Category Archives: Circles

Surely, the (for some) cold and perhaps tedious subject of grammar has no affinity with the loftier purposes of Sufi aspirants. Our guest for this week, a PhD student in Islamic Thought in NELC, discusses an interesting and innovative hybrid genre of … Continue reading →

Our guest this week, who has lived for extended periods in several parts of the Arabic world, discusses his own journey in learning and teaching Arabic and offers some advice for students on how to navigate the language in its classical … Continue reading →

Our own Prof. Orit Bashkin presents on a current topic of her research, namely, transit camps in the early state of Israel, the lives of Jews therein, and related questions concerning race and class. Enjoy! مخيمات اليهود العرب في دولة إسرائيل: عنصرية … Continue reading →

“I esteem the very ground to be but mortal remains.”   —Abū al-‘Alā’ al-Ma’arri This week our guest, a PhD candidate in Arabic literature in NELC, gives us us a macabre look into death and decay as they appear in the poetry … Continue reading →

This week our guests, who work for Chicagoland-based nonprofit Arab-American Family Services (Bridgeview, IL), discuss the work they do as social workers and challenges they face therein, as well as the some of the contours of the Arab-American fabric. This presentation … Continue reading →

How do poets translate their thoughts and emotions into mere words which, when uttered, move us to laughter or tears, or bring us to share in their joy or their anger or their wonder? In this our second session of the quarter, we welcome … Continue reading →

Welcome to a new year of Arabic Circle (2014–15)! We kick off the year with our own Ustādha Kay Heikkinen, who continues the tradition of our dear departed Dr. Farouk Mustafa with reflections on summer travels in Egypt. Ustādha Kay, in her … Continue reading →

Well this wraps up the Arabic Circle for the year, but we’ll be back in October, إن شاء الله!   وداعا من هنا … إلى اللقاء هناك: فاروق مصطفى: ثلاثون عاما من الزمالة والصداقة MUHAMMAD EISSA Farewell From Here . … Continue reading →

Two young Egyptians, Sherine and Abdelghany, here at the University of Chicago as Sawiris scholars to study economics and political science, discuss their impressions of Chicago and America in very clear Arabic! Listen here!

By Daniel Bannoura, of the Divinity School. Listen here! And here are the texts discussed, with translation: Quran 78 Psalm 104