News story -- IIS Research Associate Dr Toby Mayer presented a paper at a workshop at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA entitled Greco-Arabic Rationalism in Islamic Traditionalism. The workshop comprises an on-going series of seminars which are expected to run for a few years. The series is dedicated to tracing the reception of philosophy into Islamic culture. Dr Toby Mayer ...
News story -- Dr. Yahia Baiza of IIS' Central Asian Studies Unit presented a paper entitled, Madrasa Education in Afghanistan: A Choice between Reform and Obliteration at a conference on Reform in Islamic Education at Cambridge University. Dr. Baiza's paper included an analysis of the rise and decline of Muslim scholarship and education, exploring the plight and reform of madrasa education in ...
News story -- Thirty IISalumni from across Asia, Europe and North America came together in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2011 to discuss the theme Contested Landscape: Shari'a Today. The Academic Seminar provided an opportunity for the alumni to engage with scholars specialising in the field and discuss shari'a and its relevance to ethical, intellectual and social questions in contemporary contexts. Mr Shiraz ...
News story -- The Asian Chapter Groupof the IIS Alumni Association held its three-day Annual Meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from 18- 21September 2011. The meeting provided an opportunity for alumni from across the region to discuss the activities of the Alumni Association and learn about the traditions of the Ismaili community in Central Asia. The meeting began with opening remarks from Shiraz ...
News story -- Dr Alessandro Cancian, Research Associate in the Institute's Qur'anic Studies Unit, attended the 7th European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 7) held in Cracow, Poland. In his presentation, Dr Cancian introduced the main exegetical work of Sultan Ali-Shah Gunabadi (d. 1909 CE) from Bidukht in Khurasan, entitled Tafsir bayan al-sa'ada fi maqamat al-'ibada. Highlighting its hermeneutical principles, structure and ...
News story -- Dr Nuha Al-Sha'ar, from the Qur'anic Studies Unit at the IIS, organised a Pre-Conference Workshop entitled Cultural Responses to the Qur'an in association with the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Qur'an Group. The workshop explored the reading and interpretation of the Qur'an in the wider social and cultural context. The papers presented looked at the ways in which concepts, ...
News story -- Alumni from across North America gathered in Montreal, Canada, for their annual Chapter Group Meeting at the end of June 2011. The meeting focussed on the theme of Interfaith Dialogue: Challenges, Skills and Strategies, and featured sessions on the concepts and models of interfaith dialogue as well as the ethical considerations involved.The meeting included presentations by members of the ...
News story -- The Institute sponsored a panel on 'The Bible and the Qur'an in Ismaili Sources' at the International Meeting of the Society for Biblical Literature, which took place at King's College, London. Speakers at the event included Dr Paul E. Walker, Dr David Hollenberg, Dr Daniel De Smet and Dr Jan Van Reeth. The panel was organised by Dr Michael ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication ofOn Magic I: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 52 a which is part of the bilingual (Arabic and English) Epistles of the Brethren of Purity series. Epistle 52, 'On Magic, Incantations, and the Evil Eye', is the last in the corpus and, as such, represents the culmination ...
News story -- Drs Yahia Baizaand Najam Abbas of the Institute's Central Asian Studies Unit presented papers at the 12th biennial conference of the European Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) entitled, Central Asia: A Maturing Field, at the University of Cambridge. Dr Baiza's paper, International Aid and Education in Afghanistan, analysed the role and influence of international aid in the field ...
News story -- Several IIS scholars took part in the third World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), held in Barcelona from 19 to 24 July, 2010. This year's Congress was hosted by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. IIS publications were also on display at the book fair accompanying the conference. A number of IIS scholars contributed papers to the panel organised ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies sponsored a workshop entitled Approaches to the Qur'an in sub-Saharan Africa which took place in Toronto, Canada in May. The workshop forms part of the Qur'anic Studies Unit's project on Regional Approaches to the Qur'an and was the result of a collaboration with the Textile Museum of Canada and York University, Canada. Organised by ...
News story -- Dr Jamal has a long-standing relationship with the IIS as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Graduate Studies and through her active involvement in the development of the IIS' Secondary Curriculum. She brings to her new role a strong academic background and her extensive experience with institutions of the Ismaili Community in Europe and North America. Dr Jamal ...
News story -- Dr Eric Ormsby, Deputy Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications, and Professor Wilferd Madelung, leading Islamic scholar and Senior Research Fellow at the IIS, were invited to speak at an international interdisciplinary conference entitled Islam and Rationality: The impact of al-Ghazaliat Ohio State University, USA. The conference came about in recognition of Al-Ghazali's influence on Islamic, ...
News story -- The IIS, in conjunction with the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (IOM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), organised an international conference in Saint Petersburg to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Wladimir Alekseevich Ivanow, the pioneer of modern Ismaili Studies. The conference 'Ismaili Traditions and Spirituality of the People of Pamirs in the Works of Russian Scholars' brought ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the award of its Dissertation Writing Scholarship to Shatha Almutawa who is studying at the University of Chicago Divinity School, USA. Shatha Almutawa's dissertation, The Use of Narrative in Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa': Imagination at the Intersections of Religion, Philosophy and Science, focuses on an aspect of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity ...
News story -- The IIS launched one of its new publications, Arabic, Persian and Gujarati Manuscripts: The Hamdani Collection,at the Ismaili Centre in London. The publication is a catalogue of rare and unique manuscripts generously donated by Professor Abbas Hamdani to the Library of the IIS. These manuscripts were compiled by several generations of Indian religious scholars from the Hamdani family, and ...
News story -- Mr Vassanji was born in Nairobi, Kenya and lived in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. He later moved to America where he studied Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then at the University of Pennsylvania, where he gained a PhD. Moving to Canada in 1978, he continued his career in physics until his first novel, The Gunny Sack, was published ...
News story -- A Companion to the Muslim World is an endeavour by distinguished scholars to narrow the gap of knowledge between the West and Islam. The pluralism of Muslim societies, the diversity of Qur'anic interpretations, the chronological and geographical extent of Muslim history and culture, as well as the ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of its peoples appear to be unfamiliar ...
News story -- Dr Yahia Baiza of IIS' Central Asian Studies Unit presented a paper entitled, Religion, State and Politics: An Analysis of Religion's Place in Modern Afghanistan, at a conference on Religious Difference and Conflict, at Stranmillis University College of Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Conference, held from 5-7 September, was organised by the Stranmillis University College and the Department ...
News story -- Published by Azimuth Editions in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies and the University of Washington Press, the book was originally conceived as accompanying an educational film in both English and Arabic called Living with the Past: Historic Cairo, which now comes as a DVD with the book. This interdisciplinary volume's chapters reflect the different interests of the ...
News story -- The exhibition launch ceremony and press preview took place on 21 January 2010; Dr El-Bizri attended the event. The preview included presentations by Professor Chris Rapley, Director of the Science Museum, and Professor Salim T. S. Al-Hassani, Chair of the '1001 Inventions' initiative and President of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC). The launch ceremony was covered ...
News story -- The IIS organised a panel presentation at the 45th Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) conference held in Washington DC, USA. The panel, entitled Fatimid Studies, continued on from the previous year's panel, Approaches to Governance in the Fatimid Period, and reflected the Institute's ongoing work in the fields of Ismaili and broader Shi'i Studies. The panel was chaired by ...
Publication: On Music - An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 5Editor & Translator: Professor Owen Wright Questions addressed in the interview:1. How does the epistle 'On Music' fit into the overall framework of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa'? (0:10)2. What were the particular linguistic challenges associated with the manuscripts you worked with? (3:00)3. Do the musical concepts and technical language ...
News story -- In Cairo, the students were accompanied by Dr Fahmida Suleman, Curator, Department of the Middle East at the British Museum. Dr Suleman was previously a Research Associate in the Department of Academic Research and Publications and Administrative Coordinator of the Quranic Studies Unit at the IIS. Dr Suleman provided academic background to students' explorations of historical Cairo. Shellina Karmali, ...
News story -- Dr Mastibekov is a graduate of the Institute's Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities, who subsequently worked as a Research Assistant in the CAS project before being awarded an IIS Doctoral Scholarship to pursue his PhD. He worked under the supervision of the well known political scientist Dr Shirin Akiner. In his introductory remarks Hakim Elnazarov, CAS Coordinator, ...
News story -- Dr Le Gall's project, Sufism in History: Mysticism, Piety, and Saintly Power in the Lives of Muslim Societies is a broad comparative study of the history of Sufism and its interactions with Muslim societies over a wide chronological and geographic span--from early Islam to the present, and from the Middle East to the Balkans, Indonesia, parts of Africa, and ...
Publication: Fortresses of the Intellect: Ismaili and other Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad DaftaryEditor: Dr Omar Ali-de-UnzagaQuestions addressed in the interview:1. How did the idea for a book in honour of Dr Farhad Daftary come about? (00:20) 2. How would you describe the most salient contributions of Dr Daftary to Ismaili and broader Shi'i studies? (1:03) 3. What themes are addressed ...
Publication:A Companion to Muslim Ethics Editor:Dr Amyn B Sajoo Questions addressed in the interview:1. What was the rationale behind the compilation of this Companion? (00:17)2. What are the key points you would expect readers to take away? (01:30)3. How in your view have Muslims approached the perceived 'tension between the truth of tradition and the claims of reason'? (2:56)4. A Companion to ...
News story -- The Qur'anic Studies Unit has held the third and fourth lectures in the series: "The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Tafsir". This series of lectures, organised by Dr Stephen Burge, aims to explore the relationships between Qur'anic tafsir (exegesis) and lexicology, which is the study of the meanings of words and their semantic relations. The third lecture was ...
News story -- Dr Nuha al-Shaar, a Research Associate in the Institute's Qur'anic Studies Unit, presented a paper at the 25th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), held at the Università di Napoli "l'Orientale" in Naples from 8-12 September, 2010. Her study focused on the development of ethical discourse, especially the concept of birr (virtue), in selected second ...
News story -- Dr Najam Abbas, of the Central Asian Studies Unit at the IIS, presented a paper at an interdisciplinary conference, entitled Travel in the Nineteenth Century: Narratives, Histories and Collections, organised by the University of Lincoln, UK. Scholars from across Europe, North America and Africa were in attendance. Dr Abbas' paper, entitled Analysing Accounts of British Explorers Visiting North Western ...
News story -- In his presentation, delivered in May 2010, Dr Cancian explained that hermeneutics play a crucial role in defining what a religion is and how it should be professed and practiced, which is demonstrated by the fact that virtually every religion has developed its own vast and articulate exegetical tradition. With regard to the relationship between authority and exegesis in ...
News story -- The Institute's Qur'anic Studies unit held the last four lectures of the series: 'The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Tafsir,' during April and May 2011. The series of lectures, organised by Dr Stephen Burge, focussed on the relationship between Qur'anic tafsir (exegesis), lexicology (the study of the meanings of words and their semantic relations) and the ways in ...
News story -- The panel was organised by Dr Teresa Bernheimer of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), who, until recently, was a Visiting Research Fellow at the IIS. Professor Roy Mottahedeh of Harvard University chaired the panel. The four papers presented at the panel looked at various aspects of the formulations of authority in early Shi'i Islam. The first ...
News story -- Senior Research Fellow at the IIS, Professor Wilferd Madelung presented a paper at an interdisciplinary workshop on the traditions of science and learning in the Ismaili tradition entitled 'Science in Context: The Dustur al-Munajjimin (Statute of the Astronomers) and its world'. The workshop was organised by Mohammad Karimi Zanjani Asl, Professor Eva Orthmann and Petra G. Schmidl at the ...
News story -- As the STEP International Liaison Officer, Mr Mithani will liaise between the IIS and the STEP Academic Directors based in five countries and with the ITREBs engaged in the various phases of STEP Expansion. His responsibilities will include setting up structures and processes of communication between the IIS and the STEP Academic Directors for the effective deployment of STEP ...
News story -- Forty STEP students from Canada, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and the USA graduated at that ceremony. The students embarked on their collaborative studies at IoE and the IIS in September 2007. Each student graduated with a double award: MA in Education (Muslim Societies and Civilisations) and MTeach (Masters of Teaching). Commendation is due to the following students who received a ...
News story -- The 2010 IIS Alumni Academic Seminar was held at the Ismaili Centre, Dubai, UAE from 4-6 December, 2010. Thirty-five alumni from Asia, Europe and North America, gathered to debate and discuss the theme of Education and Faith Communities: Issues and Responses. Sessions ranged from the philosophic to the practical, focusing on how religious education is understood, and the role ...
