Avinoam Shalem | Columbia University (original) (raw)
Articles, Essays, Reviews by Avinoam Shalem
The Image of Muhammad Between Ideal and Ideology
On the ninth of November 2005, Mustafa Akkad, an internationally famous Syrian-American producer ... more On the ninth of November 2005, Mustafa Akkad, an internationally famous Syrian-American producer and film director, was severely injured in a blast in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Amman. He died from his injuries two days later. It was an Iraqi suicide bomber that brought Akkad's career to an end-a tragedy that coincided with the worldwide explosion of the Danish cartoon controversy.¹ As the director of the film Al-Risala (The Message, also entitled Mohammad, Messenger of God, released in 1977), in which the life of Muhammad and the early days of Islamic history are visually recounted, Akkad made several Islamist enemies. Despite being given the approval of both Sunni and Shiite Muslim religious authorities to produce his film and although the image of Muhammad is not represented (the film was shot as if through the eyes of the Prophet), it nevertheless elicited anger and strong disapproval in the Muslim world and among Muslim diasporic communities living in America.² Akkad himself could be considered a kind of messenger: that is, an ambassador of Muslim culture and history within the Hollywood film industry. As a movie producer and director, he constantly explored the ways in which visual expression and cinematic art forms could provide a way for religion and culture to coexist in an age of secular modernities. But unfortunately he was left a victim of the battle between religion and culture on a global scale. Without a doubt, the Akkad incident speaks volumes to contemporary anxieties and debates over images of Muhammad as these traverse cultural and geographic boundaries via speedy reproduction and translation. Akkad's life story takes on global import for several reasons. Firstly, Akkad was a world citizen whose biography defies and transcends the facile yet flawed conflictual binary of the "West versus the rest." ³ He was born in French colonial Aleppo and educated in the Aleppo American College; he then migrated to the United States at the age
The Rise of Islamic Art 1869-1939, exhibition Catalogue, The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon , 2019
In Emmanuel Alloa and Chiara Cappelletto (eds.), Dynamis of the Image: Moving Images in the Global World , 2020
1 "From that twofold root participation and fiction-art draws its power to enlarge our vision by ... more 1 "From that twofold root participation and fiction-art draws its power to enlarge our vision by carrying us beyond the actual, and to deepen our experience by connecting it with the real, but it brings with it a persistent oscillation between actual and vicarious experience." Words broadcasted by the Oxford art historian Edgar Wind (died September 17, 1971) in one of his acclaimed lectures forming part of a six-part series given on the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1960. 2
Philological Encounters, 2020
In 1905, Dr. S. Pissareff from St. Petersburg was involved in the production of 50 copies of an e... more In 1905, Dr. S. Pissareff from St. Petersburg was involved in the production of 50 copies of an earlier Qurʾān codex. The original, namely the Qurʾān codex first discovered to western gaze around the mid 19th century, held in the Khoja Akhrar mosque in Samarqand, is a large-sized Qurʾānic manuscript written in Kufic on parchment with hardly any use of punctuation or vowel marks. This codex has been traditionally regarded as the muṣḥaf of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, the third caliph (murdered in 656), and was said to have been brought from Iraq by Timur. This essay presents the 'Pissareff copy' kept at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University, discusses its specific status as residing in the grey zone between reproduction and copy, and aims at setting it in the larger context of 'copies' of Qurʾān codices.
Quaderni di vicino oriente, 2019
At the very focus of this article is a group of fragmented carved ivories that was recovered at t... more At the very focus of this article is a group of fragmented carved ivories that was recovered at the site of the Abbasid Palace of Humeima, a home of the Prophet’s uncle Abu’l-‘Abbas and a resistance site against Umayyad power; the village of Humeima is located in Jordan, just half way between Amman and Petra.
The ivories excavated there (1991) stirred the field, and destabilized the established narrative of the arts of early Islam as emanating from the ‘classical’ tradition of the eastern parts of the Mediterranean. This study aims at revisiting bone and ivory fragments datable to the intermediate moments of early Umayyad period, while arguing for the importance of the Humeima ivories in marking a particular shift in the aesthetics of the new Muslim empire. The specific style of these low-reliefs panels from Humeima is analyzed and treated as an artistic form of expression rather than a taxonomic apparatus.
Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 2017
The history of the wide-sleeved garment in the lands of Islam clearly belongs to the history of f... more The history of the wide-sleeved garment in the lands of Islam clearly belongs to the history of fashion. And yet, very few studies have investigated the history of this particular dress and the specific uses, meanings and functions of wide and long sleeves in the medieval Muslim world. This short study focuses on the history of the wide sleeved garment, while bringing into discussion both visual and literary sources. It aims at suggesting that the wide sleeve was, in many cases, a necessity because, according to medieval accounts, it served as the particular section in one’s dress for keeping varied objects. Thus, the history of the wide sleeved garment appears as the proper one for exploring and illustrating the history of the medieval pocket.
Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2019
Abstract: This article focuses at medieval writings on the destructions of idols in the early day... more Abstract: This article focuses at medieval writings on the destructions of idols in the early days of Islam. It suggests that different approaches to the ‘existence’ of idols in the medieval period were manipulated and mainly deployed in order to ‘kill’, so to speak, idolatry as a customary rite and to establish a clear sense of rupture between the days of Jahiliyya (ignorance) and ‘Ilm (knowledge). And yet, the idols’ destruction and abolishment were done twice: once through the very act of breaking, and twice through the writing on the histories of idols in the very early days of Islam. Why was the idol killed twice? Why was the destruction of the idol’s substance not sufficient? The idol, as a work of art of the ‘Other’ will be highlighted as object that went through novel translation processes in the context of the historiography of the newly born Muslim Empire.
Abstract: The sea, like an embryo or a foetus, seems to represent “a sort of first stage in the a... more Abstract: The sea, like an embryo or a foetus, seems to represent “a sort of first stage in the advancement of superior life forms.” Its fluid character suggests an early age of our world’s foundation, before fluid turns to stone. It appears as an archaic cosmos into which one descends in order to find hidden treasures in its depths. How did artisans work, shape, and integrate the varied materials of the sea into an artistic oeuvre? Which meanings were attached to these materials? When, how and why were the materials’ fluid origin remembered?
The sea can be considered the great global depot of the world, which includes objects of both great and ordinary character, illustrating ambitious and innocent aspirations to an equal extent. Moreover, the particular shininess of the oceanic materials, like pearls, shells or animals’ skins, was usually associated with cosmic elements and thus emphasizes the pure and primal characters of these substances. The treasures of the sea were therefore beyond national. They were global. And their aquatic identity made them universal.
Metaphorically speaking, the sea, as an object, has body, shape and even face, and is demarcated by earth and air. This amorphous entity has a solid bottom, its upper surface, namely face, touches the air, and its walls constantly struggle against solid substances such as rock and stone. In addition, its depths are unknown. There, in the heart of darkness, unconsciousness resides.
This introductory essay aims at opening the so-called ’Pandora Box’ of the fluid realm of the seas. It presents this space’s great potential in providing us with vast amounts of historical information, usually ‘lying concealed`, as if under the water.
Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung sowie der Übersetzung, v... more Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung sowie der Übersetzung, vorbehalten. Kein Teil des Werkes darf in irgendeiner Form durch Fotokopie, Mikrofilm, CD-ROM usw. ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages reproduziert oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme verarbeitet, vervielfältigt oder verbreitet werden. Bezüglich Fotokopien verweisen wir nachdrücklich auf § § 53, 54 UrhG.
ABSTRACT: Throughout history, precious gifts were sent to the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Among the best-know... more ABSTRACT: Throughout history, precious gifts were sent to the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Among the best-known artifacts are the embroidered veil – the Kiswa – and the keys and locks, which were and still are sent each year to Mecca. This article focuses on the history of the covering of the Ka‘ba in Mecca. It discusses this phenomenon as related to the specific human notion of endowing body connotations and human characteristics to architecture and the wish to transform stone into flesh and walls into skin. Thus the house of the Ka‘ba in Mecca appears, at least in the imagination of the medieval pious pilgrims, as a bride, and the act of the covering it with the kiswa as the adorning the bride with costly garments and ornaments. In short, the medieval ritual of adding kiswas, one on top of the other, to the house of the Ka‘ba appears as adding to it soft, skin-like, layers of textile, and the particular physical engagement and interaction of medieval pilgrims with the Ka‘ba when visiting this holy site, seem to emphasize the transformation of the Ka‘ba into a living entity and thus strengthening the bond between the pious Muslim visitors and the site during the hajj.
The Image of Muhammad Between Ideal and Ideology
On the ninth of November 2005, Mustafa Akkad, an internationally famous Syrian-American producer ... more On the ninth of November 2005, Mustafa Akkad, an internationally famous Syrian-American producer and film director, was severely injured in a blast in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel in Amman. He died from his injuries two days later. It was an Iraqi suicide bomber that brought Akkad's career to an end-a tragedy that coincided with the worldwide explosion of the Danish cartoon controversy.¹ As the director of the film Al-Risala (The Message, also entitled Mohammad, Messenger of God, released in 1977), in which the life of Muhammad and the early days of Islamic history are visually recounted, Akkad made several Islamist enemies. Despite being given the approval of both Sunni and Shiite Muslim religious authorities to produce his film and although the image of Muhammad is not represented (the film was shot as if through the eyes of the Prophet), it nevertheless elicited anger and strong disapproval in the Muslim world and among Muslim diasporic communities living in America.² Akkad himself could be considered a kind of messenger: that is, an ambassador of Muslim culture and history within the Hollywood film industry. As a movie producer and director, he constantly explored the ways in which visual expression and cinematic art forms could provide a way for religion and culture to coexist in an age of secular modernities. But unfortunately he was left a victim of the battle between religion and culture on a global scale. Without a doubt, the Akkad incident speaks volumes to contemporary anxieties and debates over images of Muhammad as these traverse cultural and geographic boundaries via speedy reproduction and translation. Akkad's life story takes on global import for several reasons. Firstly, Akkad was a world citizen whose biography defies and transcends the facile yet flawed conflictual binary of the "West versus the rest." ³ He was born in French colonial Aleppo and educated in the Aleppo American College; he then migrated to the United States at the age
The Rise of Islamic Art 1869-1939, exhibition Catalogue, The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon , 2019
In Emmanuel Alloa and Chiara Cappelletto (eds.), Dynamis of the Image: Moving Images in the Global World , 2020
1 "From that twofold root participation and fiction-art draws its power to enlarge our vision by ... more 1 "From that twofold root participation and fiction-art draws its power to enlarge our vision by carrying us beyond the actual, and to deepen our experience by connecting it with the real, but it brings with it a persistent oscillation between actual and vicarious experience." Words broadcasted by the Oxford art historian Edgar Wind (died September 17, 1971) in one of his acclaimed lectures forming part of a six-part series given on the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1960. 2
Philological Encounters, 2020
In 1905, Dr. S. Pissareff from St. Petersburg was involved in the production of 50 copies of an e... more In 1905, Dr. S. Pissareff from St. Petersburg was involved in the production of 50 copies of an earlier Qurʾān codex. The original, namely the Qurʾān codex first discovered to western gaze around the mid 19th century, held in the Khoja Akhrar mosque in Samarqand, is a large-sized Qurʾānic manuscript written in Kufic on parchment with hardly any use of punctuation or vowel marks. This codex has been traditionally regarded as the muṣḥaf of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān, the third caliph (murdered in 656), and was said to have been brought from Iraq by Timur. This essay presents the 'Pissareff copy' kept at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University, discusses its specific status as residing in the grey zone between reproduction and copy, and aims at setting it in the larger context of 'copies' of Qurʾān codices.
Quaderni di vicino oriente, 2019
At the very focus of this article is a group of fragmented carved ivories that was recovered at t... more At the very focus of this article is a group of fragmented carved ivories that was recovered at the site of the Abbasid Palace of Humeima, a home of the Prophet’s uncle Abu’l-‘Abbas and a resistance site against Umayyad power; the village of Humeima is located in Jordan, just half way between Amman and Petra.
The ivories excavated there (1991) stirred the field, and destabilized the established narrative of the arts of early Islam as emanating from the ‘classical’ tradition of the eastern parts of the Mediterranean. This study aims at revisiting bone and ivory fragments datable to the intermediate moments of early Umayyad period, while arguing for the importance of the Humeima ivories in marking a particular shift in the aesthetics of the new Muslim empire. The specific style of these low-reliefs panels from Humeima is analyzed and treated as an artistic form of expression rather than a taxonomic apparatus.
Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft, 2017
The history of the wide-sleeved garment in the lands of Islam clearly belongs to the history of f... more The history of the wide-sleeved garment in the lands of Islam clearly belongs to the history of fashion. And yet, very few studies have investigated the history of this particular dress and the specific uses, meanings and functions of wide and long sleeves in the medieval Muslim world. This short study focuses on the history of the wide sleeved garment, while bringing into discussion both visual and literary sources. It aims at suggesting that the wide sleeve was, in many cases, a necessity because, according to medieval accounts, it served as the particular section in one’s dress for keeping varied objects. Thus, the history of the wide sleeved garment appears as the proper one for exploring and illustrating the history of the medieval pocket.
Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2019
Abstract: This article focuses at medieval writings on the destructions of idols in the early day... more Abstract: This article focuses at medieval writings on the destructions of idols in the early days of Islam. It suggests that different approaches to the ‘existence’ of idols in the medieval period were manipulated and mainly deployed in order to ‘kill’, so to speak, idolatry as a customary rite and to establish a clear sense of rupture between the days of Jahiliyya (ignorance) and ‘Ilm (knowledge). And yet, the idols’ destruction and abolishment were done twice: once through the very act of breaking, and twice through the writing on the histories of idols in the very early days of Islam. Why was the idol killed twice? Why was the destruction of the idol’s substance not sufficient? The idol, as a work of art of the ‘Other’ will be highlighted as object that went through novel translation processes in the context of the historiography of the newly born Muslim Empire.
Abstract: The sea, like an embryo or a foetus, seems to represent “a sort of first stage in the a... more Abstract: The sea, like an embryo or a foetus, seems to represent “a sort of first stage in the advancement of superior life forms.” Its fluid character suggests an early age of our world’s foundation, before fluid turns to stone. It appears as an archaic cosmos into which one descends in order to find hidden treasures in its depths. How did artisans work, shape, and integrate the varied materials of the sea into an artistic oeuvre? Which meanings were attached to these materials? When, how and why were the materials’ fluid origin remembered?
The sea can be considered the great global depot of the world, which includes objects of both great and ordinary character, illustrating ambitious and innocent aspirations to an equal extent. Moreover, the particular shininess of the oceanic materials, like pearls, shells or animals’ skins, was usually associated with cosmic elements and thus emphasizes the pure and primal characters of these substances. The treasures of the sea were therefore beyond national. They were global. And their aquatic identity made them universal.
Metaphorically speaking, the sea, as an object, has body, shape and even face, and is demarcated by earth and air. This amorphous entity has a solid bottom, its upper surface, namely face, touches the air, and its walls constantly struggle against solid substances such as rock and stone. In addition, its depths are unknown. There, in the heart of darkness, unconsciousness resides.
This introductory essay aims at opening the so-called ’Pandora Box’ of the fluid realm of the seas. It presents this space’s great potential in providing us with vast amounts of historical information, usually ‘lying concealed`, as if under the water.
Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung sowie der Übersetzung, v... more Alle Rechte, insbesondere das Recht der Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung sowie der Übersetzung, vorbehalten. Kein Teil des Werkes darf in irgendeiner Form durch Fotokopie, Mikrofilm, CD-ROM usw. ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages reproduziert oder unter Verwendung elektronischer Systeme verarbeitet, vervielfältigt oder verbreitet werden. Bezüglich Fotokopien verweisen wir nachdrücklich auf § § 53, 54 UrhG.
ABSTRACT: Throughout history, precious gifts were sent to the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Among the best-know... more ABSTRACT: Throughout history, precious gifts were sent to the Ka‘ba in Mecca. Among the best-known artifacts are the embroidered veil – the Kiswa – and the keys and locks, which were and still are sent each year to Mecca. This article focuses on the history of the covering of the Ka‘ba in Mecca. It discusses this phenomenon as related to the specific human notion of endowing body connotations and human characteristics to architecture and the wish to transform stone into flesh and walls into skin. Thus the house of the Ka‘ba in Mecca appears, at least in the imagination of the medieval pious pilgrims, as a bride, and the act of the covering it with the kiswa as the adorning the bride with costly garments and ornaments. In short, the medieval ritual of adding kiswas, one on top of the other, to the house of the Ka‘ba appears as adding to it soft, skin-like, layers of textile, and the particular physical engagement and interaction of medieval pilgrims with the Ka‘ba when visiting this holy site, seem to emphasize the transformation of the Ka‘ba into a living entity and thus strengthening the bond between the pious Muslim visitors and the site during the hajj.
Constructing the Image of Muhammad in Europe, 2013
König eBooks, 2011
"Facing the Wall" explores the ways in which the Israeli West Bank barrier has been use... more "Facing the Wall" explores the ways in which the Israeli West Bank barrier has been used as a canvas on which artists, whether Palestinians and Israelis or foreigners, display their work. The different cultural arenas on either side of the wall dictate and give impulses to different modes of expression and uses of visual vocabulary; this tension is reflected in the layout of this book, which displays works from either side of the wall alongside each other.
Journal of material cultures in the Muslim world, Feb 22, 2024
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Journal of Material Cultures of the Muslim World, 2024
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Brill | Fink eBooks, 2013
Routledge eBooks, Nov 22, 2021
BRILL eBooks, Apr 12, 2012
This book is the first comprehensive study of the path-breaking exhibition "Meisterwerke muh... more This book is the first comprehensive study of the path-breaking exhibition "Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst" held in Munich in 1910. It offers new ideas and unpublished material on the exhibition's historical context, organization, display, reception in the West and its later influence on the study of Islamic art.
It is widely accepted that the Mediterranean basin was the fluid medieval space that secured cons... more It is widely accepted that the Mediterranean basin was the fluid medieval space that secured constant movements of persons and commodities, namely tangible objects and ideas. In this brief study, I would like to focus on a further 'Mediterranean' dynamic sphere of what I will call 'intersecting historiographies'. At the core of this paper and as an exemplary case are two major scholarly figures: Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) and Ernst Herzfeld (1879-1948). Both were academically active and productive during the first half of the twentieth century, between the two world wars. In this respect, the writings and academic biographies of these two protagonists are the objects of my investigation. Pirenne's and Herzfeld's 'minds,' namely their cognitive modus operandi for making arguments and organizing material in a specific order so as to produce knowledge, form the subject of this inquiry. I discuss these issues as in themselves reflecting the collective, perhaps even global, intellectual scheme in place at the beginning of the twentieth century, a scheme that seemed to form ways of arranging and presenting historical evidence, literary and visual alike, and explaining it rationally, which endows the evidence thus constructed with meaning and significance.
In: "The Image of the Prophet Between Ideal and Ideology: A Scholarly Investigation," 1-9, 2014
A symposium at the Bard Graduate Center, NY, November 2015
Mitteilungen zur Spätantiken Archäologie und Byzantinischen Kunstgeschichte 8-2021
Das vorliegende Buch ist eine Festschrift aus Anlass des 80. Geburtstages von Herrn Prof. Dr. Joh... more Das vorliegende Buch ist eine Festschrift aus Anlass des 80. Geburtstages von Herrn Prof. Dr. Johannes G. Deckers, dem ehemaligen Professor für byzantinische Kunstgeschichte an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Der Band vereint insgesamt 18 Beiträge von Kolleginnen und Kollegen aus dem In- und Ausland. Der Großteil der Aufsätze stammen aus einem der von Johannes Deckers bevorzugten, vielfältigen Forschungsfeld der IMAGINUM ORBIS. Diese spätantiken und byzantinischen Bilderwelten erscheinen dem modernen Betrachter mal überraschend vertraut, mal unzugänglich und schwer verständlich. Syntax und Grammatik dieser Bildsprache, also ihren Regeln und den Abweichungen davon, gilt das besondere Interesse des Bandes. Daher liegt ein Schwerpunkt auf bildwissenschaftlichen Einzelstudien von der Darstellung eines Parther, deren Ikonographie letztlich auf die der frühchristlichen Magier auswirkte, über den Umgang mit zerstörten Bildern im mittleren Osten bis hin zur byzantinischen Buchmalerei. Neben grundlegenden Überlegungen zum geographischen Ursprung frühchristlicher Bildprogramm (in Rom oder an der Peripherie des Reiches) legen international anerkannte Expertinnen und Experten teils unpublizierte und so gut wie unbekannte Bilder und Bildträger vor, die zum besseren Verständnis des imaginum orbis beitragen. Da sich Johannes G. Deckers aber nicht ausschließlich mit den Methoden der Bildwissenschaften der spätantiken und byzantinischen Zeit annähert rundet eine Sektion zur "Welt jenseits der Bilder" den Sammelband ab. Neben einer geographischen Breite, die von einem spektakulären Fund aus Bayern über einen Beitrag zum Heiligen Land, bis hin zu Geschenken aus den fernen Armenien spiegelt auch die zeitliche Dimension der Aufsätze, die von der Epoche Konstantins des Großen bis zu Zeit der venezianischen Herrschaft über Kreta reicht, die weiten Interessen des Jubilars wider.
Reimer, 2020
Edited by Hahn and Shalem, this collection of essays reveals the global and cross-cultural histor... more Edited by Hahn and Shalem, this collection of essays reveals the global and cross-cultural histories of rock-crystal production in and even beyond the lands of the Mediterranean Sea. It investigates many objects and varied aspects of rock crystal such as: the physical nature and legendary as well as actual origins of the material; its manufacturing techniques and affiliations to other luxurious objects, such as cut glass and carved precious stones; legends and traditions associated with its aesthetic qualities; as well as issues concerning its varied functions and historiography.