The Analytical Database of Arabic Poetry

 "The Analytical Database of Arabic Poetry provides an innovative digital platform for research on the semantics of the Arabic language and the history of Arabic poetic tradition from late antiquity onwards. The development of the database was initiated in the research project “Language–Philology–Culture. Arab Cultural Semantics in Transition” 

The database includes:

Text corpus

Fully searchable texts of Arabic poetry in TEI/XML are provided with analytical data on authors, chronological periodisation, literary classification, geographical specification and semantic categorisation.

Dictionary

The historical dictionary implements comprehensive analytical tools and provides detailed information on the historical development of the vocabulary used in Arabic poetry and its various genres. Since there is neither a historical dictionary of Arabic nor a complete dictionary of classical Arabic in any European language, the database creates a unique and indispensable research tool on the semantics of Arabic.

Research data

Additional information tags and notes, a semantic register crosslinked with the Intercontinental Dictionary Series and detailed bibliographical information on sources used in the project provide research data making the database useful not just as an innovative literary and lexical source, but also as a reference work for wider research on Arabic literature, history and culture." 

Principal Investigator: Dr Kirill Dmitriev

Research project: Language–Philology–Culture. Arab Cultural Semantics in Transition.

OA Book: Tıflî Hikâyeleri

 Tıflî Hikâyeleri by David Selim Sayers 

"IV. Murad İstanbul’unda geçen ve cinsellik, para, aşk ve şiddet gibi konuları işleyen Tıflî hikâyeleri, 19. yüzyıl Osmanlı düzyazı edebiyatının önemli bir türünü oluşturur. Bu edebî türle ilgili ilk ve tek kapsamlı çalışma olan Tıfli Hikâyeleri, 19. yüzyıl Osmanlı kültürünün de çarpıcı bir panoramasını sunuyor. Kitap, hikâyelere ilişkin inceleme dışında eski yazıdan çeviri yazısı yapılan hikâye metinlerini de içeriyor. 

The Tifli Stories are a genre of Ottoman prose literature set in Istanbul during the reign of Murad IV (r. 1623-1640) and revolving around themes such as sex, money, passion, and violence. The first and only comprehensive study of this literary genre, Tifli Hikayeleri (The Tifli Stories) analyzes the stories to offer a vivid panorama of 19th-century Ottoman culture. The book further includes a comprehensive corpus of stories transliterated from Ottoman into modern Turkish."

URL, Paris Institute: https://parisinstitute.org/tifli-hikayeleri/ 

OA Journal مجلة الأزهر للعام

 

Open Access to the Journal of Al-Azhar (مجلة الأزهر للعام) from 1349 AH to 1435 AH. 

URL: https://azhar.gov.eg/Materials/magazine/index.htm

Open Access Book: The Library of Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār : Book Culture in Late Ottoman Palestine

 

Title: The Library of Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār : Book Culture in Late Ottoman Palestine
Series: Islamic History and Civilization, Volume: 219

Volume Editors: Said Aljoumani, Guy Burak, and Konrad Hirschler

Published:  Brill, 2025
ISBN: 9789004720527

"This study is the first to examine the history and composition of the library of Aḥmad Pasha al-Jazzār (d. 1804), the famous governor of northern Palestine in the late eighteenth century, on the basis of the inventory of the library’s holdings..."

Open Access Book: Muḥammad and His Followers in Context

Author:  Lindstedt, Ilkka.

Title: Muḥammad and His Followers in Context : The Religious Map of Late Antique Arabia.

Series: Islamic History and Civilization, Volume: 209
Published : Brill, 2024

"The book surveys and analyzes changes in religious groups and identities in late antique Arabia, ca. 300-700 CE. It engages with contemporary and material evidence: for example, inscriptions, archaeological remains, Arabic poetry, the Qurʾān, and the so-called Constitution of Medina. Also, it suggests ways to deal with the later Arabic historiographical and other literary texts. The issue of social identities and their processes are central to the study. For instance, how did Arabian ethnic and religious identities intersect on the eve of Islam? The book suggests that the changes in social groups were more piecemeal than previously thought."

OA-Book: Mechanisms of Social Dependency in the Early Islamic Empire

Mechanisms of Social Dependency in the Early Islamic Empire

Editors: Edmund Hayes and Petra M. Sijpesteijn

Date Published: November 2024

Hardback isbn: 9781009384261

Available in Open Access (gold)

" The success of Islamic imperialism in the period from the conquests to the Ayyubid dynasty has traditionally been explained as purely the result of military might. This book, however, adopts a bottom-up approach which puts social relationships and local power dynamics at the centre of the Islamic empire's cohesion. Its chapters draw on sources in diverse languages: not just Arabic, but also Greek, Coptic, Syriac, Hebrew, and Bactrian, showing how different linguistic communities intersected and contributed to a connected yet diverse empire. They highlight how not just literary and historical texts, but also physical documents and archaeological evidence should be incorporated into writing histories of the late antique and early medieval Middle East. Social institutions and relationships explored include oaths; petitions, decrees, and begging letters; and financial frameworks such as debt and taxation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Provides a new framework for understanding how the early Islamic empire, and pre-modern empires more broadly, worked together through cooperation and interdependence as well as through coercion

Shows how different linguistic communities intersected and contributed to a connected yet diverse empire

Uses physical documents and archaeological evidence as well as literary and historical texts in order to produce a broader picture"