The Eighth Annual Conference on Shi’i Studies
Research & Publications » Conference on Shi‘i Studies » The Eighth Annual Conference on Shi’i Studies
9-9:05 am Opening remarks by Dr Mohammed Ali Ismail, Director of Research and Publications at The Islamic College, London, UK
9:05-9:45 AM Keynote speech – ‘Digging for Subalterns: Safavid Ijāzāt as a Source on the “Periphery”’ Andrew Newman, Personal Chair of Islamic Studies and Persian, University of Edinburgh, UK
9:45-10:45 Session 1: Contemporary Shi‘i Thought
Chair: Mohammed Ali Ismail
Zain Alattar | University of California Berkeley, USA | Two Voices on Islamic Government: Ayatollah Khomeini and Shaykh Muḥammad Jawād Mughniyyah on the Structure and Duties of the Islamic State |
Bahman Khodadadi | University of Münster, Germany | Shi‘i Jurisprudential Perception and the Rule of the Judge in the Crucible of the Modern State: Problems and Perspectives |
Tim Orr | Indiana University Purdue University Columbus, USA | Gender Justice in Islam: A Critique of Ziba Mir-Hosseini’s Humanistic Ethic of Social Justice by Using Shi‘i Epistemological Assumptions |
10:45-11:00 Break
11:00-12:00 Session 2: Philosophy and the intellect
Chair: Amir DeMartino
Saeid Sobhani | The Islamic College, London, UK | A Critical View on Sayyid Quṭb and the Status of Intellect (‘Aql) |
Amina Inloes | The Islamic College, London, UK | Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Theology: An Interview with ChatGPT |
Mehdi Ali | University of Southern California, USA | Before “After Virtue”: The Philosophy of Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr |
12:00-1:00 Session 3: Narrative studies
Chair: Amina Inloes
Rev Frank Gelli | Church of England | A Deconstruction of Two Popular Western Fictional Narratives about Imam al-Mahdi, Contrasted with a Positive Literary Alternative |
Reza John Vedadi | Loughborough University London, UK | How has the Shia Muslim identity been represented in Hollywood films since 1986? |
12:45-1:00 Student awards
1:00-2:00 Lunch
2:00-3:00 Session 4: Writings
Chair: Hamid Tehrani
Mahdieh Tavakol | Freie Universität Berlin, Germany | Travelling Manuscripts: A History of the Personal Library of Shaykh Bahāʾī |
Amir Mohammad and Hakimi Parsa | New York University, USA | Shi‘i Mysticism in the Turkish Divan of Shah Ismāʿīl Khaṭāʾī |
Kasra Shiva | Independent researcher | The Rhetoric of Social Interdependency and Community Making: References to the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā in the Poetry of Nizārī Quhistānī |
3:00-4:00 Session 5: Regional studies
Chair: Amir Dastmalchian
Jaffer Mirza | King’s College London, UK | The Absence of British Shia Muslims in the Multicultural and Integration Literature |
Sher Muhammad | University of Karachi, Pakistan | Shia in Sindh: Its Roots, History, and Special Link to Mysticism |
Antonio Torres Fernández | Independent researcher | When Sharia and Secularism Collide: Shi‘i Bektāshī Order’s Contribution to Turkey’s Modern Politics |
4:00-4:15 Break
4:15-5:15 Session 6: Intrafaith studies
Chair: Amir Dastmalchian
Berhat Cem Oner | Independent researcher | The Imamate of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and the Fatimid Alids: A Comparison of the Doctrine of Imamate between the Zaydiyyah and the Imamiyyah |
Sheikh Al Muatasim Said Al Maawali and Julia Katarina | Centre for Omani Studies at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman and University of Birmingham, UK; The Islamic College, London, UK | Akhlāq, Imāmah, Wilāyah: A Comparative Study of the Ibāḍī and Jaʿfarī Schools |
Shabbir Agha Abbas | University of Arizona, USA | Defining Twelver Islam |
5:15 pm Closing address: Dr Isa Jahangir, Principal of The Islamic College, London, UK
