Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University

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Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University Furthering the scholarly study of Islam and the Muslim world

Alwaleed Bin Talal Seminar in Islamic Studies - Fall 2026 What’s Truth Got to Do With It? Logic as (Mere) Instrument in ...
10/07/2026

Alwaleed Bin Talal Seminar in Islamic Studies - Fall 2026

What’s Truth Got to Do With It? Logic as (Mere) Instrument in Philosophy of the Islamic World
Friday, September 25, 2026 | 4-5:30pm | HMANE 201, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Peter Adamson, Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy, LMU in Munich
Co-sponsor: Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

The Eloquent Tyrant: Speech and Empire in Umayyad Iraq under al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf al-Thaqafī, 694-714
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 | 4-5:30pm | CMES 102, 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Pamela Klasova, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago
Co-sponsors: Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Mahindra Humanities Center Medieval Studies Seminar

A Book Talk on Preaching Pious Rulership in Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Jawzi’s Political Thought
Thursday, November 19, 2026 | 12-1:30pm | HMANE 201, 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Han Hsien Liew, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Arizona State University
Co-sponsor: Center for Middle Eastern Studies

RSVP with link in bio


Islamic Studies Receptionhosted by the Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies ProgramPlease join us to meet members of the H...
10/01/2026

Islamic Studies Reception
hosted by the Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program
Please join us to meet members of the Harvard community who work on Islam and Muslim societies across schools and departments.
Monday, October 5, 2026 | 4-5:30pm | S030 (Lee Gathering Room), CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

RSVP link in bio


Alwaleed Bin Talal Director’s SeriesIslamic Art as an Experience: The New Galleries in the Pergamon Museum in BerlinThur...
10/01/2026

Alwaleed Bin Talal Director’s Series
Islamic Art as an Experience: The New Galleries in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Thursday, October 1, 2026 | 6-7:30pm | 485 Broadway Lower Lecture Hall
Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum for Islamic Art, Pergamon Museum in Berlin
Co-sponsors: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

This talk will be recorded and posted on our Vimeo channel (link in bio).



Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz is a winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for his di...
06/23/2026

Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz is a winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for his dissertation, “A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī (d. 985–7/1577–9).” Ozzy talks about his interests in Arabic literature during the Ottoman era, often considered a period of inḥiṭāṭ, or decline, in which Arabic literature came to be decadent, imitative, and lacking creativity. Ozzy challenges the decline narrative and conducts a micro-history of Māmayya al-Rūmī, an Arabic poet of non-Arab origin, whose poetry Ozzy analyzes on its own terms and within the context of the literary milieu of 16th century Damascus. Māmayya al-Rūmī’s poetry spans a vast range, including panegyrics to rulers and scholars, multi-lingual macaronic poems, chronograms, and “bawdy” poetry on the themes of ho******ic desire, drugs, and the wildly popular new beverage, coffee.

You can listen to this episode and others on the Harvard Islamica Podcast on various platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud (link in bio).





Eid Mubarak from the Alwaleed Program!
05/26/2026

Eid Mubarak from the Alwaleed Program!




The Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies recognizes Harvard College students who make origin...
05/21/2026

The Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies recognizes Harvard College students who make original contributions to current scholarly discourse on Islam and Muslim societies, past and present.

After reviewing many excellent submissions, the Selection Committee has chosen Eva Frazier (Social Studies and EMR) as the winner of the 2026 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies for her thesis, “Pacification and its Afterlives: Algeria in American Global War on Terror Doctrine.” In her ambitious and meticulously researched thesis, Eva draws on French and American archives, showing how U.S. officials adapted and expanded French counterinsurgency strategies from Algeria, especially through legal and medical institutions that rationalize neocolonial violence. Eva does excellent archival research and demonstrates a sophisticated grasp of theory and history.

The Committee also selected two honorable mentions, Dalal Hassane (History & Literature and NELC) for her thesis, “From Baghdad to Slemani: The Poetics of Rememory in The Co**se Washer and The Last Pomegranate Tree” and Kawsar Yasin (Anthropology and History) for her thesis, “Shelving East Turkistan: Gendered Archives of Resistance, Exile, and Possibility in Uyghur Istanbul.” Dalal’s thesis offers a nuanced comparative reading of a Kurdish and an Arabic novel and their treatment of the embodied experiences of dictatorship, war, and occupation in Iraq and Kurdistan. Kawsar conducts the first ethnographic study of Uyghur women in Istanbul and their role in constructing nationalist memory, narrating the history of the diaspora, creating archives of the past, translating key texts, and building religious institutions as acts of resistance and resilience.

Congratulations to Eva, Kawsar, Dalal, and all students who produced excellent Islamic studies research!


We were honored to continue our series on Jewish-Muslim Interrelations with the Center for Jewish Studies () and to host...
05/20/2026

We were honored to continue our series on Jewish-Muslim Interrelations with the Center for Jewish Studies () and to host Professor Jessica Marglin for her talk, “Power and Vulnerability in Middle Eastern and North African Jewish History.” Thank you to all who participated asked great questions! The recording is available on Vimeo (link in bio).




In February 2026, David Roxburgh, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History and former Alwaleed Program...
05/04/2026

In February 2026, David Roxburgh, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History and former Alwaleed Program interim director, was recognized as the top international scholar for outstanding achievements in the Humanities at the 16th Farabi International Award Festival. The award is given by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology in Tehran, Iran, for contributions in the Humanities and in Islamic Studies in both national and international sections. Recipients of the Farabi Award become members of Iran’s National Elites Foundation.

Congratulations, Professor Roxburgh!




Thank you to all who participated in our Spring 2026 seminar! Recordings of all spring talks are or will be available on...
05/01/2026

Thank you to all who participated in our Spring 2026 seminar!

Recordings of all spring talks are or will be available on Vimeo (link in bio).





Thank you to all who attended the Fall 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Seminar in Islamic Studies! Recordings of Professor Houss...
04/30/2026

Thank you to all who attended the Fall 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Seminar in Islamic Studies!

Recordings of Professor Houssem Chachia’s and Professor Sebastian Günther’s talks are available on our Vimeo channel (link in bio).


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