Sixth Annual Conference 2021
Conference Highlights
Explore the full lineup of sessions
13 March 2021
Panel: Theology and Philosophy
Chair: Hamid Tehrani
Talk : 1
Speaker: Oliver Leaman, University of Kentucky, USA
Topic: Questioning the concept of ghulat
Talk: 2
Speaker: Polina Aniftou, University of Lancaster, Cyprus
Topic: Al-Insan al-Kamil and the Virtuous City
Talk: 3
Speaker: Shiraz Husain Agha, Independent researcher, Iran
Topic: Philosophical Determinism according to Sheikh Ghulam Rida Fayyadi
Talk: 4
Speaker: Ali Paya, The Islamic College, London, UK
Topic: The Quran vs. the Theory of Evolution: A Critical Assessment of the Contrasting Views of Two Prominent Shi‘a Scholars of the 20th Century: Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Tabatabaee and Dr Yadollah Sahabi
Panel: Shi‘ism in Iraq and the Middle East
Chair: Amir Dastmalchian
Talk: 1
Speaker: Sophia Butt, University of Birmingham, UK
Topic: The Edicts of Marājiʿ and the Concerns of Iraqi Youth Today
Talk: 2
Speaker: Zackery Heern, Idaho State University, USA
Topic: Shi‘i Educational Traditions and Systems in Early Modern Iraq and Iran
Talk: 3
Speaker: Hossein Nazari, University of Tehran, Iran
Zeinab Mehanna, Al-Mustafa University, Iran
Topic: Shi‘a Muslim Feminism: Alternative Voices of Resistance from Iraq and Kuwait
Talk: 4
Speaker: Birul Topuz, Potsdam, Germany
Topic: Quranic Verses Shaping Djem and False Perception of Alevism in the Society
Talk: 5
Speaker: Cevat Dargin, Princeton, USA
Topic: A Mobile and Invisible Religion: The Kizilbash (Alevi) Belief System in Dersim
13:00 – 14:00 : Lunch
Panel: The Qur’an and Islamic Law
Chair: Amina Inloes
Talk: 1
Speaker: Aun Hasan Ali, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Hadi Qazwini, University of Southern California, USA
Topic: The Legal Purport of “Refraining from Seeking Clarification”
Talk: 2
Speaker: Liyakat Takim, McMaster University, Canada
Topic: Shi‘i Exegesis in the Tenth Century: Ayyashi’s Tafsir as a Literary Genre
Talk: 3
Speaker: Tim Orr, Indiana University, Purdue University Columbus, USA
Topic: Gender Justice in Islam: An Evaluation of Ziba Mir-Hosseini’s Religious Epistemology by Examining her Interpretation of Qur’an 4:34
Panel: Contemporary Issues
Chair: Amir Dastmalchian
Talk: 1
Speaker: Tristan Hillion-Launey, EHESS, France
Topic: The Islamic economy according to Mūsā al-Ṣadr: The avant-gardist thoughts of an original Shi‘i reformist cleric
Talk: 2
Speaker: Makbul Rahim, Middlesex University, London, UK
Topic: The Role of Faith in Enhancing Environmental Practices in Khoja Shi‘a Faith Communities
Panel: Ritual Practice
Chair: Muhammad Zakaria
Talk: 1
Speaker: Mohammad Samiei, University of Tehran, Iran
Topic: Traditional Contact against Media Hegemony: The Importance and the Functions of the Ziarat-e Arbaeen in the Shi‘a World
Talk: 2
Speaker: Mohammadreza Mashhadi Ayvaz, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Topic: Performing Past, Narrating Today: Ta‘ziyeh as a Historiographic Intervention in Shia Islam
Talk: 3
Speaker: David Coolidge, Graduate Theological Union, California, USA
Topic: Contemporary Shi‘i Engagement with the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Tradition
