Ala Vahidnia

Ala Vahidnia
Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies
Faculty Member

EDUCATION
PhD in Theology     2012-2016
Majored in Quranic Manuscripts
Dissertation: “Early Quranic manuscripts and their role in the history of the Quran”
Supervisor: Dr. M. Pahlevan - University of Tehran

MSc in Theology
Majored in Quranic Studies    2010-2012
Thesis: “Quranic Terms and Concepts in Jahili Poetries”
Supervisor: Dr. M. Maaref- University of Tehran

BSc in Physics
Majored in Solid States- 2000-2004-University of Semnan 

PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS

Journal papers:
•    Vahidnia, Ala. "Whence Come Qurʾān Manuscripts? Determining the Regional Provenance of Early Qurʾānic Codices" Der Islam, vol. 98, no. 2, 2021, pp. 359-393. 
•    ”Quranic terms and concepts in jahili poetries”, A.Vahidnia and M. Maref,  Pajuhesh-Ha-Ye Quran Va Hadis, Iranian Journal of The Quranic Sciences & Tradition, volume 47 (2), 2014.

•     “Waraa: Behind or ahead”, Tarjumān-e waḥy: A Biannual journal of The Centre for Translation of the Holy Qur'ān, Volume 34 (2), 2014.

•     “Folios of an old Qur’an, scattered around the world, In the Reza Abbasi Museum, Tehran”, Ayene-ye Miras, Volume 17, Issue 64, Summer and Autumn 2019, Pages 133-159

•    “The Impact of Conceiving the Qur’an as Masculine on the Seven Readings”, Elaheh Shahpasand and Ala Vahidnia, Quran and Hadith studies, Issue 22 (Spring & Summer 2104), Summer and Autumn 2104

•     “Variant Orthographical Nature of Muṣḥafs in Earlier Islamic Centuries”Quranic researches journal, Volume 24, Issue 91, Summer 2019. 

•    “Dating of old Quranic manuscripts with modern scientific methods (Carbon-14 dating)”,Quranic studies and Islamic culture, Volume 2, Issue 3 - Serial Number 7, Autumn 2018, Page 99-131

•    “Textual Criticism of Quranic Manuscripts Based on Karl Lachmann Method”, The Journal of Islamic History and civilisation, Issue 29, Volume 15(2019)
Translations:
•    “Islam In Its Arabian Context”, Francois de Blois , The Qurʾān in Context, Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qurʾānic Milieu, ed. Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, Michael Marx, Brill, Lieden, Boston, 2010.

Books:  

•    Persian translation of:“Qur’ans of the Umayyads”, François Déroche, Leiden, Brill, 2013.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
•    Quranic studies, early Qur’anic manuscripts, the history of the Qu’ran.

RELATED EXPERIENCES

Collège de France, Paris, France 
Focus on Fusṭāṭ. A Bibliotheca Coranica in Context    25 June 2015
•    Chaire Histoire du Coran. Texte et transmission, Symposium Fustat Bibliotheca Coranica in context,  
Manuscripts and Manuscript Studies of the Qurʾan in Iran, with special reference 
to MS 18 of Aste-e Quds in Mashhad
Morteza KARIMI-NIA, Islamic Azad University, Téhéran
Ala VAHID-NIA, Université de Téhéran
Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands                                                                                          17 December 2019
•    Workshop
Between History and Philology: Quranic Manuscripts beyond Manuscript Studies
Whence Quran Manuscripts? Determining the Regional Provenance of Early Quranic Codices
University of Exeter, United Kingdom                                                                             9th – 11th April 2018
•    Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies          
Variant Orthographical Nature of Muṣḥafs in Earlier Islamic Centuries 
University of Tehran, Iran                                                                                                       October 1, 2020
•    Tehran Islamic Studies Monitor (TehranISM)                                           
 “The Grace of God” as evidence for a written Uthmanic archetype: the importance of shared orthographic idiosyncrasies
Author: Marijn van Putten (Leiden University), Discussant: Ala Vahidnia (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran)
Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran                                                                   1 December 2017

•    Early Quranic Manuscripts and the Problem of Their Dating (in Persian)

Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran                                                                17 February  2018

Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran                                                                 24 February  2019
 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
COLLEGE OF QURANIC SCIENCES IN TEHRAN                                                               2015-…
INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITIES AND CULTURAL STUDIES