Events

You're invited to join us for an in-person talk on the history of the Ibadi Muslims— a minority community in the Maghreb, many of whom emigrated from Djerba, Tunisia, to Cairo, Egypt from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Pr. Paul Love, Associate Professor of North Africa, Middle Eastern, and Islamic History at Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco, and the author of The Ottoman Ibadis of Cairo (Cambridge University Press, 2023), will take us on a journey into the lives of the Ibadi Muslims during the Ottoman centuries.

? Key Topics:

• How did the migration from Djerba to Cairo shape the identity and experiences of Ibadi Muslims in their new cultural landscape?

• How did this minority community navigate the complex landscapes of Cairo, adapting to cultural, religious, and social nuances within the Ottoman Empire?

• What economic and cultural contributions did they make, and how did these contributions leave a lasting imprint on the rich tapestry of the city?

Join us at Columbia Global Centers | Tunis on January 5th at 4.30 p.m.

Register here. 

About the Book:

Ibadi Muslims, a minority religious community, historically inhabited pockets throughout North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the East African coast. Yet less is known about the community of Ibadi Muslims that relocated to Egypt. Focusing on the history of an Ibadi-run trade depot, school, and library that operated in Cairo for over three hundred years, this book shows how the Ibadi Muslims operated in and adapted to the legal, religious, commercial, and political realms of the Ottoman Empire from the seventeenth to early twentieth centuries. Using a unique range of sources, including manuscript notes, family histories and archival correspondence, Paul M. Love, Jr. presents an original history of this Muslim majority told from the bottom up. Whilst illuminating the events that shaped the history of Egypt during these centuries, he also brings to life the lived reality of a Muslim minority community in the Ottoman world.

About the Author:  

Paul is originally from Nashville, Tennessee in the United States and holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan. Since 2016, he has taught at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. His research interests revolve around the history of manuscript cultures, private and public libraries, and the social and intellectual history of Ibadi Muslim communities in the Maghrib. The Ottoman Ibadis of Cairo is his second book with Cambridge University Press, following the first which was entitled Ibadi Muslims of North Africa: Manuscripts, Mobilization, and the Making of a Written Tradition (2018). Alongside historical research, he also works with colleagues from Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, and France on several manuscript documentation and digitization initiatives in southern Tunisia and Libya.