Workshop on Arabic & Islamic Studies

Faculty Adviser:
Khaled El-Rouayheb, kel@fas.harvard.edu

Graduate Student Coordinators:
Sarah Aziz, saziz@g.harvard.edu

Youssef El Alaoui, youssef_elalaoui@g.harvard.edu

The Workshop on Arabic & Islamic Studies (WAIS) is a graduate-student only forum to share works-in-progress and get feedback. The format in the past has consisted in circulating the work in advance of the meeting, kicking the conversation off with a respondent, and then opening up to conversation. 'Works-in-progress' can include anything from an article to a grant application to a prospectus, so long as its focus is the pre-colonial period. We would also like to invite those who would like to share their translation of Arabic works for feedback and/or help with particular issues.

Location: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Room 201, 6 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Spring 2026

Friday, April 17, 2:30pm - 4:00pm, Abdelrahman Mahmoud (History) will present his dissertation chapter, "Translating Law: Rhetorical Legal Idiom and Customary Practice in Ottoman Egypt. The Case of St. Catherine's Monastery"

Friday, April 24, 2:30pm - 4:00pm, Masoud Ariankhou (NELC) will present his dissertation chapter, "Ahriman, Iblis, and the Geography of Satan in the Shahnameh"