The Middle East Digital Humanities Digest

The project Corpus Coranicum of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2007-2024) is exploring the Qur'an from three different angles: (1) Textual History: databases of ancient manuscripts and variant readings give insights into its textual history, (2) Qur’an in History: a documentation of texts from the cultural and religious environment outlines Late Antique features in the text, (3) History of the Text: a literary-chronological commentary studies the Qur’an as a developing speech proclaimed during more than 20 years to a changing audience. The digital publication is also providing other digital research tools like its font ("Coranica") and a text concordance.

The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington is currently working on a project revolving around Mahmud AbdulBaki (1526-1600) who wrote poetry under the penname Baki (Bāḳī = the Enduring) during the reigns of 4 Ottoman sultans.  As the acclaimed “Sultan of Poets” during the so-called “Golden Age” of Ottoman literature, Baki’s influence as a poet echoed down through the centuries.  He was also a regular guest at the salons and private entertainments of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-1566) and a noted scholar and jurist who rose to become the Chief Magistrate of the European Provinces, the second highest canon law position in the Empire.  Whether or not he was the “best” poet ever among the Ottomans is still argued today but very few would claim that he was not the most famous. Among the goals of the project is to bring digital technologies to bear on the problems of dealing with large and comp...