Categories : Field-specific (academic)

The Annual Conference on Shi‘i Studies offers an extensive platform for academics and scholars engaged in the study of Shi‘i Islam to present their latest research. This event encourages a dynamic exchange of ideas, facilitating in-depth discussions on Shi‘i thought, practices, and cultural heritage. By bringing together diverse perspectives, the conference aims to advance the academic discourse on Shi’i Studies.

Open to scholars, students, and all interested in Shi‘i Studies, the conference is public but requires prior registration for attendance.

Conference on Shi‘i Studies

Registration is required.

The Māḥauls of Oratory: Urdu Shi`i Khiṭābat in contemporary Karachi
In this talk, I attend to the material and the historical māḥauls within which Urdu Shiʿi khiṭābat (oratory) unfolds in Karachi. My attention to these contexts aims to move beyond a solely discursive approach to public language-use, in which much of the emphasis lies on referentiality, or what do orations mean. Instead, I foreground the physical and ideological contexts of khiṭābat to lay bare the newness of practices and concepts that undergird oratorical speech-events.
Registration required
Zoom webinar:https://utoronto.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mV4_DL0DRNasaRxDpRT5uw

This Summer Skills Seminar introduces participants to Islamic law. The seminar is focused on developing the skill of reading Islamic legal texts as opposed to surveying Islamic legal doctrines. It is designed for beginners seeking to build their capacity to investigate Islamic law.

Professor Ali will lead participants in a methodical reading of an introduction to Islamic law. Participants will read the chapters on legal obligation (taklīf) and ritual purity (ṭahāra) in Durūs tamhīdiyya fī l-fiqh al-istidlālī by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Īrawānī (b. 1949). In addition to the text itself, the course will cover selected topics in jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh) and bio-bibliography (rijāl). Topics covered include: the meanings of ʿaql; the principle qubḥ al-taklīf bi-mā lā yuṭāq; repairing weak chains of transmission; exceptions to general rules and the principle of istiṣḥāb; al-shubuhāt al-miṣdāqiyya; al-tawthīqāt al-ʿāmma; tasālum versus ijmāʿ; al-qāʿida al-mirzāʾiyya; and al-sīra al-ʿuqalāʾiyya.

Participants are required to have intermediate Arabic,* but they are not required to have a background in Islamic law. The seminar will be held via Zoom over 4 days, with two 2-hour sessions each day. At the end of the seminar, participants will have gained some of the basic tools needed to read Islamic legal texts independently.

The deadline to register is April 15.

Full information at:
https://www.mediterraneanseminar.org/overview-islamic-legal-texts-2024

The Book of Unveiling: Early Fatimid Ismaili Doctrine in the Kitab al-Kashf,
attributed to Ja’far b. Mansur al-Yaman

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/book-of-unveiling-9780755653867/

This text is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) Ismaili sources to have reached the present day. The book consists of the first full translation of the text to a European language (English), and is accompanied with a general presentation and detailed commentary.

Also available OpenAccess here: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/88170<