2014), 97–119.

“Of Mummies, Poets, and Water Nymphs: Tracing the Codicological Limits of Ibn Khurradādhbih’s Geography,” Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, no. 4 (2013): 8–75.

Explores problems of medieval manuscript culture through the modern reception history of early Ar... more

“The Wiles of Creation: Philosophy, Fiction, and the ʿAjāʾib Tradition,” Journal of Middle Eastern Literatures, 13.1 (2010): 21–48.

On the antecedents in Greek, Arabic, and Persian to Qazwīnī’s (d. 1283) natural history of wonders

“Touching and Ingesting: Early Debates over the Material Qurʾān,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 129.3 (2009): 443–66.

Examines discourses on the sanctity of the Qurʾān as a physical object expressed in early theolog... more

“Fire Cannot Harm It: Mediation, Temptation, and the Charismatic Power of the Qurʾān,” Journal of Qurʾānic Studies, 10.2 (2008): 50–72.

This paper examines debates concerning the theological status of the material Qur'anic codex, ... more This paper examines debates concerning the theological status of the material Qur'anic codex, by focusing on a range of interpretations of a widely circulated ḥadīth which states ‘if the Qur'an were written on a hide, fire would not harm it’. This particular saying appears as a flashpoint in a series of on-going debates, which begin during the third/ninth century, concerning the otherworldly status of the Qur'an. By exploring the broader implications of these debates, as they inflect Ḥanbalī, Muʿtazilī, Imāmī, Ashʿarī and Māturīdī theological positions, this paper demonstrates how broad disputes over the eternality and inimitability of the Qur'an impacted on the status of scripture as a material object. Thus, while the physical Qur'anic codex became a sanctified object of veneration, the exact nature of its charismatic power remained contested.

“From Drops of Blood: Charisma and Political Legitimacy in the translatio of the ʿUthmānic codex of al-Andalus,” Journal of Arabic Literature, 39.3 (2008): 321–46.

The account of the ʿUthmānic muṣḥaf of Córdoba, which passed from generation to generation acros... more The account of the ʿUthmānic muṣḥaf of Córdoba, which passed from generation to generation across the western shores of Islam, has played a prominent role in the history of al-Andalus and the Maghrib. The prized codex appears throughout historiographical and literary discourses, stretching from the Hispano-Umayyad caliphate to the dynasty of the Banū Marīn in North Africa. Brought into battle against Christians and fellow Muslims, decorated with ornate coverings, and made into the object of countless panegyrics, the ʿUthmānic codex of al-Andalus offers a glimpse into a sustained network of meaning and power. The codex came symbolically to align successive Muslim dynasties to the early history of Islam. Drawing attention to the parallel phenomena of the furta sacra and the translatio of relics in medieval Christian tradition, this article explores the broader political, religious, and literary dimensions which silhouette the veneration toward the ʿUthmānic codex.

“Imperfect States,” Contending Modernities, October 28, 2020.

Reflects on the gendered and hierarchical values behind the idea of perfection in Islamic ethics ... more

“On Reading the Library of Arabic Literature,” Journal of Arabic Literature, 47.3 (2016): 307–335.

Full article available here: booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/1570064x-1... more

“Qurʾānic Studies and the Literary Turn,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 135.2 (2014): 329–42.

This review essay examines current trends in the field of Quranic studies, as expressed in recent... more This review essay examines current trends in the field of Quranic studies, as expressed in recent introductory works on the Quran, which in turn reflect developments in more specialized publications. A prominent characteristic in this body of scholarship is an increased emphasis on approaching the Quran as a literary text, as conceived within the structures of textual criticism. Much of this work strives to bypass the autochthonous exegetical corpus developed by Muslim authorities and read the Quran on its own terms, as a text best situated within a sectarian milieu of late antiquity. Particular attention is given here to the configuration of literature as a secular category of analysis and the implications it bears for this growing field.

Laury Silvers, A Soaring Minaret: Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and the Rise of Baghdadi Sufism, in Review of Middle East Studies, 45.1 (Summer 2011): 140–2.

and public perception, and the implications of "Islam and modernity" discourses in contemporary g... more

Ibn Khurdādhbih, Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE

Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, 2018

Abū l-Qāsim ʿUbaydallāh b. ʿAbdallāh (or Aḥmad) Ibn Khurdādhbih (or Khurradādhbih; fl. third/nint... more

Ibn Faḍlān, Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.

Aḥmad b. Faḍlān b. al-ʿAbbās b. Rāshid b. Ḥammād, known as Ibn Faḍlān, wrote a travelogue recount... more

al-Baʿlamī, Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.

Gestures of Perplexity in Persian Compendiums of Wonder and Rarity

Iran Colloquium, Yale University, 2021

Islamic compendiums of wonders wedded an interest in geography, astrology, talismans, and alchemi... more Islamic compendiums of wonders wedded an interest in geography, astrology, talismans, and alchemical transmutations with accounts of jinn, angels, and strange creatures at the edges of the world. Demon possession and sex magic could leap out of one page only to be met on another with pious invocations to the majestic power of God manifest throughout creation. A central facet to the problem of wonder for intellectual and cultural history is the challenge of fathoming a world of enchantment obscured in the shadows of Orientalism, Islamic reform, and secular reason. In this talk, Travis Zadeh discusses his forthcoming book on wonder in Islamic philosophy, science, and literature, by turning to the wide and lasting circulation of Persian writings on natural marvels well into the nineteenth century.

“What Happened to the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus in the Kaʿba?”

Early Arabic historiographical materials on the history of Mecca frequently depict the interior o... more Early Arabic historiographical materials on the history of Mecca frequently depict the interior of the Kaʿba as a repository for artifacts and ancient relics. Bequests to the Kaʿba, often associated with military conquest, emerge as features of both Umayyad and Abbasid pageantry. Several scholars have referenced and catalogued the objects and gifts associated with the sanctuary. Much less appreciated has been the role that the destruction of the Kaʿba, which occurred twice during the course of the Second Civil war (680-92), played in the early Arabic narratives on the interior of the sanctuary, its contents, and the ritual performances performed within its walls. The early destruction of the sanctuary complex and the effacement of the contents within it offered the groundwork for the later commemoration of the Kaʿba as a sacred repository. This paper addresses the symbolic power associated with the ancient relics of the Kaʿba, their role in the course of the Second Civil war, and their place in the emergence of material cultures of Islamic devotion and piety.

“Conversion, Memory, and the Limits of Early Islamic History.”

This talk explores the cultural, linguistic, and mythological dimensions shaping religious conver... more This talk explores the cultural, linguistic, and mythological dimensions shaping religious conversion among Persians in the wake of the seventh-century Arab conquests. It further interrogates what this process of conversion reveals for the memory of early Islamic history and the spread of Islam along the eastern frontiers.

“Wine, Water, and Prayer: Early Debates at the Meccan Sanctuary.”

Arabic Studies Seminar, Columbia University, Dec. 8, 2016. During the first two centuries of Isl... more Arabic Studies Seminar, Columbia University, Dec. 8, 2016.

During the first two centuries of Islamic history, the sanctuary at Mecca underwent considerable transformations, both in terms of architectural refashioning and in the actual ritual performances and offices associated with the pilgrimage. Many of these developments are largely forgotten in the succeeding centuries and survive today mostly as antiquarian lore. This paper discusses these developments in ritual and architectural terms and will examine what these changes reveal about the formation of religious practice and mythology at the sanctuary complex.

“Why Read the Qurʾan in Translation (?)”

Translation Lecture Series, Center for the Humanities at Temple University, Sep. 19, 2016. Thi... more Translation Lecture Series, Center for the Humanities at Temple University, Sep. 19, 2016.

This lecture examines debates in the course of Islamic intellectual history over translating the Qurʾan and their relation to broader theoretical problems for the fields of translation studies, the history of ideas, and the philosophy of language. Historically, there has been a strong current of thought in Islamic religious discourse that has rejected the possibility of translating the Qurʾan on theological grounds, based largely on the notion that the text exhibits such supreme and inimitable eloquence that translation is itself impossible. Yet, since the earliest periods of Islamic history there have also developed complex traditions of explaining the Qurʾan in translation. In this basic paradox abides a general misunderstanding of what exactly it means to translate the Qurʾan. By probing the broader social, historical, and ideological frameworks governing these debates, this talk questions how it is that the Qurʾan is translatable.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1163881903679557/

From the opening of the talk:
First, I should explain the parenthetical ambiguity encircling the question mark in the title of my lecture. What I am hoping to do today is discuss foremost why reading the Qur’an in translation is itself a problem. Just as there are many reasons to read the Qur’an, so too are there many motivations to translate it. Yet, why any of this is a concern at all, is that the history of Qur’anic translation is vexed with profound misunderstandings, which in turn have impeded modern scholarship on the topic. This situation is the product of both polemical and apologetic forces, formed by both critiques from without and defenses from within the variegated contours of Islamic orthodoxy.
These fault lines delineate both external boundaries and internal divisions. On the one hand we have the apologetic insistence throughout much of Islamic theological history that the linguistic nature of the Qur’an is of a divine nature that in its very form is inimitable and thus untranslatable. On the other hand, this apparent resistance to translating the Qur’an has been held out in polemical contexts as a means of criticizing Muslims as law-bound and fundamentally irrational.
To understand this problem in greater detail, I have divided my talk into three sections: the first explores the epistemological frameworks governing how we know what we know about Qur’anic translation and the polemical discourses governing our understanding of the topic. This in turn leads to a discussion of the actual historical contexts governing the first emergence of both translations and commentaries of the Qur’an in the course of the tenth century. This historical framework in turn will lead to a brief discussion of the actual practices of Qur’anic translation...

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