Raya Shani

Raya Shani is a PhD holder and has worked for many years at the University of Jerusalem, Institute of Asian and African Studies. Her main fields of interest are Muslim archaeology and Persian miniature painting with an emphasis on the iconographic representation of ʿAlī.

Raya Shani
Occupation	Professor
Academic work
Institutions	University of Jerusalem, Institute of Asian and African Studies

Education

• Ph.d in Islamic architecture in Iran and specifically in Gunbad-i 'Alawiyan , Hamadan ,1974- 1978

Career

• Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Asian and African Studie , 1997 to present
• Professor of school of Architecture at the Bezal'el Academy of the Arts in Jerusalem
• Visiting professorship in UC Berkeley, departments of Art History and Near Eastern Studies

Book

• A Monumental Manifestation of the Shi'i Faith in Late-Twelfth-Century Iran: The Case of the Gunbad-i 'Alawiyyan, Hamadan, Oxford University Press, in the Series of Oxford Studies in Islamic Art 11, Oxford, 1996;

Articles

• "A Judeo-Persian Talismanic Textile", Irano-Judaica IV (1999), pp. 251-273;
• "The Iconography of the Dome of the Rock" Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 23 (1999), pp. 158-207;
• "On the Umayyad Dating of the Double Gate in Jerusalem", Muqarnas 18 (2001), pp. 1-40;
• "Noah's Ark and the Ship of Faith", Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 27 (2002), pp. 127-203;
• "'Ali b. Abi Talib - The Lion of God: Iconographical Study of the Lion Image in Shi'i-inspired Mi'raj Paintings", in Survey of Persian Art 18, ed. Abbas Daneshvari, Mazda Publication, Costa Mesa California, 2004, pp. 265-426;
• "A Pictorial Representation of the Hadith al-thaqalayn in the Ilkhanid copy of Bal'ami's Tarjumah-yi tarikh-i Tabari in the Freer Gallery, Smithsonoan Institution, Washington D.C.", in The Iconography of Islamic Art, Studies in Honour of Robert Hillenbrand, ed,. Bernard O'Kane, Edinburgh University Press, 2005, pp. 285-308;
• "On the Legitimate Authority Issue in Bal'ami's Tarjuma-yi tarikh-i Tabari at the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C.", in Scritti in Onore di Giovanni M. d'Erme, ed. Michele Bernardini and Natalia Tornesello, Napoli, 2005, pp. 1115-1138; "Illustrations of the Ship of Faith Parable in Firdausi;s Prologue to the Shahnama", in Shahnama Studies I, ed. Chrles Melville, University of Cambridge, 2006, pp. 1-39;
• "Calligraphic Lions Symbolising the Esoteric Dimension of 'Ali's Nature", in The Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shi'ism, ed. Pedram Khosronejad, I.B. Tauris, London, 2012, pp. 122-158.

Source

• Raya Shani’s personal website