Fields of Study
- Islamic Studies
- Religion, Culture & Politics
Areas of Interest
- Qur'ānic Studies
- Qur'ānic Sciences
- Manuscripts of the Qur'ān
- Qur'ānic Recitation
- Taǧwīd
- Rasm
- Qirā'āt
- Waqf wa Ibtidā'
Biography
Oliver Salem is a Ph.D. student from University of Naples "L'Orientale", an International Visiting Graduate Student (IVGS) at University of Toronto, and is leading a research project on the scribal practices in the Qur'ānic manuscripts and their relation with the recitational dimension of the Sacred Islamic Text.
Is it possible to reach and reconstruct the way the Qur'ān was recited by a community, scribe or qāri' (reciter) starting from their Qur'ānic manuscripts? If so, to what extent can we reconstruct, with our means, the oral dimension of the recitation of the Qur'ān? Were the Qur'ānic extra-ductus signs as fixed as the Qur'ānic consonantal corpus? Is there a theory that marks the passage from a text almost devoid of extra-ductus signs, to their, eventual, abundant presence in maṣāḥif (Qur'ānic manuscripts)?
The period considered is roughly the13th-15th centuries (CE). The manuscripts of the Qur'ān studied are written in Arabic and conserved in Europe.
Oliver's home supervisor is Professor Roberto Tottoli. His guest supervisor at the DSR is Professor Walid Saleh.