Together with internationally esteemed colleagues, Léon Buskens has been awarded a HERA Joint Research Programme Grant for a research project entitled

How did the Arabs manage to maintain an empire based on Islamic principles for three hundred years? Arab expert Petra Sijpesteijn and her team will be examining this question over the coming five years, focusing on the correspondence of ordinary people. The research is being funded by an ERC Consolidator…

Mosques with limited opening hours, fewer family visits and fewer events: for the second time, Ramadan was different due to Covid. Islamologist and deputy director of the Leiden Islam Academie Fatiha Azzarhouni looks back on a special month.

‘Islam and Muslims are not something that happened to Europe; they are part of Europe. In fact, Islam is one the biggest constants in European history,’ argues Professor Maurits Berger in the new eight-part Matters of Humanities: History of Islam in Europe podcast series of the Leiden University Faculty…

Leiden’s expertise on the Middle East spans from ancient history to contemporary tensions in the region. By studying languages, cultures, religions, literature, art, and philosophy in in conjunction, we create an indispensable, in-depth understanding.

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

Lecture, LUCIS What's New?! Series

How did institutions and structures operate throughout the Muslim world from the earliest history of Islam into the early modern period?

Professor of Islam and the West Maurits Berger wants to use citizen science to answer this question. On the futureofislam.eu website, he is inviting European Muslims to complete an anonymous survey about how they see their future and the role of Islam in this. He will present the first findings at the…

Now and then we organise book launches to present the latest publications, both academic and popular, in our broad field.

At Leiden University you can study Islam and Muslim societies within two Dutch-language BA and various MA programmes and specializations.

Do you have questions or remarks? Please contact the core team of the Centre for Islamic Thought and History.

This project aims to open up the pre-Islamic linguistic history of Arabia through the systematic study of the Thamudic inscriptions within a digital humanities framework.

While many European universities, Leiden included, have a proud tradition of research into Islamic studies, a topical and thematic focus on Shiʿi Islam in all its dispensation remains a desideratum.

Ian Simpson is a relatively new face at the Faculty of Archaeology. Starting as an assistant professor in the Heritage and Society department in 2018, he is one of the faculty’s members in critical heritage studies and looks both at the past as well as the future. ‘I study how heritage can be employed…

PhD defence

Conference

Conference

On young Muslims seeking to understand their place and make their way in a transformed world.

The Centre is the proud home of several research programmes.

Our public programme includes lecture series, conferences, visiting fellowships, panel discussions and many other interesting events. Have a look at what we've organised in the past years.

On Sunday the 18th of March, a symposium kicked off with the participation of scholars of Islamic studies at al-Azhar University and their counterparts from Dutch universities.

LUCSoR is happy to welcome Verena Myer, researcher and lecturer in Islam in South and South-East Asia to the staff. In this interview she will discuss the course she is teaching, as well as her upcoming book.

The Institute of Public Administration is one of the largest and oldest institutes of academic research and teaching in the field of public administration in the Netherlands. The Institute combines a solid international academic reputation with a central positioning among the international, national,…

Members of LUCIR contribute to various education programmes in the sphere of international relations, exchanging expertise with both bachelor’s and master’s students.

Do objectively correct solutions to ethical dilemmas exist? Or is ethics always a matter of your opinion against my opinion? How do you know what to do? What kind of thing is ethics anyway? Can you be an expert in ethics?

Elizabeth Hicks won first runner-up in the Netherlands Institute of the Near East (NINO) MA thesis 2021 competition at the end of January.

Lillian McCabe is a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at Yale University and holds an MTS (Master of Theological Studies) from Harvard Divinity School. She studies the history of the occult sciences in Islamicate societies. Her dissertation focuses on Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210)…

An overview of Professional Associations and Journals

Diede Farhosh-van Loon defended her thesis on 18 October 2016

From the rise and fall of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, to Islamic State’s attempts to create its own currency, to the dramatic return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, this edited volume from two leading scholars of contemporary terrorism assembles an enviable array of international experts to explore these…

Vol. V, Sections 1-2

A Jurist's Travelogue

Each month we will be spotlighting material we have been reading, or that have been recommended to us that relate to AI and a particular theme.

On the 24th of June Hossein Pourbagheri successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Humanities are needed to make sense of social issues. Watch or listen to the stories of our experts who tell about their research and the impact on society. Get to know the world at Humanities!

Our library contains around 23,000 books, journals and historical documents under the care of a specialized librarian.

For decades, the trade in pocketbooks prescribing how to be a good Muslim flourished in East Africa, but in recent years the number of books in circulation has been declining. University lecturer Annachiara Raia is the recipient of an Impact Explorer grant to revive this tradition, in cooperation with…

The Indonesian government has been trying to enforce marriage and divorce laws for some time. These efforts are encountering resistance from both local communities and the Indonesian Supreme Court. PhD candidate Al Farabi investigated where this resistance comes from.

Devin DeWeese, Indiana University Bloomington, will be the Central Asia Visiting Professor between 5-17 September 2016. Professor DeWeese will deliver a guest lecture on Monday, 12 September (Lipsius 148, 3pm) and a masterclass on Friday, 16 September within the Central Asia initiative at Leiden Uni…

At our regular panel discussions we bring together scholars and other experts to discuss a current topic that captures the interest of the general public as well as academics.