المنتدى

Call for Papers

Boundaries in the Arab and Islamic Context

November 28-30, 2019 | Hammamet, Tunisia

To read this call in Arabic, please click here.

Boundaries do not necessarily stand for the end of something or the limits of a certain effort or a certain scope. They may suggest what stands beyond or what opens up new horizons and transgresses the limits. Indeed, boundaries are transformed from an assumed end to the starting-up of new perspectives and the onset of inevitable prospects. Boundaries are the barriers and their beyond. They are just areas of transit, transformation, enrichment and new starts.

Never have boundaries been constant and stable. They are ever-changing. They function through expansion and expulsion. Sometimes they are centrifugal and sometimes they are centripetal depending on different military, political, economic, ideological and intellectual considerations. Most often they function according to put-forward bets which revolve around power, wealth, community and honor.

All over Arab and Islamic history boundaries between the Home of Islam and the Home of War have always been firm and impassable. However, within them Muslims enjoyed freedom of movement. They were free to move from the Western parts to the Eastern ones without facing barriers or obstacles or even restrictions. Yet, human progress and its complexities led to the emergence of other boundaries within the larger vessel, i.e. the Home of Islam itself. They were numerous and interrelated. Some were simple and others complex. Some are apparent and explicit and other hidden and implicit. Some were rational and others irrational. Such sub-boundaries were so diverse and appealed to almost all the aspects of life.

• Political boundaries which concern almost all entities: The ruler and the subjects, the Sultan and his opponents, the tax collector and the tax payer.
• Social boundaries which concern the private and the public, the urban and the rural, the master and the slave, the Muslim and his protectee, the free and the slave, men and women, the noble and the common.
• Sect boundaries: between the Sunnite and the Shiite, whimsical people and truth-holders. Even within the same sect there are boundaries. 
• Cultural boundaries which are the result of existence different languages and dialects, ways of thinking, customs, traditions, and every inherited thing.

This international scientific conference seeks to address the issue of boundaries from various perspectives: historical, religious, ideological, philosophical and social. Much emphasis should be put on what is happening across the boundaries of influence and impacts among civilizations, peoples and States, and the resulting dynamics among humans, languages, terminology, techniques, science, wealth, trade, doctrines and intellectual orientations.

Contributions may fall within the following topics, but are not limited to them:

1) Political boundaries: actual and virtual. Did the Islamic state have borders? Are they fixed boundaries? To which extent are these limits related to tax collection and the ruling doctrine?

2) Social boundaries between races, ethnic groups, classes, tribes and professions

3) Cultural boundaries: languages, ideas, customs and traditions

4) Economic Boundaries: Exchanges and their terms, techniques and their spread, currencies and their uses.

5) Ideological and doctrinal boundaries.

6) Celestial boundaries.

7) Legal boundaries: Halal and Haram. What is permissible and what is not acceptable.

8) Boundaries as areas of ​​differences and conflicts or continuity and integration.

9) Boundaries between illusion and truth: questioning their limits and their validity. How can they be overcome? Can they be fake? 

Abstracts

Contributions can be in Arabic or French or English.

Participants are invited to send a 250-word abstract and a brief one- page CV to islamcolloque@gmail.com by July 31,  2019. The following information should be specified in the abstract: Title and format of the presentation, Name and affiliation of the participant, email address, keywords, technical requirements, short bio.

Accepted participants will be notified on August 10, 2019. 

Academic Committee:

• Prof. Brahim Jadla - University of Manouba
• Prof. Hatem Zitouni - University of Gafsa
• Prof. Sadek Absha - King Saoud University Riadth
• Prof. Mohamed Abdelhamid Said - University of Sousse
• Prof. Mohamed Salah Biizik - University of Tunis
• Prof. Bouraoui Tarabelsi - University of Manouba

Participation Fee

150 Euro/200 US Dollars or equivalent in Tunisian Dinar.

Accomodation and Facilities

Transport from the airport to the hotel and accomodation at a 4-star hotel in Hammamet are included.