The Dutch Research Council (NWO) is contributing funding the project. With this grant Yusuf Çelik will set up an interdisciplinary study of early Islam and Arab Judaism, combining conventional research with advanced computational methods from the digital humanities.
"In the year 627, the adult males of the last Jewish tribe were put to death in Medina for treason," Çelik says. "Only women, minors and previous converts survived and were accepted into the Islamic community. I’ll use computational methods to find how these survivors contributed to the pre-modern Islamic tradition. My hypothesis is that the unique Jewish background of this Banū Qurayẓa, noticeably shaped the interpretation of the Qur'an and practice of Sharia of later generations."
"Thanks to the support of NWO, I can dedicate my time entirely to this study. This contribution is crucial to develop new computational tools to study the fragmented historical sources. That's why I'm very grateful to NWO for this opportunity."
The Veni grants for researchers who have recently obtained their PhDs are part of the NWO Talent Programme, which NWO uses to stimulate innovative research.