The initiative to hold the 28th Congress UEAI in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, was born in Helsinki in 2014, during the Plenary Assembly of the members of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants. The UEAI is the most prestigious association that brings together more than three hundred scholars and Islamic specialists arabistica of European universities.
PROGRAMME
Tuesday, September 13th
9:00 to 11:00 am, Building no. 12, Viale delle Scienze
AULA Bisaccia
Chair: Carmela Baffioni, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Thursday, September 15th
9:00 to 11:00 am Building no. 12, Viale delle Scienze
AULA Magna
Panel: “Ismaili Thought: Intellect, Action, Transmission”.
Chair: Farhad Daftary (Institute of Ismaili Studies, London)
Professor Carmela Baffioni
Introduction
Carmela Baffioni is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, having previously been Professor of the History of Islamic Philosophy and of the History of Muslim Philosophies and Sciences at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ until 2012.
Her publications include several monographs on the transmission of Greek thought into Islam; translations of works by the Ikhwan al-Safaʾ, al-Farabi, and Ibn Rushd (Averroes), as well as al-Shahrastani; in addition, she has written a monograph on Aristotle’s Meteorologica IV (1981) and books on the history of Muslim philosophy.
Besides the Ikhwan al-Safaʾ, her articles focus on al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Yahya ibn ʿAdi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and some Latin elaborations of Arabic heritage. Her scientific interests concern logic, atomism and embryology.
She has translated books from German and Russian, and edited six collective works. Her recent publications include articles on the political views of the Ikhwan al-Safaʾ, the philosophy of nature of Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, about forty items in the Enciclopedia filosofica (Milan: Bompiani, 2006), and the revision and edition of the catalogue of manuscripts of the Ahel Habott Foundation (Chinguetti), in Arabic and French (Milan: Nottetempo, 2006).
She has edited and translated the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: On Logic (2010) and Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: On Natural Sciences (2013).
Dr Farhad Daftary
Introduction
Farhad Daftary completed his early and secondary education in Tehran, Rome, and London, before going to Washington, D.C., in 1958. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the American University there, and then continued his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, leading to a Ph.D. degree in 1971. Subsequently, Dr. Daftary held different teaching posts, and, since 1988, he has been affiliated with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where he is currently Co-Director and Head (since 1992) of the Department of Academic Research and Publications.
An authority in Shi’i studies, with special reference to its Ismaili tradition, Dr. Daftary has published and lectured widely in these fields of Islamic studies. In 2011 a Festschrift entitled Fortresses of the Intellect was produced to honour Dr. Daftary by a number of his colleagues and peers. As well as serving on various editorial boards, Dr. Daftary is a consulting editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica (for Ismailism), co-editor (with W. Madelung) of the Encyclopaedia Islamica, and general editor of the “Ismaili Heritage Series”, the “Ismaili Texts and Translations Series” and the “Shi’i Heritage Series”. He has written more than 200 articles and encyclopedia entries and several acclaimed books, including The Isma
Sources:
Ismailimail 