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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 2d

@jparkesallen.bsky.social

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 2d

@mtmiller.bsky.social

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 2d

"[T]he initiative will provide free, global access to a constantly expanding body of classical and modern Persian texts. The project will also partner with institutions to help safeguard thousands of at-risk manuscripts and rare books from collections in India, Pakistan and beyond."

Roshan Institute to Establish Persian Digital Library | Maryland Today

Supported by $1.8M Private Gift, Project Will Be First of Its Kind

today.umd.edu

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · Apr 30

A really lovely copy of an Ottoman Turkish fatwa concerning coffee (Ṣūrat-i fetvā der ḥaḳḳ-i ḳaḥve ve cevāb-i marḥūm-i Būstānzāde), decidedly stylistically unusual rendering for a document of this sort; part of a truly miscellaneous mecmَū'a (Leipzig University, Vollers 1019):

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · Apr 1

big if true

حكى بعض الاخوان بأنه قد ورد إلى عين الحياة وأنها موجودة إلى الآن بارض من داخل اليمن وهي براس جبل وهي من مدينة صنعا مسافة اثنين وعشرين يوما فإذا وصل الانسان لذلك الجبل وجد باب العين ينزل له باثني عشر درجه ويشربون منها بعض الصلحا الواصلين وليس يبقون في الحياة مثل الخضر عليه السلام وهذه السعادة ما سبقت لاحد غيره واذا شربوا من تلك العين الصلحاء الذين قسم الله لهم نصيب يعيشون إلى الماية سنة ويزيدون

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 26

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · Mar 26

Pages from a Chinese-language explanation of the Arabic alphabet, Tianfang zimu jieyi 天方字母解义, a Qing era work written by the prolific Han Kitab author Liu Zhi (1669–1764):

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Mar 24

Manuscript reading groups resume this week after our spring break last week, further explorations in the Safīnat on Persian Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf on Ottoman Wednesday, and more Persian in the form of Risālah dar dam zadan on Friday- hope to see you at some of these offerings!

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Mar 3

Lots of manuscript reading options this week! Dāstān-i Bahrām wa Bihrūz on Persian Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf on Ottoman Wednesday, and more of the life of the Druze Shaykh al-Fāḍil on Friday followed by more Persian in the form of Risālah dar dam zadan

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 26

OpenITI Open Hours (Friday 10 am -12 pm Eastern US time) will feature manuscripts presented by two of our colleagues: from 10 to 11 we'll continue looking at a Druze hagiographical text in Arabic, and from 11 to 12 we'll be introduced to a Persian treatise on breath control:

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 17

For a preview of sorts see this recent article by Lorenz kitab-project.org/druze-corpus...

Repetition That Does Not Get Boring: Expressing Devotion in Druze Religious Poetry

Some might know the 1945 Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman song Till the End of Time, made famous by Perry Como. The beginning of the lyrics run like this:

kitab-project.org

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 17

Arabic for Friday is now decided: we'll be starting a look at and group reading of Arabic manuscripts that hail from early modern Druze communities, with our colleagues Lorenz Nigst leading us in an introduction and exploration of this fascinating manuscript tradition

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 17

This week's lineup: in our Persian group we'll be reading Dāstān-i Bahrām wa Bihrūz on Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf in our Ottoman Turkish group on Wednesday, and on Friday from 11 to 12 a tbd manuscript text in Arabic (10 to 11 am for standard office hours)

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · Feb 12

Pages from a very eclectic calligraphic (and seal) album, seems to be a very wide range of periods, places, and genres represented within just a handful of pages (Bodleian Library MS. Arab. c. 75)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 12

New participants are always welcome, just DM for info about signing up!

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Feb 12

Our Ottoman Turkish manuscript reading group, having seen the Kesik Baş to the end of his story, is now diving into another manuscript, Mehmed Emīn's Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf (Tübingen Ma VII 83), relating, along with some theological and other reflections, the story of the Companions of the Cave

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 29

Have you ever wondered how to use the abjad values of your name and your mom's name to calculate whether that town or village you're thinking about moving to is right for you? If so, then today is your lucky day!

Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ Reading Group, January 28, 2025: All About Adab!

YouTube video by OpenITI Project

www.youtube.com

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 27

For this week's OpenITI Open Hours (Friday am) we're going to be reading together and discussing Lara Putman's influential 2016 article "The Transnational and the Text-Searchable: Digitized Sources and the Shadows They Cast" and its implications for Islamicate DH (link below)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 24

Reminder that we'll be holding "OpenITI Open Hours" today from 10 am to 12 pm Eastern US time (link: umd.zoom.us/j/91533462213), feel free to stop by and ask questions about what we're up to at OpenITI, how you can get involved; or bring a manuscript you'd like to look at with others

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 20

For our Tuesday Persian manuscript reading group, we're going to be working through this curiously arranged little text on "the adāb of sneezing, yawning, burping, and drinking water," so you can work on your Persian skills *and* your etiquette knowledge, a two for one deal!

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · Jan 16

Page from an anonymous 18th or 19th c. Persian and Arabic treatise on nikāḥ, with an Urdu (well, what we'd now call Urdu- the work itself calls it 'zabān-i Hindī' as was standard for at the time) alternating line rubricated translation (Raja of Mahmudabad Palace Library MS 652):

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 13

We resume our Persian manuscript virtual reading group tomorrow (Tuesday, January 14), continuing with the fabulous treasury of medieval and early modern texts contained within the Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ; check out the video for a taste, DM to be added to the group, we've got some room available

Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ Reading Group, December 17, 2024

YouTube video by OpenITI Project

youtu.be

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 6

We'll also do once a month group readings of an article relevant to Islamicate DH, especially text-based work- look for updates here as well as in our Slack workspace (DM if you'd like to be added there)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 6

If you've got a manuscript you'd like to read with others, questions about the work of OpenITI or about manuscript studies, Islamicate DH, and so on, come by! Shoot us a message and we'll get you the invite with Zoom link (same goes for the manuscript reading groups)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · Jan 6

Here are our public offerings, all hosted via Zoom, for the spring semester (all events start next week, times in Eastern US); we'll be continuing two from last semester, and adding a third, OpenITI Open Hours, which will be more open and based on participant needs and interests:

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