Ninth Annual Conference on Shiʿi Studies (2024)
Date: 11 May 2025
Location: The Islamic College
Type: One-day academic conference
Schedule
9:00–9:05 | Opening remarks
Dr Mohammed Ali Ismail
Director of Research and Publications at The Islamic College
9:05 - 9:45 | Keynote speech
Professor Robert Gleave
University of Exeter, UK
9:45 - 11:15 | Panel Session 1
Shi‘i Ritual and Popular Practice (Room F21)
Chair: Amina Inloes
— The Ritual Practice of Ziyārah and its Ontological Foundations in the Work of Avicenna
Vinay Khetia ,
Shia Research Institute, Toronto, Canada
— Redemptive Eschatology in Christianity And Shi‘a Islam: A Brief Analysis of Eschatological Hope in Two Religious Traditions
Maryam Omidi,
The Islamic College, London, UK; The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA
— Traces and Transfer: Life and Death in Wādī al-Salām
Noor Zaidi,
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA
Biographical Studies (Room F12)
Chair: Saeid Sobhani
— Unveiling the Untold Exploring Female Narratives in Early Shi‘a Collective Biographies of the Imams
Zahra Azhar,
Independent researcher, The Hague, Netherlands
— From Wukalāʾ to Designated Deputies of the Twelfth Shi‘i Imam
Makbul Rahim,
Independent researcher, London, UK
11:30 - 13:00 | Panel Session 2
Mysticism and Esotericism (Room F21)
Chair: Hamid Tehrani
— Mysticism in the Formation of Shi‘i Statehood in Iran: From Ismāʿīl Ṣafavī to Rūḥullāh Khumaynī
Amir Mohammad Hakimi Parsa, St Andrews University, Dundee, Scotland
— ʿIlm al-Ghayb: The Mystical Imamate of the Walī of our Time
Julia Katarina, The Islamic College, London, UK
—The Shi‘i Isma‘ili Concept of Waṣiyyah: Exploring Esoteric Shari‘ah during the Alamūt Period
Antonio Torres Fernández, University of Alicante, Spain
Science and Technology (Room F12) Chair: Amir De Martino— An Islamic Medicine? An Epistemological Scrutiny and Historical Examination of Bīmāristāns in Baghdad in the First Abbasid Era
Ali Hussain al-Hakim,
Independent researcher, London, UK
Zainab Al-Wasiti,
Al-Mustansiriyyah University, Baghdad
— A Critique of ‘Modern Science’ from the Perspective of Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Adam Ient, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, UK
13:00 - 13:15 | Student Awards
13:15 - 14:15 | Lunch
14:15 - 15:00 | Book Launch
Al-Asfa: A 17th-Century Shi‘i Exegesis of the Qur’an, by Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, translated by Alexander Khaleeli. Talk by Alexander Khaleeli.
15:00 - 16:30 | Panel Session 3
The Qur’an and Hadith (Room F21)
Chair: Mohammed Ali Ismail
— The Probative Force (Ḥujjiyat) of Non-Renowned Reports (Akhbār Āḥād) in the Interpretation of the Qur’an
Maryamossadat Moballegh, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
— Shi‘i Tafsīr in the Akhbārī Period
Liyakat Takim, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
— A Rebuttal to ʿAlī Dashtī’s Views on the Prophet Muḥammad and his Miracles
Saeid Sobhani, The Islamic College, London, UK
Shi‘i Scholars (Room F12) Chair: Saeid Sobhani— Ayatollah Sistani’s Emotional Entrepreneurism During the Jihad Against ISIS 2014-2017
Ali Alsayegh, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK
— The Contribution of Grand Ayatollah Milani to the Development of the Mashhad Ḥawzah Islamic Studies Programme
Seyed Jaafar Hosseini Milani, Independent researcher, London, UK
16:45 - 18:15 | Panel Session 4
India and Mongolia (Room F21)
Chair: Amir De Martino
— Vernacular Expressions of Shi’ism in Late Medieval India: The Satpanth Movement
Imran Visram, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
— Shi‘i Revolution in the Shadow of the Nawab: Establishing a ‘Transnational Religious Economy’ between Post-Revolutionary Iran and Lucknow, India
Abid Zaidi, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
On Human Nature and Knowing (Room F12) Chair: Hamid Tehrani— Cultivating Spiritual Morality: Integrating Social Emotional Intelligence in Early Childhood Education for Holistic Development
Shahnaaz Alidina, Independent researcher, Richmond Hill, Canada
— Imam ‘Alī’s Teachings for Transcendent Anthroposophy
Husain Heriyanto, Paramadina University, Jakarta, Indonesia
18:15 - 18:30 | Closing Address
Dr Isa Jahangir
The Islamic College, London, UK
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