ENSIE4 2024 Conference of European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism 1-3 July

Day 1, Monday 1 July

9:30-10:00

Welcome

Emily Selove (University of Exeter).

Mark Sedgwick (University of Aarhus).

10:00-11:00

Panel 1: Early Dreams of Ascent

Chair: M. Shobhana Xavier (Queens’ University, Kingston, Canada).

Luca Patrizi (University of Turin), “The dream of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (d. 869) and the esoteric dimensions of the Prophet Muḥammad’s minbar.”

Łukasz Piątak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), “The Heavenly Ascent of Suhrawardī the Illuminationist: A Visionary Narrative from al-Wāridāt wa’l-taqdīsāt.”

11:00-11:30

Break

11:30-13:00

Panel 2: Dreams in Shi’i Islam

Chair: Francesco Alfonso Leccese (University of Calabria).

Amina Inloes (The Islamic College, London), “Dreams in Twelver Shiʿi Hadith.”

Zahra Naghshband (Max Weber Centre, Erfurt), “The Concealed Moon and the Cursed: Reception of Three Apocalyptic Hadiths among Batini Shiites and their Alternative Narrative of Ritual Time.”

Ali Hammoud (Western Sydney University, Australia), “The Function of Dreams in Ashkivarī’s Maḥbūb al-Qulūb.”

13:00-14:00

Lunch

14:00-15:00

Panel 3: Apocalypse and Magic

Chair: Daniel Jacobius Morgan (Santa Clara University, USA).

Jamel A. Velji (Claremont McKenna College, USA), “Visualizing a Present Apocalypse: Luminous (Un)-veilings in Ibn Qasī’s Kitāb khalʿ al-naʿlayn.”

Emily Selove (University of Exeter), “Dreams as Arena and Weapon in a 13th-century Arabic Grimoire.”

15:00-15:30

Break

15:30-17:00

Panel 4: Early Sufis

Chair: Antonio de Diego González (University of Malaga).

Eyad Abuali (Cardiff University), “Visionary Narratives Between Cosmology, Embodiment, and Text in Medieval Sufism.”

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq (George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA), “The Interplay of Dreams and Prophecy: Insights from Sufi Master Aziz al-Din Nasafi.”

Lisa Alexandrin (University of Manitoba, Canada), “Witnessing and Traces of the Pen according to Sa‘d al-Din Hamuyeh.”

Day 2, Tuesday 2 July

9:30-11:00

Panel 5: Ottomans and Mughals

Chair: Amina Inloes (The Islamic College, London).

Binazir Gashim-Zade (Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul), “An Examination of Sufi Dream-Interpretation Methodology: Insights from Ḳuṭb al-Dīnzāde al-Iznīḳī's al-Ta‘bīr al-munīf.”

Semra Çörekçi (Istanbul Medeniyet University), “Exploring the Life of an Ottoman Pasha through his Dreams: Kulakzâde Mahmud Pasha’s Düşname (Dreambook).”

Daniel Jacobius Morgan (Santa Clara University, USA), “Verifying Dreams in late-Mughal Delhi: Shāh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Dihlawī’s Taḥqīq al-Ruʾyā.”

11:00-11:30

Break

11:30-13:00

Panel 6: Modern Sufis

Chair: Emilie Selove (University of Exeter).

M. Shobhana Xavier (Queens’ University, Kingston, Canada), “Archiving Dreams: Constructing Sri Lankan Sufi Shrines via Visitational Dreams.”

Antonio de Diego González (University of Malaga), “Awakened Vision (ru‘ya fī-l-yaqẓa) as an Initiatory Experience in the ṭarīqa Tijaniyya.”

Francesco Alfonso Leccese (University of Calabria), “A Contemporary Sufi Master and Dreams as Initiation.”

13:00-14:00

Lunch

14:00-15:00

Panel 7: Women’s Dreams in the Twentieth Century

Chair: Douglas Farrer (University of Exeter).

Mariam Elashmawy (Free University of Berlin, “Visions and Re-enchantments: The Magical Mentality of Bint al-Shati'.”

Gökçen Beyinli-Dinç (University of Hamburg), “Struggling for Agency in a ‘Modern’ Country: Women Healers, Saints and Dreams in Turkey’s History.”

15:00-15:30

Break

15:30-16:30

Panel 8: Dreaming in Lahore and Burkina Faso

Chair: Lisa Alexandrin (University of Manitoba, Canada).

Ateeb Gul (Boston University, USA), “Power, Politics, and Phantasmagoria: The Role of Esoteric ‘Prophetic Dreams’ in Barelvi Activism in Lahore (1923–2023).”

Jannis Kostelnik (University of Hamburg), “Dreams and Visions of an Islamic script creator in 21st-century Burkina Faso.”

16:30-17:00

Meeting of Members

Day 3, Wednesday 3 July

9:30-11:00

Panel 9: Angels and Traditionalists

Chair: Jamel A. Velji (Claremont McKenna College, USA).

Louise Gallorini (American University of Beirut, Lebanon), “Angelic Visions in the Qur’an and a Selection of Classical Sufi texts.”

Hafiz Abid Masood (International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan), “The Impact of Traditionalism in Pakistan: A Case Study of Muhammad Hasan Askari’s Contribution”

Mark Sedgwick (University of Aarhus), “Dreaming of al-Andalus: Sufism in Modern Spain.”

11:00-11:30

Break

11:30-12:30

Panel 10: The Arts

Chair: Luca Patrizi (University of Turin).

Rubera Giorgia (University of Granada), “Visionaries: Contemporary Sufi Artists in the Western Mediterranean.”

Douglas Farrer (University of Exeter), “Malay Healing Arts: From Dreamwork to Dreamcraft in Islam.”

12:30-13:30

Lunch

13:30-15:00

Panel 11: Contemporary Iran

Chair: Sayed Hassan Akhlaq (George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA).

Kurosh Amoui (York University, Toronto, Canada), “The Council of Witches: Woman Life Freedom and Persianate Islamotrauma.”

Safa Kamdideh (Trans-disciplinary artist and researcher, Amsterdam), “Tongue of the Arcane: Synchronicities of Hafezomancy.”

Golnoosh Nour (Birkbeck, University of London), “Possible Dreams, Impossible Muses: Queering Persian Visions and Sexuality.”

15:00-15:30

Closing plenary

Mark Sedgwick (University of Aarhus).

Emily Selove (University of Exeter).

15:30

Departures