This study examines the life and scholarship of a French Dominican friar, Serge de Beaurecueil (1917 - 2005). His life time investigation of the mystical dimensions of Islam centered around the life and corpus attributed to the 11th century Hanbalī Sūfī shaykh‘Abdullāh Ansārī of Herāt (1006 - 1089). The thrust of our argument is that this erudite and mystical conversation with the work of the Pīr of Herāt is a methodology and a theology of dialogue with the religious other. This mystical and prophetic journey combines the Ashramic spirituality of Jules Monchanin and Henry Le Saux in India, a masterdisciple relations, the ethical demands of interfaith dialogue, and finally testifies to the hidden and abiding presence of God among the downtrodden of Kabul. Also, de Beaurecueil’s life ascertains the rich and varied heritage of Dominican spirituality and lays bare the conundrums of interfaith encounter. The introduction sets the stage for the friar’s mystical and prophetic life among Muslims. The first two chapters are biographical. They scrutinize the formation period and professional life of both de Beaurecueil and AnSārī. The following two chapters describe de Beaurecueil intellectual and spiritual growth. His erudition on the corpus of AnSārī and his praxis mystica fit perfectly the Dominican tradition of search for Truth (Veritas) and contemplata aliis tradere. The last chapter attempts to couch in a philosophical language a mystical encounter. Even though de Beaurecueil’s praxis mystica is both attractive and intimidating, his life is a bold testimony to the demanding complexities and rich opportunities of Christian-Muslim mystical encounter.

La relation entre la peinture et la littérature persane était étroitement liée pendant toute l'histoire del'Iran après la conquête de l'Islam. Ce sont souvent les sujets mystiques qui dominent la littérature persane et ils se manifestent également dans la peinture par l'illustration des divans et des ouvrages soufis. C'est ainsi que la peinture persane est le grand témoin de l'approche gnostique et elle possède une dimension mystique transcendante. Les éléments et les symboles, inspirés des métaphores sublimes de la littérature soufie persane, nous orientent vers des interprétations mystiques dont on trouve la manifestation explicite dans la plupart des suppléments de la peinture persane. Les conceptions soufies se sont manifestées également dans la peinture des écoles dérivées de la peinture persane comme l'école de la peinture inde-persane et l'école de la peinture moghole. Il faut souligner que la circulation de la langue persane avait un rôle remarquable dans ce parcours. Notamment, d'une part le persan était la langue officielle de l'Inde sous le règne d'Akbar, l'empereur moghole passionnée de la culture persane, et de l'autre part les vagues d'émigrations des poètes et des peintres iraniens vers l'Inde, sous la pression des docteurs religieux safavides développaient l'influence de la culture persane dans le sous-continent indien.Les deux raisons essentielles qui préparaient la base d'un grand mouvement artistique. L'affection des rois moghols envers les confréries soufies, hérité de leur grand ancêtre Tamerlan, se manifestait par le respect qu'ils avaient pour les soufies et, en particulier, pour les Sheikh (s) naqšbandî. / Persian painting and Persian literature were closely linked during the history of Iran after the conquest of Islam. lt is often the mystical topics of Persian literature, which have an effect on the Persian painting. During the Timurid dynasty, Sufism has occupied a central place in the society of Iran. The Sufism ideology, in particular the naqsbandî beliefs, has brought a transcendent mystical dimension to the illustrations of this period of history of Persian art. We can find the explicit mystical influence of the big naqshbandî master and the last great medieval mystic, Jami, on the painting of Kamâl al-Dîn Bihzâd. Obviously, the success of Bihzâd disciples, who were under his influence, gave birth to the lndo-Persian painting in Mughal court.Moreover, Akbar (1542-1605) and his great passion for the Persian language and culture had adecisive role in the development of the Persian mystical thoughts in lndia. The Persian language became the official language of the lndian Mughal Empire du ring his reign.The devotion of Akbar for the Sufism was particularly manifested in his special respect toward naqsbandî Sheikhs. At the same time, under the religious pressure of the Safavid dynasty some of the lranians were obliged to leave their country. The big passion of Akbar in one hand and the immigration waves of lranians, especially Sufis, poets and artists to the lndia, on the other hand,prepared the society for intellectual and artistic movements.ln fact, the naqsbandî traditions and ideas have travelled from Iran to the northern lndia. Bokhara played a great role in the circulation of beliefs and ethics of the naqsbandî order between Persia and India.

Considered one of the pinnacles of the arts of the book in the entire history of Persian art, the life of the Timurid prince, Bāysunghur (1397-1433) and his royal library-atelier have been studied for more than a century. Yet previous scholarship, although solid on it own terms, has not combined study of the entirety of production with sustained analysis of individual productions of Bāysunghur’s atelier. Prior to this study, a number of manuscripts were completely neglected, and several others were studied only briefly. What is more, the single extant document describing procedures and progress in the atelier, although well known, demanded further clarification on various levels. This dissertation discusses in six chapters the operation and productions of the library with particular attention paid to its highlight, Bāysunghur’s famous Shāhnāma. After an introduction to the field and an overview of previous studies, I turn to the report of the head of the atelier, clarifying some technical terms and establishing the date of the report. Secondly, the corpus of Bāysunghurī productions is examined chronologically and in relation to the librarian’s report, with individual manuscripts analysed with regard to their textual and aesthetic traits and their placement in an art historical context. Next, the Shāhnāma of Bāysunghur, which for many years has been inaccessible for close scholarly study, receives extended treatment. The final chapter presents a discussion of the textual and aesthetic content of the corpus and reconsiders the role of the atelier supervisor. The overall aim is to enhance and extend understanding of the arts of the book in a unique royal library, that of Prince Bāysunghur.

This paper deals with the post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan after the NATO-invasion at the end of 2001 and its success. To ensure the stability of the country, the NATO-led coalition had not only to overthrow the Taliban regime, but also to create basic government structures and help them perform. Reconstruction is of course very common and necessary after conflict, it is however usually operated by strictly civilian measures, e. g. government institutions and humanitarian organisations. In this case, however, such approach was not possible due to volatile security situation, which in some areas grew to such intensity, it essentially became a war-conflict again. This paper focuses on the Herat province and NATO units, especially under ISAF command. It seeks to define the process of post-conflict reconstruction and using the process-tracing method, it then ascertains the extent to which ISAF units dedicated themselves to post-conflict reconstruction and made a positive progress in this area. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)