What: Author and professor of Arab and Islamic studies at The New School. Dr. Nargis Virani will lecture on sacred poetry and music in Muslim cultures as part of the Islamic Art and Culture Forum at the University of North Texas. This lecture is sponsored by the Aga Khan Council for Central United States, University of North Texas and the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI).

When: 2 p.m. Oct. 26 (Friday)

Where: Room 170 in the Business Leadership Building, 1307 W. Highland
Denton, TX 76201

Cost: Free

Contact: Nada Shabout at 682-559-6645 or nada.shabout@unt.edu

DENTON (UNT), Texas--Dr. Nargis Virani will lecture on “Sacred Poetry and Music in Muslim Cultures” on Oct. 26 (Friday) at the University of North Texas as part of the ongoing Islamic Art and Culture Forum at UNT. Her visit to campus is sponsored by the Aga Khan Council for Central United States, and the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI).

Virani’s lecture will begin at 2 p.m. in Room 170 of UNT’s Business Leadership Building.

Professor Nargis Virani is currently assistant professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Arabic section coordinator at The New School, a university in New York City. Formerly, she taught at the University of British Columbia in Canada and Washington University in St. Louis where she also headed the Arabic language program and served a term as the director of the Center for Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures. A graduate of Harvard University, she has  studied at many prestigious institutions in the Muslim world such as the University of Jordan in Amman, the Bourguiba Institute in Tunis and al-Azhar mosque in Cairo.

Her research explores intersections between the Scripture (The Qur’an) and the literature in a Muslim milieu. She currently is working on two book projects. The first book entitled “The Multilingual Rumi” will be a book of translations of the entire multilingual corpus of Rumi’s poetry into English discussing the relationship between multilinguality and mystical discourse. The second book, tentatively entitled “The Qur’an in Muslim Literary and Mystical Memory,” discusses the use of the Qur’an in Muslim secular, religious and mystico-literary writings.

Dr. Virani is the author of articles published in the “Encyclopedia of the Qur’an,” “Voices of Islam” and “Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.” She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the American Academy of Religion’s (AAR) Islam section. She also serves as a member on the AAR’s Committee on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession (CREM).