Presentations and Talks
The following is a list of talks and presentation that I have done on various topics.
They are sorted by the most recent first.
Various writings on historical topics
Islamic Astronomy's Legacy In The Arabic Origin Of Modern Star Names
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On Friday 11th of May, 2018, I gave the second part of my presentation on Islamic Astronomy's Legacy in Arabic Origin Of Modern Star Names. This was for the KW RASC.
Topics include
Medieval Islamic Astronomy And Its Influence On Renaissance Europe
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On Friday 13th of April, 2018, I gave a presentation at the KW RASC on Medieval Islamic Astronomy and its influence on Renaissance Europe.
Topics include
Presentation: Forgotten History: Al-Sufi's Book of Fixed Stars
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On Friday 27th of January, 2018, I gave a presentation at the KW RASC on Al-Sufi's Book Of Fixed Stars.
The book is the first illustrated pictorial star atlas, and was very influential for centuries after it was authored. It spread widely from central Asia, throughout the Middle East, and to Europe. It was translated into many languages.
Here is the presentation slides, and audio recording:
al-Hakim: Religious Policies
Al-Hakim's religious policy was as erratic as his other policies. He would issue a decree, then after a while, he would annul it for no apparent reason. His policies were catastrophic for Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike, and his actions caused a change in world history as you will see below.
Forbidding Sunnis from Pre-Noon and Taraweeh Prayers, and other things
al-Hakim: Threatening death for trivial things
Al-Hakim also was used to threaten death for seemingly trivial things.
For example, he said that death is the punishment for anyone who addressed any other person as Sayedna or Mawlana:
معاشر من يسمع هذا النداء من الناس أجمعين إن الله وله الكبرياء والعظمة أوجب اختصاص الأئمة بما لا يشركها فيه أحد من الأمة.
فمن أقدم بعد قراءة هذا المنشور على مخاطبة او مكاتبة لغير الحضرة المقدسة بسيدنا أو مولانا فقد أخل أمير المؤمنين دمه
فليبلغ الشاهد الغائب إن شاء الله.
Those who ate fish without scales, or possessed raisins were threatened with execution:
Maltese poem: Mejju gie, May has arrived - a translation by an Arabic speaker
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In a previous article, I attempted a translation of the oldest know literary work in Maltese, Il-Cantilena, without looking up any translations, and relying only on my knowledge of Arabic as a native speaker of both classical and a North African dialect (Egyptian). I was largely successful.
Were Egyptian hieroglyphs the origin of the alphabet?
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The Biblical Archeology Review has an article on how the alphabet was born from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
The article focuses on the Serabit El Khadem site in Sinai, and the inscriptions found in the temple of Hathor there.
Seventh Century Quranic Manuscript at Birmingham's Mingana Collection
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My friend Ralph Janke who is from Germany and lives here in Waterloo, pointed me to a very interesting project that he worked on.
The project is funded by the European Union, and therefore uses open source and open data formats.
Alphonse Mingana: Assyrian Orientalist
Il-Cantilena of Malta: How much can a modern day Arab decipher from the oldest Maltese literature?
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Also known as Il-Kantilena ...
In a previous article on Arab heritage in Malta, I touched upon how the Maltese language (Ilsan Malti) is definitely derived from Arabic, and more specifically, from the North African dialect of Arabic.
A visitor to the site raised a nice challenge which was very interesting to me: He started on the off note and having his comment titled "Maltest are not arab", and by saying:
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