Many thanks to Isabelle Imbert for this lively interview last month for Art Informant Podcast, where we discussed curating Islamic manuscript collections and my research into the social history and cultural history of South Asia isabelle-imbert.com/art-informant-… via @art_informant

A group of students from our Islamic History cohort, studying with Islamicate History, examined & handled some fascinating Arabic manuscripts on Qur'an & Hadith in Special Collections at Leeds yesterday! They enjoyed seeing variations in scripts, styles, colours, bindings and marginalia

Very pleased to participate to this great event next week in Vienna!

A workshop on misattributions and forgeries in the Middle Eastern manuscript traditions is happening next week in Vienna. This is a collaboration of Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and IMAFO. Co-organized by Sabine Schmidtke Sabine Schmidtke , George Kiraz George Anton Kiraz and me

A spectacular cacophony of Arabic script, in the form of karalama though here as a continuous text or group of texts as opposed to disconnected letters or words; I love the interplay of order, line, imperfection, overlap, a sort of controlled chaos (McGill Arabic Calligraphy 125)

Reminder that this lecture (by me) is TODAY at 5pm BST. That's less than 5 hours from now. Anyone can register to get a Zoom link here: cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regist…

1/6. Modern or early forgery ?
Some years ago, I came across this “Antique Hijazi Quran', with a suspect provenance “Acquired from an acquaintance in Paris… belonged to a Professor of Islamic Art”, on this blog:
abudervish.blogspot.com/2013/11/ancien…
I first thought it was a modern fake.

Our article is published Open Access, and there is a lot more detail there, since the article was maximalist to a fault. So please, if this interests you at all, make sure to read the article. We're very proud of it!
doi.org/10.1080/175975…

NEW PUBLICATION: 'Pronominal variation in Arabic among grammarians, Qurʾānic readings traditions and manuscripts'.

This article has been in publication hell for 4 years. But it was an seminal work for my current research project, and a great collaboration with Hythem Sidky.
🧵

Peace, La Paix, السلام
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris dans le cadre de l'exposition 'Présences Arabes' 5 avril - 25 août 2024
#museedartmodernedeparis #HassanMassoudy #calligraphiearabe #arabiccalligraphy #peace #paix

I'll have to try to make this one! An ink that is 'only visible at night and not in daytime', made with salammoniac and asafoetida 🤔

Margin note explaining how to tell if your book damage is due to termites or excess vitriol. It also mentions scents used to mask the unpleasant smells of 'tannin, vitriol, indigo and verdigris only', which I LOVE cuz I can confirm indigo stinks– and verdigris due its vinegar.

In case anyone with a calligraphy interest is still following me, I’m teaching this style of Eastern Kufi on June 15-16 in London, to a small group of 5-6 people max. Full details and booking here majnouna.com/shop/courses/

Page from 'On Squaring and Circling' by al-Jahiz (d. 868/869 CE), found - somewhat unexpectedly - in the #Cairo #Genizah . It is one of the oldest surviving copies of any of al-Jahiz’s works (ca. 10th century). #manuscriptmonday

The world is nothing but variety and dissimilarity. Montaigne (1533-1592)
ما العالم الا تنوع واختلاف ـ الكاتب الفرنسي مونتين
Le monde n'est que variété et dissemblance.
#HassanMassoudy #arabiccalligraphy #calligraphie
#islamiccalligraphy #calligraphie arabe #calligraphy

Another Qur'anic leaf from Morocco has just been withdrawn from Plakas auction. It belongs to an 8th-9th CE manuscript formerly in Meknes, Abd al-Rahman b. Zaydan's collection. Transferred to the Royal Library in Rabat, the copy clearly underwent many thefts in the last 3 decades

From a visit to the Sadberk Hanım Museum in #Istanbul : amongst beautiful collections on display were these #Sufi levhas featuring the türbe of Ahmet al-Rifa’i; #Mevlevi and Sünbüli turbans; a panel describing the maqams (graves/shrines) of the Prophet’s companions #calligraphy

The Marinids Madrasa
Among the alleys of the old medina of Salé, lies 9 centuries of knowlege.
The Marinids Madrasa is .. Why Morocco

بين أزقة المدينة العتيقة بسلا، توجد 9 قرون من العلم.
المدرسة المرينية، ها علاش المغرب
MJCC وزارة الشباب والثقافة والتواصل