iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Starting June 9, 10 am to 12 pm Eastern US via Zoom, we're doing a long deep dive into digital technologies, the political economy of data, histories of information, the haptics of longhand and electronic writing, reading thinkers from Adorno to Baudrillard to Pope Leo XIV:

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Here is the line-up for our summer online reading group offerings, with details for each in the reply below- if you'd like to sign up sent us a DM or email us and we'll get you plugged in!

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Manuscripts- including beautifully and intricately illumined prestige ones- tend to accumulate new text over the course of their lives, texts that sometimes appear quite incongruent to our eyes as in this page from a 15th c. Ottoman Qur'an (Dallas Museum of Art K.1.2014.22.1):

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

New essay today, taking a stab at making sense of our historical and political context as scholars of Islamicate history and deeply involved in digital humanities- with all of the fraught implications that involvement carries:

openiti.substack.com

There Are No Neutrals Here

Situating Our Work in Contemporary Political Reality

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

In this week's Arabic reading group we began working through SBB Wetzstein II 1743, a copy of a manāqib of ʿAdī ibn Musāfir- except that at some point it was reworked into a manāqib of Aḥmad ibn al-Rifāʿī through strategic erasure and rewriting. Lots going on in the title page:

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

A wonderful array of paratextual features are on fine display in this massive (526 folios) 1642 Ottoman Turkish mecmū'a that encompassed an array of genres and authors, the joint work of the münādī Aḥmed Ibn Mūsā and the kātib Muṣṭafā Ibn Aḥmed (SBB Ms. or. quart. 1988):

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Opening page of a gorgeous bilingual translation of the Gospels of St. Matthew & St. Mark (probably had the rest at some point, is now fragmentary), Ottoman Turkish in an elegant nastaʿliq hand on the left, in Latin on the right, copied in 1660 somewhere in the Ottoman world (SBB Ms. or. oct. 3960):

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Bodleian Libraries @bodleian.ox.ac.uk · 14/04/2026

Newly digitised Greek papyri from the Bodleian reveal the lives of ancient Egyptian gravediggers, including working as carers and taking part in legal affairs. 📜 [1/7]

Fragment of ancient Greek papyrus with handwritten text, featuring overlaid captions: "Hidden stories: gravedigger families from 1,800 years ago" and "Using digitised items to find hidden stories in Greek papyri.

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

First in a series of posts exploring a Persian translation of an Arabic work by a Safavid scholar (born in the Ottoman Empire) and contained within a South Asian compilation by an initiate of the Shaṭṭārīyah sufi lineage, whew:

openiti.substack.com

Gained in Translation

An Analysis and Edition of a Persian Translation of the Kashkūl of Bahā' al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī, Part I

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

While the Persianate chahar bagh style of gardening is a bit more formal than the way in which I tend to garden- a mix of the formal and the semi-wild- part of me can definitely imagine one day building something like Babur's garden here, perhaps with a more permeable wall:

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

This semester we are facilitating not one, not two, but THREE manuscript reading groups, with an Arabic-specific group starting this Wednesday! Check out our newsletter for more details, and DM/email if you'd like to sign up!

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

In 2026 our two weekly Zoom-hosted manuscript reading groups will continue: in Ottoman Turkish we'll continue working on our anonymous travel account Fisher MSS 03218, while our Persian/Arabic group will tackle new texts from the Safīnat Baḥr al-muḥīt. We'd love to have you join us!

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

The angels (bar one) bow down before the newly created Adam, from a 1575 copy of the Majālis al-'ushshāq (BnF Supplément Persan 776):

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

New post describing my work of late on a fun little story contained in a diverse corpus of manuscripts spanning quite a long chronological period, from origins in Old Anatolian Turkish up to lithograph and print editions near the end of Ottoman Turkish being written in Arabic script:

openiti.substack.com

The Tale of the Severed Head

Creating a Multi-Text Edition of Dāstān-i Keşik Baş

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

New post by @jparkesallen.bsky.social on our new Substack newsletter, subscribe if you'd like regular updates and essays, some of which will be integrated with new video interviews and other material we plan on releasing soon!

openiti.substack.com

From Damascus to Istanbul

The OpenITI Fall/Winter Ottoman Turkish Reading Group

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

After a hiatus in (remembering to) record and post our Friday sessions, we've gotten back on track with our recording and uploading to our YouTube channel, so if you miss a Friday Persian session you can follow along later! Have a look at this week's session:

youtube.com

Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ Reading Group: Sharḥ-i asmāʾ-i ḥusná, continued

YouTube video by OpenITI Project

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

"[T]he initiative will provide free, global access to a constantly expanding body of classical and modern Persian texts. The project will also partner with institutions to help safeguard thousands of at-risk manuscripts and rare books from collections in India, Pakistan and beyond."

today.umd.edu

Roshan Institute to Establish Persian Digital Library | Maryland Today

Supported by $1.8M Private Gift, Project Will Be First of Its Kind

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

A really lovely copy of an Ottoman Turkish fatwa concerning coffee (Ṣūrat-i fetvā der ḥaḳḳ-i ḳaḥve ve cevāb-i marḥūm-i Būstānzāde), decidedly stylistically unusual rendering for a document of this sort; part of a truly miscellaneous mecmَū'a (Leipzig University, Vollers 1019):

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

big if true

حكى بعض الاخوان بأنه قد ورد إلى عين الحياة وأنها موجودة إلى الآن بارض من داخل اليمن وهي براس جبل وهي من مدينة صنعا مسافة اثنين وعشرين يوما فإذا وصل الانسان لذلك الجبل وجد باب العين ينزل له باثني عشر درجه ويشربون منها بعض الصلحا الواصلين وليس يبقون في الحياة مثل الخضر عليه السلام وهذه السعادة ما سبقت لاحد غيره واذا شربوا من تلك العين الصلحاء الذين قسم الله لهم نصيب يعيشون إلى الماية سنة ويزيدون

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

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Reposted by Open Islamicate Texts Initiative

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Pages from a Chinese-language explanation of the Arabic alphabet, Tianfang zimu jieyi 天方字母解义, a Qing era work written by the prolific Han Kitab author Liu Zhi (1669–1764):

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Manuscript reading groups resume this week after our spring break last week, further explorations in the Safīnat on Persian Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf on Ottoman Wednesday, and more Persian in the form of Risālah dar dam zadan on Friday- hope to see you at some of these offerings!

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Lots of manuscript reading options this week! Dāstān-i Bahrām wa Bihrūz on Persian Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf on Ottoman Wednesday, and more of the life of the Druze Shaykh al-Fāḍil on Friday followed by more Persian in the form of Risālah dar dam zadan

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

OpenITI Open Hours (Friday 10 am -12 pm Eastern US time) will feature manuscripts presented by two of our colleagues: from 10 to 11 we'll continue looking at a Druze hagiographical text in Arabic, and from 11 to 12 we'll be introduced to a Persian treatise on breath control:

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

This week's lineup: in our Persian group we'll be reading Dāstān-i Bahrām wa Bihrūz on Tuesday, Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf in our Ottoman Turkish group on Wednesday, and on Friday from 11 to 12 a tbd manuscript text in Arabic (10 to 11 am for standard office hours)

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Pages from a very eclectic calligraphic (and seal) album, seems to be a very wide range of periods, places, and genres represented within just a handful of pages (Bodleian Library MS. Arab. c. 75)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Our Ottoman Turkish manuscript reading group, having seen the Kesik Baş to the end of his story, is now diving into another manuscript, Mehmed Emīn's Dāstān-ı Aṣḥābü'l-kehf (Tübingen Ma VII 83), relating, along with some theological and other reflections, the story of the Companions of the Cave

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Have you ever wondered how to use the abjad values of your name and your mom's name to calculate whether that town or village you're thinking about moving to is right for you? If so, then today is your lucky day!

youtube.com

Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ Reading Group, January 28, 2025: All About Adab!

YouTube video by OpenITI Project

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

For this week's OpenITI Open Hours (Friday am) we're going to be reading together and discussing Lara Putman's influential 2016 article "The Transnational and the Text-Searchable: Digitized Sources and the Shadows They Cast" and its implications for Islamicate DH (link below)

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

Reminder that we'll be holding "OpenITI Open Hours" today from 10 am to 12 pm Eastern US time (link: umd.zoom.us/j/91533462213), feel free to stop by and ask questions about what we're up to at OpenITI, how you can get involved; or bring a manuscript you'd like to look at with others

umd.zoom.us

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom ...

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

For our Tuesday Persian manuscript reading group, we're going to be working through this curiously arranged little text on "the adāb of sneezing, yawning, burping, and drinking water," so you can work on your Persian skills *and* your etiquette knowledge, a two for one deal!

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Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Page from an anonymous 18th or 19th c. Persian and Arabic treatise on nikāḥ, with an Urdu (well, what we'd now call Urdu- the work itself calls it 'zabān-i Hindī' as was standard for at the time) alternating line rubricated translation (Raja of Mahmudabad Palace Library MS 652):

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

We resume our Persian manuscript virtual reading group tomorrow (Tuesday, January 14), continuing with the fabulous treasury of medieval and early modern texts contained within the Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ; check out the video for a taste, DM to be added to the group, we've got some room available

youtu.be

Safīnat al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ Reading Group, December 17, 2024

YouTube video by OpenITI Project

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Open Islamicate Texts Initiative @openiti.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Here are our public offerings, all hosted via Zoom, for the spring semester (all events start next week, times in Eastern US); we'll be continuing two from last semester, and adding a third, OpenITI Open Hours, which will be more open and based on participant needs and interests:

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Nora Epstein @noraepstein.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

In rare (and thrilling) #paperhistory news: www.newberry.org/news/analysi... "At approximately 49 sheets, the discovery increases the amount of maguey paper known to have survived by about four times."

newberry.org

Manuscript is Most Extensive Example of Pre-Columbian Maguey Paper in…

A collection of sermons by sixteenth-century Franciscan missionary Bernardino de Sahagún is rare example from the Nahuas.

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Dr. Stephennie Mulder @stephenniem.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Alright *cracks knuckles* let's do this! Today I'm inaugurating an episodic Monday series titled History of Islamic Art in 100 Objects. But we have to ask the most important question first: What is Islamic art? Also, why is this even a question? 🧵 #IslamicArt100Objects

A horizontally-aligned panel consisting of four images of works of Islamic art: a page of black calligraphy on a peach-colored ground, a red and gold textile with a pattern of wavy vines and leaves, a manuscript painting featuring birds in a blue, green, and gold landscape with a gold sky, and a manuscript page with a central radiating medallion painted in intricate geometric and floral patterns in blue, gold, and red. Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/islamic-art

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HMML @visithmml.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

HMML preserves three copies of a very famous history of doctors by Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʻah (d. 1269/1270 CE), in the collections of the Austrian National Library (22803), Universität Tübingen in Germany (42212), and St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem (SMMJ 00237, pictured): www.vhmml.org/readingRoom/...

Manuscript in the collection of St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem (SMMJ 00237).

Opening page of a manuscript in the collection of St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem (SMMJ 00237).

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Peter Tarras @petertarras.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

It's #ManuscriptMonday, time to start a 🧵 with Arabic book curses in manuscripts from St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai. The first is from Sin. gr. 742, 1r: 'Endowment to the monastery of Mt Sinai. Anyone who somehow takes it away from there is excommunicated and separated from the glory of God.'

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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 22/11/2024

Recently published this book of essays celebrating 50 years of Genizah research at @theul.bsky.social. Seems like a good time to share some of my favorites. Here's one by my former teacher, Geoffrey Khan, about a medieval Arabic document he found in Russia 30 years ago: doi.org/10.1163/9789004712331

First page of an article in a book titled "Chapter 10: An Arabic Document of Sale from Medieval Cairo Preserved in the Firkovitch Collection" by Geoffrey Khan. Black text, white background.

Black-and-white photo of a medieval Arabic document. The parchment appears light gray while the text, which slants upwards to the left, is a bolder black ink. Several signatures follow the text of the contract.

Cover of a book titled "From the Battlefield of Books: Essays Celebrating 50 Years of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit" edited by Nick Posegay, Magdalen M. Connolly, and Ben Outhwaite. White text, sickly lime green background, red accents on the left and bottom edge.

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Munich Research Centre for Jewish-Arabic Cultures @jacculturelmu.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

We have a new Biblia Arabica blog online! Miriam L. Hjälm shares her favourite finds and some of the challenges of cataloguing the British Library's Christian Arabic Bible manuscripts: biblia-arabica.com/a-new-catalo...

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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

A verse from Exodus (the Bible. Not the film) Hebrew in Arabic script, with Hebrew (Tiberian) vocalisation marks 10th century manuscript (h/t Moshe Yagor; from BL)

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