Categories : Field-specific (academic)

‘Hurufism: The Faḍlallāh Family, Children, and Testament’
F. Usluer
Iranian Studies, 54 (2021), 3/4, pp 605-631.

Sound and Voice in Contemporary Twelver Shi’i Islam

Description: Thursday 27th – Friday 28th May 2021 – 14:00 – 17:00 (GMT+1)
To register and attend please email: s.j.williamsonfa@bham.ac.uk

This international workshop held online brings together new scholarship within anthropology, ethnomusicology and religious studies on sound and voice in Twelver Shi’i Islam.

Despite the growing body of work on sound and Islam, little attention so far has been paid to sound in Shi’i Islam. Within Shi’i communities, the central and shared sounds of the recitation of the Quran and the adhan exist amongst additional forms of vocalised sonic expression. A vast range of supplications, laments and chants of praise and celebratory poetry are central to Shi’i devotion to Ahl al-Bayt, the Family of the Prophet. Within Twelver Shi’ism there is a surprising consistency in content and form of these genres worldwide. Yet, a huge diversity in style correlates with the wide geographic distributions of these communities.

Bringing together ethnographically-grounded contributions from the Middle East and South Asia, this workshop aims to consolidate current research on sound and voice in contemporary Twelver Shi’i Islam. In thinking about the politics and aesthetics of sound in these diverse settings we ask the question, how does Shi’ism sound? What parallels and divergences exist between the way sound is mobilised and engaged with in Shi’ism and in other Islamic pathways? How does sound mediate across social, political and conceptual boundaries- between communal groups in the public sphere, the secular and sacred, ‘this-world’ and the ‘other-worldly’? What are the distinct aesthetic qualities of Shi’i devotion and how do they relate to poetics, theology, politics and society? Approaching the study of Shi’ism from a sonic perspective presents new ways of thinking about key issues such as transnationalism, cultural production and socio-political activism whilst further contributing to wider efforts to understand religion materially and sensorially.

Speakers:
Epsita Halder, Jadavpur University
Nabeel Jafri, University of Toronto
Timothy Cooper, University of Cambridge
Joseph Alagha, Haigazian University
Hamidreza Salehyar, University of Toronto
Maryam Aras, University of Bonn
Stefan Williamson-Fa, University of Birmingham

Organized by: The Alterumma project at the University of Birmingham

The Prophet’s Heir: the life of Ali ibn Abi Talib (Yale University Press, 2021) Online Launch
Centre for Islamic and West Asian Studies
26 May 2021 – 03:00 pm (BST)

Ali ibn Abi Talib is arguably the single most important spiritual and intellectual authority in Islam after Prophet Muhammad. Through his teachings and leadership, the fourth caliph nourished Islam. But Muslims are divided on whether Muhammad wanted Ali to become his political successor.

Hassan Abbas, Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the National Defense University’s Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington, argues in his latest book that Ali’s message and legacy remains a powerful one of peace and tolerance.

In this CIWAS online book launch, Professor Abbas will discuss his book with Nicole Correri (M.A., M.Ed.), PhD Student Islamic Studies at Boston University, and Dr Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, Lecturer in Islamic and Middle East Studies at University of Freiburg.

To register your place for this online event visit: https://ciwas1.eventbrite.com

“Baraka Bodies: Thinking with and Through Devotional Image-Objects in Everyday Shiʿism in South Asia”

Karen Ruffle (University of Toronto)

Karen Ruffle is Associate Professor in the Department of Historical Studies and Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, where she specializes in South Asian Shiʿism and Sufism. Her research focuses on devotional texts, ritual practice, and Shiʿi material practices in South Asia. Her first book was Gender, Sainthood, and Everyday Practice in South Asian Shiʿism (University of North Carolina Press, 2011). Her second monograph, Everyday Shiʿism in South Asia was recently published (Wiley, 2021). She is currently working on a new book project, Building the City of Haidar: Kingship, Urban Space, and Shiʿi Ritual in Qutb Shahi Hyderabad.

Time: May 19, 2021
11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

JoinZoomMeeting
https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/98480377079?pwd=dXRWVG5rNStqMTZobXEzOFFJVGJ1Zz09

Meeting ID: 984 8037 7079
Password: 803160

‘Teaching Ethics in Early Ibadism: A Preliminary Study’
Jana Newiger,
In: Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change (2 vols)
Leiden, 2020
Editor: Sebastian Günther
https://brill.com/view/title/56045

The ‘Ulama in Contemporary Pakistan
Contesting and Cultivating an Islamic Republic
Mashal Saif
Cambridge, 2020
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ulama-in-contemporary-pakistan/3749EB0360E0355D8A9A702FF8ADB1E8

Falling Out of Love with the Franks: The Life and Writings of an Armenian Catholic Diplomat in the Service of Late Safavid Persia
Henry R. Shapiro

Iranian Studies
Volume 54, 2021 – Issue 3-4

Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is an academic peer-review journal that publishes on Shiite studies. Submission of articles for the new issue (June 30, 2021, Volume:3, Issue:1) continues to May 30. Turkish Journal of Shiite Studies is a double-blind peer review and no fee is requested from the author before or after the publication.

For the details and submission:
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/siader

‘A Silent Quest for New Shīʿa Religious Leaders in Italy’
M. Mirshahvalad,
Journal of Muslims in Europe, 2020-10-28, Vol.10 (1), p.68-84.

‘The Banū Yahrāsan, Political and Sacred Leaders in Ibāḍī Djerba’
V Prevost.
Al-Masāq, Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean
Volume 33, 2021 – Issue 1