News story -- The Library's collection of some 1500 manuscripts, of which the collection comprises 226, consists of manuscripts primarily in Arabic, Persian, Gujarati and the Khojki script. The tasks of collating, identifying, preserving and microfiching the manuscripts that form this collection have been undertaken over the past several years. This illustrated catalogue, a result of these endeavours, includes details of the ...
News story -- "In terms of his knowledge of the sources and the meticulousness with which he handles the details, [Wilferd] Madelung's scholarship in Islamic studies is unrivalled in modern times ... It is no exaggeration to state that rarely has any contemporary Islamicist made as many original contributions as Madelung to such a diversity of areas within the field of Islamic ...
News story -- Attended by more than 250 scholars, students and artists, the inaugural conference of the Qur'anic Studies Unit of The Institute of Ismaili Studies is the second in a series of events inaugurating the 25th Anniversary of the founding of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, following the Nasir Khusraw Millenium Conference held earlier this year in Tajikistan. Opening Speech and ...
News story -- Film can have the power to inform, explore, entertain and oftentimes critique a society's values. The influence and visual currency of the cinematic form empowers it as a contemporary force in the presentation of ideas. Addressed by filmmakers from diverse backgrounds, the films come from a wide range of countries and offer different perspectives on the Muslim world, exhibiting ...
News story -- Lecturers from Duke, Emory and Harvard universities as well as faculty from the IIS facilitated day and evening sessions over the course of the interdisciplinary Programme. Gordon Newby, Chair of the Institute for Comparative and International Studies, Emory University, welcomed the participants and gave the first lecture entitled "Islamic Studies in the West". The programme itself was organised around ...
News story -- In his message to the Congress, His Highness expressed his view that "this gathering will go a long way towards establishing a clear vision and direction for Oriental Studies, such that these may contribute even more meaningfully to the dialogues that recent global developments have inspired." He also expressed his happiness at the participation of the Institute's scholars at ...
News story -- Dr Shah-Kazemi delivered lectures on 'The Qur'anic Concept of Universality' at the Iqbal Academy, Lahore, the Institute of Policy Research, Kuala Lampur, and in Amman at the Aal al-Bayt Foundation. In his paper, he employed esoteric interpretations of the Qur'an to demonstrate Islam's position as an inclusive religion that reaffirmed the revelations that form the basis of other monotheistic ...
News story -- Besides poetic translations of parts or (in many cases) the whole of 46 Ginans attributed to various authors (Pirs or Saiyads) the work includes an introduction, interpretative essay and detailed notes to the various hymns. Dr Aziz Esmail is particularly concerned with the poetic qualities of the compositions, both as a means to their literary appreciation and as a ...
News story -- Related pages on the IIS website: The gallery of Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' 16th century manuscript of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' The Classification of the Sciences According to the Ikhwan al-Safa' Consisting of 52 epistles (rasa'il) on a wide array of subjects, ranging from cosmology and the physical sciences to ethics, aesthetics, revelation and metaphysics, the Rasa'il occupy a unique ...
News story -- The June 21st conference, attended by parliamentarians, diplomats, academics, members of the armed forces, business people and representatives from a spectrum of faith communities, was addressed by a group of international speakers including Karen Armstong, Ali Asani, Nazim Baksh, Daood Hamdani, Zainab Istrabandi, Riffat Hassan, Mishal Husain and Lorna Wright. Speaking in Room 200 of the West Block of ...
News story -- The book combines an introduction to the Shi'i dynasty with a broad overview of its history from the time when Abu 'Abdallah al-Shi'i began his mission in North Africa, leading to the foundation of the Fatimid state in 909 CE, until the fall of the last caliph in 1171. Its major emphasis, however, is a systematic presentation of the ...
News story -- Through this collection of 8 essays, the work proposes new strategies and options in the rethinking of Muslim tradition, seen above all as a living tradition, and opens the way towards a unique view of the history of thought systems in the Mediterranean world. Applying contemporary theories from disciplines such as social anthropology and semiotics to issues such as ...
News story -- Nineteen students from seven countries, including one Fulbright scholar, were accepted into the Institute's Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH), which began on September 30, 2002. The students selected from almost 300 applicants will embark on an intensive two-year course in the faith, culture and thought of Muslim societies, leading to a Masters degree from a British ...
News story -- The translation of A Short History brings together the results of modern international scholarship for a Russian-speaking audience and provides a concise and readable overview of Ismaili history and doctrines within the broader contexts of Muslim history and Shi'i thought. The work also includes accounts of the recent history of the Nizari Ismailis and developments in the Musta'li-Tayyibi and ...
News story -- Al-Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi was an Ismaili scholar of Persian origin, excelling as a missionary, statesman, poet and theologian. Towards the end of his long and eventful life, al-Mu'ayyad became head of the Ismaili mission (da'wa) in the time of the Fatimid caliph-imam al-Mustansir in Cairo. Among al-Mu'ayyad's writings, his Sira is of particular historical significance, enriching the incomplete and ...
News story -- The Class' 17 students proudly accepted their awards from the Director of the Institute, Professor Azim Nanji, as part of the evening's formal proceedings. Marodsilton Muborakshoeva, from Tajikistan, gave the valedictory address in which she shared her experiences of being at the Institute as well as described the unique learning and development opportunities the Graduate Programme provided. "[The IIS] ...
News story -- Further Reading and Resource MaterialsProfessor Brodeur began by examining theories of pluralism arising from the Western European philosophical tradition, in order to situate contemporary American religious pluralism. He went on to present a case study of two recent surveys of Muslims in America and argued that American Muslims have had a long history of integration into the American society ...
News story -- Useful both as an introductory text on Shi'i thought and practice as well as a contemporary expression, from within, of this vibrant and dynamic branch of the Muslim community, Doctrines of Shi'i Islam upholds the validity of Shi'i perspectives by rational arguments based on the Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet. Despite its comprehensive scope, it is a ...
News story -- Synopsis Further Reading and Resource Materials Mosque Gallery In his illustrated lecture, Professor Khan guided the audience through the diversity of mosque architectures in the Muslim world from the first communal masjid in the house of the Prophet Muhammad, to present day expressions, noting how social and cultural contexts have affected the form mosques may take. With local examples ...
News story -- The first modern reference work on the Muslim world of a significant nature to emerge in Europe was The Encyclopaedia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of Muhammadan Peoples (EI), published between 1913 and 1936. Made available in English, French and German, EI consisted of 9,000 entries, ranging from 50 to 50,000 words, in four ...
News story -- [view detail] The author's first work, Early Shi'i Thought, focuses primarily on Imam al-Baqir's decisive role in the exposition of key Shi'i doctrines, especially the nature of the Imamat and the transmission of knowledge, together with the application of these doctrines in Muslim religious, theological, juridical and ethical domains. In this groundbreaking study, based mainly on primary sources, Dr ...
News story -- Arif Jamal will be undertaking doctoral work in the Faculty of Laws at University College London (University of London). His research will look at developing a framework for accommodating secularity and religiosity in the legal system of Muslim societies. As part of this work, Arif has been invited to spend the 2003-04 academic year as a Visiting Researcher with ...
News story -- The colloquium was launched with an evening reception and plenary lecture by Gulru Necipoglu, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at Harvard University. The formal preceedings, beginning with an address by His Highness the Aga Khan on October 19, was followed by the Opening Lecture by renowned Art Historian, Oleg Grabar. The conference's eight panels, held over ...
News story -- Dina Kiwan James Allan Josef van Ess Chase Robinson Tazim Kassam "It is often remarked that recognising the diversity of one's own tradition is a necessary pre-condition for the advancement of pluralism. However, in the vast literature on pluralism, there is limited reference to the social fact of Muslim diversity and its lengthy history, let alone how Muslims have ...
News story -- "In Professor Schimmel's passing, the world has lost an eminent scholar and extraordinary human being. She was my mentor during my undergraduate and graduate school days here at Harvard, and the memories now flood my mind of how kind, gentle, and caring she always was towards me and all those who knew her. All through the years, she remained ...
News story -- During the 13th century, the Persian-speaking lands, extending from Central Asia to Iraq, were devastated by a series of Mongol invasions. Their movement from the inner steppes of Asia resulted in the massacre and displacement of many communities, including the Ismaili Muslims of the region. The fall of the chief Ismaili fortress of Alamut in 1256, followed by the ...
News story -- Clip 01 - Nation-States and International [3:00 minutes] Clip 02 -Cordoba and Knowledge without Frontiers [1:50] Clip 03 - Religious Vocabulary and Olduvai Gorge [5:11] Clip 04 -The Garden and Paradise [6:45] Alluding to the predicaments generated by recent world events, Azim Nanji began his talk by intimating that inherited organising principles such as the model of the nation-state ...
News story -- The next seminar in the series will continue to focus on the region: Dr Olivier Roy, Research Director of the National Centre for Social Research, Paris will speak on "Civil Identity in the New Central Asia" on 16th February, 2001. Other forthcoming seminars in the series include Dr Iftikhar Malik on Pakistan, Dr Ziba Mir-Hosseini on "Civil Society and ...
News story -- Azim Nanji, Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies, began the formal proceedings by situating the development and progress of the Institute within the larger Ismaili commitment to education. As early as the tenth century, the Fatimid imam al-Mu'izz established al-Azhar university in Cairo and the library at Alamut was a repository of knowledge for the Ismaili communities of ...
News story -- Annemarie Schimmel at the IIS in 1984. The cover of volume one of Popular Poetry of the Baloches, published in 1907.Professor Schimmel, who passed away in January 2003, was one of the foremost experts on Persian poetry and Sufism. Her publications included hundreds of articles and books on Islamic art, theology, poetry, calligraphy and mysticism, as well as translations ...
News story -- The Giorgio Levi Della Vida Medal of the Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, is awarded every 2 or 3 years to an outstanding scholar whose work has significantly and lastingly advanced the study of Muslim civilisations. The award, which was inaugurated in 1967, consists of a bronze medal and a ...
News story -- The one-day conference examined literature written in Kiswahili, English as well as languages of the Subcontinent, and culminated with a keynote reading by Booker Prize nominee Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose books include Paradise, Admiring Silence and By The Sea. For at least 2,500 years, the east coast of Africa and South Asia have been partners in a network of Indian ...
News story -- The 'Uyun al-akhbar is the most complete text written by an Ismaili author on the history of the Ismaili community from its origins up to the 12th century CE. The seventh volume, edited here for the first time, together with an English summary, deals in particular with the period of the Fatimid caliphs al-Mustansir (d. 487/1094), the time of ...
News story -- Classes in Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Texts and Grammar were specially devised for the IIS by the American Language Institute in Fez (ALIF), a centre providing Arabic tuition for many institutions internationally as well as for Fulbright scholars. The Class of 2003 with Nina Turnbull and Mohammed Baghdadi (Programme Co-ordinator, Alif) Fez is host to a wealth of history, ...
News story -- In his opening remarks, Dr Amyn Sajoo, Visiting Fellow and series co-ordinator, reminded the audience of the indigenous roots of civic participation in Pakistan. This was reflected in His Highness the Aga Khan's speech made in Islamabad last October on the ethical basis of civic solidarity in the context of Indigenous Philanthropy. The Institute looks forward to welcoming a ...
News story -- Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis, the 5th volume in the Ismaili Heritage Series, examines the Kitab al-Mustazhiri, one of the more detailed works of the 11th century theologian, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. AH 505/1111 CE). This work is part of his polemical engagement against the Ismailis of the Fatimid and early Alamut periods. Through the treatment of the text as ...
News story -- The conference provided the community of scholars and professionals with a platform to share and exchange research, experiences and ideas about all aspects of the field of Middle Eastern studies, as well as to discuss theoretical, political and practical concerns and their possible solutions. The conference programme consisted of more than 300 panels, organised by 135 institutions. "What we ...
News story -- At a time when Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations thesis is increasing in popularity, Professor Nanji argued for a civilisational dialogue guided by a framework of morality and ethics. In a year dedicated by the United Nations General Assembly as one of a "dialogue among civilizations", his talk considered the vital role of Islam, and its living spiritual tradition, ...
News story -- Founded in 1968, the IBO currently serves 1341 schools in 112 countries. Through comprehensive and balanced curricula coupled with challenging assessments, the IBO aims to assist schools in their endeavour to develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of the classroom to the realities of the world outside. Beyond intellectual rigour and ...
News story -- Through a compilation of 7 essays, Ali Asani, who has had a long-standing personal and academic involvement with the subject, discusses various facets of the ginans that are part of the Nizari Ismaili tradition of South Asia. Examining their place within the larger tradition of religious poetry of the Subcontinent and their specific use in the community to this ...
