Zanzibar, Tanzania
3-6 September 2013

OIC Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), and the National Records & Archives Authority of the Sultanate of Oman, are jointly organizing, in cooperation with Zanzibar University, the International Symposium on the “History of the Islamic Civilization in Eastern Africa”, in Zanzibar, Tanzania, on 3-6 September 2013.

Introduction
Africa was the destination of the first Muslim migrants from Mecca to Abyssinia in Africa. From then on, Muslims immigrations extended to include the eastern coast of Africa as a point of destination. Moreover, Muslim Preachers and merchants along with the immigrants reached to Central Africa.

Along with Northern Africa, Eastern Africa was one of the places which were most largely influenced by Islamic civilization. The growth of Muslims immigrations was due to certain reasons. One reason was the geographical proximity of Eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Another one was the environment of Africa with its fertile soil, abundant water, moderate climate and considerable wealth and bounties.

Muslims settled in these regions of Africa and established Islamic dynasties and states that played active roles in local and international policy due to their strategic locations. Some of these dynasties and states are Bata, Mogadishu, Sefalah, Zanzibar and Mombasa. In addition, these dynasties and states played and still play a pioneering role in spreading Islam in that part of the world.

Symposium Objectives
The conference is aimed at highlighting various aspects of Islamic civilization in Eastern Africa and promoting the exchange of views and findings of research on the impact of Islamic civilization in the region. This will be done around the following axes:
1 - Reviewing the historical and cultural dimensions of the Islamic civilization in South Asia and East Africa.
2 - The role and influence of Arab and Muslim migrations on the convergence of the Islamic sects.
3 - The influence of Islamic civilization in the fields of architecture and traditional crafts.
4 – Acquainting with the history of Islamic civilization, in the past and present, and studying its social, economic and political consequences.
5 - Reviewing the geographical aspects that contributed to the spread of the Islamic civilization.
6 - Shedding light on various forms of the intellectual production in East Africa.
7 - The influence of the Islamic civilization on African social life (customs, traditions and daily life areas).
8 - The Arab and Islamic press, and its role in enriching cultural life in Eastern Africa.
9 - Acquainting with the reality of manuscripts, records, archives, and monuments, and identifying the means of their development.

The submitted research paper shall comply with the following conditions
- It should be authentic, innovative, and directly relevant to the symposium's themes.
- It should not be published or delivered on earlier occasions.
- The abstract of the research paper should consist of about 250 words and be submitted in both Arabic and English.
- The research paper should consist of 800 - 1100 words.
- The papers should be sent by email.
- The scientific committee has the right to reject any research paper that does not meet scientific standards.
- The accepted research papers will be published after editing in a special booklet for the symposium events. The organizing body holds the copyrights. Before publication the papers will be subject to the applicable Publication Law in the Ministry of Information of the Sultanate of Oman.

Submission deadlines for the abstracts and the papers
Abstracts and research papers should be mailed to:
symposium@nraa.gov.om or
congress@ircica.org

- Deadline for submitting the abstracts: 15 March 2013.
- Informing of the acceptance of the abstracts: by 15 April 2013.
- Deadline for the submission of full papers: 26 June 2013.
Conditions for citations
- The historical narrations should be cited chronologically.
- The references should indicate the sources.
- The views and interpretations introduced by the researcher should be based on historical events and evidences.
- The researcher should indicate the sources or the website from which graphics, maps and records were taken and used or whether they are his own work.
- Sources and references must be cited in the footnotes (at the end of every page) starting with number 1 in each page.
- Sources and references must be cited in a list at the end of the paper under the title "Sources and References" and ordered alphabetically as follow:
title, name, edition, part, publisher, city of publishing, year of publishing; any further citation information might be put in parenthesis.

Symposium Languages
Arabic and English

For complementary information send an email to
symposium@nraa.gov.om or
congress@ircica.org
Phone: +968 246 16071,
+968 246 16086,
+90 259 17 42