News

2026

The first teaching package of Quranatura has now been published. See it – in both Danish and English – here.

Zenia Henriksen. Conference paper. September 2026. “Materializing Green Scripture: Islamic Environmental Ethics in the Qur’anic Botanic Garden”, at the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Bucharest.

Zenia Henriksen. Talk. September 2026. “Qurʾānic Environmental Ethics and Prophetic Practice in the Qurʾānic Botanic Garden”, at Review of Global Quranic Studies.

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. August 2026. Symposion. Panel on translations, at Paradoks (journal).

Johanne Louise Christiansen, Sarra Tlili, Magnus Brandt Nielsen, and Zenia Henriksen. Panel. July 2026. “The Qur’an, Nature, and Environmentalism”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association, Vienna (see below).

Johanne Louise Christiansen. Conference paper. July 2026. “Ordering Creation: On Analogism and the Qur’an”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association, Vienna.

Sarra Tlili. Conference paper. July 2026. “Divine Agency and the Logic of Taskhīr in the Qur’an”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association, Vienna.

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. July 2026. “Nature, Natures, and the Natural: The Semantic Development of ṭ-b-' from the Qur'an to the Early Islamic Sciences”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association, Vienna.

Zenia Henriksen. Conference paper. July 2026. “Narrating Green Scripture: Qurʾānic Environmental Ethics and Prophetic Practice in the Qurʾānic Botanic Garden”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association, Vienna.

Zenia Henriksen. Lecture. March 2026. Qur’anic Gardens and Muslim Environmentalism: Religious Environmental Ethics in Practice, at Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies’ Seminar, Lund University

2025

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. Lecture/presentation. “Greek Roots, Arabic Branches: The Concept of Nature in Arabic Philosophy” at DIA (Danish Institute at Athens).

Magnus Brandt Nilsen. Presentation. “Fra fysis til ṭabīʿa: Natur i klassisk arabisk filosofi”, filosofisk foredragsforening, SDU

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. Conference/paper. “Between Heart and Nature: A Study of the Root ṭ–b–ʿ in Scripture and Early Islamic Philosophy”, at International Qur’anic Studies Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. Paper. “Natur er ikke nødvendig, men Guds vane”, at Dansk Filosofisk Selskabs Årsmøde

Johanne Louise Christiansen. Seminar. December 2025. “Trees and Other Vegetation in the Qur’an and Early Islamic Traditions”. Religionsvidenskabeligt Seminar. Aarhus.

Zenia Henriksen. December 2025. Zenia is currently conducting her first visit to the Qur’anic Botanic Garden in Qatar.

Johanne Louise Christiansen. Conference. November 2025. Paper entitled “Quranatura: On the Relationship/s between Humans and Nature in the Qur’an”. The International Qur’anic Studies Association, Los Angeles. 

Magnus Brandt Nielsen. Conference. November 2025. Paper entitled “Between Heart and Nature: A Study of the Root ṭ-b-‘ in Scripture and Islamic Philosophy”. The International Qur’anic Studies Association, Los Angeles.

Magnus Brandt Nielsen & Johanne Louise Christiansen. September 2025. Presentation. “Quranatura: Negotiations of Qurʾanic Nature in Islam”, at RELIGIO, religionsvidenskabelig foredragsforening, SDU.

Zenia Henriksen. Guest Lecture University of Copenhagen. 15.09. 2025: Material Culture and Aesthetics in Contemporary Islam.

Zenia Henriksen. Conference. October 2025. The Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies: NSMES.

Zenia Yonus Henriksen has started in the project as postdoc May 1^st 2025. She holds a PhD from the University of Copenhagen and her work explores political movements, human rights, identity, and migration in the SWANA region and its diasporas, with a focus on how media discourses and lived experience shape collective action and belonging. As part of Quranatura Zenia is responsible for conducting the research related to subproject 4. Here, she examines how Islamic views on nature are communicated and practiced, with particular attention to the Qur’anic Botanic Garden in Qatar, and she is also engaged in methodological questions related to fieldwork in sensitive contexts. Her book Mediatization of a Revolution: (De)Mobilization Among Diasporic Syrian Dissidents in Europe, will be published later this year.

Magnus Brandt Nielsen & Johanne Louise Christiansen. January 2025. Presentation: “Nostalgia in/of the Qurʾān”, at Nostalgia Seminar, Research group Narratives, SDU.

2024

Postdoc position
A postdoc position is available as part of the Sapere Aude research project, Quranatura: Negotiations of Qur’anic Nature in Islam
The Department of Culture and Language is offering one fully funded 24 months postdoc position starting on March 1, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. The postdoc will be based at SDU, Odense.
Application deadline 12.11.2024 at 23.59

How to take care of God’s green earth?
Religious environmental movements are established worldwide, also within Islam. The Independent Research Fund Denmark has granted more than DKK 6 million to a project investigating the connection between Islam, nature, and the environment.
Read the news here