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Absolute or unrestricted (muṭlaq) versus delimited (muqayyad) is a key area in the study of language and meaning (mabāḥith al-alfāẓ) in Islamic Legal Theory (uṣūl alfiqh). It deeply affects the understanding and interpretation of the apparent linguistic (ẓāhir) indication of Scripture and Tradition (Sunna), thereby deducing new, or justifying pre-existing, jurisprudential, ethical, and theological knowledge of Islam. This section in uṣūl al-fiqh includes three major chapters: preliminary discussions, the rulings of absolute expression (aḥkām al-iṭlāq), and the rulings when both absolute and delimited expressions coexist. The second chapter is divided into the utterances of absolute expression (alfāẓ al-iṭlāq) and the quality of indication of these utterances to absolute expression. This paper focuses on how the absolute (muṭlaq) indicates absolute expression (iṭlāq) and comprehensiveness (shumūl). Is this implication by designation (waḍʿ) or does it depend on context (qarīna)? Among Shi’ite Uṣūlis, the dominant approach since the 11th AH/17th AD century is the necessity of general context (qarīna ʿāmma) for absolute expression (iṭlāq). This general context depends on the realisation of a few necessary preliminaries, which are called “the necessary preliminaries of wisdom/ rationality” (muqadammāt al-ḥikma). There are at least three necessary preliminaries: first, the possibility of absolute and delimited expression; second, the speaker (mutakallim) must be in “the situation of a clear statement of complete intention” (maqām al-bayān li tamām al-murād) and not in “indetermination” (ihmāl) or ambiguity (ijmāl); third, the negation of what requires specification (ta’yīn). The focus has been on the second preliminary, analysing its boundaries and meaning. How can we determine if the speaker—here, the Lawmaker (Shāriʿ)—is in the “situation of a clear statement for complete intention”? What are its precise criteria? This paper examines holding absolute (al-tamassuk bi al-iṭlāq) in various fiqh cases and argues for a revision. If the Lawmaker’s situation is unclear, what does the foundational principle (al-aṣl al-awwali) require? Focusing on Imāmi uṣūl al-fiqh, this paper also provides a comparative analysis with Sunni uṣūl al-fiqh and linguistic philosophy. It comprises three sections: an overview of absolute and delimited (muṭlaq wa muqayyad), a literature review of “the necessary preliminaries of wisdom” (muqadammāt al-ḥikma), and the criteria for “the situation of a clear statement of complete intention” (maqām al-bayān li tamām al-murād).

The intricate relationships among the various sources of Islamic legal reasoning have long constituted some of the most vigorously discussed and contentious subjects. These include the relationships between: The Qurʾān and Sunna; text (naṣṣ) and reason (ʿaql); consensus (ijmaʿ) and the Qurʾān and Sunna; the internal dynamics within the religious texts themselves; the connections between analogical reasoning (qiyās) and textual evidence (al-adilla al-lafẓiyya), and others. Notably, the question of how conjectural Sunna (al-sunna al-ẓanniyya) like solitary narrations (pl. al-akhbār al-āḥād) relate to and potentially qualify (taqyīd) or specify (takhṣīṣ) the Qurʾān has been a pivotal topic extensively debated throughout the history of Islamic legal theory. Carrying profound implications on whether or not such solitary narrations possess the epistemic authority to specify and/or qualify the general indication of the Qurʾān or not. This paper aims to trace the historical evolution of the theory permitting ‘specifying of the Qurʾān through solitary reports’ (takhṣīṣ al-Qurʾān bil-khabr al-wāḥid) , analysing perspectives from both Sunnī and Shīʿī traditions. Among Sunnī scholars, the issue sparked numerous debates and stark scholarly divisions. In contrast, the Imāmī Shīʿī majority endorsed such qualification/specification, albeit with certain significant exceptions from early scholars. I will review the major critiques levelled against this specification theory and the responses from its proponents, as well as examine both the methodological and epistemological grounds underlying its construction within Sunnī and Shīʿī legal theories. Additionally, I will address the crucial issue of delineating the relationship between qualifying or specifying the Qurʾān through solitary reports, and the theory of abrogation (naskh) of the Qurʾān through such narrations, along with the consequent implications. Building upon this analysis, I will evaluate and critique the fundamental premises of the specification theory and uncover the extent to which the specification or qualification of the Qurʾān by solitary narrations is present in the practise of ijtihād. This will be done by examining whether the Qurʾān actually contains any general indications (ʿumūmāt), such that a jurist is able to qualify or specify the general indication of the Qurʾān by a solitary report. This entails analysing the legal (sharʿī) nature of the Qurʾānic texts regarding their amenability to generalisation. Ultimately, conclusions will be drawn regarding the extent to which rejecting the theory of specifying or qualifying the Qurʾān through solitary narrations impacts the overall corpus of Islamic legal theory and the juristic edicts (pl. fatāwa) in contemporary times.

This research paper consists of two steps. Firstly, it introduces a new perspective on the problem of the relationship between expression and meaning, thereby contributing to linguistic discussions in uṣūl al-fiqh. Secondly, it discusses some drawbacks of the principle of authoritativeness of apparent meaning. The process of assigning (al-waḍʿ) vocal expressions (alfāẓ) to meanings and the topic of denotation (dalāla) has been one of the oldest subjects discussed by scholars in the field of uṣūl al-fiqh since its inception. In this context, assigning and imposing refer to a particular correlation between an expression and its corresponding meaning. It involves the speaker and the audience inherently associating the intended meaning upon encountering the expression. Therefore, assignation is the sole factor through which a text or utterance signifies a specific meaning. Also, according to Islamic logicians, denotation is a state wherein recognising something elicits recognising something else. Scholars in uṣūl al-fiqh agree on assignation as a distinct link between expression and meaning, offering varied explanations of its workings. Al-Ṣaymarī sees assignation as natural, while Mohaghegh Isfahani deems the relation arbitrary. Mohaghegh Nāīnī refutes both, asserting God posits the connection, revealing languages to humankind. Al-Khoei, influenced by Nahavandi, highlights dependency on the positer’s intention. This study introduces a new perspective on the relationship between expression and meaning. The relationship between meaning and expression in a given source text can have three modalities: textually explicit, implicit synoptic, and apparent. The principle asserting the primacy of apparent meaning as authoritative evidence underpins most principles in uṣūl al-fiqh. However, this principle necessitates scrutiny, as it has specific limitations. This essay addresses these issues by examining the following questions: Firstly, it analyses whether the audience of the source text confines to the immediate addressees from the first generation when the text was initially uttered or it extends to contemporary individuals in subsequent generations. Secondly, it contemplates whether, if the addressees of source texts encompass contemporary people, the criterion for the authoritative apparent meaning should be what could be comprehended at the time of utterance or what could be understood in the context of contemporary circumstances. Finally, despite Islamic theologians maintaining that the Quran’s text is God’s speech, this essay raises the following questions: does the same hold true for the texts of hadiths? Do hadith texts correspond to the speeches of the Imams? Or can they be considered paraphrased quotes? If so, applying the linguistic principles from uṣūl al-fiqh, especially the principle of apparent meaning, to hadiths could be methodologically controversial.

Legal and normative discourse has been integral to the fabric of Shīʿism since its inception. Revered across nearly all schools of Islam, the sixth Shīʿī Imām, Imām Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq (d. 765), stands as a paragon of juridical scholarship. The legal doctrines elucidated by Imām Jaʿfar and his immediate successors have purportedly been meticulously preserved by eminent figures such as al-Kulaynī (d. 941), Qāḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 974), al-Ṣudūq (d. 991), and al-Ṭūsī (d. 1067) within their respective ḥadīth collections. These compendia collectively form a coherent corpus of legalistic discourse, distinctively associated with the Jaʿfarī school of thought. Within this corpus, a specific legal persona of the Imām is presupposed, wherein the linguistic formulation of legal pronouncements is contingent upon the recipient, while the underlying legal principles remain immutable and accessible solely to the Imām. Numerous traditions assert that God has conferred upon the Imām the authority of legal guardianship (al-wilāyah al-tashrīʿiya), enabling them to legislate per divine knowledge, thus allowing flexibility in expressing their legal rulings through various linguistic forms. The embodiment of this principle becomes evident when the Imām issues divergent rulings on the same matter due to specific circumstances, illustrating the dynamic nature of legal language. By recognizing the parallels between legal guardianship and other prevalent Jaʿfarī themes such as dissimulation (taqiyya) and intellectual accommodation (kalām ʿalā qadr ʿuqūl al-nās), one can argue that the aforementioned Shīʿī corpus posits a perspective on legal principles and legal language that is characterized by realism yet subject-dependency. Within this framework, the Imām not only receives legal principles but also interprets and applies them, emphasising the nuanced interplay between linguistic expression and the application of legal principles. Due to this, the Imām embodies a ‘proto-Uṣūlī’ role, applying consistent principles but issuing varied judgments based on circumstances, akin to a 'legal demiurge' endowed with divine authority. This meta-ethical stance, akin to ‘Platonic Moral Realism’, underscores the constancy of principles amidst changing moral judgments. Such a view significantly impacts the legal language used by the Imām, with specific rulings tailored for ‘common’ followers and general principles revealed to legally ‘qualified’ ones. The rejection of analogical reasoning (qiyās), attributed to the Imām, is also rooted in the belief that only he holds the necessary knowledge for accurate interpretation, ensuring clarity in legal meaning. Viewing the Imām as a ‘Divine Jurist’ reveals disparities in Jaʿfarī legal thought before and after the Occultation, shedding light on evolving synthetic legal trends amongst later Twelver communities. This perspective highlights Imāms’ distinct stance on the relationship between legal language and meaning, affirming the adaptability of the former and the permanence of the latter.

For centuries, under the rubrics of dalīl al-khiṭāb, mafhūm al-mukhālafa, and al-istidlāl bi-l-ḥaṣr, Muslim legal theorists debated the validity of affirming for what is unspoken the contradictory of the ruling for what is spoken. Put differently, if revelation links a ruling to a specified attribute of a thing, does this entail (linguistically, logically, or in some other way) the opposite ruling for what lacks that attribute? Referring to a common example: Does the Prophet’s assertion that zakāt is due on free-grazing sheep (fī sāʾimat al-ghanam zakāt) entail that zakāt is not due on fodder-fed sheep? Navigating the confluence of linguistic and logical implication, uṣūlist discourse on this issue reached a considerable degree of refinement, and has inspired a number of informative studies in past decades. So far, however, some important linguistic-logical parallels seem to have escaped notice. First is the fact that propositions which link a ruling to a specified attribute may be formally rendered as conditionals, and the inference “If p then q, not-p, therefore not-q” (with a conditional major premise) constitutes the formal fallacy of denying the antecedent (aka the inverse fallacy); whereas the inference “If and only if p then q, not-p, therefore not-q” (with a biconditional major premise) is valid. Second is the fact that in some cases contextual factors dictate that propositions formulated as mere conditionals (if p then q) should be understood as biconditionals (if and only if p then q), thus allowing valid inferences of the inverse (if not-p then not-q). Third, and on top of these older, logical observations, modern pragmaticians have developed a lively discourse around “conditional perfection”: our tendency to hear conditionals as biconditionals (subconsciously “perfecting the conditional”) and thus to accept inferences of the inverse. As is too often the case with modern theorists, however, they have proceeded in evident ignorance of very rich and relevant premodern discourses. This talk therefore aims first to present select definitions, typologies, and controversies of the uṣūlist discourse on dalīl al-khiṭāb, mafhūm al-mukhālafa, and al-istidlāl bi-lḥaṣr, second to understand these with reference to their logical parallels, and third to juxtapose all this with a summary of the modern discourse on conditional perfection, suggesting (as in previous studies) how centuries of refined, premodern Islamic theorising and debate can complement and contribute to the (sometimes re-inventive) efforts of modern theorists.

While the task of jurisprudence (fiqh) is to determine what people are supposed to do in their daily affairs by inference from premises that involve the divine rulings of Sharia, the science of the principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl) is intended to facilitate such transitions by providing the relevant methodological principles and rules of validity for such inferences. In that sense, the science of usūl can be regarded as the logic of jurisprudence. One of the principles that a jurist needs to rely on to derive religious (Sharia) rulings concerns the evidence at their disposal. This evidence either directly comes from the Qurʾān and the Sunna or is grounded in reason. The former comes into two varieties: linguistic evidence which involves statements of the Qurʾān and the non-linguistic variety which includes, among other things, the actions of the māʿṣūm (infallible). For linguistic evidence to fulfil its role, however, three things must be determined: (i) the prima facia meaning of the evidence and what it denotes, (ii) its reliability (ḥujjiyya), and (iii) whether evidence did, in fact, issue from the legislator. The questions that arise from the role of linguistic evidence in the process of deriving particular Sharia rulings have, however, spawned an important chapter in the science of uṣūl about the foundations of meaning. These investigations include discussions about the characterisation of meaning, its apparent arbitrary character as well as its different varieties. More fundamental questions concern the origin of meaning i.e., what renders words or expressions meaningful. Here, discussions of such concepts as convention, usage, and intention feature prominently. Although important insights are fleshed out in these uṣūlī investigations, the overall results are often fragmentary and disconnected. It is here that the contemporary analytic philosophy of language can fruitfully interact with the science of uṣūl. In this paper, focusing on the works of Mohammad Bagher Sadr, I shall try to bring some of the discussions of meaning in the philosophy of language to bear on the issues of linguistic meaning discussed in the science of uṣūl. Hopefully, investigations along these lines may result in the mutual enrichment of both disciplines.

Medieval Muslim legal theorists devised increasingly complex categorisations of linguistic clarity and ambiguity. This paper traces the emergence of key terms including muḥkam, mutashābih, mujmal, and ẓāhir, which eventually crystalised in a four-fold Shāfiʿī classification and an eight-fold Ḥanafī one. Both these systems treated clarity and ambiguity not as features of the words and sentences of scripture, but as interpretive claims about the hermeneutical relationship between a text and a proposed interpretation of it. Both the Shāfiʿī and Ḥanafī systems served the same purpose, which was not to pin down meanings but to give the jurists as much interpretive power and flexibility as they reasonably could within the bounds of ordinary linguistic usage. Those legal theorists who resisted this combination of power and flexibility, including Ẓāhirīs and Akhbārīs, could not prevail against the flexible mainstream paradigm that took hold among Sunnīs and Imāmīs alike, and that still tacitly undergirds most legal discourse today. Today modern reformers and traditionalists alike exploit the vocabulary of clarity and ambiguity to support their interpretations. One highly original reformulation of these concepts comes from the Egyptian thinker Hassan Hanafi, who compounds the flexibility of the classical hermeneutic by retaining the flexible mainstream legal theorists’ analysis of ambiguity, albeit transposed into the language of twentieth-century European phenomenology, and then adding two more layers of ambiguity or subjectivity through his theory of how language relates to phenomenal reality and human action. This aspect of Hanafi’s hermeneutic has been much appreciated in some quarters, but all by itself interpretive flexibility is not the panacea some reformers take it to be, for flexibility cuts both ways: it can be used to justify reform or to uphold the status quo, and if anything is more readily amenable to the latter. As Hanafi himself illustrates, those who seek to justify the most radical reinterpretations cannot pin their hermeneutical hopes on the ambiguity of language, but are compelled to reconsider the whole theory of language and meaning on which classical legal theory rested.

Muslim scriptural text seems to pose contemporary challenges as to how its reader may mitigate tension between what text says and what it means. This tension defines the hermeneutical problem represented in the potential opposition between language and meaning, such opposition which Muslim jurists, and Arabic philologists for that matter, sought to resolve by referring to the idea of ‘context’. Particularly in juristic literature, Muslim scholars tend to use the word ‘context’ in two meanings: 1) ‘context’ in the sense of the linguistic context of the scriptural text; that is to read a text semantically and thematically according to its language-use and in connection with the surrounding texts which come before and after (aka sawābiq and lawāḥiq), where syntactical structure and speech arrangement are detrimental in the meaning-making process, and 2) ‘context’ as referring to the specifics of a given situation, where a text is read in connection with its speaker’s (authorial) intent and its surrounding historical and cultural circumstances. Based on these two meanings, ‘context’ can be classified into two types: context of language and context of situation, to borrow Malinowski’s term for the latter type. This paper seeks to demonstrate that the Muslim jurists relegated ‘context of situatio’ to an ancillary but instrumental role in determining meaning, as they do not seem to envisage the possibility of meaning beyond text or outside the context of language-use. It is possible however, I argue, to redeem a space within classical Islamic tradition, where ‘context of situation’ can be said to play an equally active role in the meaning-making process, hence balancing/reconciling the notion of language with the notion of meaning. Toward that end, the current paper seeks to expand the idea of ‘context’ to include another type of ‘context’, i.e., the context of interpreting religious text in connection with concrete reality. That is, a text – to be intelligible – is to be understood in connection with the way the text applies to a concrete situation. With this, the paper shall refer to three types of ‘context’: context of language, context of situation, and context of application. The paper shall draw on perspectives not only from classical Islamic knowledge but also from the philosophy of language and philosophical hermeneutics that may inform discussions on the attempt to develop such hermeneutics of application from within Islamic tradition. As it proceeds to situate its argument within Islamic tradition and modern knowledge, this paper will make references to 1) classical Islamic scholars such as al-Shāṭibī, Ibn al-Qayyim, and other philologists and jurists from Islamic tradition and 2) modern scholars of language and hermeneutics such as Firth, Wittgenstein, Malinowski, and Gadamer from modern times.

One of the pivotal issues in contemporary philosophy of language is the nature of linguistic meaning: what is it in virtue of which a word or a phrase has a specific linguistic meaning it actually does? A foundational theory of meaning aims to provide a systematic answer to this question. Although this question has not been explicitly raised in Shiite uṣūl al-fiqh, the uṣūlīs have long been concerned with a related problem, namely, the nature of convention (waḍʿ), and have proposed several theories in this regard. It seems that by “waḍʿ,” the uṣūlīs mean (at least implicitly) the process or condition that bestows words and phrases with their meanings. Thus, from the uṣūlīs’ theories of convention, we can infer their foundational theories of meaning, even if these theories are not explicitly formulated in uṣūl texts. One prominent uṣūlī theory of convention is the commitment (taʿahhud) theory, proposed by Nahāvandī (d. 1322), Ḥā’irī (d. 1355), Isfihānī (d. 1362), and most notably Khūʾī (d. 1413), among others. Given the close connection between the notions of convention and linguistic meaning in uṣūl al-fiqh, we can construct a foundational theory of meaning from the commitment theory of convention. At first approximation, such a theory of meaning runs as follows: Commitment Theory of Meaning: S means M in a group G if and only if the members of G are committed that whenever they intend to induce M (or induce a particular attitude relevant to M) in their audience, they utter S. This formulation is a schematic statement; depending on whether S is a word, a declarative sentence, or a non-declarative sentence, the parenthetic phrase (namely, “induce a particular attitude relevant to M”) will take a more specific form. The commitment theory of meaning is particularly interesting as it closely aligns with the basic idea of use theories of meaning, especially the intention-based theory of meaning developed by Paul Grice. In this paper, I will provide a detailed comparison between the commitment theory of meaning and the Gricean theory of meaning. I will then argue that although the commitment theory of meaning represents a significant step towards a sophisticated theory of meaning in uṣūl al-fiqh, it suffers from important problems in its accounts of both word meaning and sentence meaning. As we shall see, the Gricean theory of meaning fares better regarding at least some of these criticisms. Finally, I will tentatively propose that the notion of commitment might be employed in the context of William Alston’s theory of meaning (another form of the use theory of meaning) to shed light on the nature of illocutionary rules.

The Simulation Hypothesis, by best-selling author, renowned MIT computer scientist and Silicon Valley video game designer Rizwan Virk, explains one of the most daring and consequential theories of our time.
Drawing from research and concepts from computer science, artificial intelligence, video games, quantum physics, and referencing both speculative fiction and ancient eastern spiritual texts, Virk shows how all of these traditions come together to point to the idea that we may be inside a simulated reality like the Matrix.
The Simulation Hypothesis is the idea that our physical reality, far from being a solid physical universe, is part of an increasingly sophisticated video game-like simulation, where we all have multiple lives, consisting of pixels with its own internal clock run by some giant Artificial Intelligence. Simulation Theory explains some of the biggest mysteries of quantum and relativistic physics, such as quantum indeterminacy, parallel universes, and the integral nature of the speed of light.

In this second episode of the CIMS podcast, Dr Muhamemd Reza Tajri and a panel of scholars delve into the challenges Muslim societies face regarding unorthodox positions on sexuality, including the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals and sexual diversity. The discussion explores internal challenges within Muslim communities and the added complexities for Muslim diasporic communities navigating broader societal interactions. This episode offers a thought-provoking examination of how evolving perspectives on sexuality impact traditional values, cultural identity, and religious beliefs. The Centre for Intra-Muslim Studies (CIMS) was established in 2015 to bring together Muslims from across the denominational spectrum to critically discuss ideas pertaining to Islamic theology, history, and contemporary issues affecting Muslims.

The discovery of the pulmonary transit of blood was a ground-breaking discovery in the history of the life sciences, and a prerequisite for William Harvey’s fully developed theory of blood circulation three centuries later. This book is the first attempt at understanding Ibn al-Nafīs’s anatomical discovery from within the medical and theological works of this thirteenth century physician-jurist, and his broader social, religious and intellectual contexts.

Although Ibn al-Nafīs did not posit a theory of blood circulation, he nevertheless challenged the reigning Galenic and Avicennian physiological theories, and the then prevailing anatomical understandings of the heart. Far from being a happy guess, Ibn al-Nafīs’s anatomical result is rooted in an extensive re-evaluation of the reigning medical theories. Moreover, this book shows that Ibn al-Nafīs’s re-evaluation is itself a result of his engagement with post-Avicennian debates on the relationship between reason and revelation, and the rationality of traditionalist beliefs, such as bodily resurrection.

Breaking new ground by showing how medicine, philosophy and theology were intertwined in the intellectual fabric of pre-modern Islamic societies, Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt will be of interest to students and scholars of the History of Science, the History of Medicine and Islamic Studies.

On the 8th of May, The Department of Mysticism and Spirituality hosted a seminar by AMI's visiting fellow, Seyed Amir Hossein Asghari, exploring Sufism and Philosophy in Shi'i Seminaries. He examined the relationship between the School of Najaf and the School of Separation and the connection between Shi'ism, Philosophy and Sufism in the contemporary seminaries of Najaf, Mashhad, and Qom. He traced lines of spiritual heritage through teacher-student relationships to introduce the main figures in both schools and discuss lines of transmission of mystical knowledge. He also discussed the early Shi'i Sufi tradition through figures such as Kumayl b. Ziyad, Ibn Tawus, Hasan b. Hamza al-Palasi al-Shirazi, Ibn Mi'mar and Sayyid Haydar Amuli. Al-Palasi is a key figure who is understudied, and Seyed Amir Hossein spent some time explaining his background and thoughts. The seminar brought to light the effect of debates on the validity of mysticism and philosophy in the traditional seminary on the Shi'i diaspora in modern times.

This episode of the CIMS Podcast brings together a panel of Muslim scholars to deliberate on the impact of gender roles and expectations on Muslim societies. The panel discusses the extent of the truth behind allegations of women's disempowerment directed at Muslim societies and the challenges they pose. The claims of patriarchy come from outside the Muslim community as well as from within it. This podcast offers some eye-opening responses to these claims of misogyny. The Centre for Intra-Muslim Studies (CIMS) was established in 2015 to bring together Muslims from across the denominational spectrum to critically discuss ideas pertaining to Islamic theology and history.

The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our lives prompts profound questions beyond the technical realm. While shaping the future of humanity, AI also challenges diverse worldviews, reducing rich human experiences to data analysis. This pragmatic lens can overshadow aspects of our reality, marginalizing or, at worst, destroying what isn't understood. Understanding is paramount because, in human-machine interactions, misunderstandings may harm only the vulnerable human side. With Islam being integral to many lives, its worldviews, imaginations, and values should be considered in AI development beyond simplistic pattern-recognition and statistical approaches. Therefore, it is important to consider the integration of Islamic epistemological perspectives into AI as a crucial aspect of future research.

The revival of Shi‘ite Sufism, after the destruction of Safavid empire, occurred during the Zand dynasty (1163-1209/1750-1794) and continued through the Qājār era. As Zarrīnkub has pointed out, the Qājār era was a time of nostalgia for the noble past. Of course, their mystical philosophy had to fit the theological standards of Shi‎‘ite society. The two leading Sufi orders in this revival movement were the Ni‘matullāhīs and the Dhahabīs. These two orders had much in common, as both of them highly emphasized the importance of following Islamic laws and Shi‎‘ite beliefs. They were known to be the propagators of Akbarian philosophy in Persia. Dhahabīs and Ni‘matullāhīs were strong promoters of the school of “Unity of Being” (Waḥdat al-wujūd).

Mīrzā Muḥammad Taqī, with the spiritual title of Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh (d.1215/1800) is one of the most influential masters in the history of Ni‘matullāhiyya order. This Shi‘ite Sufi master is one of the most active and knowledgeable masters of the Ni‘matullāhīs during this era. He is the first master after the return of the order to Persia who wrote about its cosmological views, based on the philosophy of “Unity of Being”. In his youth, he began studying the rational and traditional seminary sciences (‘ulūm ‘aqlī wa naqlī) and became well-versed in them. Muẓaffar was more of a mystic philosopher (ḥakīm) than a jurist (faqīh), and extremely well-versed in speculative Sufism, following the school of “Unity of Being”.

Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh’s mystical poetry had in-depth mystical meanings, with heavy reliance of Ibn ‘Arabī’s philosophy and terminology. Muẓaffar was very influential for the development of the Ni‘matullāhī order and as a propagator of Ibn ‘Arabī’s thoughts. His beliefs about the perfect man, insān-i kāmil, were highly influenced by Akbarian (Ibn ‘Arabī’s) philosophy. Muẓaffar passed away in 1215/1800. He wrote numerous books and literary papers, which are tremendously valuable for a better understanding of Ni‘matullāhī thought.

Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh wrote poetry lamenting over his separation from his master, Mushtāq, to whom he dedicated a compendium of his poetry, calling it Diwān-i Mushtāqīyya. In this paper, we will examine two of Muẓaffar's writings: “Sea of the Secrets” (baḥr al-asrār) and “Compendium of the Seas” (majma‘ al-biḥār) which are both interpretations of the first chapter of Quran. “Sea of the Secrets” (baḥr al-asrār) is in verse form of Mathnawī and “Compendium of the Seas” (majma‘ al-biḥār) is written in prose. In these two works, Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh heavily relied on the chapter of Prophet Adam in Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam of Ibn ‘Arabī. He had numerous references to Ibn ‘Arabī and his writings. Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh explains the relationship between Nubuwwa (prophethood), Risāla (apostleship) and Wilāya (sainthood) based on Ibn ‘Arabī’s teachings using his terminology like the disclosure of Attributes of Divine Majesty (jalāl) and disclosure of Attributes of Divine Beauty (jamāl). This paper investigates the importance of Muẓaffar ‘Alī Shāh for survival of the school of “Unity of Being” among practicing Shi‘ite Sufis in general and the Ni‘matullāhī Sufi in particular as one of the most important Shi‘ite Sufi orders in Iran.

The metaphysical perspective of Ibn ʿArabī oscillates constantly between the distinction of the different relations that determine being, and the constant return to the indistinction of being itself. According to Ibn ʿArabī, only perplexity (ḥayra) is suited to the apperception of being, while the distinction and articulation of the relations that weave themselves into being seem, for their part, to require a mode of knowledge that allows for differentiation.

This presentation will show how the articulation of the various elements of Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysical system is based on a “correlative ontology”, according to which existing realities are distinguished within a web of relations woven within the single being, while having no existence of their own, since they ultimately refer to the relation that being maintains with itself. It will then explain how this correlative ontology allows Ibn ʿArabī to found different levels of relationships, within which the notions of Creation and Divinity and their different modalities of correlation emerge.

This circular conception of being, in which the fundamental status of existing things is qualifiable only by perplexity, corresponds also to the circular movement that Ibn ʿArabī associates with “the perplexity of the muḥammadan” (ḥayrat al-muḥammadī). This movement of rotation around the pole of being, by which the latter is envisaged in an infinitely renewed way, is opposed by Ibn ʿArabī to the “linear” path (mustaṭīl), which for its part always necessarily relates to a particular determination of being, and thereby prevents it from being envisaged in itself.

There is no doubt in the claim that the foremost interpreter of Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638/1240) within Twelver Shi’ism is Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli (d. 787/1385), who in his Jami’ al-Asrar thoroughly filtered the Akbarian doctrine in such a way that it emerged in accordance with the theological demands of the Twelver tradition. While Amuli’s accomplishments in these regards are acknowledged, it is not known whether any schools arose within the intellectual centers of Iran and Iraq loyal specifically to his ideology; it is instead in the Islamic periphery of India, where demonstrable evidence exists to indicate the existence of such a school therein. Sayyid Nur Allah Shushtari (d. 1019/1620), the martyred Mughal chief justice, quite openly aligns with Amuli in his Majalis al-Mu’minin (Gathering of the Believers), labeling him as Sayyid al-Muti'allihin (Lord of the heavenly ones) whilst openly appropriating ideas from Amuli’s Jami’ al-Asrar to develop the thesis of his majlis-i shishum (sixth gathering) on Sufi believers. Shushtari argues that in essence Sufism and Shi’ism are one and the same, one is an inward expression whereas the other is outward. Furthermore, in his Majalis al-Mu’minin, Shushtari includes a lengthy entry on Ibn ‘Arabi, providing illumination on his supposed hidden Shi’ism, as well as a defense of Akbarian monism. Shushtari’s views have routinely been categorized as aberrational by mainstream Usulis, like al-Wahid al-Bihbahani (d. 1205/1791), who decried him as a Shi’ah-tarash (Shi’ah fabricator); it is thus of great intrigue that when Bihbahani’s student, Sayyid Dildar ‘Ali Naqawi Nasirabadi (d. 1235/1820), returned to North India in 1781 with the aim of spreading Usulism, he met stiff resistance by Twelver Chishtis (Sufis), who claimed to follow a supposed ideological school of Haydar al-Amuli linked with Shushtari. This occurs more than 150 years after the execution of Shushtari, indicating that such an Akbarian-Amulian lineage potentially existed in North India; also giving credence to the Sufi-Shi’i nexus claims of majlis-i shishum. In order to delve further into this matter, Nasirabadi’s polemic against this group, titled al-Shihab al-Thaqib, and the rejoinder prepared by this Akbarian-Amulian group, Radd-i al-Shihab al-Thaqib, will be analyzed and expounded upon in this paper.

The notion of the unity of being and its self-manifestation as elaborated upon by Mahmood Dawud al-Qaysari, the illustrious interpreter of Ibn Arabi, assumes on the one hand an essential state of hiddenness and unknowableness of the ipseity whilst on the other, it permeates all being . Allah as the epiphanic self-recognition of the ipseity is the fullest expression of the ipseity to itself and is a source of all manifestations in forms of the unending names of Allah. However Allah as the fullest expression of the ipseity is curtailed to the domain of what the ipseity conceives of itself in relation to what it wishes to reveal of itself as God. Thus ipseity is simply is-ness whereas God is is-ness in manifestation.

Accordingly the name Allah is simultaneously a designation of the unknowable ipseity and of God who is the author of the world: its beginning and end, the apparent and its hidden. Therefore there is a distinction between the unknowable ipseity termed Allah and its self-recognition as Allah. The ipseity qua itself is beyond the notion of God whereas the Ipseity through the process of self-revelations and descents from the rank of Allah acquires the meaning of being God.

Through this distinction it becomes clear that the unity of being from the perspective of the ipseity is beyond the notion of God and does not recognise God-world distinction; it simply is all things and beyond all things. The distinction between God and the world only arises through a relationship that exists between Allah and the world which is in need of being governed (ma’luh).

This paper will explore how the lack of nuance between Allah depicting the Absolutely unknowable ipseity and Allah as the manifester of the ipseity within the emanationist scheme has led to ambiguity and conflation between descriptions of the Author of the world and the Absolutely unknowable in the thoughts of likes of Sadra. Thus at times the arguments from contingency to prove the Necessary being simply lead to the notion of Allah as God but not Allah as the ipseity which does not allow for any distinction. Similarly the idea of the proximity through emanation of the first intellect with Allah and the distance of prim-matter from Allah whilst maintaining that all are His reflections equally at once beyond the consideration of time, place and causality fails to clarify that proximity and distance is in relation to Allah as God and lack of distance and proximity is in relation to Allah as the hidden ipseity.

Additionally this distinction will be used identify the differing ranks of God mentioned within the Quran and the spiritual literature of the Prophet and the Imams through the variety of functions and descriptions of God.

This study delves into "Risāla-yi Nūr-i Waḥdat" (Treatise of the Light of Oneness) by Khwāja Khurd (b. 1010/1601), a seminal work in the Naqshbandi Sufi tradition that has also been influential in the Sufi School of Najaf within the Shia Seminary. Renowned for its eloquent yet accessible language, Khurd's treatise advocates the Akbarian doctrine of Waḥdat al-Wujūd (Unity of Being) over Sirhindī’s Waḥdat al-Shuhūd.

A central tenet of the Sufi School of Najaf is the understanding of self-knowledge as the gateway to the Gnosis of God. Khurd’s treatise deeply explores this concept, suggesting that the journey (Suluk) to recognizing the Real Being in the universe is through understanding the self, which is inherently intertwined with the Divine. Through his poetic language, Khurd captures the essence of this transformative realization, offering insights into the relationship between lover and beloved, and their union in the divine context.

Under the influence of figures like Sayyid ʿAlī Qāḍī Ṭabāṭabāʾī (1866-1947) and ʿAllāmah Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Ṭabāṭabāʼī (1321/1904-1402/1981), the Sufi School of Najaf has integrated Khurd's treatise into its spiritual pedagogy. This work serves as one of the foundational texts for spiritual development, emphasizing meditation, memorization, and the internalization of its teachings. It guides disciples in practices such as Muraqabah (meditation), Khalwah (seclusion), and Arba`in (the forty-day spiritual retreat), facilitating their journey in embracing the concept of Unity and transcending the self within the framework of Waḥdat al-Wujūd.

Finally, this paper examines the role of "Risāla-yi Nūr-i Waḥdat" in the Sufi School of Najaf, its impact on the spiritual formation of practitioners, and its broader implications in expanding the Akbarian doctrine of Waḥdat al-Wujūd in the Shia Irfān.

Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī was one of the most important, overtly Twelver, pre-Safavid interlocutors of the theoretical strand of mysticism developed by the school of Ibn ʿArabī. He critically contributed to the development of a more precise articulation of waḥdat al-Wujūd and elucidated a project which sought to bridge the gap between Ṣūfism and Shīʿism. Yet his inclusive, synergistic contribution remains understudied, despite an increasing stream of works of varying scope and depth, both within traditional Twelver circles and in modern scholarship. In this paper I trace Āmulī’s use of waḥdat al-Wujūd in his largest surviving work of Qurʾānic exegesis, Al-Muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam fī taʾwīl kitāb Allāh al-muḥkam (completed in 777/1376) which remains an under investigated yet significant contribution to esoteric exegesis (taʾwīl) of the Qurʾān. This paper will show how dependant Āmulī’s esoteric method of exegesis is on the framework of manifestation and correspondence which are key presuppositions of waḥdat al-Wujūd. For Sayyid Ḥaydar, the centrality of waḥdat al-Wujūd to esoteric interpretation is such that an exegete cannot be considered of those who are firmly established in knowledge (al-rāsikhūn fī al-ʿilm), the group identified in the Qurʾān (3:7) as knowing the esoteric meaning, without a sound knowledge if its principles. Thereafter, the paper will show the explanatory power of waḥdat al-Wujūd in positing alternative meanings to the scriptural sources in specific surviving sections of Āmulī’s exegesis.

This paper proposes to delve into the profound legacy of the Akbarian tradition, an intellectual tradition rooted in the works of Ibn ʿArabī, which extensively contemplates the central doctrine of tawḥīd (the oneness of God) and has exerted a lasting influence on subsequent Islamic theological discourse. However, the reception of this tradition within Muslim scholarship has engendered multifarious responses, sparking contentious debates primarily revolving around the perceived incompatibility of distinguishing between the Creator and the created. These ongoing debates have seen scholars either championing Ibn ʿArabī as the "The Greatest Saint" (Shaykh al-Akbar) or denouncing him as a heretic.

Within this context, Qāsim Nānotwī, a pivotal figure in the formation of the Deobandi school of thought, emerges as a noteworthy scholar who engages with the Akbarian tradition. His scholarly pursuits are steeped in the kalām tradition, where he seeks to reconcile apparent theological inconsistencies in revealed texts, the Quran and hadith literature, employing the methodology of burhān (demonstrative logical knowledge) while also incorporating a mystical perspective.

Nānotwī's writings unveil not only his profound reverence for Ibn ʿArabī but also his intimate familiarity with the conceptual paradigms of the Akbarian tradition. It is this reverence for Ibn ʿArabī that motivates Nānotwī to offer a rejoinder to prevalent misconceptions surrounding the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd (oneness of being) and to clarify its differentiation from waḥdat al-mawjūd (oneness of existents).

This presentation aims to explore Nānotwī's writings, not only in terms of his comprehension of waḥdat al-wujūd but also in his innovative use of this concept to establish the existence of God, elucidating how all facets of creation are inherently ontologically dependent on their Creator and derive their reality from the Divine existence. As a scholar hailing from the Indian subcontinent during the late Mughal and early British Raj era, this paper endeavours to illuminate the interpretation and integration of the Akbarian tradition within the corpus of Sunni Muslim literature, particularly through the lens of one of the founding figures of the Deoband school of thought.

Numerous studies have explored the concepts emphasized by the School of Ibn al-ʿArabī, with a particular focus on Waḥdat al-wujūd as the central ontological theory of the School. However, only a small number have delved into the analysis of the scriptural hermeneutics within the School. This paper seeks to contribute to scholarly discussions by elucidating Akbarī hermeneutics in relation to the foundational concept of Waḥdat al-wujūd.

Through an examination of key writings, including Ibn al-ʿArabī’s al-Futuḥāt, Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī’s Iʿjāz al-bayān, and Shams al-Dīn al-Fanārī’s ʿAyn al-aʿyān, this paper traces the evolution of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s exegetical and ontological ideas within subsequent Akbarī writers. This evolution culminates in a comprehensive hermeneutical theory that integrates Akbarian ontology, epistemology, and spirituality. The argument suggests that upon close investigation, Akbarī exegesis harmonizes seamlessly with the concept of Waḥdat al-wujūd, not only justifying this concept through Qur’anic interpretation but also establishing a synthesis of ontology, epistemology, and spirituality. The paper not only sheds light on the ontological and exegetical ideas of the School of Ibn al-ʿArabī but also addresses Akbarī prophetology. Akbarī scriptural hermeneutics and prophetology, which emphasize the dynamic role of the Muslim community in the interpretative process, are presented as potential solutions to contemporary challenges faced by modern Muslims.

The Moroccan Sufi master Aḥmad Ibn ʿAjība (d. 1244/1809) penned two small treatises that focus upon the oneness of being (waḥdat al-wujūd), Taqyīdān fī Waḥdat al-Wujūd. His other writings do not use the term frequently but are nonetheless infused with an understanding of waḥdat al-wujūd similar to that espoused in the writings of Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240). Several passages within his major Quran commentary, al-Baḥr al-Madīd fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-Majīd, such as the commentary on Q 2:115, convey his understanding of the oneness of creation as a tapestry woven of divine attributes with all existents reflecting the unity of the Divine. For Ibn ʿAjiba perceiving this unity is essential to wayfaring upon the spiritual path, as it prevents the multiplicity of forms from distracting the spiritual aspirant. Progressing to the point where one witnesses all of existence as a single essence (dhāt wāḥid) reflecting the Divine and in complete servitude (ʿubudiyya) to It is thus essential for attaining connection with God. This paper goes beyond Ibn ʿAjība’s short treatises on waḥdat al-wujūd to examine his discussions within ¬al-Baḥr al-madīd and his little studied commentary upon the Ḥikam of Ibn ‘Aṭā’illāh al-Sakandarī (d.709/1309), Īqāẓ al-Himam fī Sharḥ al-Ḥikam. The central point of analysis is how Ibn ʿAjība perceives the understanding and witnessing of the oneness of being as a central component on the path of spiritual wayfaring, as elaborated in his exegesis of Q 6:103 and similar verses. Particular attention is given the process Ibn ʿAjība envisions for shifting one’s focus from the ephemeral existence of created beings to the divine reality within them such that one is able to witness the manifestation of the Divine in all the forms of creation.

The history of the concept of waḥdat al-wujūd finds its ‘point of rising’ (maṭlaʿ) with the ideas of Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) on the singularity of al-ḥaqq and the ways in which that unique and absolute being is manifest in its many theophanies. Its limits (ḥudūd) and extension (inbisāṭ), however, go far beyond and reach into the very aesthetics of literature traditions across Islamicate and Persianate languages and cultures. A generation ago William Chittick indicated the significance of the reception of Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) in this context, and the sheer number of commentaries, marginalia, paratexts, and independent treatises that engages the metaphysics and devotional tradition of the Andalusian master testifies to a major commitment. The earliest presence of Ibn ʿArabī was in the poetry of Fakhr al-dīn al-ʿIrāqī (d. 1289), a devotee in the presence of the Suhrawardī Sufi Bahāʾ al-Dīn Zakarīyā (d. 1262) in Multan, followed by Chishtī and Kubravī masters already in the pre-Mughal period. We still have much to do to consider the literary heritage of early modern pre-colonial and colonial South Asia in terms of the broad long tradition of ḥikma, taṣawwuf, kalām, and ʿerfān. One of the decisive elements in this tradition is the way in which Persian and vernacular literary traditions negotiated the influence of Ibn ʿArabī and read his ideas in ways that conformed to their own aesthetics of presence and metaphysics of beauty. I will consider four case studies that modify and read Ibn ʿArabī in their own ways: the Mughal prince Dārā Shukoh (d. 1659), Bēdil (d. 1720) perhaps the greatest Indo-Persian poet, Mīr Dard (d. 1785) one of the pillars of Urdu poetry and the pivotal thinker of the new ‘Muḥammadan way’ of Sufism, and the great Punjabi poet of the 18th century Bullheh Shah. None of these figures was a simple imitator or transmitter – literary traditions like philosophical ones acquire a dynamic that arises from creative misreadings and liminal interpretations as well as exciting new aesthetic formulations. In this way, we can consider how the metaphysics of the unity of existence and often its ethical and aesthetic implications were naturalised and transformed in the soil of Hindustān.

What is the nature and social role of women? In today’s Shi‘ism, these questions are often answered through the “separate-but- equal” ideology which emphasizes the role of women as wives and mothers, and places men in authority. But is this the only ideology which can be derived from Shi‘i scriptural sources? This book takes a more nuanced approach to that question by exploring how women are portrayed in hadith on ancient sacred narrative – the stories of the prophets. It shows far more diverse views on what it means to be a woman (and, by extension, a man) – and that early Shi‘is held competing views about ideals for women.

The Hebrew Bible formulates two sets of law: one for the Israelites and one for the gentile “residents” living in the Holy Land. Law Beyond Israel: From the Bible to the Qur'an argues that these biblical laws for non-Israelites form the historical basis of qur'anic law. This volume corroborates its central claim by assessing laws for gentiles in late antique Jewish and especially in Christian legal discourse, pointing to previously underappreciated legal continuity from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament and from late antique Christianity to nascent Islam. This volume first sketches the legal obligations that the Hebrew Bible imposes on gentiles, on humanity more broadly and, more specifically, on the non-Israelite residents of the Holy Land. It then traces these laws through Second Temple Judaism to the early Jesus movement, illustrating how the biblical laws for residents inform those formulated in Acts of the Apostles. Building on this legal continuity, the study employs detailed historical and literary analyses of legal narratives in order to make three propositions. Firstly, rabbinic laws for gentiles, the so-called Noahide Laws, while offering a more lenient interpretation than the one we find in Acts, are equally based on the biblical laws for gentiles. Secondly, Christians generally appreciated and even expanded the gentile laws of Acts. Thirdly, the Qur'an reinvents Arabian religious practice by formulating its own distinctive approach to the biblical laws for gentiles, in close continuity with - and at times in critical distance from - late antique Jewish and especially Christian gentile law.

Using philosophical analysis, this book explores the construction of gender in Muslim societies and its implication to the constitution of the self. The root of the existing discourse of the hierarchical principle is examined as is the extent to which the process of human reproduction, especially the role of women in conception, contributes to an anti-egalitarian theory of gender. The author analyzes the theological, cultural and political apparatus of the masculine conception of femininity and seeks to unfold the process of the alienation of the self from a woman’s sense of individuality, agency, and autonomy.

Incorporating traditional Islamic sources, Western feminist texts and Christian texts, Gender and Self in Islam seeks to restructure the contradictory claims of gender hierarchy and egalitarianism and elaborate an alternative set of interpretations that is friendly and inclusive of women.

Media reporting on Islam and Muslims commonly relate stories about terrorism, violence, or the lack of integration with western values and society. Yet there is little research into how non-Muslims engage with and are affected by these news reports. Inspired by the overtly negative coverage of Islam and Muslims by the mainstream press and the increase in Islamophobia across Europe, this book explores the influence of these depictions on the thoughts and actions of non-Muslims.
Building on extensive fieldwork interviews and focus groups, Laurens de Rooij argues that individuals negotiate media reports to fit their existing outlook on Islam and Muslims. Non-Muslim responses to these reports, de Rooij argues, are not only (re)productions of local and personal contextuality, but are co-dependent and co-productive to the reports themselves.

Khalil Andani holds a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from Harvard University (Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations) and serves as an Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana College. Khalil Andani's dissertation, “Revelation in Islam: Qurʾanic, Sunni, and Shiʿi Ismaili Perspectives”, was awarded Best Ph.D. Dissertation of the Year by the Foundation for Iranian Studies in 2020. His first book, based on this dissertation, will be an analytical and historical investigation of Islamic theologies of revelation in the formative and classical periods of Islam, beginning with the Qurʾan and extending through Qurʾanic commentary (tafsīr), Sunni and Shiʿi prophetic tradition (hadith), Sunni theology (kalām), and Shiʿi Ismaili philosophy.

Professor Liyakat Takim is the Sharjah Chair in Global Islam at McMaster University in Canada. A prolific writer and speaker he has authored and/or translated eight books. He is currently working on his ninth book on Qur’anic exegesis. He has also written more than one hundred and forty scholarly works which have been published in various journals, books, and encyclopediae. Professor Takim’s research interests lie in topics such as reformation in Islam, Qur’anic exegesis, the role of custom in shaping Islamic law, Islam in the western diaspora, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic mystical tradition, Islamophobia, the treatment of women in Islam law and many other topics. His latest book titled Shi'ism Revisited: Ijtihad and Reformation in Contemporary Times was published by Oxford University Press in January 2022. Professor Takim has also spoken at more than one hundred and twenty academic national and international conferences. He has spoken in different parts of the world ranging from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, to East Africa, Dubai and North America. Professor Takim has taught at several universities and is actively engaged in dialogue with different faith communities.

Hossam Ouf is currently a research fellow at the Chair of Hadith Studies and Prophetic Tradition at the Center for Islamic Theology in Tübingen, where he researches and teaches Hadith and Sira. He also received his doctorate in 2022 from the University of Tübingen. His dissertation entitled “Hadith Transmission and Confessionality: A Comparative study of “al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ” of al-Bukhārī (d. 256/870) and “al-Kāfī” of alKulaynī (d. 329/940) in the Sunni and Twelver Shiite hadith sciences.” He completed his master's and bachelor's degree in Islamic Theology in the German language at AlAzhar University in Cairo, Egypt. His master's thesis was also on the topic “The Hadith Criticism of al-Khaṭṭābī (931-998): An Analytical Study of Matn Criticism in the 10th Century A.D./4th Century A.H.” His research interests include Islamic Theological Hadith Research, classical and modern approaches to hadith sciences and the hadith transmission, comparative Hadith research, Sunnis, Shiites, Muʿtazilites, Hadith hermeneutics and hadith exegesis, and classical and modern exegetical approaches to mushkil al-ḥadīth.

Mushegh Asatryan is Associate Professor of Arabic and Muslim Cultures and Director of the Language Research Centre at the University of Calgary (Canada). His research interests include the history of Islamic sectarianism, interreligious debate in the Abbasid empire, esoteric movements in Shiʿism, and Late Antique trends in Islamic thought. His works include Controversies in Formative Shiʿi Islam, the forthcoming study and critical edition of Manhaj al-ʿIlm wa l-Bayān by the Nuṣayrī author ʿIṣmat al-Dawla (co-authored with David Hollenberg), and the forthcoming article “The Emergence of Sunnism: When did the Sunnis Become a Sect?” He is currently working on a book on the culture of debate (munāẓara) in the ʿAbbāsid empire.

Mohammad Ghandehari is a scholar of Islamic studies. He holds a Ph.D. (on Kitāb Sulaym) from the University of Tehran, Department of Qurʾanic and Hadith Studies and is now a research fellow at the University of Religions and Denominations. His primary research interests are Early Hadith, Methodological approaches to the study of Hadith and the conversation of the Qurʾan with the Bible. His publications include “Facing Mirrors: The intertwined golden calf story” (2018). Among the courses he has taught are “The Qurʾan and the Bible” and “Early Shiʿi Hadith.”

Haidar Hobballah completed his PhD in Comparative Religions and Christian Theology at the University of Religions and Denominations in Qom, Iran. Prior to this, he spent several years studying in various seminaries and universities in Qom. He is currently the Head of the Department of Hadith and History and a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Al-Mahdi Institute in Birmingham, UK. Alongside this, he continues to teach advanced courses (dars khārij) in various disciplines of Islamic Studies. He is the author of two dozen books and numerous articles in the fields of hadith studies, jurisprudence, legal theory, theology, philosophy, and Qurʾanic studies. He is currently working on a book on the history of hadith across different schools of thought.

Gurdofarid Miskinzoda is the Head of the Shiʿi Studies Unit in the Department of Academic Research and Publication at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. She is also the Managing Editor of the Shiʿi Heritage Series. Miskinzoda’s academic background is in the fields of the history of the Near and Middle East and of Islam, Islamic Studies, philology and the study of Arabic and Persian literatures. She is the editor (with Farhad Daftary) of The Study of Shiʿi Islam: History, Theology and Law (London, 2014). Having completed her doctoral studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 2007, with a dissertation on medieval accounts of the Prophet Muhammad’s life, Miskinzoda joined the Institute of Ismaili Studies as a Research Associate. Most recently in 2019, Miskinzoda completed an MBA in Higher Education Management at the IOE, UCL. Miskinzoda is a Senior Fellow of the Hider Education Academy, UK.

George Warner is a scholar of Islamic studies specialising in Sunni- Shiʿa relations, hadith, ritual, and devotional literature in Arabic and Persian. He has taught at RuhrUniversität Bochum and SOAS University of London, where he completed his PhD in 2017, and is currently based at the University of Exeter in the UK. His first book, ‘The Words of the Imams: al-Shaykh al-Saduq and the Development of Twelver Shi'i Hadith Literature,’ was published in 2021 by I. B. Tauris.

Bekir Kuzudişli is a Professor at Istanbul University in Turkey. He completed his doctorate in 2005 with the thesis title of: “Ḥadīth Narration and Family Isnād”. Kuzudişli is now the Head of the Institute of Islamic Studies. Following his research on hadith narration and asānīd in Shiʿism, his current research interests focus is on asānīd, the history of ḥadīth, Orientalism, and ḥadīth in Shiʿism. Kuzudişli has academic publications in Turkish, Arabic and English. Some of his works include Shiʿa and Ḥadīth, Asbāb īrād al-ḥadīth: Siyāq riwāyāt al-ḥadīth fī-l-qarn alawwal al-hijrī, “Two Different States, Two Shiite Usūl al-Hadīth: Two books written in the Ottoman and Safavid Territories.” “What was the Sunnī Source of al-Shahīd al-Thānī’s Bidāyah: al-Tībī’s al-Khulāṣah or al-Jurjānī’s al-Mukhtaṣar?”, “Relationship Between the Qur’ān and the Sunnah in Shiʿa”, “Sunnī-Shiʿi Interaction in the Early Period – The Transition of the Chains of Ahl al-Sunna to the Shīʿa”.

Ali Rida Rizek (Ph.D., Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Göttingen 2021) is a scholar of the social and intellectual history of Islam, with a particular focus on Twelver Shiʿism. He received his BA and MA in Arabic Language and Literature from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon. He has taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Lebanese American University (LAU), the University of Leiden, the University of Göttingen, and the University of Bayreuth in Germany. His research focuses on the history of Islamic law, Qurʾanic studies, Arabic literature, and classical Islamic education. He has published studies on hadith, legal history, and the classical Islamic ethical discourse. His upcoming book examines, for the first time in a monograph, the life, work, and impact of two early Imāmī legal scholars, namely Ibn Abī ʿAqīl al-ʿUmānī and Ibn al-Junayd al-Iskāfī (both flourishing in the 4th/10th century).

Ali Aghaei is a Research Associate at the Institute of Islamic Theology of the University of Paderborn. He holds a MA and PhD in Qurʾan and Hadith Studies from Usul ad-Din College in Qom (2002) and Islamic Azad University in Tehran (2012). From 2004 to 2013, Aghaei contributed to the Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam (Dāneshnāmeh-ye Jahān-e Eslām) being a member of the Academic Board of the Encyclopedia Islamica Foundation, Tehran. In the academic year 2013/2014, he was a post-doctorate fellow in the EUME program of Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin) and subsequently a Research Fellow in the Corpus Coranicum project at BBAW (2014-2015). He has conducted philological, palaeographical and codicological research on Qurʾanic manuscripts first as a Research fellow in the French-German project Paleocoran at BBAW (2016-2017) and then in his own project Irankoran, funded by BMBF hosted at BBAW (2017-2020). Since October 2020, Aghaei has taught hadith studies at the Paderborn Institute of Islamic Theology while pursuing his research interests in Qurʾanic manuscripts.

On 7th February 2024, Dr Ali Rida Rizek presented a research seminar at AMI entitiled ‘Between Ibn al-Junayd al-Iskāfī and al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī: Legal disagreement (khilāf) in Early Imami hadith Compendia.’ In his presentation, he spoke about the various tools and methods employed by Shiʿi scholars such as al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī and al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī and how they dealt with the legal and hadith disagreements regarding Ibn al-Junayd al-Iskāfī. Dr Rizek argued that while al-Shaykh al-Ṭūsī made use of claims to sideline Ibn al-Junayd al-Iskāfī, al-ʿAllāma al-Ḥillī was more accommodating to this diversity of thought.

On 30th January 2024, Farhana Mayer presented a research seminar at AMI on ‘Qur’anic Principles of Integral Ecology’, based on her publication Praise to God, Lord of the Worlds, An Introduction to Qur’anic Ecology and Resonances with Laudato Si’ (Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Oxford, 2023). In her presentation, having highlighted that integral ecology is based on the idea that everything is interconnected and includes socio-economic as well as environmental matters, she explained how the Qur’anic integral ecological perspectives are founded on the scriptural viewpoints of: unity and the interconnectedness of God, humanity and the cosmos (tawḥīd); all creation as ‘signs of God’ (āyāt Allāh) and constituting a book of revelation; and humankind’s role as the divinely-chosen deputy/successor on earth (khalīfah fi’l-arḍ). She discussed how the key Qur’anic ethical virtues of justice (ʿadl), equitability (qisṭ), balance (mīzān/taʿādul), moderation (wasaṭīyah), and above all mercy (raḥmah) are applicable to integral ecology. Unpacking these, she related them to the principles enshrined in the Islamic names of God (asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā) which, in addition to providing a portrait of God, also serve as an ethical framework within which to position good environmental and socio-economic practices. Describing the principles of the divine names as the ultimate scales, she drew attention to the pivotal role of raḥmah in configuring balance. Furthermore, she related the divine names to humankind’s God-endowed nature (fiṭrah), reinforcing the theological concept of humankind as deputies on earth. The ecological and environmental implications of the above were highlighted, including the evident imperatives for balanced, moderate, just, equitable and merciful ways for humanity to engage with each other, with the other living creatures on earth, and with regard to the planet and its resources.

In this research seminar, Ali highlighted the important but relatively unknown philosophical contributions of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, an influential 20th century Shia Islamic thinker from Iraq. He drew insightful parallels between al-Sadr’s ideas on morality and ethics and those of the modern philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. Ali noted how both thinkers are deeply critical of modernity and see potential in reviving and adapting Aristotelian virtue ethics to address contemporary moral problems. According to Ali, al-Sadr believed the Islamic ethical and moral tradition could provide solutions to problems created by the two dominant political philosophies of his time – capitalism and communism. Like MacIntyre, al-Sadr advocated forming small communities that consciously reject the values and institutions of modernity.

This book provides detailed and multidisciplinary coverage of a wealth of key Qur’anic terms, with incisive entries on crucial expressions ranging from the divine names allāh (“God”) and al-raḥmān (“the Merciful”) to the Qur’anic understanding of belief and self-surrender to God. It examines what the terms mean in Qur’anic usage, discusses how to translate them into English, and delineates the role they play in expressing the Qur’an’s distinctive understanding of God, humans, and the cosmos. It offers a comprehensive but nonreductionist investigation of the relationship of Qur’anic terms to earlier traditions such as Jewish and Christian literature, pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and Arabian epigraphy. While the dictionary is primarily engaged in ascertaining what the Qur’an would have meant to its original recipients in late antique Arabia, it makes selective and critical use of later Muslim scholarship alongside an extensive body of secondary research in English, German, and French from the nineteenth century to today.

Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328) of Damascus was one of the most prominent and controversial religious scholars of medieval Islam. He called for jihad against the Mongol invaders of Syria, appealed to the foundational sources of Islam for reform, and battled against religious innovation. Today, he inspires such diverse movements as Global Salafism, Islamic revivalism and modernism, and violent jihadism. This volume synthesizes the latest research, discusses many little-known aspects of Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, and highlights the religious utilitarianism that pervades his activism, ethics, and theology.

Modern biomedical technologies managed to revolutionise the End-of-Life Care (EoLC) in many aspects. The dying process can now be “engineered” by managing the accompanying physical symptoms or by “prolonging/hastening” death itself. Such interventions questioned and problematised long-established understandings of key moral concepts, such as good life, quality of life, pain, suffering, good death, appropriate death, dying well, etc. This volume examines how multifaceted EoLC moral questions can be addressed from interdisciplinary perspectives within the Islamic tradition.

This book examines all verses of the Quran involving knowledge related concepts. It begins with the argument that an analysis of the Quranic concept of ignorance points to epistemic virtues that can pave our way towards gaining knowledge and/or understanding. It deals with the Quranic concepts of perceptual, rational, and revelatory knowledge as well as understanding and wisdom in the light of recent discussions in Western analytic epistemology. It also argues that the relevant Quranic verses seem to involve concept of an epistemic conscience whose proper exercise can yield knowledge or understanding. While not overlooking the Quranic emphasis on revelation as a source of knowledge, the book draws our attention to a remarkable overlap between some strains of contemporary virtue epistemology and Quranic approach to knowledge. It shows that the Quranic verses suggest a progressive sequence from propositional knowledge to understanding to wisdom.

Dr. Nebil Husayn delivers a research seminar examining an early pro-ʿAlid epistle attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661) that defends his claims to leadership and critiques his rivals. The epistle emerged in the context of intra-army disputes after ʿAlī’s companions were murdered. While the work survives primarily in Twelver Shīʿī sources like those of al-Qummī, al-Kulaynī, Ibn Rustam al-Ṭabarī, and Ibn Ṭāwūs, some Sunni historians like al-Balādhurī also referenced it, indicating early circulation. Dr. Husayn analysed both the transmission and contents of this epistle, interrogating the relationship between the oral and written and the text’s role in shaping pro-ʿAlid identity and early Shi’ism.

The Islamic tradition has always held animals in high esteem, deserving the same level of consideration as humans. The Qur'an opines that "there is not an animal in the earth nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are people like you." This fascinating and highly original book examines the status and nature of animals as they are portrayed in the Qur'an and in adjacent exegetical works, in which animals are viewed as spiritual, moral, intelligent, and accountable beings. In this way, the study presents a challenge to the prevalent view of man's superiority over animals and suggests new ways of interpreting the Qur'an. By placing the discussion within the context of other religions and their treatment of animals, the book also makes a persuasive case for animal rights from an Islamic perspective.

An Anxious Inheritance reveals the tensions between the early framers of Islam and the ever-expandable category of non-Muslims. Examining the encounter with these religious others, and showing how the Qur'an functioned as both a script to understand them and a map to classify them, this study traces the key role that these religious others played in what would ultimately emerge as (Sunni) orthodoxy. This orthodoxy would appear to be the natural outgrowth of the Prophet Muhammad's preaching, but it ultimately amounted to little more than a retroactive projection of later ideas onto the earliest period.
Non-Muslims (among them Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians) and the "wrong" kinds of Muslims (e.g., the Shi'a) became integral—by virtue of their perceived stubbornness, infidelity, heresy, or the like—to the understanding of what true religion was not and, just as importantly, what it should be. These non-Muslims were rarely real individuals or groups; rather, they functioned as textual foils that could be conveniently orchestrated, and ultimately controlled, to facilitate Muslim self-definition. Without such religious others proper belief could, quite literally, not be articulated. Shedding new light on the early history of Islam, while also problematizing the binary of orthodoxy/heresy in the study of religion, An Anxious Inheritance makes significant contributions to a number of diverse academic fields.

The late Michael Dols in his book on the Majnūn rightly asserted that when dealing with madmen in medieval Islamic societies, we need to have in mind a model of medical pluralism. He had spotted the various intersections of genres of texts and learning, and even sociological classes and behavioral norms in his examination of madness, more broadly, and lovesickness (ʿishq), in particular. In this chapter, I shall focus on the discussions on lovesickness from five medical commentaries from the Mamluk period. The focus will be not only be on illuminating how the texts and the authors engage with the work(s) of their predecessor(s), but also what we can learn about the specific intellectual landscapes in which each author operated along with their specific interests in the topic.

Professor Nahyan Fancy is the Al-Qasimi Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He received his PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Notre Dame. He taught for 17 years in the History department at DePauw University, Indiana, before joining the faculty at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at Exeter this year. He works on the intersections of philosophy, medicine, science and religion during the period between 1200 and 1520. His first book, Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt: Ibn al-Nafis, Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection (Routledge, 2013), situated Ibn al-Nafis’s proposal of the pulmonary transit of blood within the context of debates amongst philosophers and religious scholars over the proper role of reason in interpreting revelation and the possibility of bodily resurrection. He has published widely on post-classical medicine, including more recent work on pre-modern understandings of sleep and plague. His current book project examines eight medical commentaries on the Canon of Medicine and its Epitome, to reveal that neither were Ibn al-Nafis’s works ignored after 1300, nor was there a decline in medical and scientific thought due to religious antagonism.

Dr Fella Lahmar presents "Educational challenges facing the role & scope of female scholarship"

Dr Mansooreh Saniei (King’s College London)

While considering the relationship between ethics, religion, and regulatory policy in the field of emerging life sciences and technologies, this presentation focuses on the politics of embryo, specifically embryo donation for modern medically assisted reproduction and embryo research, and debates about its status in the context of Shiism, with particular reference to Iran with a majority Shia population in the Middle East and North Africa. It shows that the meaning of laws and moral values attributed to the human embryo is closely related to the notions of reproduction and kinship. In addition, this confirms that Iran has recorded these policies and their applications in several fields: the coherence of positions between religious, medical and legal authorities — at the intersection of the sacred and the secular, political and medical institutions, complex total values and norms, professional interests—such as individuals ’choices, and the emergence of commercial agencies.

Dr Mohammad Rasekh (Shahid Beheshti University and Institute of Ismaili Studies)

Under Imami fiqh (Muslim jurisprudence), various rules are applicable to foetus. Among them, this research focuses on the rules on blood money (dīyya) and inheritance (irth), as applicable to foetus, in order to examine the underlying personhood picture of the entity. That is to say, a question may be raised on whether the said rules share similar understanding of foetus as person. In this regard, taking into account the relevant rulings on the two topics embedded in the major fiqhi (jurisprudential) corpuses authored by Imami jurisprudents, such as those compiled by Ṭūsī , Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī, Ibn ‘Idrīs, Khānsārī and Khu’ī, it can be said that the rules on blood money, to be paid as compensation for the harm inflicted on foetus, consider the entity as a person. The least reason is that, according to them, the money would be inherited by the heirs to the foetus, rather than by the mother alone. Heirs are certainly heirs to a person. In comparison, those rules on the right of a foetus to inheritance make it conditional on the foetus being born alive, even for one second. It means that when it comes to the issue of inheriting, foetus is not regarded as a person at any stage of pregnancy period. In other words, foetus does not turn into a person, i.e., an entity that bears rights and responsibilities, unless and until it is born alive.

Therefore, the answer to the question stated in the title of this research is both in the affirmative and the negative. On the other hand, the said rules and rulings on the two status are undoubtedly reasoned for. However, they do not seem to embody a consistent personhood picture of foetus. Can the inconsistency be countered by the existing reasoning and rule inference method of the prevalent Imami jurisprudential tradition? If not, what can be offered as a way out of the conundrum?

Dr Amina Inloes (The Islamic College, London)

Recent advances in artificial intelligence technology have revived debates over the nature of knowing, consciousness, and the soul. This paper will explore whether the emergence of speaking, rational machines and the possibility of sentient machines could challenge classical Twelver Shiʿi Islamic theology. It will consider in what ways sentient machines would bring to light implied notions of anthropocentrism and anthropocentric notions of God within Islamic theology. It will also consider in what ways sentient machines would challenge the celebration of the human being as the “speaking, rational animal”. From a classical perspective, it will consider whether an intelligent machine could be considered as “living” or as having a soul. In doing so, it will consider which classical models would require updating, such as classical divisions between solids, plants, humans, and celestial beings. It will also explore, from a Twelver Shiʿi perspective, whether the human being has the right to create another living being or species, insofar as God is held to be the ultimate creator. Part of the argument will incorporate Twelver Shiʿi hadith supporting the possibility of non-human sentient life in the physical universe as a theologically alternative to anthropocentrism.

Shaykh Arif Abdul Hussain (Al Mahdi Institute)

Since the widely publicised announcement of the birth of the first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, human reproductive cloning became a theoretic possibility that received a great deal of attention in both religious and secular settings. Reproductive cloning, which is the creation of a genetically identical human being, could potentially be used by infertile couples or by parents who have lost a child and want to have another child with the same genetics. However, most governmental and human rights organisations oppose cloning, contending that it is a violation of human dignity and integrity at both the individual and societal level.

From a religious perspective, these ethical and societal considerations are secondary to the theological problems raised by human reproductive cloning. It is only possible to move onto the ethical issues once the theological questions have been resolved. Is reproductive cloning ‘playing God’ and does it violate the creatorship of God? Furthermore, does the cloned individual have the same status conferred to human beings in the Qurʾan as the ones who were fashioned by God? This paper delves into the nature and meaning of God as the creator in the Qurʾan considering the nuances in the Qurʾanic descriptions of God. It also discusses the nature of the human soul and the notion of the soul as pure consciousness.

Prof Mohammed Basil Altaie (University of Leeds)

This article discusses the question where the Qurʾan sets a conceptual limitation on the interpretation of biological evolution of the first human creature, Adam, and presents a novel understanding for the process of biological evolution in general. The work is part of my endeavour to promote new studies in Daqīq al-Kalām which represent the Islamic approach to Natural Philosophy. The question of the creation of Adam will be discussed in two contexts, the first is what the Qurʾan precisely presents about this miraculous creation, and in the second context the general process of evolution will be discussed using of the principles of daqīq al-kalām. Due to the limitation on the size of the article to be presented in this workshop I will not be concerned with the traditional views about biological evolution, nevertheless I will focus on the how the Qurʾan presented the creation of Adam where it is explicitly shown that the special status obtained by this event centres on the divine spiritual blow which transformed a developed being into a human.

The second part of this article presents a new-kalām perspective to understand evolution through the principle of re-creation which was introduced by the Mutakallimūn and was adopted by several Muslim scholars like Mulla Sadra and others. This new approach will enable Muslim scholars of philosophy of science to establish new vender in the approach to delicate questions related to Islamic SharīꜤa and Science.

Prof. Mohammed Ghaly (Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar)

Genetic testing is one of the ground-breaking advancements brought forth by the field of genetics, which have revolutionized biomedical sciences. This revolutionary potential has led these technological breakthroughs to become a major target for ethical reflection within both religious and secular moral traditions. From the 1990s onwards, Muslim religious scholars and biomedical scientists, with the help of transnational Islamic institutions, have been engaging in interdisciplinary deliberations on the ethical implications of genetic technologies, including genetic testing.

This presentation will focus on the ethical inquiries arising from three main types of genetic testing: premarital testing, preimplantation testing, and prenatal testing. By critically examining and analysing these deliberations, the presentation aims to explore the multifaceted and interrelated aspects of genetic testing in the Islamic bioethical discourse. It will illustrate how these deliberations provide answers to the question of when (human) life begins while also revealing an underlying perception of what embryonic life actually means and when it would have sufficient moral worth to be protected.

Dr Rahim Nobahar (Shahid Beheshti University)

The continuity of human generation, its strength and health are oftenemphasised in Islamic teachings. According to Islamic theology one of the aims and philosophies of prophecy is to save material and spiritual life of mankind (hifz al-nawa al-insani). In such a context every permissible measure for having a healthier linage is welcomed. In Islam having children is highly recommended and rewarded, however, with the advancement of premarital genetic testing it is possible to determine the risk of passing on a genetic disorder that would negatively impact the quality of a child’s life. Just as it is wrong to inflict pain and suffering on a living human being for no reason, it is also morally wrong to deliberately or negligently produce a generation for whom life is painful.

In addition, Islamic principles emphasise a reasonable quantity of humanity coupled with strength, ability, and health. By appealing to both moral and Islamic principles it is possible to argue for societal authority to curtail the reproduction of generations with painful genetic diseases through the enforcement of legal sanctions. From another perspective, the government has responsibilities towards the well-being of its citizens. These responsibilities give the government authority to make some decisions regarding the quality and quantity of future generations. The financial and societal burden entailed in taking care of an unhealthy generation, justifies the government imposing pre-marital genetic testing. The expediency of producing a healthy and strong generation is so important that it necessitates this level of restriction on the freedom and privacy of individuals. Failing to carry out such tests can be considered a crime under certain circumstances. It seems that those who deliberately or even negligently reproduce unhealthy children can be held legally responsible by their children and liable for compensation of material and spiritual damages they have caused.

Dr Ali Fanaei, Dr Elham Farahani, Ms Arefeh Sadat Hosseininejad (Al Mahdi Institute, Mofid University)

The impressive advances in science and technology in the modern world have dramatically increased the freedom of humans to make decisions and their power to control nature. Since humans are free and responsible agents, it is reasonable and meaningful to expect religion and ethics to have something to say about the way in which humans conquer nature with the help of modern science and technology. Religious and moral teachings are normative — which

means religion and ethics are both action-guiding — and the more the power of humans to control nature and their scope of abilities increases, the more they will need practical guidance.

One of the fields that modern science and technology have made possible for humans to control and intervene in is determining the sex of a foetus before pregnancy, which is called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). In this method, X and Y sperms are separated from each other and several embryos with different sexes are produced in a laboratory environment using the sperms. The embryo with the desired sex is then transferred to the mother's womb.

This method can be used for two different purposes: One is preventing the birth of babies who suffer from disorders of sex development, and the other is choosing the sex of the baby by the parents or the government. It is clear that using this method, for whichever purpose, is important and challenging from a religious and moral point of view, regardless of the personal and social consequences resulting from it. This article attempts to first formulate the religious and moral questions regarding this issue, and then critically analyse and evaluate the answers that have been or can be provided using religious and moral arguments about the permissibility or prohibition of using this technology in determining the sex of the foetus.

Dr Khaoula Trad (University of Hamburg)

This paper examines the diachronic evolution of the idea of the ensoulment in one Qurʾanic exegesis and two ḥadīth commentaries by Abū Bakr Ibn al- ʿArabī (d.543H/1148 CE). I trace the exclusion of the ensoulment of the creational formula in Aḥkām al-qurʾān. Subsequently, the idea appears for the first time in al-Qabas as a phase that juristically represents a pivotal criterion for establishing penalties. Finally, I demonstrate how in his ḥadīth commentary ‘Āriḍat al-aḥwadhī, Ibn al-ʿArabī assimilates and inserts Ibn Masʿūd’s ḥadīth and accordingly the concept of ensoulment in his embryological approach.

Mr Rizwan Virk (Arizona State University)

In the twenty-first century, a new idea has arisen, The Simulation Hypothesis, about the nature of the universe as a computer simulation or a video game, which both challenges and extends existing popular belief systems, (i.e. atheism/materialism and the worldviews of various world religions). The Simulation Hypothesis also provides a bridge between an increasingly scientific and technological society which takes a materialistic view of the world, and those of faith, which tend to believe that the physical world is not all there is. Some have even called The Simulation Hypothesis a new kind of religion, though for many younger people, the simulation hypothesis is a technological and relatable path into theology using video games as the metaphor. In this paper, my goal is to provide a comparison with and parallels between, the Simulation Hypothesis, its various flavours and conclusions, and the Abrahamic religions in general, and Islam in particular. This includes passages from the Qurʾan (and the Bible), and various aspects of popular, orthodox, and Sufi Islamic theology, cosmology and metaphors used therein, including unseen entities like jinn, angels (in particular the recording angels, the kiramin kitabin), the Scroll of Deeds, the purpose and nature of the temporary world, duniya in comparison to the hereafter, the akhirah, the existence of a soul, and the final reckoning (or ḥisāb) during the Day of Judgement (Yawm al-qiyāmah).

Prof. Mustafa Mohaghegh Damad
(The Academy of Sciences of Iran)

Infertility has become a pressing issue in modern society, prompting the use of "artificial insemination" as a viable solution. This term refers to the process of facilitating the fusion between male sperm and female eggs, utilising medical devices or alternative methods excluding intercourse and sexual intimacy, to enhance fertility and promote conception. Artificial insemination is practiced in two forms:

1. Complete Artificial Insemination: Prepared sperm is placed directly inside a woman's reproductive tract to help with fertilization. This is subdivided into: i) Intrauterine Insemination (IUI): Sperm is placed into the uterus using a thin tube during ovulation.

ii) In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): Eggs are taken from the woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then put back into the uterus.

2. Incomplete Artificial Insemination: These methods assist with fertilization, but sperm isn't placed directly inside the woman's reproductive tract. An example is Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) where a single sperm is injected into an egg in a laboratory, and then the fertilized egg is transferred to the uterus. Another example is Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT) where eggs and sperm are collected and placed into the fallopian tubes, allowing natural fertilization to happen inside the woman's body.

However, from an Islamic legal perspective, artificial insemination does not possess a historical precedent. Therefore, it is not explicitly mentioned in Islamic scripture, principles, laws, or traditions. To ascertain its permissibility within Islamic jurisprudence, Muslim jurists require specific supporting evidences or references. Some arguments have been presented in support of artificial insemination based on general jurisprudential rules, as well as narrations referring to a third party becoming pregnant by coming into contact with sperm without sexual intimacy. These instances can provide a basis for inferring the ruling for artificial insemination within the broader framework of Islamic jurisprudence.

Discussions on applied Islamic ethics related to the beginning of human life primarily focus on the moral status of the embryo, foetus, and child, as well as the developmental stages and the time elapsed between these stages that inform Islamic rulings. The moral status assigned to each developmental stage

carries significant implications for contemporary medical practices such as In vitro fertilization (IVF), embryonic stem cell research, prenatal testing, and foetal surgery. This article aims to explore the ontological grounding of the embryo's moral status within Islamic ethics, concentrating on the diverse approaches presented by Sunni schools of jurisprudence and addressing the complexities

arising from the intersection of religious and scientific viewpoints.

Initially, the article will provide an overview of the current landscape of ethical debates surrounding the beginning of human life, emphasising the need for a comprehensive understanding of the various factors shaping the moral status of embryos in Islamic ethics. It will then define the full moral status (FMS) of the

human person and outline the theoretical conceptions of moral status proposed by various Sunni schools of jurisprudence, addressing the challenges that their

theories face. The article will suggest two mutually inclusive routes to FMS: (1) belonging to the human species, determined by biology and human form

(takhlīq), and (2) possessing capacities or potentialities that differentiate an embryo from a human person.

Mrs Hatice Kubra Memis (University of Exeter)

The question of when human life begins is a multifaceted issue that extends beyond the realm of medicine. In Islamic Law, this topic is of particular importance, particularly in cases of induced miscarriage. Islamic legal rulings concerning the foetus can be categorized into two groups: those that relate directly to the foetus, such as nasab (lineage), diya (blood money), and inheritance, and those that relate to the foetus’ influence on its mother’s life, including her waiting period (ʿidda), manumission, fasting, maintenance, and punishment. This paper examines several of the rulings that have direct relevance to the foetus and its mother, including diya (blood money), kaffāra (expiation), ʿidda (waiting period), and umm walad (mother of the child). The way fuqaha (Muslim jurists) approach miscarriages vary depending on whether the foetus has a human appearance at the time of its demise or on the opinion of four trustworthy women who are experts in their field. To understand the criteria for determining when human life begins, this study focuses on the broader context of Islamic schools, such as Sunni and Shia, and particularly on the impact of the beginning of life on four issues: diya, kaffāra, completion of the ʿidda, and the status of umm walad.

These issues are critical for establishing a discussion on matters that directly impact real-life situations such as abortion, stem cell and embryo research.

The Relationship between Islam & Science by Hamzad Zahid

Practical Interactions Between Science and Islam in the UK by Dr Mansur Ali

Science & British Muslim Religious Leadership Overview by Dr Stephen Jones, Dr Saleema Burney and Dr Riyaz Timol

Religion is often used as a reason for opposing the principle of an assisted death. In fact, the principle is supported by people who belong to the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Church of Wales, Catholicism, Baptist Church, Methodist Church, URC and, more widely, Quakerism, Liberal and Reform Judaism, and Sunni Islam.

For myself, Jesus embodies love, compassion, tenderness, forgiveness, dignity, respect, humanity, and humaneness. These traits are to the fore in the practice of Christian faith, and because of that, I am drawn to supporting assisted dying legislation, at least in some form: for those terminally ill who are mentally sound. Assisted dying legislation is centred on personal choice, the relief of suffering, the avoidance of indignity, and the honouring of humanity. Our understanding of what it is to be a human being underpins the possibility of choice; in part, our understanding is culturally determined.

I argue that there is nothing in the Bible which explicitly excludes the principle of assisted dying. The ethical issue of a physician-assisted death on a patient who is mentally competent and terminally ill is not in the Scriptures, either the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) or New Testament. Biblical texts may be stretched one way or another but assisted dying, as we understand it, was not an issue of the ancient world. From first-hand experience at his brother’s bedside, the late Hans Küng, witnessed intolerable suffering and asked, ‘Is this the sort of death God wants?’

As a society, we must face the legal and moral ambiguity that people in the UK travel abroad for an assisted death. People of faith, individuals within faith communities, have travelled abroad for an assisted death. Clergy have supported people who have chosen an assisted death. We also need to be honest about the medical practice of ‘double effect’.

Excellent palliative care ought not to be under threat by the introduction of assisted dying legislation. Moreover, in all areas of medical practice, medical practitioners need to be aware of their own value systems so as not to impose, consciously or unconsciously, their value system onto patients. It is also true that that things may go wrong in the procedures of an assisted death, but mistakes and unforeseen consequences happen in most medical procedures: risk is unavoidable.

Made in the image of God, we are moral decision-makers and this includes in matters of life and death.

This paper looks closely at the process of Tahara (ritual washing of the dead before burial) practiced in the Jewish religion. It will also explore similarities and differences with ritual washing of other traditions, including the Islamic custom of Ghusl. And it will include a short section on the practicalities of performing the ritual during the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the core tenets of Jewish belief is that all human beings are holy and were created in the ‘Image of God’. Therefore, in life as in death, we are obliged to treat people with the utmost dignity and respect. The question of what happens to a person after death has been of great interest to all religions. In Judaism, when a person dies, their body which housed their Neshamah (soul), must be treated with the same respect as it was during their life. Jewish medical ethics, for the most part, prevents hastening death. Just as a new-born child is swaddled after birth, the Met (deceased) is washed and dressed as they are prepared for burial.

The ritual process is called Tahara (purification).

Rooting itself in in faith and reason, which Pope John Paul II described as two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of Truth, traditional Catholic teaching gives articulation to both natural and supernatural Revelation, by teaching us that human beings are composite creatures, composed of body and soul; the soul being the nobler component element, although without this every being permitted to reduce the value of the body; and that we are made in imago Dei, to the likeness and image of God, giving foundation to much of Christian ethics and to its teaching about the meaning and nature of death.

A living human body is patently not the same thing as a corpse. The soul is the fundamental difference between corpse and living being. A corpse cannot move, eat, think, self-express, or take joy in something or feel sadness. It can only disintegrate and return to dust. Something must stop our bodies from doing that in the present moment, and that is the soul. As surely as every activity must have a principle of operation behind it, the principle by which a person loves, makes rational choices, experiences happiness or grief, is a real thing. It is not nothing, less than the very body it animates. Nor is it a chemical. No forensic scientist, examining a corpse, can tell you what chemical is missing leading to its death, as if there were nothing else save chemical substances. Human life cannot be generated by a gathering of chemical substances, for it is quite patently animated by the soul or spirit.

It is this soul that survives the physical death of the body; although it may be a popular opinion in the received wisdom of our age that there is no continuance after death, a reflection upon the simple structure of the soul, upon the future administration of the sanctions attached to the moral law, upon the rectification of worldwide inequalities, and upon the teleological inclinations to a lasting and perfect good, makes it a violation of reason to deny the soul’s survival. This, in and of itself, changes the whole aspect of the nature and finality of death, making the process worth re-examining.

The nature of the soul in life and in death, as well as its moral, ontological, and eschatological transformation is a problem that has exercised Muslim thinkers and generated a range of theological, philosophical, and mystical speculation. Ideas about the malleability and ambiguity of the soul may be said to derive from the Qur’anic references to the nafs, but the issue of the nature and existence of the soul in death (and prior to the Day of Resurrection) is not clearly elaborated in scripture. The influence of Greek thought on Muslim theology and philosophy further complicated Muslim debates about the soul. Neither Plato’s idea of the separability of the soul from matter, nor Aristotle’s view that the soul—which he conceived of as inextricably connected to the material body (unlike intellect)—did not continue to exist after death was consistent with the many Qur’anic references to the existence of souls with their bodies in the hereafter.

For many Muslim thinkers, questions about the nature of the soul’s transition to and in death could only be answered with reference to an understanding of the ontological nature of the soul itself. Like Aristotle, many leading Muslim theologians and philosophers understood the soul as a “substance,” and they endeavored to theorize the nature of its “substance” in a way that would be logically consistent with Qur’anic and Islamic ideas of the soul’s transitions in both life and death. In this paper, I compare the thought of two major Muslim thinkers on the problem of the soul, its nature, and its transitions: Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) and Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1636). Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Muslim mystic and metaphysician, who thought about the soul neither as material, nor as purely spiritual, but as a meeting (or barzakh) between the two, with its changeability related to its intermediate state. For Mullā Ṣadrā, a Shiʿi theosopher who creatively synthesized the thought of many earlier Muslim thinkers, including Ibn ʿArabi, the soul is the site of the transformation between the material and spiritual realities of the human being. The soul, he argued, undergoes a continuous process of both epistemological and ontological transformation, which he referred to as “trans-substantial motion” (al-ḥaraka al-jawhariyya), and which allowed him to posit the soul’s transformations both in life and in death as part of a seamless process of human becoming.

This paper aims to articulate and compare three conceptions of the relationship between the “life before death” and the “life after death”, that can be found in the Qurʾān. These three conceptions can be called “Legal conception”, “Philosophical conception”, and “Mystical conception” respectively.

The first conception portrays God as a lawgiver and humans as His subjects. Like other legal systems, divine law (Sharīʿa) comprises of some rewards and punishments for those who abide by it and those who transgress it. But unlike secular legal systems, the main rewards and punishments are postponed until the next world. Therefore, since the relationship between positive laws and their sanction is conventional as opposed to real/natural, the relationship between what we do in this world and what we receive in the next is also conventional.

The second conception posits that the relationship between what we do in this world and the reward and punishment that are waiting for us in the next world is causal, meaning that what we do in our life on Earth produces good or bad consequences in the hereafter. Like other causal relationships between causes and their effects, this relationship is real not conventional.

According to the third conception, the relationship between our actions in this world and what we would experience in the next world is neither conventional nor causal. It is deeper than that. That is, whatever we do has two simultaneous and inseparable aspects: apparent and hidden. However, while the apparent aspect is observable in this world, the hidden aspect only becomes apparent once we die.

I explore and substantiate these three conceptions using some of the relevant verses of the Qurʾān and then argue that the last conception is the correct one, but since it is beyond the imagination and understanding of most people, the Qurʾān has had to utilise the two former conceptions to simplify the matter, so that ordinary people can have at least a vague understanding of this central and abstract religious concept.

This paper surveys Jewish concepts of the human soul from Biblical to modern times, showing the changing ideas of the psyche over the centuries. It commences with an examination of the vocabulary of the human spirit in Hebrew Scriptures, involving terms like nefeš (life, breath, self, life-force), ruaḥ (wind or spirit) and nᵊšāmāh (breath, breathing thing). Early Biblical writings show little sign of body/soul dualism, but by the later stages, passages in the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, for example, raise questions about the possibility of spiritual survival after death.

Intertestamental writings, and the New Testament, show that such dualism had developed, probably under Hellenistic influence, and became a topic of interest in Rabbinic discourse, where ideas about post-mortem spiritual survival coexist in a complex and unresolved way with the belief in bodily resurrection at the end of days. In contrast to Christian orthodoxy, which insisted on the creation of the soul simultaneously with the body at conception, a Rabbinic consensus developed that all souls were created at the beginning of time and exist in inchoate form with God until their time comes to be incarnated.

In the influential synthesis of Rabbinic Judaism and Islamic Aristotelianism created by Moses Maimonides (12th century), the focus of belief in immortality shifts from the soul to the mind. The soul, as the form of the body, perishes with its material counterpart, and only the “acquired intellect” survives. The impersonal and elitist implications of this concept proved unacceptable to most contemporary and subsequent Jewish thinkers.

Under Neoplatonic influence, Jewish mystics drew upon the variety of Biblical terminology to create a complex, multi-layered theory of the soul. This evolved from an earlier three-tiered model (nefeš–ruaḥ–nᵊšāmāh: active–emotional–intellectual) to a more complex one, in which only the lower levels were “contained” in the body, while the higher ones exist constantly in a heavenly sphere. To this was added the idea of the universal soul, like that of Adam.

Stemming from the Shi’i-influenced teaching of Judah Halevi, that Jews inherit an ʾamr ʾilāhī as their unique connection with God, later Kabbalah and Ḥasidism came to teach that Jews alone possess a divine soul that is “an actual portion of God from above.” The paper explores the particularistic implications of this doctrine.

Finally, the paper considers developments from Bruno Bettelheim’s interpretation of Freud’s concept of the psyche to the prevalent agnosticism among many Jews today, about the existence of an immortal soul – perhaps a return full-circle to the non-dualist Biblical conception of the human being.

Questions pertaining to the nature of the human soul and its purpose through bodily existence have perplexed the minds of humanity from time immemorial. The issue is further compounded, for the Abrahamic faiths, due to their presumption of a Merciful God who initiates the existence of the soul and places it in the domain of strife and suffering as a part of God’s bestowal. The reconciliation between the notions of a benevolent God who initiates the human soul and the prospect of the soul’s eternal damnation, without allowing for a pre-worldly existence for the soul with the ability of discretion and choice to come into this world, becomes extremely difficult.

Through reference to the Qur’ānic verses and its accompanying exegesis, together with the deliberations of Muslim philosophers and mystics, this paper explores the idea of a pre-worldly existence of individual souls who choose to enter a worldly existence. The human souls both pre-exist their embodied states and are eternal posterior to death. This is because death and life are states of the body and not the point for the origination of the soul; the soul is merely initiated in the worldly domain through a bodily medium, and allowed agency through the body during bodily life and denied such agency at the point of bodily death. The life of this world, or the lowly life (hayat al-dunya), is an unreal and illusionary life through which human souls find an opportunity to come to the fullest of their potential.

The paper will allude to how this line of reasoning can allow for the formulation of a theodicy in which human beings bear the onus of coming to a world of strife with a prospect of possible damnation. Similarly, through the aid of verses, and the thoughts of the likes of Ibn Arabi, it is postulated that the fate of individual souls at the level worldly existence is left unknown as opposed to the idea of a God Who had foreknowledge of the destinies of the souls. Finally, it will be argued that both paradise and hell cannot be eternal abodes.

In India, the law of ṭalāq as a means of dissolving a marriage is one of the most significant aspects of Muslim personal law. The Supreme Court of India declared triple ṭalāq unlawful in 2017. Subsequently, the Indian Parliament passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019, declaring ṭalāq al-bidda or any other type of ṭalāq with the impact of an immediate and irrevocable divorce to be null and void, as well as a penal offense. Some regard this legislation as a landmark for gender equality for Muslim women, while others decry its repercussions.

The presentation traces the legal history of ṭalāq from pre-Islamic Arabian customs through the formative years of Islam. It also provides a glimpse of the colonial administration of personal laws. It focuses specifically on the most recent development of the law of ṭalāq in India and its complications.

Stories about gendered social relations permeate the Qur'an, and nearly three hundred verses involve specific women or girls. The Qur'an features these figures in accounts of human origins, in stories of the founding and destruction of nations, in narratives of conquest, in episodes of romantic attraction, and in incidents of family devotion and strife. Overall, stories involving women and girls weave together theology and ethics to reinforce central Qur'anic ideas regarding submission to God and moral accountability. Celene Ibrahim explores the complex cast of female figures in the Qur'an, probing themes related to biological sex, female sexuality, female speech, and women in sacred history. Ibrahim considers major and minor figures referenced in the Qur'an, including those who appear in narratives of sacred history, in parables, in descriptions of the eternal abode, and in verses that allude to events contemporaneous with the advent of the Qur'an in Arabia. Ibrahim finds that the Qur'an regularly celebrates the aptitudes of women in the realms of spirituality and piety, in political maneuvering, and in safeguarding their own wellbeing; yet, women figures also occasionally falter and use their agency toward nefarious ends. Women and Gender in the Qur'an outlines how women and girls - old, young, barren, fertile, chaste, profligate, reproachable, and saintly - enter Qur'anic sacred history and advance the Qur'an's overarching didactic aims.

Dr Malik, a scientist by training, has been researching this topic for many years and recently published a work on the topic through the lens of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. His lecture laid out a systematic framework by which Muslim scholars can approach the topic of evolution. Dr Malik outlined the major theories on evolution including creationism, human exceptionalism, Adamic exceptionalism, and the no exceptions theory and examined whether such theories are scripturally compatible from an Islamic perspective.

Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – was a prominent Twelver Shi'i scholar of hadith. Writing within the first century after the vanishing of the twelfth imam, al-Saduq represents a pivotal moment in Twelver hadith literature,  as this Shi'i community adjusted to a world without a visible imam and  guide, a world wherein the imams could only be accessed through the text  of their remembered words and deeds. George Warner's study of  al-Saduq's work examines the formation of Shi'i hadith literature  in light of these unique dynamics, as well as giving a portrait of an  important but little-studied early Twelver thinker. Though almost all of  al-Saduq's writings are collections of hadith, Warner's approach  pays careful attention to how these texts are selected and presented to  explore what they can reveal about their compiler, offering insight  into al-Saduq's ideas and suggesting new possibilities for the wider  study of hadith.

Dr. Mashid Turner presents a surface overview of the Islamic perspective of angels. She begins by outlining that the belief in angels is a foundational aspect of Islamic theology – one that has been emphasised upon in the Quran. As her talk develops, clear parallels can be seen between the Islamic perspectives and that of the Christian and Jewish backgrounds.

Dr. Turner explains how, in her understanding of the Islamic belief, angels were manifestations of God’s power and mechanisms of His will to be enacted; without having autonomous will of their own or power to dissent against God’s command, nor agency to act beyond His will.

Prof. Rabbi Jeff Berger provides a Jewish examination on angelology. Rabbi Berger gives a host of references to angels’ interaction with man, including apostles of God, as mentioned in Hebrew scripture. Subsequently, Rabbi Berger describes a hierarchy of angelic ranks as described in Judaism. He then classifies angelic beings into virtuous angels, who guide towards God, and those that are subversive and prompt man to act in an evil way.

Canon Dr. Andrew Thompson begins his presentations by explaining how angels are part and parcel of religious belief, and not exclusively confined to formal or conventional religions. After explaining that Christian beliefs in angels are largely based on Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, Dr. Thompson’s presentation split the way angels are viewed in, Christian theology, into two categories: their ontological aspects and their nature on one hand, and their functional value on the other hand.

This presentation outlines the religious, specifically the Muslim, background of the sanctity of life argument (SLA) in bioethics and its recent secular versions. It suggests a path towards the future of SLA by taking into account a widely neglected theological position in bioethics in general and specifically in SLA: negative theology. It further probes whether SLA is fundamentally a cataphatic (positive) theological position or whether an apophatic (negative) version of SLA is also possible.

In this presentation, Dr Lloyd focuses specifically on the views of two Iranian clerics, Ayatollah Motahhari and Ahmad Qabel, whose views on the hijab are diametrically opposed, but who argue from a position of “rationality”. These arguments assume greater importance given the current campaign for unveiling in Iran.

The roots of the power struggle over authority and recognition among various factions of Twelver Shias of South Asian background living in London revolves around the idea of how the ‘true and authentic’ Shia Islam is practised through Ashura Rituals. The theological and political genealogy of this struggle can be traced by examining the history of Shia Islam in South Asia and by analysing the migration of Shia Muslims from India to Pakistan during 1947 partition of sub-continent, and subsequent migration to Britain from South Asia. This seminar will present the historical analysis and ethnographic accounts on Shia Islam and how it is practised in London. The influence of London based Iranian and Iraqi Shia transnational networks are vital to understand in order to approach the internal groupings of adherents in London based South Asian Hussanias. While some South Asian origin Shias confirm to the Iran-backed reformist versions of globally standardised ritual commemoration of Ashura, others detest this and search for religious reinterpretations that may legitimise their South Asian ways of commemorating the Ashura ritual.

An important component in the post-Islamic discourse is the question of the status of Islamic law in contemporary times. Many contemporary jurists have argued that the juridical decisions in the past were interwoven to the political, cultural, or historical circumstances in the eighth century. They further argue while the Qur’an is a fixed text, the interpretive applications of its revelations can vary with the changing realities of history. 

This paper argues that there is a need to move beyond the current form of ijtihad to an era of post-ijtihad in Twelver Shi‘ism. The present ijtihad, which was developed in the medieval ages, has failed to produce a coherent legal system that can effectively respond to the needs of contemporary Muslims. The paper will also focus on the post-ijtihadism phenomenon and will argue that the traditional text-centered ijtihad has to be replaced with a new form of ijtihad which utilizes different forms of exegetical principles to formulate new rulings that will serve the Muslim community better. Post-ijtihadism, as I call it, will entail new hermeneutic and interpretive principles to provide a re-evaluation of classical juristic formulations and to assert a new jurisprudence that is based on the notion of ethical axioms and universal moral values. Post-Ijtihadism will also entail revamping traditional Islamic legal theory (Usul al-fiqh) which has hampered rather than enhanced the formulations of newer laws.

In recent years a significant amount of attention has been paid to British Muslim perceptions of evolutionary science. This has predominantly taken the form of sensationalist newspaper headlines written in response to alleged incidents of Muslim rejection of evolutionary science. Examples include statements by Richard Dawkins and media coverage of comments by geneticist Steve Jones or the publication of Harun Yahya’s Atlas of Creation. Unfortunately this has not been restricted to the media. Similar narratives are also found in academic literatures, with examples of unsubstantiated reports that a rise in “Islamic Creationism” has taken place. Yet, little academic research had been conducted to support such claims. This paper will draw on newly available data to critically examine British Muslims’ perceptions of evolution, as well as to gain a further understanding of the factors influencing perceptions of evolutionary science.

In this presentation, Dr Warner focuses on the relationship that the book ʿUyūn portrays between al-Riḍā and his eventual murderer, the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn. Imamicide though he is, al-Maʾmūn in ʿUyūn is no Yazīd, for what we see in al-Ṣadūq’s work is not a portrait of absolute, irredeemable evil but a man who has a choice; a man who encounters the imām, who recognises the imām but who ultimately fails to make good that encounter and so is ultimately damned. This intense vision of the stakes of meeting God’s ḥujja forms the core of ʿUyūn, around which are explorations of a range of other relationships that include both al-Ṣadūq’s readers’ relationship with their imām(s) and al-Ṣadūq’s relationship with the powerful, irascible vizier al-Ṣāḥib Ibn ʿAbbād.

The shortage of organs donated for transplantation is resulting in the deaths of three people daily in addition to being burdensome on the NHS, which has to provide costly treatments. Quantitative surveys on the attitudes of British Muslims towards donation reveal that although the majority say that they are happy to receive an organ if needed, they are reluctant to become donors. Individuals feel constrained by advice from religious leaders and the interpretation of religious scriptures, considering organ donation to contravene Sharia rulings. In light of the imminent transition towards a system of ‘deemed consent’, in which there is a presumption that everyone is willing to donate their organs, Muslims are faced with the question of whether they want to opt out of saving, potentially, several lives.

Sayed Hossein Qazwini (Islamic Seminary of Karbala) discusses the different Shi'i Fiqhi views on Women's right to child custody.

Dr Omar Anchassi (University of Edinburgh) presents on the early juristic position within the various schools of jurisprudence regarding marriage to non-Muslim women who are either pagans or from the Abrahamic religions.

What does it mean to be a practicing Shi'a in Europe in the contemporary moment? How do individuals from Shi'a backgrounds negotiate their place in European society, especially in countries where Shi'is represent a "minority of a minority" with regards to the wider Muslim population? Drawing on my doctoral research among practicing Shi'is in the UK, this seminar will present some of the key findings regarding the development of a modern "British Shi'a" identity, as well as ask questions about the transferability of such an identity across European borders. The seminar will thus function simultaneously as an exploratory workshop, encouraging feedback and interaction from participants regarding their own sense of identity and belonging, and the ways in which academic scholarship needs to reflect the changing nature of what it means to be Shi'a in the modern world.

Despite their broad agreement about the definition of belief (īmān) and about key theological doctrine, Muslim scholars in the 15th-17th century Maghrib argued fiercely over whether and how to teach that doctrine to non-elite members of society. This seminar will explain the concepts, argumentation, and stakes of these disputes and discuss several moments when "the belief of the common folk" became an especially heated issue. In doing so, it moreover offers space to reflect on the appropriateness of translating īmān as belief and on the place of belief within Islamic thought.

Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa examines Islamic legal responses to Muslims living under Christian rule  in medieval and early modern Iberia and North Africa. The fall of al-Andalus, or Reconquista, has long been considered a turning point when the first substantial Muslim populations fell under permanent Christian rule. Yet a near-exclusive focus on conquered  Iberian Muslims has led scholars to overlook a substantial body of legal opinions issued in response to Portuguese and Spanish occupation in  Morocco itself, beginning in the early fifteenth century.

By moving beyond Iberia and following Christian conquerors and Muslim emigrants into North Africa, Leaving Iberia links the juristic discourses on conquered Muslims on both sides of the  Mediterranean, critiques the perceived exceptionalism of the Iberian  Muslim predicament, and adds a significant chapter to the story of  Christian–Muslim relations in the medieval Mediterranean. The final portion of the book explains the disparate fates of these medieval legal opinions in colonial Algeria and Mauritania, where jurists granted lasting authority to some opinions and discarded others.

Based on research in the Arabic manuscript libraries of five countries, Leaving Iberia offers the first fully annotated translations of the major legal texts under analysis.

Standpoints on the Belief in Imam Mahdi: A Sunni-Shia Discussion

Scrutinising the Sunni Standpoint on the belief in Imam Mahdi by Shaykh Muhammad Umar Ramadhan

Reassessing the Mainstream Shi'i Standpoint on the belief in Imam Mahdi by Prof. AbdulAziz Sachedina

In 874 CE, the eleventh Imam died, and the Imami community splintered. The institutions of the Imamate were maintained by the dead Imam's agents, who asserted they were in contact with a hidden twelfth Imam. This was the beginning of 'Twelver' Shiʿism. Edmund Hayes provides an innovative approach to exploring early Shiʿism, moving beyond doctrinal history to provide an analysis of the socio-political processes leading to the canonisation of the Occultation of the twelfth Imam. Hayes shows how these agents cemented their authority by reproducing the physical signs of the Imamate, including protocols of succession, letters and the alm taxes. Four of these agents were ultimately canonised as “envoys” but traces of earlier conceptions of authority remain embedded in the earliest reports. Hayes dissects the complex and contradictory Occultation narratives to show how, amidst the claims of numerous actors, the institutional positioning of the envoys allowed them to assert a quasi-Imamic authority in the absence of an Imam.

Ramon Harvey revisits the Muslim theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) from Samarqand and puts his system, and that of the Māturīdī school, into lively dialogue with modern thought. Combining rigorous study of Arabic Māturīdī texts with insights from Husserl’s phenomenology  and analytic theology, Harvey explores themes from epistemology and  metaphysics to the nature of God and specific divine attributes  (omniscience and wisdom, creative action, divine speech and the Qur’an).  His systematic treatment of these topics shows that a contemporary Islamic philosophical theology, or kalām jadīd, can be true to the past, yet dynamic in the present, and can provide original  and constructive answers to perennial theological questions.

The goal of this seminar is to discuss the invention of “religion” in the modern-colonial West as a category which ensured and reified racial hierarchies around the world and tied Christianity to whiteness whilst simultaneously positioning other religions, including Islam, at the bottom of a racial-religious hierarchy. This modern invention of ‘religion’ was also a very gendered process that enabled the production of religious hierarchies while simultaneously rationalising and justifying the privatisation of religion in an Enlightenment, post-Westphalian European context. This gendered and modern-colonial invention of religion has implications for how religion and religious actors (or actors perceived as such) are discussed, perceived, and treated within the realm of Global Politics.

Dr Joshua Ralston discusses his book "Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Shari'a" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani.   In Law and the Rule of God, Joshua Ralston presents an innovative approach to Christian-Muslim dialogue. Eschewing both polemics and apologetics, he proposes a comparative framework for Christian engagement with Islamic debates on sharī'a. Ralston draws on a diverse range of thinkers from both traditions including Karl Barth, Ibn Taymiyya, Thomas Aquinas, and Mohammad al-Jabri. He offers an account of public law as a provisional and indirect witness to the divine rule of justice. He also demonstrates how this theology of public law deeply resonates with the Christian tradition and is also open to learning from and dialoguing with Islamic and secular conceptions of law, sovereignty, and justice.

Dr Anver M. Emon discusses his book "Islamic Natural Law Theories" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani. By recasting the Islamic legal tradition in terms of legal philosophy, Anver Emon's Islamic Natural Law Theories sheds substantial light on an uncharted tradition of natural law theory and offers critical insights into contemporary global debates about Islamic law and reform.

Dr Cyrus Ali Zargar discusses his book "Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani. Islamic philosophy and Sufism evolved as distinct yet interweaving strands of Islamic thought and practice. Despite differences, they have shared a concern with the perfection of the soul through the development of character. In The Polished Mirror, Cyrus Ali Zargar studies the ways in which, through teaching and storytelling, pre-modern Muslims lived, negotiated and cultivated virtues. Examining the writings of philosophers, ascetics, poets, and saints, he locates virtue ethics within a dynamic moral tradition.

The generally perceived notion/purpose of ijtihād is to provide a  solution where there is no direct text on a particular issue. Given that  within the theories of Islamic law, it is a well-accepted fact that  an ijtihād would not necessarily negate another ijtihād on the same  issue, one may arrive at the question of sanctity in relation to the  fatwas issued as a result of different ijtihāds being carried out. This  study therefore looks at whether the body of fatwas issued are any less  in their sacredness as a result of differences and variations  in ijtihādi conclusions. The study will follow a textual analysis and  its scope falls within the broad sphere of theology.

This paper will discuss the impact of the case method on three  separate cohorts, all in the context of Islamic education. Although a  very widely used tool in higher education, the use of the case method is  rare in Islamic education, normally being superseded by a traditional  didactic or instructive style of teaching, a feature that often extends  across most age groups and even into specialised seminary learning.  Retrospective observational analysis was conducted on three separate  cohorts in the community who were exposed to the case methodology over a  period of five years. Three separate areas of growth were seen in the  cohorts in varying degrees.

1. Personal growth and mentoring of  the individual through the acquisition of key life skills such as  critical analysis, public speaking, presentation skills and ability to  collaborate with others.
2. Increasing knowledge base of the individual in a wide variety of Islamic and non-Islamic disciplines.
3. Triggers for community action following identification of critical societal issues.

Significant  areas requiring greater engagement by community leaders were also  frequently flagged up such as suppressed atheism, apostasy, child abuse,  mental health and ethical practices of Muslims. Above all, the nature  of the case method ensured cross-generational as well as cross-gender  conversations on major neglected issues affecting Muslims in the UK,  ultimately allowing participants to critically evaluate their faith in a  safe space without judgement, develop key life skills and study Islam  in context of the modern world and tackle major societal issues relevant  not only to Muslims, but society as a whole.

Averroes adopted a legal-centric epistemological framework in order  to prove #Philosophy as #Islamic. The main focus was to demonstrate to  what extent philosophy was Islamic using Averroes’ systematised  framework from his legal treatise, Kitāb faṣl al-maqāl as a rebuttal to  Muslim jurists who considered philosophy as anti-Islamic. Using  Averroes’ legal treatise, Sayyid Wajee showed how Averroes employs the  legal methodology and the principles adopted by Muslim jurists against  them, highlighting the compatibility between philosophy and Islam. Moreover, Averroes’ grounds his assertions of philosophy as an Islamic  endeavour by combining the technical jargon of the jurists with Qurʾānic  passages as a way of conclusively affirming the concept of ‘Islamic  philosophy’.

The presentation highlighted the negative attitude towards philosophy in the 12th century and this attitude persisting in the 21st century  in certain Islamic institutions. Sayyid Wajee emphasised on #Averroes  premise that the study of law which is widely accepted by Muslim  thinkers as an Islamic enterprise according to the jurists themselves,  the same sentiment should be afforded to Muslim philosophers

The presentation aimed to cover the question of whether Muslims are allowed to reside in non-Muslim majority countries under the condition of religious freedom. It encompassed an analysis of the major textual  evidence on this topic, regardless of whether they argue for  permissibility or prohibition. The focus is to engage with the seemingly  contradictory arguments considering their authenticity, historical  context and meaning, in the hope of coming close to, or advancing, the  understanding of the religious opinion on the matter. Shaykh Zaini  argued that emigration was mandatory under certain historical  circumstances experienced by early companions, then it became advisory  following the conquest of Mecca and the establishment of the religion.

Diversity within Shia Islam 

Dr. Jones presented a paper on ‘Islam and Science’, which drew on  previous research on perceptions of evolution by the research team for  the project ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’, as well as new research being  conducted on views of Islam and science among Muslim religious leaders.  He spoke about the findings of a survey of British Muslims on science  and evolution, highlighting that British Muslims are marginally more  likely to identify with science than the wider British public but remain  both sceptical and uncertain about biological evolution. Muslims’  evolution scepticism varies significantly depending on how questions are  asked, while they are also considerably more likely to suggest that  they do not know how to respond.

This presentation looked at narratives dealing with the experiences  of female scholars within the Sunni Muslim community in the UK, with a focus on the South Asian community. The South Asian community is  responsible for setting up many of the traditional Islamic learning  institutions (darul ulums) in the UK for both male and female students.

Many  of these institutions will follow the same curriculum whereby students will study the same texts and subjects, yet female graduates often face greater challenges upon graduation. Often their education is questioned  and their opportunities to serve their communities are more limited.  This presentation highlighted some of those challenges through personal  narratives taken from various studies conducted in the UK. Finally, it called for greater community participation in creating a more accepting  space for female scholars and a more supportive community network so  that they are able to better serve their communities, and the community  is able to benefit from their knowledge and expertise.

Dr. Rajani explained the dynamics of the abovementioned Centre,  explaining how scholars from various denominations come together and  attempt to give unified responses to some of the questions and  challenges facing Muslims today. Dr. Rajani clarified the processes and  methods that the Centre employs to try and arrive at jointly agreed  opinions, which are then disseminated in the form of online statements.

Hitherto,  the Centre has produces 43 statements, ranging from jurisprudential  issues – like the permissibility of consuming stunned meat – to  theological matters – like the finality of the prophethood of Prophet  Muhammad (pbuh). The Centre’s work has shown what can be achieved when  Muslims work together despite the differences in their ideological and  even theological stances.

Providing an in-depth and extensive analysis of the concept of power as articulated by Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (1935–2010), this case study analyses the systemic conceptualisation of power and his argumentation of sacralising Islamised power. The volume also offers a quick overview of how the concept was understood and articulated by other Shi‛ite jurists such as Ayatollah Khomeini.

Examining Fadlallah’s oeuvre, in particular his seminal book Islam and the Logic of Power [ al-Islam wa-mantiq al-quwwa ], this book focuses on the narrative itself, which played a central role in the radical transformation that occurred in the Shi‛te concept of empowerment and its recognition as a necessity. The analysis of Fadlallah’s conceptualisation and argumentation illustrates the mechanism of sacralising righteous power as well as the means of gaining it. Fadlallah reinterpreted Shi‛sm as a project of empowerment to initiate and sustain an “impulse of power” amongst the Lebanese Shi‛tes in the most critical moment of modern Lebanese history.

Dr Zarepour demonstrated Fārābī’s interpretation of Aristotle’s work  on logical fallibilism. He showed how Fārābī’s views differs from  Aristotle on logical and theological fatalism. To reject these types of  fatalism, Fārābī argues that the truth values of future contingent  propositions are already distributed but this distribution is  indefinite. As a result, that a contingent proposition is now true does  not make it necessary in itself. Formalising Fārābī’s solutions to the  problems of logical and theological fatalism in the language of  contemporary modal logic, Dr Zarepour discussed its strength and  weakness. He also showed that although Fārābī defends these solutions,  there can be found passages in his commentary which signal that he is  not totally satisfied with them. These passages can be taken as a sign  for his implicit inclination towards a specific sort of open theism  which was later explicitly defended by some important figures of Arabic  philosophy.

Dr Amina Inloes presents "Female Scholarship and Authority in Islamic Scripture"

Dr Ali Reza Bhojani discusses "Theorising Diversity & Difference within Muslims Scholarly traditions"

Shaykh Umar Ramadhan presents "Theorising Diversity & Difference within Muslim Traditions"

Islam’s fourth caliph, Ali can be considered one of the most revered figures in Islamic history. His nearly universal portrayal in Muslim literature as a pious authority obscures centuries of contestation and the eventual rehabilitation of his character. In this book, Nebil Husayn examines the enduring legacy of the nawasib, early Muslims who hated Ali and his descendants. The nawasib participated in politics and discussions on religion at least until the ninth century. However, their virtual disappearance in Muslim societies has led many to ignore their existence and the subtle ways in which their views subsequently affected Islamic historiography and theology. By surveying medieval Muslim literature across multiple genres and traditions including the Sunni, Mutazili, and Ibadi, Husayn reconstructs the claims and arguments of the nawa¯sib and illuminates the methods that Sunni scholars employed to gradually rehabilitate the image of Ali from a villainous character to a righteous one. Nebil Husayn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami, where his research considers the development of Islamic theology, historiography, and debates on the caliphate. Husayn obtained his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.

Why are stories told about the Khārijites? The Islamic tradition portrays Khārijism as a heretical movement of militantly pious zealots, a notion largely reiterated by what little there is of modern scholarship on the Khārijites. Hannah-Lena Hagemann moves away from the usual studies of Khārijite history 'as it really was' and instead examines its narrative function in early Islamic historiography. From the Khārijites' origins at the Battle of Ṣiffīn in 657 CE until the death of the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwān in 705 CE, Hagemann's literary analysis provides a fresh perspective on Khārijite history and highlights the need for a serious reassessment of the historical phenomenon of Khārijism as it is currently understood in scholarship.

This book provides a detailed analysis of Islamic juristic writings on the topic of rape and argues that classical Islamic jurisprudence contained nuanced, substantially divergent doctrines of sexual violation as a punishable crime. The work centers on legal discourses of the first six centuries of Islam, the period during which these discourses reached their classical forms, and chronicles the juristic conflict over whether or not to provide monetary compensation to victims. Along with tracing the emergence and development of this conflict over time, Hina Azam explains evidentiary ramifications of each of the two competing positions, which are examined through debates between the Ḥanafī and Mālikī schools of law. This study examines several critical themes in Islamic law, such as the relationship between sexuality and property, the tension between divine rights and personal rights in sex crimes, and justifications of victim's rights afforded by the two competing doctrines.

This study of Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī’s (d. 631/1233) teachings on creation offers close analysis of all of his extant works of falsafa and kalām. Some of these were not known to previous scholars, yet they bear witness to key facets of the interaction between the historically inimical traditions of Hellenic philosophy and rational theology at this important intellectual moment. Al-Āmidī is seen to grapple with the encounter of two paradigms for the discussion of creation. On the one hand, Ibn Sīnā’s metaphysical concept of necessity of existence is the basis of his doctrine of the world’s pre-eternal emanation. On the other, for the mutakallimūn, the physical theory of atomism bolsters the view that God created the world from nothing. This study is of interest to scholars of Ibn Sīnā and Ash‘arism alike, as it advances our understanding of the ongoing tradition of rational theology in the Islamic world, long past Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s (d. 505/1111) famous attack on the philosophers.

In Visions of Sharīʿa: Contemporary Discussions in Shī ͑ī Legal Theory Bhojani, De Rooij and Bohlander present the first broad examination of ways in which legal theory ( uṣūl al-fiqh) within Twelver Shīʿī thought continues to be a forum for vibrant debates regarding the assumptions, epistemology and hermeneutics of Sharīʿa in contemporary Shīʿī thought. Bringing together authoritative voices and emerging scholars, from both ‘traditional’ seminaries and ‘Western’ academies, the distinct critical insider and emic accounts provided develop a novel avenue in Islamic legal studies. Contextualised through reference to the history of Shīʿī legal theory as well as contemporary juristic practice and socio-political considerations, the volume demonstrates how one of the most intellectually vibrant and developed discourses of Islamic thought continues to be a key forum for exploring visions of Sharīʿa.

What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.

Taylor, long one of our most insightful thinkers on such questions, offers a historical perspective. He examines the development in "Western Christendom" of those aspects of modernity which we call secular. What he describes is in fact not a single, continuous transformation, but a series of new departures, in which earlier forms of religious life have been dissolved or destabilized and new ones have been created.

As we see here, today's secular world is characterized not by an absence of religion - although in some societies religious belief and practice have markedly declined - but rather by the continuing multiplication of new options, religious, spiritual, and anti-religious, which individuals and groups seize on in order to make sense of their lives and give shape to their spiritual aspirations.

What this means for the world - including the new forms of collective religious life it encourages, with their tendency to a mass mobilization that breeds violence - is what Charles Taylor grapples with, in a book as timely as it is timeless.

New comparative perspectives on Shi'a minorities outside the Muslim worldKey features Provides comparative insights into Shi'a Muslim communities across the globe, set in Muslim minority contexts Makes an important contribution to understanding the global dynamics of contemporary Shi'a Islam Illustrates how transnational Shi'a networks operate in Muslim minority contexts Discusses the impact of events in the Middle East on Shi'a Muslim minorities across the world Case studies include an in-depth ethnographic study of the Shi'a community in Buenos Aires; insights into the unique challenges of Shi'a Muslims in Sri Lanka; the connections of Shi'a Muslims in Cambodia to Iran; and the limits of sectarian differences among Shi'a Muslims in Germany Global migration flows in the 20th century have seen the emergence of Muslim diaspora and minority communities in Europe, North America and other parts of the world. This book offers a set of new comparative perspectives on the experiences of Shi'a Muslim minorities outside the so-called 'Muslim heartland' (Middle East, North Africa, Central and South Asia). It looks at Shi'a minority communities in Europe, North and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia and discusses the particular challenges these communities face as 'a minority within a minority'.

The modern state of Lebanon, created after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, is home to eighteen officially recognised different religious communities (or sects). Crucially, political office and representation came to be formally shared along confessional lines, and the privileges of power are distributed accordingly. One such key prerogative is exclusivity when it comes to personal status laws: the family legal affairs of each community. In this book, Morgan Clarke offers an authoritative and dynamic account of how the sharia is invoked both with Lebanon's state legal system, as Muslim family law, and outside it, as a framework for an Islamic life and society. By bringing together an in-depth analysis of Lebanon's state-sponsored sharia courts with a look at the wider world of religious instruction, this book highlights the breadth of the sharia and the complexity of the contexts within which it is embedded.

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, different religious factions within the Muslim community laid claim to the Prophet's legacy. Drawing on research from Sunni and Shi>ite literature, Liyakat N. Takim explores how these various groups, including the caliphs, scholars, Sufi holy men, and the Shi>ite imams and their disciples, competed to be the Prophetic heirs. The book also illustrates how the tradition of the "heirs of the Prophet" was often a polemical tool used by its bearers to demand obedience and loyalty from the Muslim community by imposing an authoritative rendition of texts, beliefs, and religious practices. Those who did not obey were marginalized and demonized. While examining the competition for Muhammad's charismatic authority, Takim investigates the Shi>ite self-understanding of authority and argues that this was an important factor in the formation of a distinct Shi>ite leadership. The Heirs of the Prophet also provides a new understanding of textual authority in Islam by examining authority construction and the struggle for legitimacy evidenced in Islamic biographical dictionaries.

Joseph Massad’s Islam in Liberalism explores what Islam has become in today’s world, with full attention to the multiplication of its meanings and interpretations. He seeks to understand how anxieties about tyranny, intolerance, misogyny, and homophobia, seen in the politics of the Middle East, are projected onto Islam itself. Massad shows that through this projection Europe emerges as democratic and tolerant, feminist, and pro-LGBT rights—or, in short, Islam-free. Massad documents the Christian and liberal idea that we should missionize democracy, women’s rights, sexual rights, tolerance, equality, and even therapies to cure Muslims of their un-European, un-Christian, and illiberal ways. Along the way he sheds light on a variety of controversial topics, including the meanings of democracy—and the ideological assumption that Islam is not compatible with it while Christianity is—women in Islam, sexuality and sexual freedom, and the idea of Abrahamic religions valorizing an interfaith agenda. Islam in Liberalism is an unflinching critique of Western assumptions and of the liberalism that Europe and Euro-America blindly present as a type of salvation to an assumingly unenlightened Islam.

The history of the text of the Qur'an has been a longstanding subject of interest within the field of Islamic Studies, but the debate has so far been focused on the Sunni traditions about the codices of Caliphs Abu Bakr and 'Uthman b. 'Affan. Little to no attention has been given to the traditions on 'Ali b. Abi Talib's collection of the Qur'an. This book examines both Shi'i and Sunni traditions on the issue, aiming to date them back to the earliest possible date and, if possible, verify their authenticity. To achieve this, the traditions are examined using Harald Motzki's isnad-cum-matn method, which is recognised as an efficient tool in dating the early Islamic traditions and involves analysis of both matn (text) and isnad (chain of trans-mission) with an emphasis on finding a correlation between the two.

The New Testament in Muslim Eyes provides a close textual commentary on perhaps the earliest declaration of Paul’s apostleship and of his undying commitment to the risen Christ. It notes the subtleties of the Greek original against the backdrop of an exciting glimpse of Quranic Arabic parallels and differences. It asks: Does Paul qualify as a prophet of Allah (God)? The thoughts of Paul are assessed by examining his claims against the background of Islam’s rival views of Abraham and his legacy. The Arabic Quran framed and inspired the life of the Arab Apostle, Muhammad, who was sent, according to Islam, to all humanity, Jewish and Gentile alike. Pauline themes are set in dialectical tension with the claims of the Quran. Akhtar compares and contrasts the two rival faiths with regard to: the resources of human nature, the salvation of the sinner, and the status of the works of the law. Both Christians and Muslims concur on the need for God’s grace, an essential condition of success in the life of faith. The core Pauline Christian doctrine of justification by faith alone is scrutinised and assessed from a variety of non-Christian, especially Islamic, stances.

Whether Islam is compatible with human rights in general, and with the Declaration of Human Rights in particular, has been both a Muslim issue and a concern of the international community. Muslim rulers, Western analysts and policymakers, and Muslim extremists as well as conservative Muslims, have often agreed for diverse reasons that Islam and human rights cannot co-exist. In this book Aziz Sachedina argues for the essential compatibility of Islam and human rights. He offers a balanced and incisive critique of leading Western experts who ignore or marginalize the relationship of religion to human rights. At the same time, he re-examines the inherited tradition that forms the basis of conservative Muslim objections, arguing that it is culturally conditioned and therefore open to development and change. Finally, and most importantly, Sachedina delineates a fresh contemporary Muslim position that argues for a correspondence between Islam and secular concepts of human rights, grounded in sacred sources as well as Islamic history and thought.

What cannot be said about God, and how can we speak about God by negating what we say? Traveling across prominent negators, denialists, ineffectualists, paradoxographers, naysayers, ignorance-pretenders, unknowers, I-don't-knowers, and taciturns, Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam delves into the negative theological movements that flourished in the first seven centuries of Islam.

Aydogan Kars argues that there were multiple, and often competing, strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formations on the nature of God that circulated in medieval Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God.

This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. It encompasses many fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam rather than as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies.

A Thematic Thirty-Part Commentary on the Noble Qur an This original work by Shaykh Ahmed Saad presents a commentary (tafsir) of each of the 30 juz of the Quran. Each juz of the Quran is of equal length, facilitating the completion of the recitation of the Quran every month (over 30 days). With this work by Shaykh Ahmed Saad, regular reciters of the Quran can gain a better understanding of the themes explored in any given juz, and pace with their recitation. In English and Arabic.

Sayed Hossein gives a book review on his book Durūs fī ʿilm al-Rijal (the science of hadith narrators).

In Islamic Legal Orthodoxy, Stewart explores the process by which Shiite jurists participated in the mainstream of Islamic jurisprudence and were influenced by Sunni legal doctrines. He identifies three main reactions to Sunni legal definitions of othodoxy and the concept of consensus on which it was based. The Akhbaris rejected Sunni legal consensus and juristic authority for a scripture-based system; many Shiite outwardly accepted the ground rules of Sunni legal consensus and joined the Shafii school of jurisprudence; a third option was to adopt the concept of consensus to create a fifth, Shiite, legal system.
The development of the Sunni legal system effectively set the ground rules for the marginal sects negotiation of their identity with respect to Islamic legal orthodoxy. Accordingly, Shiite jurists developed a legal institution that is structurally similar to the four Sunni madhhabs and even today serves as means to position themselves in the Muslim world. Stewart points to an underlying tension in Shiite intellectual history between assimilationist and nativist impulses in the debate over consensus, dissmulation (taqiyyah) and the lives of certain Shiite scholars who lived and studies among Sunnis.

This book takes a fresh look at the foundations of modern Islam. Scholars often locate the origins of the modern Islamic world in European colonialism or Islamic reactions to European modernity. However, this study focuses on the rise of Islamic movements indigenous to the Middle East, which developed in direct response to the collapse and decentralization of the Islamic gunpowder empires. In other words, the book argues that the Usuli movement as well as Wahhabism and neo-Sufism emerged in reaction to the disintegration and political decentralization of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires.
The book specifically highlights the emergence of Usuli Shi‘ism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The long-term impact of the Usuli revival was that Shi‘i clerics gained unprecedented social, political, and economic power in Iran and southern Iraq. Usuli clerics claimed authority to issue binding legal judgments, which, they argue, must be observed by all Shi‘is. By the early nineteenth century, Usulism emerged as a popular, fiercely independent, transnational Islamic movement. The Usuli clerics have often operated at the heart of social and political developments in modern Iraq and Iran and today dominate the politics of the region.

The Akhbārī School dominated the intellectual landscape of Imāmī Shiʿism between the Seventeenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. Its principal doctrines involved a reliance on scripture (primarily the sayings or akhbār of the Shiʿite Imams) and a rejection of the rational exegetical techniques which had become orthodox doctrine in Imāmī theology and law. However, the Akhbārīs were not simple literalists, as they are at times portrayed in secondary literature. They developed a complex theory of exegesis in which texts could be interpreted, whilst at the same time remaining doggedly committed to the ability of the revelatory texts to provide answers to theological and legal questions arising within the Shīʿī community. This book is the first in-depth study of the intellectual development and historical influence of the Akhbārī School.

Although Muḥammad had no natural sons who reached the age of maturity, Islamic sources report that he adopted a man named Zayd shortly before receiving his first revelation. This "son of Muḥammad" was the Prophet's heir for the next fifteen or twenty years. He was the first adult male to become a Muslim and the only Muslim apart from Muḥammad whose name is mentioned in the Qur'an. Eventually, Muḥammad would repudiate Zayd as his son, abolish the institution of adoption, and send Zayd to certain death on a battlefield in southern Jordan.

Curiously, Zayd has remained a marginal figure in both Islamic and Western scholarship. David S. Powers now attempts to restore Zayd to his rightful position at the center of the narrative of the Prophet Muḥammad and the beginnings of Islam. To do so, he mines traces left behind in commentaries on the Qur'an, in biographical dictionaries, and in historical chronicles, reading these sources against analogues in the Hebrew Bible. Powers demonstrates that in the accounts preserved in these sources, Zayd's character is modeled on those of biblical figures such as Isaac, Ishmael, Joseph, and Uriah the Hittite. This modeling process was deployed by early Muslim storytellers to address two key issues, Powers contends: the bitter conflict over succession to Muḥammad and the key theological doctrine of the finality of prophecy. Both Zayd's death on a battlefield and Muḥammad's repudiation of his adopted son and heir were after-the-fact constructions driven by political and theological imperatives.

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. His body - along with a camera with five rolls of film, an SOS note, and a cryptic diary written in the back pages of a book about edible plants - was found six months later by a hunter.

Empirical research analysing the lived experiences of Muslims often shows a one-sided narrative about gender relations, intra and inter-faith relations, and societal relations. In seeking to reduce the impact of such discourse I speak from a secular position, and also with understanding of the Islamic seminary but with full awareness of the limitations of both epistemological approaches. Accusations are often brought against the reputed hegemony of such approaches by the ‘other’ side and this adversarial position creates an unfortunate and self-defeating binary. Antagonisms are created between social conservatism and social liberalism, each exaggerated by use of decontextualized argument.

This situation is exacerbated by current right wing populist debates around free speech: freedom of expression is often presented in another counterproductive binary as either a libertarian right or as an extreme risk (Scott-Baumann and Perfect 2021). In order to break the hegemony of this secular device, it is necessary to consult Islamic thinkers and ethical experts, such as Kamali and Rabb and El Fadl. Yet immediately we are faced with different approaches to free speech within modern Islamic thought.

Unrestricted freedom of thought and responsible freedom of expression are key factors in the process of intellectual and moral progression of humanity. These freedoms are intuitive and are attested to rationally. Any form of restriction to these freedoms inevitably results in tension since they stand in contradiction to the human existential condition of growth and self-realisation. Accordingly, the role of a successful religion is one of liberating humanity from factors restricting these freedoms and in addition to empower human beings to evaluate and critique established belief systems and status quo.

Islam challenged the existing norms and the belief systems of the time by appealing to human intuition and reason. This standard of critical examination was extended to its own teachings by verses that encouraged the initial community of Arabia to evaluate the content of the Quran. The appeal and success of Islam was squarely due to its being in tune with human intuition and reason. As such the religion Islam in this respect is subordinate to the existential facet of growth and therefore the debate of what level of freedoms Islam allows is a redundant debate.

The restrictions placed on the freedom of expression by the Sharia is no more than human intervention similar to the restriction applied by modern states in order to ensure state security and prevention of disorder among other things. Such restrictions are time bound and are open to revisions with the change of context; they are not immutable or eternal. Similarly, the lack of right to offend others in the process of critique is assured by human nobility primarily, and subsequently, echoed by Islam. In areas of freedom of thought and the level of freedom of expression religion merely reinforces what is already known intuitively and attested to rationally.

With this it is inconceivable that there should be an unquestionable sacred space within religion that restricts freedom of thought be it in the form of teachings contained within primary religious sources or their subsequent interpretations. More obviously there cannot be eternal law within Sharia that restricts the right of expression in the form of the laws of apostacy and blasphemy.

Freedom of intellectual expression has become a central topic in the modern era, being thoroughly examined within religious discourses and tackled by jurists under the heading ‘books of misguidance’ (kutub al-ḍalāl). An examination of the jurisprudential literature will lead us to the following observations:

1. The concept of misguidance is extremely ambiguous and was frequently utilised as a means of character assassination. Apart from a few examples, no one coined for this concept a clear and precise meaning through which it’s instances could be understood. Are books of blasphemy and other religions books of misguidance? What about books of certain denominations? Or books of mockery and poems against religion? Or books that oppose Truth? If so, which truth is intended? Is it all truths within religion or a specific part of a doctrine? Some jurists even consider books that are true to be books of misguidance if they lead to the misguidance of people, such as the books of mystics! More problematic than this is the lack of differentiation between the right of ijtihād and ingenuity in religious thought, and the concept of misguidance and innovation.

2. It becomes clear that the Qur’an does not speak directly about this issue. Rather it refers to generic concepts, such as the prohibition of misguiding people or the prohibition on helping others in sin. However, the jurists have attempted to apply these generic concepts on specific instances and as a result of this many errors and confusion have been made. What is quite shocking is that no primary textual evidence, with the exception of four traditions, three of them which are weak, can be found from the Prophetic traditions. Even these traditions that exist don’t support the idea of removing individual freedom. In addition, opposing evidences can be found within the hadith and historic literature that strengthen the notion that the state should not interfere in silencing different opinions.

3. Rational proofs have been the main type of evidence used by jurists. These were then employed contextually to help deal with deviant thought. There is no religious command found in the scripture that specifies a specific method of how to tackle falsehood. This gives us the space to come to a reasonable solution that does not result in taking away intellectual freedom.

A comprehensive reading on this subject concludes that whilst the law gives importance on protecting religious values it has not described for us specific measures that we can use in countering devious thought. This entails that we have been left free to employ measures that are rational and in accordance with the changes of time and place.

Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 1111) in his Fayṣal al-tafriqa bayna al-Islām wa al-zanadaqa, offers one way as to how one navigates intra-Muslim disagreements on doctrinal issues. The question is whether Ghazālī offers some insight into how we can discuss freedom of speech from within Islamic parameters. Would a Ghazālian reading create some space for how one can hold strong views that are antithetical to the views of other individuals but yet still be part of one faith community. If there is space for legitimate disagreement within a single faith community, what insights does Ghazālī offer for multi-religious and politically plural communities?

The idea of free speech is an essential element of cultures that aspire form of liberty and freedom in some form of liberal, socialist or any kind of democratic formation. Muslims find themselves in Western and in non-Western societies where this element of open and free conversation about difficult topics is a requirement of public discourse. Given the secular nature of liberalism and socialism, all topics including religious claims and beliefs are subject to public debate. Critique of religion or the challenge to religious pieties and symbols are part of such public discourse in democracies that foster free speech. The Muslim tradition (turāth) is embedded in a culture of obligation and duty rather than freedom. The idea of freedom is also different in multiple polities and is always subject to higher norms of duty and obligation. Freedom is not absolute but an aspirational goal, mediated by political and social realities. Often times, Muslim advocates make claims that the historical tradition allows for untrammeled freedom of expression and speech. This is not always accurate. There are certain boundaries and limits of expressing opinion historically such as the reverence for the Prophet of Islam, the sanctity of the Scripture, the sanctity of the imāms in the Shīʿī tradition, the honor of Companions for the Sunnīs, as well as for the founders of the law schools and other personages. Any free speech directed at some of these figures can generate charges of insult and blasphemy. Free speech in Muslim discourse is always trumped by some higher interests and principles. My paper will elucidate and discuss some of the issues drawing on the writings of Ghazālī.

Like the overwhelming majority of instances of freedoms and rights, freedom of expression is not a categorical right. It can be restricted by some qualifications including hate speech. Some Human Rights documents, including article 7 of the International Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Paragraph c of article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide(1948), article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) and article 20 of International Covenant on Civil and Political rights(1966), prohibit and/or necessitate criminalization of hate speech. Hate speech is not formally defined in the literature of Human Rights. However, it is understood as any kind of communication in speech, writing or behavior, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are; in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factors. (United Nations Strategy and Plan of action on Hate Speech). Some national legal systems are not open to limit freedom of speech by hate speech because it is potentially capable of jeopardizing freedom of speech.

Islamic teachings seem to be in line with the permissibility of excluding hate speech from freedom of expression. Beyond Islamic justification for the inherent value of freedom, Islam values freedom of expression due to its fundamental role in truth discovery. Hate speech in many cases does not help truth to be realized, recognized and expanded. Instead, it develops enmity and even atrocity in human relationships which in their turn result in hiding truth. Moreover, due to some recognized values in Islamic value system like equality, peace, promotion of common good through communication and education, tolerance and moderation I will argue that Islamic teachings not only welcome exclusion of hate speech from freedom of expression, but also necessitate it. As long as hate speech concerns religious issues, it is prohibited when it raises hatred between followers of any faith and religion. This means that a Muslim can expect respect for his/her religious opinions when he/she respects other religions and faiths. Commitment to this approach necessitates some religious teachings and public customs and ceremonies of different faiths including Shiite Muslims to be reread and revised. The article, however, insists that hate speech should be distinguished from scholarly critique and qualification of freedom of speech should be along with a high level of sensibility, precision and precaution. This means that every single qualification of freedom of speech is only allowed when it is quite necessary.

The concept of unadulterated free speech is regularly vilified within many Muslim circles in the UK. Free speech is often perceived as a clarion call of apologists for racists defending the propagation of racism. The concurrent unwillingness of free speech advocates to acknowledge and reflect on their failure to win the hearts and minds of many sections of minority communities, provides a useful basis for this perception, and is rarely scrutinised.

This paper seeks to highlight contradictions in the UK public space on issues related to British Muslims, by considering free speech considerations across a series of case studies:

1. The government’s Prevent policy, which has become a duty for specified public institutions.

2. The response to the definition of Islamophobia and the definition of anti-Semitism.

3. The advocacy of conservative practices.

4. Racism and lack of diversity within mainstream media.

This paper will argue that a consistent approach to free speech, supporting and strengthening the speech of minority communities, is necessary for a healthy democracy, and a pre-requisite for more challenging free speech arguments to gain traction.

This presentation will review recent calls within the UK for government-backed definitions of Islamophobia, while considering the unanticipated consequences of such proposals, as well as the convergence of the discussion around defining antisemitism with defining anti-Muslim racism. I focus on the definition of Islamophobia which is being proposed for adoption by government and a range of civil society organisations, and compare and contrast that definition with other ways of understanding anti-Muslim racism. To the extent that a definition of Islamophobia will fail to address the government’s role in propagating Islamophobia through ill-considered legislation that conflates Islamist discourse with hate speech, the proposal for a government-backed definition of Islamophobia should not be regarded favourably. We can also learn from the lessons of the negative effects of the government's adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Alongside opposing government attempts to define Islamophobia (and Islam), I argue that advocacy efforts should instead focus on disambiguating government counter-terrorism initiatives from the government management of controversies within Islam.

Although the United Nations ratified ‘the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ (UDHR) in 1948, but we do not have such a universal deceleration on ‘human duties’ yet. The UDHR and the 1967 ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ (ICCPR), which recognize freedom of expression, define its domine to “respect of the rights or reputations of others, and the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.”

Muslim countries have repeatedly tried to ban insults to Muslim beliefs by relying on this clause and have never succeeded; This is because the clause deals with violations of the rights of "individuals", and no rights are recognized for "religions" (or followers of religions). That is, insulting an "individual" can be a crime, but insulting the "religious beliefs" of individuals in these documents is not considered a crime in principle! In addition, there is no difference between scholarly critique of religion and non-scholarly or critique for the masses in these documents. In contrast, we should pay attention to three major points in the principle of ‘freedom of speech’ in Islam.

First, freedom of expression in Islam in both areas of individuals and religions does not include the freedom to ridicule, insult, and make a mockery of anyone especially Prophets, while critique of religion is allowed.

Second, in Islamic thought freedom of expression in the public sphere is different from freedom of expression for the specialized audiences in academic circles. There is absolutely no red line or any restrictions for scholarly critique of Islam or Shi’ism in academic circles, while for the mass audience, there are restrictions that will not shake the faith of people due to weak public information.

Third, a distinction must be made between the Qur'an, the practical tradition of the Prophet, and the practical tradition of Imam Ali, on the one hand, and hadiths attributed to the Prophet and the Imams, conventional Islamic sciences, and the lived experiences of Muslims throughout the history, on the other hand.

In the former type of sources, apostasy and blasphemy do not have any temporal punishments, while in the latter type, apostasy and blasphemy lead to the execution of the apostate or blasphemer, the annulment of his/her marriage, and liquidation of his/her property. While the first former of Islamic resources supports strongly freedom of expression and critique of religion, serious obstacles for realization of freedom of expression and critique of religion are not easily deniable in the latter type. The possibility or practicability of the first two points in the age of the new media, internet and social network needs critical elaboration. The third point requires a lot of deep scholarly clarifications confronting the traditional Islamic literature and heavy Western scholarship on Islam.

With gender being a central theme of the discussion, Dr. Yacoob began by positioning her presentation in the milieu of gender in Islamic law,  and particularly from the Hanafi School. The presentation explored the idea of intersectional identities to ask the question about how much of what is seen as gender-related law, is actually informed exclusively by gender as the identity marker. Dr. Yacoob argued that it is often other aspects of a female subject’s identity that cause certain laws to apply.  

These other identity markers may include the woman’s position in a  family unit, her freedom, her age and other social positions. In her closing arguments, Dr. Yacoob included the idea that viewing Islam and  Islamic law, through the lens of gender, was partly a colonial imposition. The presentation resulted in a vibrant question and answer  session among the virtual seminars attendees

During the second research of the academic term, Dr Haroon Bashir explored race in Islamicate societies and the claim that it was structured around racial hierarchies using blackness as a case study. He posed the question as to why certain stories of anti-blackness have been produced and reproduced so widely in western literature? 

Through the exploration of an under-studied genre of ‘Black  Excellence’ literature, he attempted to unmoor these narratives. Haroon presented the thesis that much of the literature exploring the subject is characterised by essentialist narratives about ‘Arab supremacy’ and exclusively considering slaves as black in order to reaffirm the colonial history of the West and their troubled relations with race. In contrast to this, he argued that such rigid notions of race cannot be projected onto Islamicate society, where race was a far more fluid concept, as there are examples of being Arab being associated with the language as opposed to ethnicity. Haroon concluded the presentation by arguing that whilst studying the relationship between different tribes is necessary for understanding race relations in Islamicate societies,  it is imperative to detach this study from the Eurocentric narrative.

Dr Awal Fuseini presented the new slaughter techniques used, like gas stunning for poultry and mechanical and electric stunning for larger animals and highlighted some of the problems they raise for Muslim scholars. He also explained the different methods for bleeding an animal and those that yield the greatest blood loss. 

Dr Awal concluded by emphasising the need for jurists to collaborate with mainstream researchers in order to get a better understanding of new slaughter  techniques before issuing informed fatwa and hoped to continue working with Al-Mahdi Institute on the topic.

Ayatullah Saanei, his work & impact on Islamic Law - Conference held at SICM (Mehfil Ali) where Dr Ali-reza Bhojani presented on the future of progressive thinking within the Hawza after the death of Ayatullah Saanei.

Dr. Fanaei spoke about the various approaches, among Shi’i circles,  to the event of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. The presentation opened with a critique of more traditional approaches to the event, which tend to focus on the undeniable tragic and calamitous aspects of it. Dr. Fanaei opened by suggesting that a more wholesome and beneficial appreciation would require an exploration of its positive ramifications of it.

The presentation’s main body sought to explain how various explanations for the event of Karbala, fall short in that they do not help in deriving universally applicable principles. In doing so, Dr. Fanaei’s talk problematised mythical, mystical, political and jurisprudential understandings behind the reasons of the event. Some of the mentioned endeavours to explain the event have been purported by prominent names, like Dr. Ali Shariati (political) and  Ayatollah Shaheed Motahheri (jurisprudential). All of them, however,  were either rebutted by the historical contexts or were insufficient explanations due to them not being universally imitable. In conclusion,  Dr. Fanaei suggested that the underlying reasons behind the event of  Karbala could only be explained using the moral lens; in that Imam  Hussein’s uprising was necessary to uphold the moral principles of justice and dignity.

Rabbi Jeff Berger presents the concept of Sin and Human Nature in Judaism.

Shaykh Ali Khaki presents the concept of Sin and Human Nature in Islam.

Prof. Esther D. Reed presents the concept of Sin and Human Nature in Christianity.

Shaykh Riaz gives a thorough analysis of the Quranic verses on the origin and purpose of creation. He emphasises that the objective of the verses was to remind people of the majesty of God as the universe is the manifestation of God, often described as the ‘face of God’. Shaykh Riaz enumerated verses alluding to the creation in conformity with the scientific knowledge of existence such as the occurrence of the big bang and the expansion of the universe, which he supported by hadith literature. He concluded with discussions on the environmental crisis, quoting scholars who consider it to be indicative of a spiritual crisis arising from the misconception that the cosmos is lifeless unconscious matter.    

Sister Isabel focused on the Catholic perspective with an analysis of Pope Francis’ letter, Laudato si that sets out the Pope’s care for creation using the theology of creation as a motivation for believers. It reflects a change in the theology in response to changes in society, as is the ongoing process within Catholicism. The initial understanding of Genesis was that nature was created for the ease of human beings, however, due to the original sin of Adam and Eve, humans were left on earth to suffer in their sinful state. This reading had far-reaching consequences in Christianity including implications for the treatment of women. The changes in Laudato si came about as a recognition that the chapters of Genesis contained truth but were written as myths. The changes also reflect our evolving knowledge of science and cosmology.    

Rabbi Michael began by explaining that the exchange of ideas on foundational issues amongst the three faith traditions is not a novel occurrence. Whilst in the past forums like the IRS which bring together intellectuals of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism for scholarly discussions did not necessarily exist, reading and replying to the scholarly works of other faiths was not uncommon. Thus, IRS continues a tradition of debating and learning from one another. His presentation comprised of two parts; firstly, analysing texts such as the Genesis which talk about creation, and secondly, discussing texts through which duty towards creation can be understood. Whilst there is a multitude of Jewish texts that address environmental concerns, Rabbi Michael picked out four key themes: stewardship, preservation of species and prohibition of waste, pollution, and the green belt.   

A scholarly discussion on The Status of Yazid's Leadership & Imam Hussain's Stance Against Him.

Shaykh Ladak outlined the Shia stance on Yazid and Imam al-Hussain’s rising, and that the Shia hold Yazid directly accountable for the killing of al-Hussain. He outlined the Shia theological stance towards Yazid’s status in the hereafter and justifications for why it is permitted to curse him. The practice of cursing, according to Shaykh Jafar, is a positive means of staying away from sins and should not be taken as something negative.

Dr Qadhi outlined the spectrum of Sunni opinions regarding Yazid’s Khilāfa & his personality, mentioning the mainstream views and the extreme positions held by Sunni Scholars. All Sunni scholars according to him condemn the killing of Imam al-Hussain, although some may not necessarily hold Yazid as being accountable for his death... (Video part 1 of 3).

The Khilafa of Imam Hassan and his abdication to Muawiya, interesting and informative Shia Sunni Panel Discussion.

The Khilafa of Imam Hassan and his abdication to Muawiya from the Sunni View presented by Shaykh Atabek Shukurov.

The Khilafa of Imam Hassan and his abdication to Muawiya from the Shia View presented by Dr. Seyfeddin Kara.

Understanding the stand of Imam Ali and those who opposed him at the battle of Siffin. Shia Sunni scholars discuss various points of view. The discussion prompted further questions around the topic of Khaṭaʾ Ijtihadī (mistakes in interpretation); a notion which would see the wrongs of the companions reduced to a mere error in their judgement, whilst them still being considered worthy of reward due to their effort in the issue. This naturally led to the discussion as to whether Muawiya could be considered a rebel (bāghi), something considered a grave sin by some Muslim jurists, to which the Sunni ulema  in the discussion agreed that he, and for that matter, anyone who revolted against Ali, would fall into the category of a rebel. The reverence of Muawiya amongst Sunnis was also discussed, to which some  Sunni scholars present made the claim that this is a modern influence of  Nasibis on the Sunni community.  Syed Fadlallah wrapped up the discussion quoting Quranic verses 2:134  and 12:111, which highlight the importance of taking lessons from such events in history as opposed to it merely being a point of difference. (Part 3 of 3 videos)

Understanding the stand of Imam Ali and those who opposed him at the battle of Siffin. Shia view presentation by Dr Sayyid Jaafar Fadlallah. Syed Fadlallah presented a summary of his detailed  Arabic paper on the topic. He broached the subject by looking at historical sources to deduce the motives held by Ali and Muawiya leading up to the battle. These motives are important in trying to figure out which side was in line with Islamic values. He also briefly outlined the approaches that influence one’s reading of this and for that matter any historical event. (Part 2 of 3 videos)

Understanding the stand of Imam Ali and those who opposed him at the battle of Siffin. Sunni view presentation by Syed  Naveed Shah. Syed Naveed’s presentation, which was a historical account of the events, outlined the events leading up to and including the battle of Siffin from Sunni sources. From his reading of these historical accounts, he concluded that Ali was appointed as caliph in a  rightful manner and that Muawiya’s uprising against him was unjustified. (Part 1 of 3 videos)

Shaykh Arif Abdulhussain, who after acknowledging that this was a sensitive and polarising event for the Muslims, went on to ask whether it was befitting for Lady Aisha to rise up and in the process oppose the Qur’anic commands[3], in addition to rising up against a legitimate caliph. During the discussion, further questions were also raised such as whether those who rose up were considered rebels (baghi) to which  Qari Zahiruddin outlined a Sunni stance that during the battle they were considered rebels, however after the battle they repented and were thus exonerated from being considered rebels. In addition to this, the question was raised as to why the fighters against the first two caliphs were considered abandoning the religion (murtad) whilst the fighters against Ali were let off so easily? Also mentioned during the discussion was how this political incident has led to theological implications, and how the Sunni may have to reconcile the notion of the companions being just & right (Adool) whilst them fighting each other?  It was concluded that the event did cause tensions in the community,  however, the actions of Ali ibn Abi Talib in dealing with Lady Aisha showed that he did so with utmost respect despite the far-reaching consequences of her actions. This is a learning point for us in emulating his character and learning from history.

CIMS Presentation on the Shia perspective by Prof. Liyakat Takim on the  Battle of Jamal. Professor Takim briefly recapped the historical narrative, outlined by Qari Zahiruddin, confirming that these details were largely agreed upon by both Shia and Sunni. He then went on to mention certain points raised by Shia scholars such as Lady Aisha’s attack on Basra, which resulted in many lives being lost, despite the killers of Uthman being in Medina and not in Basra. Furthermore, he mentioned the incident of the dogs barking at a place called Hawab, at which point  Lady Aisha wanted to turn back as she remembered the Prophet warning his wives of the barking dogs of Hawab. However, members from her army  came together and bore witness that the place they were at was not  Hawab, to which some Shia scholars point out that this was a mass false testimony if not the first one in Muslim history. The battle of Jamal was a dark time for the Muslim community and it is at this point in history according to Prof. Takim that a concretised notion of identity formed in the community where the label of either a follower of  Ali or a follower of Uthman came into existence. (Part 2 of 3)

CIMS Presentation on the Sunni perspective by Qari Zahirrudin Tahir at the  Battle of Jamal. Quoting early historical historians such as al-Tabari,  al-Baladhuri and others, Qari Zahiruddin outlined the events after the death of Uthman, the reluctance of Ali to take the office of the caliphate, and his subsequent taking of office due to insistence by the people. Despite initially giving allegiance, Talha and Zubair defected and ended up joining Lady Aisha to muster an army rallying in the name of avenging Uthman’s blood. After outlining the events leading up to the battle of Jamal, Qari went on to describe the specifics of the battle which included the retreat of Talha & Zubayr out of remorse, and their subsequent killings. The battle was eventually won by Ali, after which he sent off Lady Aisha back to Medina with dignity and respect.  Citing narrations in Sunni hadith books such as Bukhari, and referencing  Sunni Scholar’s views such as Shaykh Albani, Qari mentioned that Lady  Aisha was in error, however, she was remorseful and repented, and this is testified by her unwillingness to be buried next to the Prophet, in addition to her silence during the remainder of her life in respect to any opposition to Imam Ali. (Part 1 of 3)

CIMS Panel discussion on The Door of Fatima: The controversy over the violation of the House of Sayyeda Fatima (as) by companions, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (s).

CIMS Presentation on the Sunni perspective by Shaykh Umar Ramadhan on  The Door of Fatima: The controversy over the violation of the House of  Sayyeda Fatima (as) by companions, after the death of the Prophet  Muhammad (s). (Part 2 of 3)

CIMS presentation on Shia perspective by Shaykh Vinay Khetia on 'The  Door of Fatima: The controversy over the violation of the House of  Sayyeda Fatima (as) by companions, after the death of the Prophet  Muhammad (s)'. (Part 1 of 3)

Q&A and Shia Sunni panel discussion on the topic of the relationship between Lady Fatima al-Zahra and the Khulafa after the death of the Prophet in light of the dispute over Fadak. (Part 3 of 3)

Shia presentation by Shaykh Kumail Rajani on the relationship between Fatima al-Zahra and the Khulafa after the death of the Prophet in light of the dispute over Fadak. (Part 2 of 3)

Sunni presentation by Maulana Abdul Hamid Kusuri on the relationship between Lady Fatima al-Zahra and the Khulafa after the death of the  Prophet in light of the dispute over Fadak. (Part 1 of 3)

Early Islamic History, Saqifa and the Appointment of the First Caliph Abubakr, Shia Sunni panel discussion and Q&A.  (Part 3 of 3 videos)

Early Islamic History, Saqifa and the Appointment of the First Caliph Abubakr, Shia view presentation by Syed Hadi Rizvi.  (Part 2 of 3 videos)

Early Islamic History, Saqifa and the Appointment of the First Caliph Abubakr, Sunni view presentation by Mufti Abdul Majeed Nadeem. (Part 1 of 3 videos)

Amongst the points raised in the discussion was that companions not following the Prophet’s commands in providing him with paper could be taken as a failure in his mission, and thus should be dismissed as a  possibility. However, this was rejected as a weak argument as the disobedience of a people is not an indication of success or indeed a  failure of prophets or for that matter God. Of the more interesting points raised during the discussion was the acknowledgement by certain  Sunni scholars that the Prophet had indeed wanted Ali to be the successor, however since this was a communal matter, it was up to the community to decide ultimately i.e., the Prophet’s words were just advice and not binding.

Shaykh Mahmood using the Quran and hadith critiqued arguments used to justify the actions of the companions who denied the Prophet’s request in writing something down on his deathbed. He then went on to conclude,  evidenced by hadith, that the Prophet had indeed wanted to write a will and that the will was in regard to his successor being Ali. (part 3 of 4)

Was the Prophet denied a chance to record a last testament before his  death by his own companions? The issue of qirtas, refers to the incident at the end of the Prophet’s life when he asked his companions for a pen and paper to record something but was refused, which has been an ideological dividing line for the Shia and the Ahl al-Sunna. Shia scholars maintain that the Prophet wished to write down the successorship of Imam Ali whilst Sunni scholars refute this understanding. (2 of 4)

Shaykh Umar Ramadhan argued that although there are solitary narrations the Prophet wanted to record something, it was not related to succession. He reasoned that the issue of succession is so great that the Prophet would have insisted because it would have been his duty to convey the message. However, according to the narration when the Prophet asked for a pen and paper Umar ibn Khattab said that he was unwell and that the book of God is sufficient guidance. When his companions began arguing the Prophet said it was not appropriate for them to raise their voices and ordered them to leave. If he wanted to write something so fundamental to the wellbeing of the Muslim Ummah, he would have corrected Umar ibn Khattab as he had done on previous occasions and persisted. Thus, the Prophet wanted to convey something personal, and not something which had been revealed to him regarding the leadership after him. The final revelation of the verses of the Quran which occurred a few days prior to the incident stating, ‘We have not missed anything from the book’, supports this view and provide a justification as to why Umar ibn Khattab insisted that the book of God is enough. (1 of 4)

The succession of the Prophet and the event of Ghadeer, Shia Sunni Panel Discussion.

The succession of the Prophet and the event of Ghadeer, Shia View Shaykh Ayub Rashid.

The succession of the Prophet and the event of Ghadeer, Sunni View Shaykh Ayman Yacoub.

‘Tawassul (Intermediation) in the light of the Islamic Tenet of the Sole Authority of God’, Shia Sunni debate. (Part 3 of 3)

‘Tawassul (Intermediation) in the light of the Islamic Tenet of the Sole Authority of God’, Shia view presented by Shaykh Arif Abudlhussain (Part 2 of 3)

‘Tawassul (Intermediation) in the light of the Islamic Tenet of the Sole Authority of God’ Sunni view presented by Dr. Khuram Bashir. (Part 1 of 3)

Dr Mohammed Khalid concluded with the following statements; 

- Theologically, the Sunni and Shia schools of thought have a similar notion of tawhid. There may be differences in the terms used in  describing Tawhid, however, the differences do not make a difference to the essence of the oneness of God’ 

- The concepts of Tawassul and Sha’faa are not contradictory to the notion of tawhid. They are just a means of gaining the nearness of God. 

- It was also concluded that a further discussion on Tawassul and  Shaf’aa according to the Sunni and Shia perspectives is required, to allow for an in-depth discussion on these topics for the benefit of all scholars.

Shaykh Muhammad Reza Tajri presented from the Shia perspective and discussed the variety of interpretations of Tawhid.   

- He discussed the concept of Tawhid in its essence the Essence,  attributes and also the actions of God using popular sources such as the sermons of Imam Ali (as) from Nahjul Balagha. 

- He also explained the meaning of tawassul (a physical action) and shafa’a (a theological notion) and their permissibility and invalidity,  respective of the concept of Tawhid within the Shia school of thought. 

- It was concluded that these actions (tawassul and shafa’a) did not go against the notion of Tawhid.

It was concluded that regarding the fundamentals of faith, despite minor differences, there was an overwhelming overlap between the Shia and  Sunni regarding the fundamentals of the faith. (video part 3 of 3)

Shaykh Arif’s presentation saw him divide the fundamental beliefs into two parts; the primary (usūl awwaliyya) beliefs, subscribing to which one can be considered a Muslim, and the secondary beliefs (usūl thānawiyya), belief in which would consider one a Shia. 

The primary being belief in the oneness of God (tawḥīd), Prophethood  (nubuwwa) and the day of judgement (qiyāma) whilst the secondary being belief in the justice of God (ʿAdl) and in the Imams (Imāma). He also outlined the differences amongst the Imami scholars regarding these divisions.

At the core of Shaykh Abdul Hadi Al-Omri's presentation regarding the fundamental articles were the belief in one God (tawḥīd) and prophethood of Muhammad (SAW) (nubuwwa). 

This is rooted in a lengthy narration in which the Prophet is asked what islām and īmān are, to which he replies Islam is; 

a) belief in one God  

b) belief in the prophethood of Muhammad  

c) establishing prayers  

d) paying the zakat  

e) fasting in Ramadhan and  

f) carrying out the Hajj 

whilst Iman is;  

a) belief in Allah 

b) his angels  

c) his messengers  

d) books  

e) day of judgement 

f) predestination.  

Building on this as his framework and considering Islam and Iman as  being synonymous, he cited several verses to establish belief in all the above as being fundamental in being considered a Muslim.

Of the questions raised in the discussion was the narration found in  Shia hadith works “all the companions committed apostasy (irtadū) except three” to which Sayed Qazwini responded by rejecting this narration based on the lack of chain, in addition to it being logically impossible that only four companions out of the thousands remained on the faith.  It was also evident from the discussions that the Shia narrative is one that is over-critical to the Sahaba perhaps due to a reactionary outlook to the Sunni narrative. Some Shia scholars did however raise that,  although the ṣahāba need to be seen in terms of their human capacity,  there is a general lack of knowledge amongst the lay Shia about the various companions of the Prophet and their services to Islam. The notion of ʿadūl (trustworthiness) of the companions was also further discussed where it became evident that the term used in the presentation was in reference to the moral integrity of the companions whilst the technical term in this discussion is about the trustworthiness of the companions in narrating hadith. This led naturally to the topic of cursing the companions – to which the Shia and Sunni scholars present agreed that cursing and abusing of the companions is categorically wrong, and whilst critiquing the companions’ actions does not amount to cursing, it should only ever be done in a respectful manner.

Sayed Hossein Qazwini's main argument was that the ṣahāba hold a high status and are praised in the Quran, that praise is conditional upon their obedience to the Prophet. Furthermore, the existence of criticism of some ṣahāba in the Quran is further evidence that there is no basis to consider them free from scrutiny.

Shia Sunni scholar panel discussion, the Concept of Sahabah & Adalah Ahle Sunnah Perspective.

Maulana Abdul Hamid Kusuri presents, The Concept of Sahabah & Adalah Ahle Sunnah Perspective

Of the various points raised, was the implication of the Shia belief in ismah is the raising the Imam’s ismah above that of the Prophet. This is because if the Prophet were to make a mistake he would be guided by revelation, whereas the Imam would be guided without revelation, elevating the imams status above the Prophet. The scholars present echoed the Shia belief that the final Prophet is of the highest standard, in both the worship and in ismah.

Professor Mohammad Ghari Seyed Fatemi outlined the mainstream Shia belief of ismah according to classical theologians as being the Prophet & Imams being protected from mistakes, sins, or anything that would make them be worthy of blame.  Amongst the different opinions amongst Shia theologians, Sayed pointed that a minority believe the Prophet (and by priority the Imams) having the possibility of forgetting. He then went on to highlight the arguments used by the Shia theologians; that if the Imam is not infallible it would result in infinite regress.  This is because if the Imam is not infallible the follower would have to find someone else who doesn’t make mistakes in religious affairs to be a point of emulation. This would continue until infinity or it would need to stop somewhere – and for the Shia it is the Imam who is the perfect guide and free from mistakes and sin (at the very least in terms of religious affairs). The Sayed also went on to briefly explain his own understanding of the scope of ismah.

Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad’s main argument for the necessity of an Imam was premised primarily on a mystical reading of Shia Islam. This view holds that there is a need for a divine connection between God and Man which is fulfilled by the perfect man (al-insan al-kamil) which in this case is the Imam.  Mohaghegh’s detailed discussion revolved around the Qur’anic verse 2.30 “When your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed I am going to set a viceroy (khalifa) on the earth”. The verse uses the term ‘Ja’il’ translated as ‘going to set’, however, the Arabic verb is in its continuous present tense indicative of an everlasting act i.e., God will always set up an Imam.   

Furthermore, the verse continuing from it evidences the superiority of this viceroy based on knowledge and not shedding bled, something characteristic of the perfect man or Imam in this case. Furthermore, verse 2:124 where Prophet Ibrahim is told ‘I am making you the Imam of mankind’ alludes to a dual responsibility of Prophets – one of conveying the message (risala) and one of Imama. For the Shia whilst the message is completed with the final Prophet, there still is a link between the Divine and creation via means of the Imam.

From amongst the discussions, a number of issues emerged that offer genuine ground for unity despite the differences between the two positions of Ahl al-Sunnah and al-Shia. 

– Despite his differences of opinion, Imam Ali ultimately accepted the situation as it unfolded after the passing of the Prophet, offering his cooperation, support and help to the Caliphs. 

– This offer of Imam Ali was for the broader sake of religion and the general interests of the Ummah. Imam Ali’s perseverance for the sake of unity was identified as arguably one of his greatest virtues. The need to adopt this spirit in the modern era was agreed upon by all. 

– Imam Ali is accepted as imam and Khalifah al-Rashid by Ahl al-Sunnah,  offering a further basis for unity and harmony despite the diversity within the Ummah. (Part 3 of 3)

Shaykh Mohammad Sajjad presents the Ahl al-Sunnah view that the Prophet never appointed anyone explicitly as his successor and left the matter to the community, and the best among them should be appointed as the leader of the Ummah. It was acknowledged that Sunni historical accounts of Saqifa have been understood in ways that can challenge this mainstream position of Ahl-al  Sunnah. Shia scholars of thought agreed that the appointment at Saqifa was not an election nor was it democratic; some members of the Ahl al-Sunnah also accepted this.  (Part 2 of 3)

Shaykh Kumail Rajani presents the stance of the Shia school of thought,  Imam Ali was appointed as the successor by the Prophet to lead the Ummah after him. The conventional approach of Shi’a scholars to justify this position is to argue that numerous texts from the Quran and Sunnah,  either directly or indirectly, indicate Imam Ali’s successorship. This evidence is found extensively in Sunni sources, however, it was acknowledged that as individual evidence the meaning and implication of each of these texts has been challenged. Accordingly, a non-conventional  Shi’a approach was introduced that argued for a holistic approach to the evidence. This approach argues that reading all the relevant texts alongside agreed historical information, cumulatively, identifies that  Imam Ali was intended as the successor to the Prophet.  (Part 1 of 3)

‘Who are the Ahlul Bayt?’ Shia Sunni Panel Discussion Part 2 of 2. Some of the points of discussion from the presentation and Q&A were; ✔️According to the madhhab of Ahl al-sunnah, Ahl al-Bayt is a great institution and source of guidance as expounded by the Quran and sunnah of the Holy Prophet. 

✔️The wives of the Holy Prophet are also part of the institution of Ahl al-Bayt being as the direct misdaq of the address of the Quran in sura al-Ahzab in the context as has been dealt with. 

✔️The Holy Prophet also declared 4 people known as Ahl al-kisa as the members of Ahl al-Bayt in his numerous ahadith on important occasions. ✔️According to some ahadith prohibiting sadaqah, some other people of  Banu Hashim such as Al-Abbas, Al Jafar, Al Aqil, Al Muttalib are also made the part of Ahl al-Bayt, but this view is not grounded within Ahl al-Sunnah. 

✔️According to Ahl al-Sunnah, the members of Ahl al-Bayt are highly  honoured but they are not Masum. (Part 4 of 4)

‘Who are the Ahlul Bayt?’ Shia Sunni Panel Discussion Part 1 of 2. 

Some of the points of discussion from the presentation and Q&A were; 

✔️The wives of the prophet are considered to be part of the ‘Ahlul Bayt’  in a more general meaning of the term, whereas the more specific meaning of the term is limited to the five, and this is backed by the different narrations e.g. the event of Mubahila. 

✔️ Both Shia and Sunni accept the Ahlul Bayt as role models and sources  of guidance. 

✔️ According to the Shia school of thought, insulting and use of derogatory language about the wives of the Prophet is strongly prohibited and is against the teachings of the Imams e.g. Imam Ali (a.s)  who respected and maintained the honour of the wife of the Prophet even after she stood up against him in the battle of Jamal. 

✔️The Shia’s unanimously agree that exaggerating (ghulluw) of the status of the Imams is unlawful, and the Imams are below the Prophet in  station.

‘Who are the Ahlul Bayt?’ The Sunni view was presented by Mufti Mohammad Farooq Alvi (A grand mufti and imam and khatib of the jami masjid Spark brook Birmingham) who presented his research in the stance of Ahl al-Sunnah pertaining to the  Institution of Ahl al-Bayt. 

‘Who are the Ahlul Bayt?’ Some of the Shia points of the discussion presented by Shaykh Mohammed  Abu Ja’far. 

- The wives of the prophet are considered to be part of the ‘Ahlul Bayt’  in a more general meaning of the term, whereas the more specific meaning of the term is limited to the five, and this is backed by the different narrations e.g. the event of Mubahila.  

- Both Shia and Sunni accept the Ahlul Bayt as role models and sources of guidance.  

Shia and Sunni discussion about the concept of Sunnah from the two various perspectives. 

Shaykh Mohammad Bahmanpour presents "The concept of  Sunnah in the light of Shia view". Shaykh Bahmanpour provides a definition of the Sunnah of Prophet  Muhammad (s) as his words, his practice, and his tacit approval of acts of others.  There is a difference between social norms and etiquettes that the  Prophet followed as the cultural norms to that era and the Sunnah that he laid out for his community forever.  

Then the Shaykh discussed the path to the Sunnah of the Prophet (s); 

1. The companions 

2. The Imam of Ahlul Bayt (as) The Shia accept both sources as valid and reliable, however, the path to the companions can be unreliable. Then there is the question of who counts as a companion of Prophet  Muhammad (s)? The Shaykh discusses the reasons why the Shia do not reply on the hadith books compiled in the second and third century attributing traditions to the companions for several reasons.  The Shaykh then discussed the Shia path to the Sunnah and its various aspects.

The Sunni perspective presented by Maulana Abdul Hamid Kusuri. (Part 1 of 3 videos) “The Sunnah of the Prophet is the second main source of guidance after the holy Qur'an for the Ahle-Sunnah. Following the Sunnah involves following the Qawl (sayings), fi'il  (actions) and taqreer (approval) of the acts of others in hadith  terminology."

The discussion ended with an interactive Q&A session allowing all scholars and attendees present to take part and iron out any issues or concerns they may have had.  

In conclusion, the scholars all accepted and agreed on the following statements; 

– Taqiyyah and Ikrah are synonymous terms from the same origin and are denoted by the Quran on an equal basis. 

– Taqiyyah is not a new invention in Shi’ism and its terminology is derived from the holy Qur’an making it justifiable in Islam. 

– Taqiyyah can only be practised in genuine life or death circumstances similar to Idtirar and anything relating to worldly benefits is strictly forbidden and deceptive. 

– The ulama of both schools of thought have to educate their communities about the true concept and application of Taqiyyah to dissipate the misconceptions around the issue. (Part 3 or 3)

Shaykh Abdul Hadi al-Omri presented the Quranic concept of Idtirar and  Ikrah (extraneous circumstances) based on the teachings of the Sunni school of thought. He explored the state of idtirar (helplessness) and its applications and conditions concerning human life. And, ended by also admitting of the misuse of this Quranic principle by the people of various Hiyal (tricks) for the sake of their worldly desires. (Part 2 or  3)

In his presentation, Shaykh Ayub Rashid examined the concept of Taqiyyah from the perspective of the Shi’i school of thought by using the Holy  Qur’an, the Prophet’s sunnah, and hadith to illustrate to shed light on the topic. He explained that taqiyyah was not a new invention, rather it dates back to the time of the Holy Prophet and has a direct link with specific verses of the Holy Qur’an i.e. Sura al Imran (3: 28) and Sura al-Nahl (16:106); where a believer is permitted to conceal his real faith and utter something which contradicts his faith for the sake of his own life or the people around him. He explained that Taqiyyah was used as the shield from the severe persecution of Shias at the hands of the Umayyad and Abbasid rulers. He also acknowledged that the notion of  Taqiyyah has been misused by the people inclined to their vested interests which have caused a lot of misunderstandings but have no concern with the proper teachings of the Shia Imamiyah school of thought. (Video Part 1 of 3)

Finally, the Shia Sunni panel discussion about holy Quran concluded with an interactive Q&A session allowing the audience to input their knowledge and ask the scholars  their questions.

Quran: In the Light of Sunni and Shia Perspectives Shia presentation by AMI’s Shaykh Arif Abdulhussain elaborated on the divine credibility of the Quran; which has maintained its authenticity since its revelation onto the holy Prophet. He also shed light on the narrations regarding the completion and compilation of the Holy Quran to  clear any related misunderstandings.

The first presentation by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed validated the authenticity of the revelation of the Quran and refuted the allegations and misconceptions  regarding the revelation and compilation of the Quran emanating from certain traditions.