Main Image for Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy

Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy

A Bard College Conference
"The Concourse of the Birds", Folio 11r from a Mantiq al-tair (Language of the Birds) ca. 1600.
Painting by Habiballah of Sava. Courtesy of the MET.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
and Friday, April 1, 2022

About the Conference

  • Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy
    “Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy” seeks to highlight how Islamic philosophy (falsafa/ḥikma) was practiced “in conversation”—between scholars, with various audiences, and with different disciplines, approaches, and rhetoric. Islamic philosophy was composed not only in traditional forms of treatises and commentaries, but also through narratives written in poetry and prose. For example, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī penned a panegyric poem written in Persian in praise of logic, physics, and metaphysics, alongside his many philosophical prose treatises. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s philosophical mysticism includes prose that reads as Aristotelian commentary alongside succinct poems highlighting his key philosophical concepts through mystical metaphors. In reference to Ibn Sīnā’s allegorical treatise, Ibn Tufayl’s famous Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān provides an intriguing narrative and philosophical thought experiment. What do story-telling, poetry, narrative, metaphor, and allegory reveal about the nature and purpose of philosophy?

    The conference is organized in conjunction with the “Islamic Philosophy in Conversation” working group. The conference aligns itself with the goals of the working group, and therefore seeks to highlight the work of a diverse group of scholars, including emerging scholars of Islamic philosophy, as well as those who identify as female, non-binary, or as belonging to a historically-marginalized group.
     
    The conference will include three traditional panels (15-20 minutes per presenter) open to the public, as well as longer sessions workshopping the papers of two emerging scholars which will be limited to participants and members of the Islamic Philosophy in Conversation Working Group. Additionally, we will hold a limited discussion of a primary text in translation, as well as a public keynote lecture, both led by Dr. Lara Harb. 

Schedule of Events

  • Thursday, March 31
    • 8:30–9:00 am EST: Welcome Remarks
    • 9:00–10:30 am EST: Panel 1: Philosophical Mysticism+
    • 11:00 am – 12:30 pm EST: Panel 2: Philosophy in Mystical Poetry+
    • 1:00–2:00 pm EST: Publishing Discussion with Asad Q. Ahmed*
    • 2:30–4:00 pm EST: Workshop 1: Islamic Philosophy in Confucian Society*
    • 5:00–6:30 pm EST: Discussion of Primary Text led by Lara Harb*
  • Friday, April 1
    • 9:00–11:30 am EST: Panel 3: Representational Forms and Ethical Functions of Philosophy+
    • 1:00–2:00 pm EST: Social Hour*
    • 2:30–4:00 pm EST: Workshop 2: Avant-Garde Sufism*
    • 5:00–6:30 pm EST: Keynote Lecture by Lara Harb+
    + Open to the Public
    * Open to conference presenters and working group members only

Welcome Remarks and Panel 1: Philosophical Mysticism

March 31, 8:30–9 am EST (Welcome Remarks), 9–10:30 am EST (Panel 1)
+Open to public

Moderator: Elizabeth Sartell

  • Oludamini Ogunnaike (Asst Prof, UVA), “Dreaming Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: Dreams and Knowledge between Natural Philosophy, Theology, and Sufism in Three Treatises of Shaykh Dan Tafa”
  • Dunja Rašić (Lecturer, University of Belgrade), “Metaphors for Evil and Allegories of Spiritual Ascension in Ibn ʿArabī’s Works”
  • Nicolas Hintermann (PhD student, University of Tübingen), “The Many Faces of Philosophy: Falsafa in the Maqāmāt of Ibn Abī Ṭālib al-Dimašqī”


Panel 2: Philosophy in Mystical Poetry

March 31, 11 am–12:30 pm EST
+Open to public

Moderator: Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed

  • Jawad Qureshi (Asst Prof, Zaytuna College), “Philosophy through Commentary on Mystical Poetry: ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī’s (d. 1143/1734) Gloss of Seven Verses from ʿUmar ibn al-Fāriḍ’s (d. 632/1235) Khamriyya”
  • Katharine Loevy (Assoc Prof, Pacific University, Oregon), “Niffari’s Poem Forty-Four of the Kitâb al-Mawâqif as Semantic Event”
  • Fateme Montazeri (PhD candidate, UC Berkeley), “Deciphering Poetry: A Neglected Philosophical Function” 


Workshop 1: Islamic Philosophy in Confucian Society

March 31, 2–4 pm EST
*Open to conference presenters and working group members only

Moderator: Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed

  • Qiu Lin (PhD Candidate in Philosophy, Duke), “Constructing an Islamic Philosophy in a Predominantly Confucian Society: the Case of Wang Daiyu王岱舆 (1570-1660)”

Discussion of Primary Text Led by Lara Harb

March 31, 25–6:30 pm EST
*Open to conference presenters and working group members only

Lara Harb will be discussing sections 38 and 39 from Ibn Rushd’s commentary on Aristotle’s Poetics.

Panel 3: Representational Forms and Ethical Functions of Philosophy

April 1, 9–11:30 am EST
+Open to public

Moderator: Shatha Almutawa

  • Fahimeh Zarezadeh (Asst Prof, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran), “Reflection of Illuminationist Philosophers’ Color Theories in Persian Miniature”
  • Jeson Ng (PhD student, University of Chicago), “Mathal and Majāz as Method in Ibn Ṭufayl’s Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān”
  • Saliha Shah (Asst Prof, Women's College Srinagar, India), “Iqbal the Ambivalent Poet-Philosopher: Critical Departures Towards a New Image of Thought”
  • Cédric Molino-Machetto (PhD student, Universite Toulouse Jean-Jaures), “Philosophy, Theology and Politics in the Muqaddima of Ibn Khaldûn: An Ash'arite Epistemology”
  • Sakineh Karimi (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Qom, Iran), “Avicenna on Animal Ethics: Concerning Contemporary Approaches”


Workshop 2: Avant-Garde Sufism

April 1, 2:30–4 pm EST
*Open to conference presenters and working group members only

Moderator: Elizabeth Sartell

  • Cyril Uy (Asst Prof, James Madison University), "Prayer, Deconstruction, and Boundless Play: Saʿd al-Dīn Ḥamūya's (d. 1252) Avant-Garde Sufism”

Keynote Lecture by Lara Harb

April 1, 5–6:30 pm EST
+Open to public

The Aesthetic as Philosophical and Philosophy as Aesthetic: The Place of the Poetic and Narrative in the Pursuit of Knowledge

About the Speaker
Lara Harb is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. She specializes in Classical Arabic Literature and her research focuses on medieval Arabic literary criticism and theory.  Her first book, Arabic Poetics: Aesthetic Experience in Classical Arabic Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2020), looks at medieval Arabic conceptions of poetic beauty. Her second book project, tentatively titled Mimesis in Classical Arabic Literature, investigates conceptions of literary representation in classical Arabic literature. The reception of Aristotle’s Poetics by the philosophers of the Islamic world plays a pivotal role in both book projects. Harb has published articles on the influential 11th-century theorist ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī, on “intermedial” poetry in 10th-century Iraq, and the use of Persian in early Abbasid poetry. Harb is a member of the editorial board of Library of Arabic Literature. 


Join Our Working Group

In addition, we would like to solicit suggestions for ways in which we can support the career development of emerging scholars of Islamic philosophy during the conference and beyond.  If you are interested in joining the “Islamic Philosophy in Conversation” working group, please email Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed ([email protected]), Shatha Almutawa ([email protected]), and/or Elizabeth Sartell ([email protected]).

Conference Organizers

  • Elizabeth Sartell
    Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Islam
    Lewis University
    [email protected]
  • Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed
    Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies
    Bard College
    [email protected]
  • Shatha Almutawa
    Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion
    American University
    [email protected]

Conference Funding

The conference is being held through the generous support of Bard College.