Etel Adnan, “Untitled” (2014).
Courtesy: Etel Adnan and Galerie Lelong & Co. Paris
The Center for the Study of Muslim Societies is an umbrella for faculty and student collaborations in cutting-edge research, integrated programming, innovative teaching and new forms of public outreach across the related fields of research on Islam and Muslim Societies at Columbia University.
Leadership in these fields is not new for Columbia. The university’s inquiry, instructional commitments and international recognition date back to the late nineteenth-century. At present, the university counts some 30 specialists (in over ten departments) in the core fields of Islamic Studies and over 80 scholars and 14 language lecturers concerned with various aspects of Muslim societies, including those in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, global diasporas and minority societies in the West.
Founded in 2018, CSMS crosses disciplines, area specializations and schools to create an institutional venue for faculty to collaborate on scholarly projects, build new initiatives and develop pedagogical tools.
Fall 2026 MA in Islamic Studies Applications Are Open
Applications due February 5, 2026.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Book talk with authors Mike Omer-Man and Sarah Leah Whitson, Moderated by professor Lisa Anderson.
A Philosophical Treatise on Muslim Politics: Wisdom and Governance is an English translation of Hairi Yazdi’s Ḥikmat wa ḥukūmat by Daryoush Mohammed Poor. This event will be moderated by Hamid Dabashi.
Please join us for a discussion of the recently published report, 'Our Genocide' by The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B'tselem. Speakers Yuli Novak and Kareem Jubran will be joined by Professor Diana Greenwald to discuss the research and its significance in the fight against genocide in Palestine.
Kathryn Spellman Poots and Nadje Al-Ali will be in conversation with the Turkish-Kurdish artist Fatma Bucak as part of their series on gender, art and body politics with reference to the Middle east and its diasporas.
Join Professor Sevea Teran, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Harvard University, to discuss his essay Singapore’s Islamic Pasts: Alexanders in an Island Below the Winds.
This event will bring together feminist writers, artists, curators and academics who work in the context of South Kurdistan. In their conversation they will center the question of how artists and activists in the region address issues around body politics, religious conservatism and intimacy.
Join us on our next Sharia Workshop with Professor Devin Stewart to discuss the paper “Taqīyah and Tawriyah: Dissimulation and the Art of Ambiguity”
Join our upcoming Islamic History Workshop and explore Singapore's Islamic Pasts: Alexanders in an Island Below the Winds.
Join us for a book talk with Professor C. Cehyun Arslan on “The Ottoman Canon and the Construction of Arabic and Turkish Literatures” accompanied Professor Yaseen Noorani .
Join us for a book talk with Beeta Baghoolizadeh (Princeton University) on her recently published book, The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran;
The Middle East Institute at Columbia University invites applications for an appointment as Arcapita Visiting Professor of Modern Arab Studies for a one-semester position for the Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 semester!
Join us for a talk with Professor Elisabetta Benigni and Professor Pier Mattia Tommasino as they explore the influence of the Divine Comedy on Arabic literature and intellectual debates in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Join us our upcoming Islamic History Workshop and delve into the intricacies of early modern Persian chronicles, dissecting the artistry of “dibachah” and unraveling the mysteries of “khatimah”.
Join us to explore the Material Culture in the Poetry of Sā’eb Tabrizi!
Join us for this book talk about Naṣr Allāh Munshī's Persian translation/adaptation of Kalīla and Dimna, written in the 1140s CE and dedicated to the Ghaznavid sultan Bahrāmshāh.
We are excited to welcome Professor Dana Lee, the Spring 2024 Mahdi Visiting Research Scholar!
Join us for a captivating discussion with Artist Sama Alshaibi on re-imagining the female figure in war & conflict.
Join us on our next Sharia Workshop with Dr Mariam Sheibani to discuss the paper “A Tale of Two Ṭarīqas: The Iraqi and Khurasani Shāfiʿī Communities in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries”
Syrian Intellectual Yassin al-Hai Saleh in conversation with Marcelle Shehwaro & Fadi Bardawil.
Join Associate Professor Nancy Khalek for the second Islamic History Workshop of the semester on Thursday November 09 at 4:10pm in Knox Hall, 207.
Join us for the New York Premiere of May Masri’s film Beirut: Eye of the Storm
Join us on 10/27 for a Book Talk with Professor Suzanne Stetkevych and Dr Huda Fakhreddine.
Join us on our next Sharia Workshop with Dr Ari Schribber to discuss the paper “Is There a ‘Jury’ in Islamic Law? The Twelve-Witness Lafīfiyya Testimony in Moroccan Judicial Practice”
Join us for an exciting two-day workshop that will take as its objective a global history of translation and language in both the dissemination and reception of Ibn al-'Arabi's writings through discourse, music, and art.
Join us to discuss “The Cunning of Gender Violence: Securitization and the Violence of Law” .
Brinkley Messick, 1946-2025
IN MEMORIAM
BRINKLEY MESSICK, 1946 - 2025
CSMS mourns the loss of our former colleague and friend Professor Brinkley Messick. We encourage all to read his obituary and honor his legacy.
NEWS
RECENT EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Fall 2024 dinner with interdisciplinary faculty across the university.
Spring 2024 dinner with the Master of Arts in Islamic Studies and Dual Master of Arts in Islamic Studies (Columbia University) and Muslim Cultures (Aga Khan University) students!
We have compiled an audio-visual roundup of the event - including concert footage and panel recordings - as well as an interview with a featured artist.
Contact us at csms@columbia.edu
CSMS is a partner organization to the Middle East Institute of Columbia University. More information on this partnership as well as other projects can be found at www.mei.columbia.edu