Islam through translation. Cultural and religious encounters between Europe and the Ottoman Mediterranean before Orientalism.

This workshop, organized within the framework of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action project TransIslam, sets out to examine the role of European translations of Ottoman religious texts as a vehicle for cross-cultural and interfaith engagement. Rather than focusing on the rise of academic Orientalism, the event turns attention to earlier moments of contact between European and Ottoman-Mediterranean worlds, where translation already served as a powerful tool for religious understanding and cultural exchange. The workshop will also introduce the TransIslam International Network, an initiative developed through the TransIslam project to foster dialogue and cooperation among scholars engaged in interdisciplinary research on the European translation of Ottoman religious literature prior to the emergence of academic Orientalism.