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A Powerful Polemic: Arabic-Ethiopic Translation and the Medieval Red Sea World

by Program in Translation and Intercultural Communications

Lecture Humanities Social Sciences

Tue, Oct 1, 2024

12 PM – 1:20 PM EDT (GMT-4)

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Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room 144

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

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Flyer for A Powerful Polemic: Arabic-Ethiopic Translation and the Medieval Red Sea World
In the 1530s, the Christian Empire of the Ethiopian-Eritrean highlands was facing an existential threat—a rebellion by its Muslim vassals, led by a charismatic Imam. During this period, the spiritual leader of the Christians, an abbot named Enbaqom, penned a powerful polemic against the rebels in the form of a letter to their commander. The letter contained large sections of the Quran translated masterfully from Arabic into Ethiopic (or Ge’ez). Through these translations, the abbot impressed upon the Muslim rebels the truths of his religion on the basis of their scripture. Enbaqom’s translations of the Quran are artefacts of African literary genius. They are evidence of the connectivity and cosmopolitanism of the medieval Red Sea world.

Photo Info / Credit: St. Mark, Ethiopic Bible Manuscript / MSS 102, Getty Museum (Public Domain)
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Louis A. Simpson International Building, Room 144

Princeton, NJ 08544, United States

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Hamza Zafer's profile photo

Hamza Zafer

Senior Lecturer

Princeton University

Hamza M. Zafer is a Senior Lecturer in African Studies. His forthcoming book, The Red Sea Quran: History of an African Book, examines how the language of Muslim scripture and its early interpretations document historical linkages between African and Arabian societies.

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Program in Translation and Intercultural Communications | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies, Program in Translation and Intercultural Communications (OWNER)

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