Interview at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”: Arabic–Ottoman Translations of Qur’anic Exegesis Philip Bockholt, project leader within the research project conducted by Ahmet Aytep at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics”, gave an interview on ...

Arabic–Ottoman translations of works of Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr). The project examines translations from Arabic into Turkish produced between 1400 and 1750 and explores their role in transmitting and transforming religious knowledge in the Ottoman world. ...

Rather than being strictly literal renderings, these texts often included abridgements, expansions, and interpretive adaptations. Focusing on the early Ottoman Turkish translation Enfesü’l-Cevāhir and its Arabic source, the interview highlights ...

how translation made religious scholarship accessible beyond Arabic-speaking scholarly circles and shaped intellectual exchange. www.uni-muenster.de/Religion-und...

Lecture Series on Endowment Notes Concludes The "Endowment Records" lecture series, organised by the FSM Center for Manuscript Studies in collaboration with TRANSLAPT, has successfully concluded. Over the course of 17 engaging sessions, the programme brought together ...

40 participants (25 in-person and 15 online). The series wrapped up with a guided tour of endowment libraries led by Hayri Fehmi Yılmaz. Participants had the opportunity to visit and examine the historic collections at the Ayasofya, İstanbul Kitaplığı, Hacı Beşir Ağa, Köprülü ...

Veliyüddin Efendi, and Atıf Efendi libraries. The next stage of this collaboration will be a student workshop on March 28, during which participants will present their research papers.

Workshop on Imperial Frontiers in Münster From 9–10 February, Philip Bockholt participated in the workshop "Imperial Frontiers – Local and Global Entanglements", organised by the "Centre for Empire Studies. (Post)colonial Histories and Global Entanglements" (CES), an

interdisciplinary centre for postcolonial empire studies at the University of Münster. During the workshop, he chaired a panel on frontiers as sites of local and global entanglements—spaces shaped by ...

complex political, legal, social, and cultural processes that are often overlooked. The event also included discussions on the Ottoman Empire, highlighted by a lecture from Markus Koller (Ruhr University Bochum) ...

titled "The Bojana/Buna River – An Imperial Frontier of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th Century." This is the link to the programme: www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/c... The link to the website of the Centre for Empire Studies: www.uni-muenster.de/Geschichte/e...

Philip Bockholt Discusses Translation on NADAW Podcast Recently, Philip Bockholt was interviewed on the podcast “News of the Ancient World” (NADAW), hosted by the Center for History and Culture of the Eastern Mediterranean (GKM) at the University of Münster. In the interview,...

he discusses the cultural implications of translation processes, focusing on how Ottoman Turkish translations from Arabic and Persian provide crucial insights into intellectual developments in the Eastern Mediterranean between 1400 and 1750. The conversation further ...

highlights the dynamics of interdisciplinary research and transregional knowledge transfer during this period. The interview is available on Spotify and other major platforms. This is the link to the podcast: www.uni-muenster.de/EvT.../en/gk...

Call for Applications: Chagatai Manuscript Reading Course Between 29 June and 3 July, the International Summer Academy Chagatai Manuscript Reading Course will take place in Münster. Organised jointly by...

Prof. Dr. Philip Bockholt (University of Münster) and Prof. Dr. Jeanine Dağyeli (University of Vienna / Austrian Academy of Sciences), the event offers an opportunity to study Chagatai – an essential source and literary language for the history of ...

Central Asia – at an advanced level. Participants from any relevant discipline whose research focuses on Central Asia, Afghanistan and Northwestern China are welcome to apply, provided that they have acquired an intermediate level of Chagatai and are able to read the Arabo-Persian script.

The deadline for applications is 13 February 2026. Link to the event page: www.uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIsl...

This is the link to the event page: www.uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIsl...

Kristof D’hulster’s talk on the Mamluk and Post-Mamluk contexts, Mahdieh Tavakol (University of Hamburg) discussed manuscripts from the Safavid period, while Natalie Kraneiß (University of Münster) presented materials featuring endowment notes from the Maghreb.

Book Endowment Practices in the Islamic World from the Maghreb to the Safavids On 10 January, Kristof D’hulster gave a lecture entitled “Mamluk and Post-Mamluk Endowment Notes in Late-Mamluk Sultanic Manuscripts” as part of

in the "Endowment Notes Lecture Series" (Yazma Eser Kültürü Atölyesi) held at the FSMVÜ. In the future, more formats are to come through these collaborations, aiming at a young scholarly audience interested in (Ottoman) manuscript studies and multilingualism.

with Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf Üniversitesi, in particular the Centre for Manuscript Studies there, as well as Boğaziçi Üniversitesi and İstanbul 29 Mayıs Üniversitesi. Most recently, these cooperations resulted

Interview on Cooperations Between Münster and Turkey Recently, Philip Bockholt gave an interview at the Asian Studies Centre of the University of Münster about the collaborations between Münster and several institutions in Turkey. Currently, TRANSLAPT works together...

Excellent news! My latest article has seen the light of print:"Qayt Sharīfī's Turkic Class Notes and Tamurbāy's First Arabic Scribbles: Language and Education at the Mamluk Barracks in Light of Ayasofya MS 1448", Mamlūk Studies Review 28 (2025): 39-104.

in a wide range of contexts. The event starts at 08:00 (CET), is conducted via Zoom and can be followed via the QR code in the attached image.

organised jointly by FSMVÜ and TRANSLAPT. The panel, chaired by Philip Bockholt, will also include lectures by Mahdieh Tavakol (University of Hamburg) and Nathalie Kraneiß from the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Münster, all discussing endowment notes found on Islamic manuscripts

Book Endowment Practices in the Islamic World from the Maghreb to the Safavids On 10 January, Kristof D’hulster will give a lecture entitled “Mamluk and Post-Mamluk Endowment Notes in Late-Mamluk Sultanic Manuscripts” as part of a public panel in the lecture series Yazma Eser Kültürü Atölyesi,

individual lectures, and—most importantly—the many new acquaintances that were made. As the year comes to an end, the team wishes everyone a good transition into the new year and looks forward to many more occasions to meet in the future!

On 17 December, the TRANSLAPT team in Münster gathered for the last time in 2025 and reminisced about the many events of the past year. We look back on a wide range of activities, including a joint research trip to Cairo, several workshops in Münster and elsewhere, visits, work meetings, ...

taking place in the Eastern Mediterranean between 1350 and 1800. The session also invited reflection broader connections between the Islamic world and East Asia, emphasising the impact of translation across regions and disciplines. Link to the event page: www.ioa.uni-bonn.de/sin/de/nachr...

Lecture at Sinologisches Kolloquium in Bonn On Monday, Philip Bockholt delivered a lecture titled "Übersetzen als Kulturtechnik: Multilingualer innerislamischer Wissenstransfer im östlichen Mittelmeerraum (1350–1800)" within the Islamic world, focusing on the interactions and exchanges

A link to the program: orientalistik.univie.ac.at/fachrichtung...

from the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Academy of Sciences. Their discussion focused on future research initiatives and further collaboration concerning material culture in Iran and Central Asia, strengthening ties across academic institutions and disciplines.

His research highlighted the significance of manuscripts as sources for understanding the interplay among social, political, and intellectual developments in early modern manuscript cultures. During his stay in Vienna, he also met with Florian Schwarz and Bruno De Nicola ...

with a paper titled "Elite Translation Projects in the Tulip Period: Material Evidence and Cultural Context." In his talk, he explored how translation projects among Ottoman elites during the Tulip Period reflected broader cultural developments and left concrete traces in the material record.

Lecture Series "Beyond the Codex" in Vienna Last week, Philip Bockholt contributed to the lecture series "Beyond the Codex: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Manuscript Cultures" at the University of Vienna, organised by Yavuz Köse, Gisela Procháska-Eisl, and Jeanine Dağyeli,

No need to stress about picking the best seat at the Christmas table, for my latest publication comes to the rescue: "The Art of Picking the Best Seat: From Seating Positions at a Muslim Majlis to Hindu vāstu śāstra," International Journal of Divination & Prognostication 6 (2025): 191-254.

by Philip Bockholt titled “Türkische Übersetzungen aus dem Arabischen und Persischen: Akteure, Adaption und Rezeption in der Frühen Neuzeit”, is scheduled for publication in spring 2026, with additional titles to follow. This is the link to the book series: www.degruyterbrill.com/serial/eit-b...

results from the TRANSLAPT project, the series will highlight the complex dynamics of interaction among Arabic, Persian, and Turkish traditions. The first volume, a monograph ...

Philip Bockholt, @huelyacelik.bsky.social, @kristofdhulster.bsky.social , Andrew Peacock, and Derin Terzioğlu, this series is dedicated to exploring the vital roles of translation, language, and cultural exchange in shaping the history of the early modern Eastern Mediterranean. Through research ...

TRANSLAPT Book Series The @translapt.bsky.social team is proud to announce the launch of a new academic book series: Empires in Translation: Intersections of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish in the Eastern Mediterranean. Edited by ...

A link to the event page: www.uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIsl...

In his paper, "’So That They Need Neither Skilled Swimmers nor Shell Divers to Reach its Pearls’: Tracing Knowledge Transfer in a Didactic Arabic Verse Translation", he discussed an Arabic translation of the Persian Pandnāma-yi ʿAṭṭār produced in 19th-century Egypt.

Discussing Arabic Poetry and Translations On Friday, 21 November, Tobias Sick participated in the international conference "Poetry and Knowledge: The Production and Transmission of Knowledge in Arabic Verse (1100–1800)", taking place at the University of Münster.

The deadline for the call for papers is 10 December 2025. This is link to the event page: uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIsl... This is the link to the call for papers: uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/c...

The event aims to address the Ottoman Balkans as a dynamic space for translation and cross-linguistic exchange between Arabic, Persian, (Ottoman) Turkish, and other regional languages between the 15th and 19th centuries.

Call for Papers: The Ottoman Balkans as a Space for Multilingualism From 4-6 June 2026, the international workshop “The Ottoman Balkans as a Space for Multilingualism: Actors, Practices, and Sites of Translation” will take place at the Gazi Husrev-beg Library in Sarajevo.

Philip Bockholt offers a comparative perspective on identity formation among Iranians in Iran and in the diaspora, examining how ancient Iranian kingship is invoked to serve contemporary political purposes. This is the link to the programme: www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/c...

The event focuses on Scandinavian pre-Christian religion, which has played a central role in identity construction for many social groups from the 13th century to the present day. In his talk, "Cyrus the Great and the Diaspora: On Iranian Nationalism Today and its References to Ancient Iran,"