Welcome to
LISĀN
Arabic & Persian translation and
specialist research on the Islamic world
for cultural heritage and policy organisations
About
Meaning 'language' or 'tongue' in Arabic and Persian, Lisān is a translation and research centre founded by Michael Burns. Michael studied Arabic, Persian & Islamic Studies (BAHons) at Oxford University and Conflict Studies (MSc) at the London School of Economics, with ten years' academic and professional experience working in and from Arabic and Persian.
Services
Lisān offers high-quality Arabic to English and Persian to English translations of object inscriptions and manuscripts for the heritage sector, and of online media for social science and public policy. Lisān also provides subject-matter expertise on the contemporary and historic Middle East tailored to your research needs.
Who We've Worked With
Types of Work
Manuscript
Digital & Other Media
Manuscript
Completed the first full translation of the Khalili Collections' Anis al-Hujjaj (The Pilgrim's Companion) . To be published in 2024.
The forty-five folio Persian manuscript was written in 1677 by Safi bin Vali al-Qazvini, an Iranian scholar in the Mughal court of Emperor Aurangzeb and tutor to the Princess Zebunissa. It concerns his pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina but spans topics ranging from medicine to linguistics, astrology to sociology.
Do you or your institution hold a manuscript you need identified or analysed, transcribed or translated?
Contact us below.
Artefacts
Digital & Other Media
Manuscript
Translated the part-masnavi, part-ghazal poetic inscription on a Safavid-era bowl held by the William Morris Gallery:
O owner of this bowl, let up.
Here within is life - drink up!
As bowl to heaven, cup to sun -
So raise it and your spirit up.
Last night the new moon’s finger brushed the sky.
O Lovers, beaming Eid has now arrived.
Do you or your institution hold a precious, inscribed object you want displayed alongside its English translation?
Contact us below.
Digital & Other Media
Digital & Other Media
Digital & Other Media
Artefacts are not limited to tangible objects behind glass screens. They live in public sites, collective acts and, increasingly, on the internet.
Lisān has researched and translated the socio-cultural output of numerous distinct 'subcultures', including the graffiti and slogans of protesters during the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Egyptian ultras' stadium chants and songs, Salafi-jihadist anasheed and the Iranian communist party's pre-revolutionary poetry.
Do you or your institution need a research question explored in-depth with meticulous primary source analysis?
Contact us below.