News story -- Colleagues, students, alumni and staff of the IIS remember with great fondness Dr Karim Janmohamed, who passed away in Toronto on 24th April 2015 at the age of 71. A historian and respected scholar in Kenya and the USA, Dr Janmohamed became the first Head of the IIS-ITREB Liaison Department (fore-runner to the Department of Community Relations at the ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of Words of Power - Hurufi Teachings Between Shi'ism and Sufism in Medieval Islam by Dr. Orkhan Mir-Kasimov. Words of Power, which is the third publication in the new Shi'i Heritage Series, brings together in one volume, the biography of the founder of the Hurufi movement, Fadl Allah Astarabadi (d. 796 ...
This 28-minute lecture by Professor Angelika Neuwirth (Freie Universitat Berlin), a leading scholar in Qur'anic studies, invites viewers to acontextual reading ofthe Qur'an, in the light of the milieu of the revelation and the subsequent development of the Muslim community. Based on her thirty-years of engagement with the topic, Professor Neuwirth suggests that scholarly endeavours of understanding the Qur'an essentially as ...
Shi'i Muslims, with their rich intellectual and cultural heritage, have contributed significantly to the richness and diversity of the Islamic traditions throughout the centuries. However, Shi'i Islam has received little scholarly attention in the West, in medieval as well modern times. This twenty-minute interview with Dr Farhad Daftary sheds light on the major gaps in knowledge about Shi'i Islam and the Institute's ...
All major civilisations of the world have cultivated a philosophical tradition, but only a few have had a continuous tradition with surviving texts. Persia is home to one such civilisation with continuity of philosophical thought for more than two-and-a-half millennia. In this 15minute interview on the Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, Dr Aminrazavi reflects on his own intellectual engagement with the centuries-long ...
All major civilisations of the world have cultivated a philosophical tradition, but only a few have had a continuous tradition with surviving texts. Persia is home to one such civilisation with continuity of philosophical thought for more than two-and-a-half millennia. This 29 minute interview with Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr presents an overview of his intellectual journey into Persian philosophy, covering traditions ...
News story -- The Ismaili Special Collections Unit (ISCU) recently opened its doors to students studying Islamic Arts, conducting interactive sessions where rare manuscripts and artefacts were exhibited and discussed. Sessions were organised for IIS students, both GPISH and STEP and students pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). The first of these ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce the publication of Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History: Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre, edited by Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink. This volume presents analyses of Qur'anic exegesis as carried out across various milieus, the fifteen chapters coalescing around a central theme of understanding the genre of tafsir within the ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) is pleased to announce the publication of the latest volume in the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity (Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa') Series entitled On Geography: An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Epistle 4, edited and translated by Dr Ignacio Sánchez and Professor James Montgomery. This is the eighth volume published in ...
Focusing on the reign of the fourth Fatimid Imam-Caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (953 - 975 CE), Dr Jiwa reflects on the principles of Fatimid governance and the creation of institutions that enabled the transformation of the Fatimid dynasty from a North African state into an expansive Mediterranean empire. Dr Jiwa's study on the reign of Imam-Caliph al-Mui'zz is based on the ...
Persian literature is famous worldwide for its love poetry and epic traditions. This fifteen minute interview with Dr Alice Hunsberger sheds light on a different side of Persian poetry--the philosophical. Focusing on the finest poet of this genre in her book Pearls of Persia: The Philosophical Poetry of Nasir-i Khusraw, Dr Hunsberger explores the ideas and literary merits of this highly ...
News story -- This year's cohortadmitted to the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) are the first to follow a new curriculum aimed at further improving the course and the way students develop a discourse based on a civilisational approach to Islam. Three years ago, the Institute's Academic Steering Committee initiated the work to devise a programme where Shi'i and ...
News story -- In 2014, IIS scholars and publication authors participated in an array of book launch events and scholar visits. The IIS' Department of Communications & Development facilitated thirty-four events in Canada, India, Portugal, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the USA. Over 3,000 individuals attended these events, including leading figures in academia, university students, dignitaries and members of ...
News story -- This feature will provide an in-depth look into the new GPISH curriculum and how it was developed. ...
News story -- Drs Shainool Jiwa and Arzina Lalani presented papers in Ankara, on 18-22 August 2014, as part of a panel at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES)..The panel was entitled One Empire, Many Religions: Religionand Society under Fatimid Rule and was organised by Almut Höfert and Serena Tolino.The Fatimid empire (909 -1171 CE) became a leading power in ...
News story -- Dr Farhad Daftary, Co-Director of the Institute, was appointed a lifetime member of Accademia Ambrosianain Milan, Italy, in NovemberThe Ambrosian Academy has its seat at the Ambrosian Library, founded in 1609 in Milan. The Academy promotes and coordinates systematic research and publications in different cultural fields, also encouraging dialogue between various cultures. The Grand Chancellor of the Ambrosian Academy ...
News story -- Over thirty IIS alumni from across Asia came together in Lahore, Pakistan, for their annual meeting to explore The Role of Arts in Social Development. Over the course of three days, the alumni engaged with scholars who are experts in the field of Social Development. The Annual Meeting commenced with a welcome address from the Asian Chapter Group (ACG) ...
News story -- The IIS Alumni Association is pleased to announce the appointment of its elected leadership for the Asian, European and North American Chapter Groups. Established in 2005, the Alumni Association aims to strengthen the relationship between the Institute and its graduates by supporting the personal, academic and career development of the alumniand working with them to maximise the impact of ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of M. Brett Wilson's book Translating the Qur'an in an Age of Nationalism: Print Culture and Modern Islam in Turkey,the eleventh in the Qur'anic Studies Series. The book focuses on the emergence of translations and printings of the Qur'an in a period comprising the end of the Ottoman Empire to the ...
News story -- Dr Daryoush Mohammad Poor delivered a paper as part of the lecture series, Political Violence: Beyond the Secular/Religious Divide organised by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) at Leiden University, Netherlands, on 19th September 2014. The paper, entitled Imaginative Anachronistic Leaps and Secular/Religious Myths of Terrorism: The case of Nizari Ismailis of the Alamut Period, addresses ...
This 21-minute video interview with Dr Amyn Sajoo on his book entitled, A Companion to Muslim Cultures, elaborates on the diverse historical, cultural and geographical contexts in which Muslims live and understand their faith. A Companion to Muslim Cultures is the latest volume in the Muslim Heriatge Series. An accomplished group of writers have shared their thoughts and reflections on how ...
The lecture elaborates on the importance of Tafsir tradition in the study of the Qur'an. The primary focus of the lecture is on the distinction between the acts of 'translation' and 'interpretation' in relation to the Tafsir traditions. Reflecting on the inescapable need of referring to Tafsir works in understanding the Quran, Prof. Rippin suggests: "Tafsir is not about extracting or ...
News story -- The new students enrolled on the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) and the Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP) have arrived at the IIS and commenced their studies. These students were selected from a large pool of applicants and have been awarded scholarships to pursue postgraduate degrees, learning from some of the leading scholars in Ismaili and ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to welcome Dr Shafique N. Virani as a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Academic Research and Publications (DARP). Dr Virani's research focuses on Islamic history, philosophy, Sufism, Shi'ism (Twelver and Ismaili), and Muslim literatures in Arabic, Persian and South Asian languages. After earning a joint honours degree with distinction in ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of Professor Angelika Neuwirth's book Scripture, Poetry and the Making of a Community: Reading the Qur'an as a Literary Text.This publication is the tenth in the Qur'anic Studies Series, and contains Professor Neuwirth's research on how the Qur'an emerged and shaped the nascent Muslim community. Professor Neuwirth aims at portraying the ...
News story -- This workshop was held as the Seventh Annual Summer Conference on Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions, sponsored by the Departments of Philosophy at the University of Denver and Marquette University and the University of Denver's Center for Judaic Studies. His paper entitled Al-Farabi and Ismaili Thought: Tracing Mutual Influences, dealt specifically with the possible mutual influences of al-Farabi and ...
News story -- The Central Asian Studies Unit (CASU) of the IIS, in collaboration with the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (IOM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), St. Petersburg, Russia, has published Russian Scholars on Ismailism edited by Stanislav Prozorov and Hakim Elnazarov, Co-ordinator of CASU. This volume presents the proceedings of the conference entitled Ismaili Traditions and Spirituality of the ...
News story -- The twelfth Summer Programme on Islam was held at York University in Toronto, Canada, from 11 - 17 August 2014. Twenty-nine participants from 10 countries, including Angola, Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States of America participated in the seven-day programme. The programme faculty included scholars from the IIS as well ...
News story -- Shi'i Muslims have contributed significantly over the course of Muslim history to the richness and diversity of Islamic traditions, enabling Muslims to evolve and flourish as a major world civilisation. Until the middle of the 20th century, however, systematic progress in Islamic studies had not led to any significant improvement in the scholarly investigation of Shi'i Islam and its ...
News story -- Dr Stephen Burge, who specialises in the religious works of al-Suyuti in the Institute's Qur'anic Studies Unit, attended the School of Mamluk Studies Conference which was held in Venice on 22-25 June 2014. Each year the conference devotes one day to focus on a particular figure or theme within Mamluk Studies. This year's focus was on the life and ...
News story -- The conference entitled Education in Asia: What Global Issues? was held in Serve, France, on 12-14 June, 2014 to mark the 20th anniversary of their tri-annual journal,Revue Internationale d'Education de Sevres (RIES). At the conference, Dr Datoo presented a case-study on education in Pakistan in a workshop setting with the assigned theme The Narratives and Discourses Shaping Education. Dr ...
News story -- Drs Omar Alí-de-Unzaga, Stephen Burge and Nuha al-Sha'ar of the Qur'anic Studies Unitpresented a panel entitled Citations of the Qur'an in Islamic Literature at the Inaugural Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS) in Edinburgh on 10-11 April, 2014. The panel explored the use of citations of the Qur'an, with the aim of gaining some understanding of ...
News story -- The Annual Meeting of the European Chapter Group(ECG) of the IIS Alumni Association took place against the backdrop of Mahdia (al-Mahdiyya), Tunisia, on 4-7 May 2014. Mahdia's eminence as the first purpose-built capital of the Fatimid state in Ifriqiya provided the key focus of the meeting: Culture, Art and Architecture of the Fatimids and its reflection in Modern Mahdia.The ...
News story -- Alumni from across Canada and the United States experienced traditional southern hospitality at their annual general meeting held in Atlanta, Georgia, from 19-21 June, 2014. Taking a close look at the role of women within the context of Islam, the meeting offered participants insight into the history of Islamic discourse on women and gender. Within this historical framework, contemporary ...
News story -- The award, given for works that further an appreciation of Islamic culture and thought, was conferred in Tehran at a formal ceremony on 8 February 2014, presided over by a number of leading Iranian scholars and religious leaders. The secretariat of the World Book Award, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, commended Professor Ormsby's ...
News story -- Three researchers from the Institute presented papers at the Joint Regional Conference of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies on 22-24 May 2014 at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. Drs Dagi Dagiev, Abdulmamad Iloliev and Sultonbek Aksakolov(Post-doctoral research fellow with DARP) presented on issues related to identity and migration amongst Tajik people. Dr Dagi Dagiev gave ...
News story -- The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce two new appointments within the Department of Academic Research and Publications and the Department of Graduate Studies. Following close to a year as Acting Head of the IIS Library, Dr Omar Alí-de-Unzagahas been appointed Deputy Head of the Department of Academic Research and Publications. He will also continue to be ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of a new edition and English translation of Abu 'Ali Mansur al-'Azizi al-Jawdhari's biography of al-Ustadh Jawdhar, the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar, under the title Inside the Immaculate Portal: A History from Early Fatimid Archives. This work comprises a new critical edition of the Arabic text of the Sirat al-Ustadh Jawdhar and ...
News story -- The IIS is pleased to announce the publication of Encounters in Muslim History (Volume 1) as part of the Secondary Curriculum. The curriculum approaches the study of Islam from civilisational and humanistic perspectives, aiming to develop perspectives on Islam that engage with religion, ethics, thought, history and culture in Muslim societies within a broad intellectual framework. Of the eight ...
News story -- The paper entitled Universalist and Ecumenical Dimensions of Islamic Messianism: Evidence from the Works of Fadlallah Astarabadi (d. 796 AH/1394 CE), began with a reflection on the place of mystical and messianic movements in the intellectual and socio-political history of Islam, focussing specifically on those that emerged in the Eastern Muslim world in the period following the Mongol invasion. ...
