"Mais comment peut-on etre Persan" contains the contributions of colleagues and students written in honour of Professor Annette Donckier de Donceel, who held the chair of Persian studies and of History and Art History of the Islamic world at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) for over 20 years before retiring in 1999. The theme of this Liber Amicorum is the influence exercised by Iran on other civilisations. The 12 contributions gathered here cover a wide range of subjects. They fluctuate from the indo-european concepts of mages and paradise to present day disputes between Orientalists, from astral conjunctions presented by Medieval Islamic Scholars to the career of a 17th century Dutch Orientalist, from a romantic Polish music composer to a plague outbreak in early 20th century Persia, from the influence of Zoroaster on Greek thinkers to the names of flowers in Arabic, from the oral poetry in present day Badakhshan, to the fables of 17th century La Fontaine, from the sun and moon symbolism in the writings of Sadr al-din Shirazi (17th c.), to the Naqshbandiyya in Bosnia Herzegovina.
What better way to show the richness of the Persian culture and its remarkable resilience and strength? What better way, also, to thank Annette Donckier de Donceel for her "outstanding service" to Persian studies over the years?