Categories : Field-specific (academic)

Sindawi, K.,(2015). “ A Lost Shīʿite Sect: The Faṭḥiyya: Name, Origins, Doctrine” , al-Karmil: Studies in Language and  Literature. 34, 57- 107. (Arabic).  

Abstract

This study aims to present an extinct Shīʿite group, called the Faṭḥiyya. It emerged after the year 148/765. Its adherents called for giving the post of imam to ʿAbdullāh al-Afṭaḥ after the death of the latter’s father, the sixth imam Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, because he was the imam’s eldest son and had participated in the affairs of the imamate, in light of the constant supervision by the Abbasid rulers of the imam Mūsā al-Kāẓim. The study addresses the source of the name of the sect, the factors that led to its emergence, the political circumstances that helped it evolve, its most prominent personalities, its most important doctrinal principles and ideas, the places to which it spread and where it possessed influence. It also discusses the views towards it of the imams Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq and Mūsā al-Kāẓim and the dispute among Shiite scholars whether or not one should accept traditions in whose chain of transmission members of the Faṭḥiyya sect appeared. It turns out in fact that according to some Shiite scholars there are some transmitters among the Faṭḥiyya who are trustworthy in their transmissions despite the unacceptability of their doctrinal positions.

The study also discusses the “second Faṭḥiyya” which, according to al-Majlisī, is a continuation of the first and appeared after the death of the tenth imam ʿAlī al-Hādī in the year 260/874. That movement called for passing on ʿAlī al-Hādī’s position to his son Jaʿfar rather than to al-Ḥasan al-ʿAskarī.

Proposition de Conférence/ Conference Proposal

Inaugural Khōjā Studies Conference, Autumn 2016

Call for Papers

Venue: Paris at Le Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CEIAS)

Date: 1-2 November 2016

Theme: Religious identities in the construction of communal Khōjā historical memory

Agenda: A two-day conference with a public keynote bringing together interdisciplinary Anglophone and Francophone scholars in the humanities, generally defined, to present and discuss the development of Khōjā identity over the past three centuries among transnational communities in South Asia, East Africa, Western Europe, and North America. The output of the conference will be an edited volume published by École Française d’Extrême-Orient.

Theme: This conference is intended as an inaugural conference in the collaboration among FIU in Miami and CNRS- CEIAS in Paris. Its focus is to develop a rigorous transdisciplinary international programme of research on the history of the Khoja peoples through recherche scientifique on manuscripts, printed texts, oral traditions, and material culture. The preservation of multilingual materials in Sindhi, Kacchī, and Gujarati are important links that bridge the premodern- modern divide of Khōjā historiography. Coordinating ways to preserve these materials and make them available for academic research is a priority that necessitates international coordination and cooperation. This gathering will explore religious and social transformations that occurred as a result of migration and cosmopolitanism. It seeks to be inclusive of various modern academic interpretations of Khōjā identity and history in conversation with one another on the frames used in the interpretation of primary texts. Moreover, the Khōjā cannot be understood in isolation therefore research on related communities, such as the Lōhāṇā and Bohra, are particularly welcome as this helps to better contextualize what is sometimes a more insular Khōjā self-articulation of identity narratives.

Some of the questions posed by this conference include: What makes a religious text uniquely ‘Khōjā’ and how does has that identity evolved diachronically in various spacial contexts? How can the ginan (jñānō) corpus be categorized to reflect its interpolation over time, script changes, and space. How did the extinction of the Khōjā Sindhi script create a discontinuity that aided the development of modern Khōjā creedal Islamic identities? How does the tension between and ethnic Indic and Near Eastern Islamic identities manifest itself in the preservation of Khōjā heritage? How is communal religious authority constructed and contested transnationally?

Deadline: Call for papers due by 1 May 2016 to be submitted at- http://www.khojastudies.org/

Funding for participant attendance is available.

Call for Papers:
‘The Status of Non-Muslims in Sharīʿa’
The 4th AMI Contemporary Fiqhī Issues Workshop
June 2-3rd 2016

Al-Mahdi Institute
60 Weoley Park Road
Birmingham B29 6RB
UK
www.almahdi.edu

The 4th annual fiqhī workshop at Al-Mahdi Institute aims to facilitate scholarship directly addressing questions relating to the topic of “the status of non-Muslims in Sharī ͑a”. We especially encourage, and invite, paper proposals engaging with the methodological questions involved in justifications for both traditional and alternative perspectives on fiqhī̄ (juristic) readings of matters related to the status of non-Muslims in Islam.

In recent years one of the major aspects of Sharī ͑a, or more precisely “fiqh”, that has been subject of much debate and discussion pertains to the status of non-Muslims within Sharī ͑a. Apparent tensions have arisen in the understanding and practice of fiqh in the context of challenges from international law, extremist trans-national and terrorist organisations, domestic legal frameworks and the private practice of Muslims living in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world. From private issues related to permissibility of marriage with non-Muslims or eating non-Muslim prepared food, to societal or state imposed regulations pertaining to transactions, capital punishments, compensations, and political rights and duties, we find that the legal edicts of mainstream Muslim jurists demonstrate widespread distinctions/discriminations between Muslims and Non-Muslims. The impact of such distinctions/discriminations not only affects non-Muslims residing in pre-dominantly Muslim societies but also affect Muslims who reside in minority contexts.

The workshop seeks to explore fiqhī or juristic justifications and challenges to such positions and emerging alternatives. As in previous gatherings such fiqhī debate will be situated alongside contributions dealing with broader theological, legal, historical, anthropological and sociological approaches that can enrich a multidisciplinary understanding of contemporary visions for the status of non-Muslims in Sharīʿa.

Proposals for a single presenter should include the following:

➢ Contact information, and a brief bio of presenter(s),
➢ Tentative title(s), 

➢ Abstract(s) (300- 500 word).

The deadline for submission of proposals is 8th April 2016. Successful applicants will be notified by 15th April 2016.

Accepted applicants from within the E.U. will be supported for their travel and hospitality during the workshop, with a further limited number of travel bursaries available for those applying from outside the E.U.

Proposals and queries should be sent by e-mail to: Dr Hashim Bata (hashim@almahdi.edu)

Muhammad Qazi Vafa Karminagi. Tuhfat al-Khani or Tarikh-i Rahim Khani. ed Mansur Sefatgol. Fuchu: ILCAA. 2015.
525+6p. ISBN 978-4-86337-201-6
Critical edition of an important early Manghit chronicle from 18th century Central Asia.

Nobuaki Kondo ed. Mapping Safavid Iran. Fuchu ILCAA. 2015. 246p. ISBN 978-4-86337-211-5
The book aims to locate the Safavid state in broader contexts of time and space. It contains nine papers by Rula Abisaab, Nobuaki Kondo, Rudi Matthee, Yukako Goto, Akhiko Yamaguchi, Giorgio Rota, Sholeh Quinn, Sebouh Aslanian, and Katsuhiko Abe.

Those who need copies should contact for inquiry:
e-mail: publ@aa.tufs.ac.jp
http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/publications/inquiry

Contents of Mapping Safavid Iran
Preface
Nobuaki Kondo 1
From Textual Evidence to Ijtihād:
The Twelver Shiʿa Juristic Tradition, 10th–16th Century
Rula Jurdi Abisaab 7
The Shah ʿAbd al-ʿAzim Shrine and its Vaqf under the Safavids
Nobuaki Kondo 41
The Safavid King Who Was Crowned Twice:
The Enthronement of Safi Mirza as Shah Safi II in 1077/1666, and as Shah
Sulayman in 1078/1668
Rudi Matthee 67
Development of Transport and Growth of Cultural Homogenization in the later
Safavid Period
Yukako Goto 99
The Safavid Legacy as Viewed from the Periphery:
The Formation of Iran and the Political Integration of a Kurdish Emirate
Yamaguchi Akihiko 127
Aq Qoyunlu and Safavid European Diplomacy:
Strategy, Millenarism, Wishful Thinking
Giorgio Rota 155
A Historian on the Move:
An Early Modern Persian Chronicler under the Safavids and the Mughals
Sholeh A. Quinn 171
Julfan Merchants and European East India Companies:
Overland Trade, Protection Costs, and the Limits of Collective Self-Representation
in Early Modern Safavid Iran
Sebouh David Aslanian 189
Silk for the Court: Safavid Silk Textiles in Japanese Collections
Katsuhiko Abe 223
Index 243

The Surreptitious Scholar: The Challenges of Conducting Interviews with Iraqi-Shi’a Muslim Participants in Dearborn, Michigan | Cappucci | Fieldwork in Religion

CALL FOR PAPERS

What would Prophet Muhammad do?

Exploring the Meaning & Application of
Human Dignity in Islam

International Roundtable Symposium, July 16th – 17th 2016
Imam Hasan Centre, Sydney, Australia

Synopsis

A great deal of scholarship in the West has emerged on the concept of human dignity in the fields of law, ethics and philosophy. The commonly cited influences of Immanuel Kant, human rights instruments after World War II and role of religious scripture have contributed to the modern understanding of human dignity – the innate self-worth, humanity and moral and rational agency of a human being. Others such as Macklin deem human dignity to be a “useless concept” meaning nothing more than personal autonomy (Macklin, R., “Dignity as a Useless Concept.” British Medical Journal 327. 2003, p.1419-1420).

Comparatively, modern Muslim scholarship on the meaning and application of human dignity is still sparse and many argue that “religious voices no longer carry much weight” in this discussion (Rae, S. B., and Cox, P. M., Bioethics: A Christian Approach in a Pluralistic Age. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans. 1999, p.2). Most Muslim scholars trace the concept of human dignity to various verses in the Qur’an and Prophetic narrations but is this methodological approach anachronistic? Are current attempts to construct a notion of human dignity from the Islamic tradition a Eurocentric reflection of the philosophical justifications used in Western scholarship? Apart from discussions of autonomy and constraint, is there anything original that the Islamic tradition can offer in formulating an understanding of human dignity? Ultimately, should human dignity be a bedrock principle in Muslim jurisprudential (fiqhi) and ethical (akhlaqi) discourses?

Whilst we cannot find all answers in history, we can certainly tap into some enduring visions and principles left by courageous figures such as Prophet Muhammad who the Qur’an describes as possessing a “great character” (68:4). He tirelessly worked to bring dignity to those who were treated as less than human such as slaves, women and the impoverished. With the negative political and media attention that paints Islam as a terrorist and inhumane religion, the symposium aims to frame the aforementioned questions within the transformative, merciful and daring spirit of Prophet Muhammad.

The symposium does not restrict discourses and models to be exclusively associated with Prophet Muhammad – it welcomes all types of knowledge-bases in a multi-disciplinary setting; rather it aims to set a viable historical context in which experts can discuss the issue of human dignity. The date of the symposium coincides with the month of Shawwal. This is the month in which the marriage between the Prophet and Lady Khadijah took place – a union based on showing deep compassion and humanity to the less fortunate in society.

Abstracts

Contributors are expected not just to provide a theoretical analysis of human dignity from the Islamic tradition but possible frameworks to solve current jurisprudential, ethical and philosophical problems. Combining seminary and university intellectual approaches in one’s presentation are encouraged.

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words coupled with a short biography. Those whose abstracts are accepted will be required to submit a paper of approximately 8,000 words before the symposium for a projected edited compilation. Contributors are free to select from the themes below or suggest their own ideas:

· Human dignity in scriptural and spiritual discourses – lexicology, usage, Divine and Prophetic intent

· Human dignity in philosophical and metaphysical discourses – origins, conceptions, the meaning of humanity, empowerment, constraint and existentialism

· Human dignity in legal and jurisprudential discourses – the treatment of religious denominations, non-Muslims, women, slaves and others; its relationship with human rights and contributions of current Muslim scholars

· Human dignity in ethical discourses – its place in Muslim ethical literature and the need (or lack of) to create a discipline of usul al-akhlaq (principles of ethics)

· Human dignity in bioethical discourses – application to bioethical issues – consent, autonomy, beginning of life & end-of-life care, genetic engineering, animal-human experimentations

· Human dignity in historical and socio-political discourses – its role in early and later Muslim battles, modern terrorism and advancement of the state

· Human dignity in comparative discourses – comparisons and critiques between Islamic, Western/Eastern or interreligious conceptions of dignity and Eurocentrism

Venue, Travel & Accommodation

The symposium will be held at the Imam Hasan Centre, located in Annangrove, Sydney which since its establishment in 2004 has been a place of religious worship, interfaith dialogue, community-building, academic workshops and lectures. More information about the centre can be found here: https://www.imamhasancentre.com.au/ A few places are reserved for early career researchers so graduate researchers in Australia are encouraged to submit abstracts. Monetary assistance for travel and accommodation may be requested and granted if available. Information about call for papers can also be found here: https://www.imamhasancentre.com.au/conferences/

Submissions and Queries

· Abstract submission date: March 20th 2016
· Paper submission date: July 1st 2016

Abstracts and queries can be sent to Dr. Imranali Panjwani, Lecturer & Researcher at the Imam Hasan Centre, at: ipanjwani@hotmail.com . For further enquiries, please ring the Centre’s main number on: +61 2 9679 0855.

A refereed journal with an international editorial and advisory board, the Shii Studies Review (SSR) provides a scholarly forum for research on Shiism. Issued twice a year, the journal publishes peer-reviewed original studies, critical editions of classical and pre-modern texts, and book reviews on Shii law, ḥadīth, Qurʾānic exegesis, philosophy, kalām, ritual and practices, classical and contemporary literature, political thought, and other aspects of the history of Shiism. It is dedicated to the study of Imami, Ismaili, Zaydi, and other other trends in Shii thought throughout history. The goal of the Shii Studies Review is to contribute to the discovery, examination and reinterpretation of different intellectual traditions throughout the history of the Shia.

Taking an expansive view of the richly variegated Shii traditions in both thought and practice and in their cultural and social contexts, the Shii Studies Review makes a distinctive contribution to current scholarship on Shiism and its integration into the broader field of Islamic studies. It actively endeavors to participate in the development of new scholarly approaches and problematics. The intellectual output of this journal is directed at serving the needs of researchers specializing in all fields of Shii studies.

The Shii Studies Review (ISSN 2468-2462, e-ISSN 2468-2470) is published by Brill Adacemic Publishers. Its Executive Editors, Sabine Schmidtke and Hassan Ansari, are both resident scholars of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey, with a special focus on the study of Shii Islam.

The Shii Studies Review welcomes previously unpublished manuscripts on Shii thought and traditions and invites submissions for its first issue, to be published in May 2017, to be sent to its editorial office at: ssr@ias.edu

Editorial Board:
Executive Editors: Hassan Ansari and Sabine Schmidtke
Associate Editors: Bella Tendler-Krieger and Sean Anthony
Book Review Editor: Aun Hasan Ali and Najam Haider

Advisory Board:
Mohammed Ali Amir-Moezzi, EPHE (Paris)
Meir Bar-Asher, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Rainer Brunner, CNRS (Paris)
Michael Cook, Princeton University
Farhad Daftary, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Daniel De Smet, CNRS (Paris)
Robert Gleave, University of Exeter
Wadad Kadi, University of Chicago
Etan Kohlberg, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wilferd Madelung, Oxford University
Roy Mottahedeh, Harvard University
Andrew Newman, The University of Edinburgh
Devin Stewart, Emory University
Paul Walker, The University of Chicago
Robert Wisnovsky, McGill University
Aron Zysow, independent scholar based in Boston

News

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New deadline for submission of abstracts: 31 January 2016

Book Details