
Munāẓara – Seeing Eye to Eye?
10-12 June 2025
the conference "Munāẓara – Seeing Eye to Eye? Theological and Literary Arguing Practices in Comparison" will take place, a cooperation of ALEA, the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" and the Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies.
Theological and literary disputations, munāẓarāt, were and are a popular and in many ways entertaining art in the Islamicate world. Studying, practicing, writing and participating in debates was a tour de force from the Abbasids to modern times, from theologians debating the nature of God, to litterateurs imagining objects arguing over superiority. Western academia has only recently started to analyze and appreciate these vast and complex arguing practices, and yet so much still remains unknown. Through a comparison of theological and literary disputations with a focus on forms and functions, this conference aims to highlight continuities and differences over the
centuries.
For more information, please see the conference's program.