Genealogy and Authority in Moroccan Scholarship

Dr. Armaan Siddiqi is the winner of the 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation, "Portrait of a Moroccan ʿālim: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World (1858 - 1927)." In this episode, Armaan talks about her research on al-Kattani, a traditionally-trained Moroccan Muslim scholar who came from a prominent family of scholars, Sufis, and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. While scholarship on Islam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries has focused on the Muslim reformers and the Middle East, Armaan's dissertation sheds light on the thought of a conservative scholar from the Maghrib, the “frontier” lands of Islam. Through an exploration of al-Kattani’s works including a hagiography, advice to the sultan, fatwa, travelogue, and theological tract, Armaan shows how a traditional Moroccan scholar navigates religion and politics on the eve of French colonization while remaining faithful to existing traditions and structures of authority.

Dr. Armaan Siddiqi earned her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University in 2024. She is a lecturer in Islamic studies and also works in Stanford University Library’s Middle East and South Asia collections. She is currently part of a Harvard digital humanities project mapping the global influence of the 20th century Islamic periodical Al-Manar, published out of Cairo (1898 – 1935).

Credits and Transcript