W.M. Watt Lecture 2022
In brief
Speaker - Emerita Professor Carole Hillenbrand (University of Edinburgh)
Title - Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Islam
This is a hybrid event. No registration is necessary for in-person attendance, but please register on Zoom if you want to attend online.
W.M. Watt Lecture
Arabic has been taught at the University of Edinburgh for over 260 years, and today our department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) is globally recognised as a leading centre in the field.
From his appointment as Lecturer in Arabic in 1947, until his retirement as Professor in 1979, William Montgomery Watt made an outstanding contribution both to Islamic scholarship and to the development of IMES.
The inaugural Watt Lecture was launched in November 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of Watt's Inaugural Lecture as the first Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Scotland.
The 2022 lecture
After a hiatus, we are delighted to welcome Emerita Professor Carole Hillenbrand (University of Edinburgh) to deliver the sixth annual W.M. Watt Lecture.
This will be a hybrid event, and you can attend either online or in person.
Browse Carole Hillenbrand's staff profile
Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Islam
by Carole Hillenbrand
This lecture presents the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the way Muslims have seen her over the centuries.
The Qur’an actually calls one chapter the Surat Maryam; it tells the story of Mary’s own birth, the Annunciation, and the birth of Jesus. Medieval Muslim scholars continued to embellish the Mary narrative with new legendary details. She figures largely on the magnificent medieval minaret of Jam in Afghanistan and stories about her were told in the royal court of Mughal India.
Finally the still much-visited House of Mary in Ephesus in Turkey and the shared festivals of Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt today show her as a beloved figure.
Such reverence of Mary may surprise non-Muslims, but Pope Benedict XV1 was clearly right when he identified Mary as a true link between Islam and Christianity.
How to join
No registration is necessary to attend in person.
Please register on Zoom if you want to watch the lecture online, so that you can receive joining instructions.
Previous lectures in the series
| Speaker | Date | Venue | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Professor Paul Starkey (Durham University) |
30 October 2019 | David Hume Tower | In Search of Identity: Faris al-Shidyaq and the 19th-Century Arabic Revival |
|
Dr Linda Komaroff (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) |
28 November 2018 | 50 George Square | Dining with the Sultan: Reflections on the Fine Art of Feasting at the Islamic Courts |
| Professor Nur Masalha | 2 November 2017 | Playfair Library | Powerful Symbols and the British-Zionist Alliance: From Balfour to the Nakba |
| Professor Maribel Fierro (Spanish National Research Council, Spain) | 4 November 2016 | Old Medical School | Charisma and Anti-Charisma in al-Andalus |
| Professor Carole Hillenbrand | 23 October 2015 | Playfair Library | Montgomery Watt: The Man and The Scholar |
Are you interested in studying Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies?
We are internationally recognised as a leading institution for studying Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies, offering both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
Find out more about Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at Edinburgh
W.M. Watt Lecture 2022
G.03, 50 George Square
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh EH8 9LH
or online via Zoom (registration necessary)