Alexander Jabbari
@ajab.bsky.social
Professor of sundry Persianate things. I write about language, literature, history, philology, politics. Twitter @yakabikaj
MESA book fair haul
November 26, 2025 at 6:42 PM
MESA book fair haul
“Mysticism now rules the world, the cult of blood and violence, darkness, the longing for the past, nationalism. Do you think that anything great and noble, like this book, can come out of such chaos? No; you’ll see, our time will be remembered for its barbarity and barrenness.”
November 7, 2025 at 3:25 PM
“Mysticism now rules the world, the cult of blood and violence, darkness, the longing for the past, nationalism. Do you think that anything great and noble, like this book, can come out of such chaos? No; you’ll see, our time will be remembered for its barbarity and barrenness.”
"Ceviche" and "escabeche" in Spanish may have a Persian #etymology. The RAE says they're from Arabic sikbāj, itself from Middle Persian sik "vinegar" + bāg "soup" (cf. سکبا).
October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
"Ceviche" and "escabeche" in Spanish may have a Persian #etymology. The RAE says they're from Arabic sikbāj, itself from Middle Persian sik "vinegar" + bāg "soup" (cf. سکبا).
Hunting in America - Tehila Hakimi
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
October 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Hunting in America - Tehila Hakimi
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Devoured this violent little novel in just a couple hours. It's great.
Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month
September 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Looking forward to giving this talk, on some of my latest work, at McGill later this month
In Arabic (and subsequently Persian and Urdu) نقد naqd connotes both cash and criticism.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
September 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
In Arabic (and subsequently Persian and Urdu) نقد naqd connotes both cash and criticism.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
The connection lies in an earlier sense of the word: testing the authenticity of coins.
JOB POSTING
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
JOB POSTING
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
Assistant Professor, Buddhist Studies
Religious Studies Program, University of Minnesota
Area, time period, and discipline are open and it's a great place to work!
Please donate and share: Healing Hands Fund is sending a neonatologist to Gaza & raising money for baby supplies. They are a small grassroots organization of pediatricians and their colleagues who have expertise and experience getting crucial health supplies to Palestine. t.co/PD8lTbYccn
July 18, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Please donate and share: Healing Hands Fund is sending a neonatologist to Gaza & raising money for baby supplies. They are a small grassroots organization of pediatricians and their colleagues who have expertise and experience getting crucial health supplies to Palestine. t.co/PD8lTbYccn
Yinka Shonibare’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Australia), based on the famous 18th c print by Francisco Goya. Shonibare replaced the clothes w/ Indonesian batik fabric, which also became part of West African sartorial culture via colonial routes
May 19, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Yinka Shonibare’s The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Australia), based on the famous 18th c print by Francisco Goya. Shonibare replaced the clothes w/ Indonesian batik fabric, which also became part of West African sartorial culture via colonial routes
LRB printed my letter of correction, the day is saved
May 15, 2025 at 12:40 PM
LRB printed my letter of correction, the day is saved
Maybe the first time emojis have appeared in print in the LRB? (3 April 2025)
May 11, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Maybe the first time emojis have appeared in print in the LRB? (3 April 2025)
Action & Adventure 🤔
May 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Action & Adventure 🤔
Why Marxism has lost its appeal for Indian Muslims
During the colonial era, Marx’s ideas left a deep impression on the community’s politics – and aesthetics. What has changed?
scroll.in/article/1081...
During the colonial era, Marx’s ideas left a deep impression on the community’s politics – and aesthetics. What has changed?
scroll.in/article/1081...
May 7, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Why Marxism has lost its appeal for Indian Muslims
During the colonial era, Marx’s ideas left a deep impression on the community’s politics – and aesthetics. What has changed?
scroll.in/article/1081...
During the colonial era, Marx’s ideas left a deep impression on the community’s politics – and aesthetics. What has changed?
scroll.in/article/1081...
The distress call "mayday!" has nothing to do with May. It's from French [venez] m'aider "[come] help me!" Sounds made up but it's true!
May 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
The distress call "mayday!" has nothing to do with May. It's from French [venez] m'aider "[come] help me!" Sounds made up but it's true!
Started this and had to put it down right away because it was irremediably stupid. Reads like the script for a CSI episode about villainous Islamic Terrorists in like 2004. Is that why the French gave him so many awards?
April 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Started this and had to put it down right away because it was irremediably stupid. Reads like the script for a CSI episode about villainous Islamic Terrorists in like 2004. Is that why the French gave him so many awards?
Good essay but I'm shocked by Perry Anderson's insinuation that the Economist is superior to FT. C'mon bro
April 29, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Good essay but I'm shocked by Perry Anderson's insinuation that the Economist is superior to FT. C'mon bro
This single sentence, from the opening of Adorno's The Stars Down to Earth, explains why game theory is stupid
April 27, 2025 at 2:02 AM
This single sentence, from the opening of Adorno's The Stars Down to Earth, explains why game theory is stupid
The poet Muhammad Iqbal died on this day in 1938. A line from his Persian poem Musafir contains a chronogram for his death year:
صدق و اخلاص و صفا باقی نماند
صدق و اخلاص و صفا باقی نماند
April 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
The poet Muhammad Iqbal died on this day in 1938. A line from his Persian poem Musafir contains a chronogram for his death year:
صدق و اخلاص و صفا باقی نماند
صدق و اخلاص و صفا باقی نماند
According to a hadith, when Pharaoh was drowning he tried to repent and the angel Gabriel stuffed mud in his mouth to prevent him.
April 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
According to a hadith, when Pharaoh was drowning he tried to repent and the angel Gabriel stuffed mud in his mouth to prevent him.
Abdulrazak Gurnah's latest novel Theft is easily his weakest. I was disappointed in this one.
April 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Abdulrazak Gurnah's latest novel Theft is easily his weakest. I was disappointed in this one.
Haroset, the sweet mortar-like paste part of the Passover seder, is called حلق ḥaleq in Persian. It's attested as early as 10th century in Judeo-Arabic. Lane gives the example حلّق البسر ḥallaqa al-busr "the dates ripened"— this verb is probably the source.
April 15, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Haroset, the sweet mortar-like paste part of the Passover seder, is called حلق ḥaleq in Persian. It's attested as early as 10th century in Judeo-Arabic. Lane gives the example حلّق البسر ḥallaqa al-busr "the dates ripened"— this verb is probably the source.
لكل فرعون موسى
for every Pharaoh there is a Moses
for every Pharaoh there is a Moses
April 14, 2025 at 6:32 PM
لكل فرعون موسى
for every Pharaoh there is a Moses
for every Pharaoh there is a Moses
Yiddish #etymology of the day: חד־גדיא khad-gadye, slang for "jail." From the Aramaic for "one kid" (young goat), from the Passover song Khad Gadya. Why "jail"? Because in Polish koza means "goat" but is also slang for "jail" - it's a bilingual pun. Gut yontif!
April 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Yiddish #etymology of the day: חד־גדיא khad-gadye, slang for "jail." From the Aramaic for "one kid" (young goat), from the Passover song Khad Gadya. Why "jail"? Because in Polish koza means "goat" but is also slang for "jail" - it's a bilingual pun. Gut yontif!
To add to my despair about the state of the world I just read Kapo by Aleksandar Tišma, a devastatingly bleak novel about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia
April 11, 2025 at 1:02 PM
To add to my despair about the state of the world I just read Kapo by Aleksandar Tišma, a devastatingly bleak novel about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia
Know your rights during law enforcement encounters
March 31, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Know your rights during law enforcement encounters