Category Archives: Academics

A Rather Grim Outlook

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Muller

Tromsø University and in particular its Center of Advanced Studies in Linguistics (CASTL), which celebrates its excellence and tenth anniversary, hosts this autumn semester Noam Chomsky who gave a political talk to the public yesterday to an overcrowded auditorium. Chomsky, … Continue reading →

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Strong Beliefs

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Muller

When recently reading with growing interest Patricia Crone’s latest book about The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran – Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012) I came across a most unlikely reference, Reinhold Loeffler’s interviews of Boyer … Continue reading →

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An Iranian Blend

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Muller

Up to the so-called Sunni Revival long after the conquest of much of the Islamic World, and foremost Iran, by the Seljuqs in the first half of the 11th century, the religious denomination of Iranians has never been so clear. … Continue reading →

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Avicenna’s Systematic Reviews

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Muller

That great medieval polymath and philosopher Ibn Sina (d. 1037), or Avicenna as he is known in the West, might in fact be regarded as father (or inventor) of medical systematic reviews [1], nowadays considered as the highest level of … Continue reading →

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Janteloven

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Muller

Having long been impressed by great and world-renowned Scandinavian professionals, I have only lately met a number of Scandinavians as colleagues in my academic career. When having lived and worked in the Middle East several of these exemplars did not … Continue reading →

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