Eighth Annual Conference on Shi‘i Studies
15 minutes per talk; the remaining time is for discussion.
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
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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
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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
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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 (ʿAql)
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Amina Inloes
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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
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12:00-1:00 Session 3: Regional studies
Chair: Amina Inloes
Sher Muhammad | University of Karachi, Pakistan | Shi‘ism in Sindh: Its roots and History with a Special Link with Mysticism |
Jaffer Mirza | King’s College London, UK | The Absence of British Shi‘a Muslims in the Multicultural and Integration Literature |
Antonio Torres Fernández | Independent researcher | When Shari‘ah and Secularism Collide: The Shi‘i Bektāshī Order’s Contribution to Turkey’s Modern Politics
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1:00-1:15 Student awards
1:15-2:15 Lunch
2:15-3:15 Session 4: Writings
Chair: Hamid Tehrani
Mahdieh Tavakol | Freie Universität Berlin, Germany | Mobility and Intellectual Production: Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad al-ʿĀmilī and his Moving Scholarly Circle |
Amir Mohammad Hakimi Parsa | New York University, USA | Shi‘i Mysticism in the Turkish Divan of Shāh Ismāʿīl Khaṭāʾī
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Kasra Shiva | University of Oxford, UK | The Post-Mongol Ismaili Community in the Poetry of Nizārī Quhistānī (d. 1320)
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3:15-4:00 Session 5: Narrative studies
Chair: Amir Dastmalchian
Rev Frank Gelli | Church of England, UK | A Deconstruction of Two Popular Western Fictional Narratives about Imam al-Mahdī, 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? |
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
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Julia Katarina
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Sheikh Al Muatasim Said Al Maawali |
The Islamic College, London, UK
Centre for Omani Studies at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman and University of Birmingham, UK |
Akhlāq, Imāmah, Wilāyah: A Comparative Study of the Ibāḍī and Jaʿfarī Schools
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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