Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to Hinrich Biesterfeldt and Sebastian Günther for including this Festschrift in their prestigious Islamic History and Civilization Series; Teddi Dols for ensuring that the book pass through its various levels of review and publication swiftly and efficiently; Seyyed Hossein Nasr for writing the Foreword; the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions; and the authors who contributed to this collection in a timely manner so that its publication would coincide with the eightieth birth year of both its recipients. My research assistant Jana Newiger and the volume’s production editor Noralyne Alabdullah-Maranus worked tirelessly on the articles and saw to it that every dimension of this publication conformed to Brill’s meticulous standards. A number of friends and colleagues also helped out in various ways. Thanks go to Kazuyo Murata for surreptitiously obtaining essential biographical information about her aunt, and Nosheen Mian, Nariman Aavani, Muhammad Faruque, Atif Khalil, Munjed Murad, Bilal Orfali, and Cyrus Zargar for their feedback on the volume’s conception and content. A publication grant awarded by the Persian Heritage Foundation allowed me to commission the stunning piece on the front cover, which was handcrafted by Behnaz Karjoo.
Mohammed Rustom
Toronto, September 2022