IIS Announces PhD Scholarship Award for 2012
October 2012
The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce that it has awarded the 2012 Doctoral Scholarship to Zulfiqar Khimani from Pakistan.
Zulfiqar is currently pursuing his PhD in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Following an interdisciplinary approach, he plans to investigate the phenomenon of transnationalism (the networks and affiliations connecting communities across borders) within the context of Muslim communities, with particular attention to the Nizari Ismaili and related communities. Zulfiqar’s broader academic interests include critical social theory, contemporary Muslim communities, media studies and philosophy.
On receiving the scholarship, Zulfiqar Khimani, said:
"I am deeply honoured and thankful to receive the IIS doctoral scholarship. The Institute’s contribution will make a positive difference in the academic study of Muslim communities and will certainly advance my study of Islam and Muslim societies. The interdisciplinary examination of issues facing contemporary Muslim communities has become crucial. The Institute acknowledge this need and offers support to aspiring scholars pursuing doctoral studies in Islamic Studies from interdisciplinary perspectives. I am grateful to the IIS for helping me pursue my most cherished dream."
Originally from Karachi, Zulfiqar Khimani has an MPhil from the University of Cambridge in Modern Society and Global Transformations with a focus on critical social theory and media studies. He studied at the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) at the IIS from 2006 – 2009. Prior to this, he obtained his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering and a postgraduate degree in social sciences from Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology. He has also been a recipient of an Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship (2011 - 2012).
Before starting his PhD at the University of Cambridge, Zulfiqar worked with the Aga Khan Development Network as Survey Coordinator for the Quality of Life Assessment Programme. Zulfiqar has also worked as a research consultant for Sindh Education Foundation, one of the premier educational organisations in Sindh, Pakistan.
Dr Omar Ali-de-Unzaga, Academic Coordinator of the Qur’anic Studies Unit at the IIS, was part of the panel that awarded the scholarship. Commenting on why Zulfiqar’s proposal was chosen, he said:
“We were very impressed with Zulfiqar’s doctoral project proposal. The reason behind its success is threefold. First of all, it analyses religious belonging vis-a-vis concepts such as transnationalism and diaspora. So, it will contribute to the development of conceptual tools necessary for a rigourous analysis of communities defined on religious rather than ethnic terms. Second, by integrating the theoretical approaches of social theory with the field of Islamic Studies, it contributes towards interdisciplinary perspectives on the study of Islam. Third, this study contributes to Ismaili Studies by exploring the contemporary landscape of Nizari Ismailis.”
The Institute of Ismaili Studies has been awarding doctoral scholarships since 1997 to candidates whose work contributes to the academic mandate of the IIS. For more information regarding scholarships offered, past recipients and the application process for next year, please visit the Doctoral Scholarship Programme page of the website. The application form for the 2013 Doctoral Scholarship Cycle will be available in January 2013.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2011: IIS Announces PhD Scholarship Awards for 2011
•News Archive, 2010: IIS Announces PhD Scholarship Awards for 2010
•Doctoral Scholarship Programme
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13717&l=en
THE IIS ACTIVITIES
North American Alumni Meet in Chicago
October 2012
Alumni from across North America met in Chicago for their annual meeting on 24-26 August on the topic of “Faith and Social Change.” This year’s meeting attracted a record number of participants, bringing together over 50 alumni from Canada and the United States.
More....
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113727
*****
GPISH Graduation Ceremony 2012
The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce the graduation celebration for the GPISH Class of 2012.
Venue: Social Hall, The Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, SW7 2SL, London
Date: 13th October, 2012
Time: 2:00 pm
The Event will be Live on this page at 2:00pm on the 13th of October, 2012
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113667
October 2012
Alumni from across North America met in Chicago for their annual meeting on 24-26 August on the topic of “Faith and Social Change.” This year’s meeting attracted a record number of participants, bringing together over 50 alumni from Canada and the United States.
More....
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113727
*****
GPISH Graduation Ceremony 2012
The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce the graduation celebration for the GPISH Class of 2012.
Venue: Social Hall, The Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, SW7 2SL, London
Date: 13th October, 2012
Time: 2:00 pm
The Event will be Live on this page at 2:00pm on the 13th of October, 2012
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113667
GPISH Class of 2012 mark the end of their studies at the IIS
October 2012
Twelve students marked the completion of their studies at The Institute of Ismaili Studies at a graduation ceremony for the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) class of 2012.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113742
*****
Video: GPISH Graduation Ceremony 2012
Venue: Ismaili Centre London, SW7 2SL
Date: 13th October 2012
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113732
October 2012
Twelve students marked the completion of their studies at The Institute of Ismaili Studies at a graduation ceremony for the Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) class of 2012.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113742
*****
Video: GPISH Graduation Ceremony 2012
Venue: Ismaili Centre London, SW7 2SL
Date: 13th October 2012
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113732
IIS scholar presents paper on the place of religion in modern Afghanistan
November 2012
Dr Yahia Baiza of IIS’ Central Asian Studies Unit presented a paper entitled, Religion, State and Politics: An Analysis of Religion’s Place in Modern Afghanistan, at a conference on Religious Difference and Conflict, at Stranmillis University College of Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Conference, held from 5-7 September, was organised by the Stranmillis University College and the Department of Religious Studies of The Open University.
Focusing on Afghanistan as a case study, Dr Baiza argues that religion has always been an important element in human history, society and people’s lives. His paper points out that, regardless of a country’s political structure, system of governance, economic infrastructure, and educational provisions, religion always has an important place in society. Even in the most secular societies, religion continues to shape social and cultural norms, communities’ relationships and individual behaviour. In more traditional societies, religion occupies a central position, and is more than a personal or communal belief. In Afghanistan, where society still preserves a great deal of its traditional character and identity, religion has been one of the most powerful elements in shaping all domains and stages of people’s lives.
Dr Baiza’s paper analyses the relationship between religion, state and politics in modern Afghanistan. Speaking at the conference, Dr Bazia, said: “In analysing the role and influence of religion in any sphere of life, it is important to distinguish between ‘religion,’ as a set of divine commands, laws and guidance revealed through divine scripture, and religion as an interpretation of institutionalised authorities. Another distinction is that of religion as a set of practices and rituals among ordinary members of society.”
Dr Baiza discussed a number of legal cases around access to education for women since 2007 and demonstrated how in such cases religion is used as a political tool by which people in power and institutionalised religious authorities attempt to spread their political influence and monopoly of power in society. Dr Baiza also highlights the rising number of civil society institutions which, together with international civil organisations, help for the people’s voice to be heard within the broader religio-political context and make a visible impact on the decisions made by religious and state institutions. Dr Baiza’s paper concludes by underlining the influence of the legacies of the past, an assessment of the current challenges, and the prospects for the future.
Dr Bazia’s paper was presented alongside other papers discussing Sectarianism and Politics in Asia, including a paper by Kurshid Sana Khan (University of Edinburgh, and an IIS Alumnus) on “Living amid the Religious and Ethnic Fault Lines in Pakistan: The Residential Preferences of Ismailis in Karachi”.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2011: IIS Scholars Present at the European Society for Central Asian Studies
•News Story 2012: CASU Organises Lecture on the State of Science and Scholarship in Central Asia
•Central Asian Studies: Publications
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13747&l=en
November 2012
Dr Yahia Baiza of IIS’ Central Asian Studies Unit presented a paper entitled, Religion, State and Politics: An Analysis of Religion’s Place in Modern Afghanistan, at a conference on Religious Difference and Conflict, at Stranmillis University College of Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Conference, held from 5-7 September, was organised by the Stranmillis University College and the Department of Religious Studies of The Open University.
Focusing on Afghanistan as a case study, Dr Baiza argues that religion has always been an important element in human history, society and people’s lives. His paper points out that, regardless of a country’s political structure, system of governance, economic infrastructure, and educational provisions, religion always has an important place in society. Even in the most secular societies, religion continues to shape social and cultural norms, communities’ relationships and individual behaviour. In more traditional societies, religion occupies a central position, and is more than a personal or communal belief. In Afghanistan, where society still preserves a great deal of its traditional character and identity, religion has been one of the most powerful elements in shaping all domains and stages of people’s lives.
Dr Baiza’s paper analyses the relationship between religion, state and politics in modern Afghanistan. Speaking at the conference, Dr Bazia, said: “In analysing the role and influence of religion in any sphere of life, it is important to distinguish between ‘religion,’ as a set of divine commands, laws and guidance revealed through divine scripture, and religion as an interpretation of institutionalised authorities. Another distinction is that of religion as a set of practices and rituals among ordinary members of society.”
Dr Baiza discussed a number of legal cases around access to education for women since 2007 and demonstrated how in such cases religion is used as a political tool by which people in power and institutionalised religious authorities attempt to spread their political influence and monopoly of power in society. Dr Baiza also highlights the rising number of civil society institutions which, together with international civil organisations, help for the people’s voice to be heard within the broader religio-political context and make a visible impact on the decisions made by religious and state institutions. Dr Baiza’s paper concludes by underlining the influence of the legacies of the past, an assessment of the current challenges, and the prospects for the future.
Dr Bazia’s paper was presented alongside other papers discussing Sectarianism and Politics in Asia, including a paper by Kurshid Sana Khan (University of Edinburgh, and an IIS Alumnus) on “Living amid the Religious and Ethnic Fault Lines in Pakistan: The Residential Preferences of Ismailis in Karachi”.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2011: IIS Scholars Present at the European Society for Central Asian Studies
•News Story 2012: CASU Organises Lecture on the State of Science and Scholarship in Central Asia
•Central Asian Studies: Publications
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13747&l=en
New IIS Update published
The IIS Update gives you a glimpse into the activity of The Institute of Ismaili Studies in 2012.
The new IIS Update e-zine includes an insight into the academic journey of IIS students; an interview with Dr Travis Zadeh, the author of The Vernacular Qur’an; as well as features on other aspects of the Institute’s work.
To view this issue of the IIS Update, click here.
We would welcome your thoughts and views on the new format and the content of this Update.
If you have any feedback, please share your thoughts with us here.
http://gallery.iis.ac.uk/iis_update/iis ... _2012.html
The IIS Update gives you a glimpse into the activity of The Institute of Ismaili Studies in 2012.
The new IIS Update e-zine includes an insight into the academic journey of IIS students; an interview with Dr Travis Zadeh, the author of The Vernacular Qur’an; as well as features on other aspects of the Institute’s work.
To view this issue of the IIS Update, click here.
We would welcome your thoughts and views on the new format and the content of this Update.
If you have any feedback, please share your thoughts with us here.
http://gallery.iis.ac.uk/iis_update/iis ... _2012.html
Holy Qur’an
Illuminated 19th century copy of the Qur’an from Kashmir
This copy of the Holy Qur’an is a fine example of nineteenth century Kashmir manuscript production with strong calligraphy and intricate illumination. With three illuminated double pages, this manuscript is written in an elegant naskhi hand, with a marginal translation and commentary in Persian.
Transcribed in 1298/1891 by Shaykh Ahmad b. Shaykh Muhammad
499 folios,
185 x 105 mm
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 00939&l=en
Illuminated 19th century copy of the Qur’an from Kashmir
This copy of the Holy Qur’an is a fine example of nineteenth century Kashmir manuscript production with strong calligraphy and intricate illumination. With three illuminated double pages, this manuscript is written in an elegant naskhi hand, with a marginal translation and commentary in Persian.
Transcribed in 1298/1891 by Shaykh Ahmad b. Shaykh Muhammad
499 folios,
185 x 105 mm
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 00939&l=en
IIS Commemorates Over a Century of Ismaili Scholarship in Russia
January 2013
The Central Asian Studies Unit held a seminar at the IIS, entitled ‘Russia and Ismaili Muslims: Over a Century of Learning’, on 5 November, 2012. The seminar explored the contribution of Russian scholarship to Ismaili studies and commemorated the centenary of His Highness Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III’s visit to Russia.
The seminar brought together scholars from the IIS, the ISMC and Russian institutions, including Institute of Philosophy and the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), to discuss various research works and findings. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Daftary highlighted the contributions of Russian scholars, particularly the achievements of Wladimir Ivanow, to Ismaili studies.
Professor Andrey Smirnov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy at the RAS, who translated Al-Kirmani’s Rahat al-Aql into Russian, spoke about the originality of al-Kirmani’s thought and philosophical disposition, highlighting his contribution to Islamic thought.
Davlat Khudonazarov gave an overview of the visit of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III to Russia in 1912. In his presentation, he provided insight into the relevant background and the relations of His Highness Aga Khan III with the Russian elite. Dr Khudonazarov supplemented his presentation with rarely seen photographs of individuals whom Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah met during his trip to Europe.
Speakers at the seminar discussed the unique contributions Russian scholars have made to Ismaili studies. The pioneering work of Russian scholars, such as Aleksey Bobrinskoy (1861 – 1938), Ivan Zarubin (1887-1964), Alexandr Semyonov (1873 – 1958) and Wladimir Ivanow (1887 – 1934), at the dawn of the 20th century created much interest among subsequent Soviet scholars in the Ismailis, their history, doctrine and contemporary situation.
Russian scholars’ interest in the Ismailis, primarily the Ismailis of Central Asia, dates back to the second half of the 19th century when the Russian Empire was pursuing geopolitical interests against British India in the mountainous region of Central Asia, namely the Pamirs, where Ismailis have lived in significant numbers. The intelligence gathering and exploration of the region, which was initially conducted for military purposes, gradually led to the study of the cultures and traditions of Central Asian Ismaili Muslims.
Many Russian military officers had a background in Oriental Studies and eagerly filled pages of their diaries and reports with descriptions of the cultures and geographical landscape of the region. However, it was a Russian ethnographer and traveller Aleksey Bobrinskoy who provided the first original data in Russian scholarship ascertaining the adherence of the mountain dwellers to the Ismaili Muslim tradition. His work (and the work of others, such as Ivan Zarubin and Alexandr Semyonov) prompted much interest in subsequent years in the traditions of the communities in the region. The tradition of learning and research on Ismailis continues to the present day. From the early 20th century, Mikhail Andreev (1873—1948), Evgeniy Bertels (1890 - 1957), Lyudmila Stroeva (1910-1993) and, more recently, Khayolbek Dodikhudoev, Aleksandr Smirnov, Stanislav Prozorov, Rakhmat Rakhimov, Ramazon Nazariev and others have continued to translate original works of Ismaili intellectuals into Russian and to study the Shi‘a heritage in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Participants at the seminar demonstrated the contributions of past Russian scholarship to Ismaili studies and the potential for Russian academia to engage scholars in the field of Ismaili studies, providing a better understanding of the Ismailis of Central Asia and the Russian Federation.
The seminar was accompanied by an exhibition of Russian books, photographs of relevant Russian scholars and military officers held at the Ismaili Centre, which was attended by Russian dignitaries and Ismaili leadership in London.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Co-Sponsors Conference to mark 125th birth Anniversary of Wladimir Ivanow
•Lifelong Learning Article: Evolution of the Shi‘a Ismaili Tradition in Central Asia
•Encyclopaedia Articles: Vladmir Alekseevich Ivanow
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113817
January 2013
The Central Asian Studies Unit held a seminar at the IIS, entitled ‘Russia and Ismaili Muslims: Over a Century of Learning’, on 5 November, 2012. The seminar explored the contribution of Russian scholarship to Ismaili studies and commemorated the centenary of His Highness Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III’s visit to Russia.
The seminar brought together scholars from the IIS, the ISMC and Russian institutions, including Institute of Philosophy and the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), to discuss various research works and findings. In his introductory remarks, Dr. Daftary highlighted the contributions of Russian scholars, particularly the achievements of Wladimir Ivanow, to Ismaili studies.
Professor Andrey Smirnov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Philosophy at the RAS, who translated Al-Kirmani’s Rahat al-Aql into Russian, spoke about the originality of al-Kirmani’s thought and philosophical disposition, highlighting his contribution to Islamic thought.
Davlat Khudonazarov gave an overview of the visit of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan III to Russia in 1912. In his presentation, he provided insight into the relevant background and the relations of His Highness Aga Khan III with the Russian elite. Dr Khudonazarov supplemented his presentation with rarely seen photographs of individuals whom Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah met during his trip to Europe.
Speakers at the seminar discussed the unique contributions Russian scholars have made to Ismaili studies. The pioneering work of Russian scholars, such as Aleksey Bobrinskoy (1861 – 1938), Ivan Zarubin (1887-1964), Alexandr Semyonov (1873 – 1958) and Wladimir Ivanow (1887 – 1934), at the dawn of the 20th century created much interest among subsequent Soviet scholars in the Ismailis, their history, doctrine and contemporary situation.
Russian scholars’ interest in the Ismailis, primarily the Ismailis of Central Asia, dates back to the second half of the 19th century when the Russian Empire was pursuing geopolitical interests against British India in the mountainous region of Central Asia, namely the Pamirs, where Ismailis have lived in significant numbers. The intelligence gathering and exploration of the region, which was initially conducted for military purposes, gradually led to the study of the cultures and traditions of Central Asian Ismaili Muslims.
Many Russian military officers had a background in Oriental Studies and eagerly filled pages of their diaries and reports with descriptions of the cultures and geographical landscape of the region. However, it was a Russian ethnographer and traveller Aleksey Bobrinskoy who provided the first original data in Russian scholarship ascertaining the adherence of the mountain dwellers to the Ismaili Muslim tradition. His work (and the work of others, such as Ivan Zarubin and Alexandr Semyonov) prompted much interest in subsequent years in the traditions of the communities in the region. The tradition of learning and research on Ismailis continues to the present day. From the early 20th century, Mikhail Andreev (1873—1948), Evgeniy Bertels (1890 - 1957), Lyudmila Stroeva (1910-1993) and, more recently, Khayolbek Dodikhudoev, Aleksandr Smirnov, Stanislav Prozorov, Rakhmat Rakhimov, Ramazon Nazariev and others have continued to translate original works of Ismaili intellectuals into Russian and to study the Shi‘a heritage in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Participants at the seminar demonstrated the contributions of past Russian scholarship to Ismaili studies and the potential for Russian academia to engage scholars in the field of Ismaili studies, providing a better understanding of the Ismailis of Central Asia and the Russian Federation.
The seminar was accompanied by an exhibition of Russian books, photographs of relevant Russian scholars and military officers held at the Ismaili Centre, which was attended by Russian dignitaries and Ismaili leadership in London.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Co-Sponsors Conference to mark 125th birth Anniversary of Wladimir Ivanow
•Lifelong Learning Article: Evolution of the Shi‘a Ismaili Tradition in Central Asia
•Encyclopaedia Articles: Vladmir Alekseevich Ivanow
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113817
IIS Research Associate Awarded Certificate of Honour in Iran
January 2013
Dr Sayyad Jalal Badakhchani, Research Associate at the IIS, has recently been awarded the certificate of honour by the Heritage Foundation and the National Library of Iran for his contributions to reintroducing the extant Persian text of Qa'imiyat, a collection of poems from the Alamut period of Ismaili history.
Dr Badakhchani’s latest publication, a Persian edition of the Diwan-i Qa’imiyyat, attributed to the 13th century poet and scholar, Hasan Mahmud-i Katib, was published in 2011 by the IIS, in collaboration with the Written Heritage Research Centre in Tehran. This edition was prepared, in part, using an extant copy of the manuscript of the Diwan which was discovered during the renovation of an old building, where it had been hidden for many centuries. Almost thirty years after this discovery, Dr Badakhchani found photocopies of other sections, which account for the missing sections. The Persian edition reflects two of the seven volumes of Hasan Mahmud-i Katib’s original work.
“The importance of Hasan’s works”, Dr. Badakhchani stated, “lies in the fact that, until the discovery of a more reliable source on the Nizari Ismaili doctrine of Qiyamat, his writings remain the most extensive and contemporary interpretation to survive up to our time.”
Hasan-i Mahmud-i Katib was a close associate of the famous thirteenth-century Muslim intellectual, Nasir al-din Tusi. Hasan actively compiled Tusi’s lectures and scholarly writings. As a result of the relationship between the two individuals, Hasan was able to obtain a respectable grasp of Tusi’s ideas and render them in poetic form. Furthermore, Hasan also composed his own poems and collected the works of past Ismaili poets from the Alamut period.
In 1233 CE, Hasan presented a compilation of poems to the Nizari Ismaili Imam of his time, Imam ‘Ala al-Din Muhammad. At least three copies of this version, which Hasan named Qa’imiyat, are known to have survived to the present day.
The surviving texts of the Alamut period reveal that the Persian Ismaili Community maintained a sophisticated literary tradition, elaborating their response to the changed circumstances of this period. The Qa’imiyat occupies a unique place in the literary tradition of the Nizari Ismailis, shedding light on their teachings of the twelfth century CE.
The Persian text has been published with an extensive introduction by Professor Shafi‘i Kadhkani, a well-known contemporary Persian writer, poet and literary critic. He states that, in the development of Persian poetry and its Ismaili component, “the Qaimiyat is a masterly poetical work much richer in Ismaili terminology, not only of the Diwan of Nasir-i Khusraw and Nizari Quhistani, but also the prose writings of Nasir al-din Tusi.” The present edition also includes a brief English introduction by Dr Badakhchani.
Dr Badakhchani obtained his MA in Islamic Philosophy from the faculty of Theology at the University of Mashhad in 1975 and his doctorate in Islamic Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1989. He served as Deputy Director of the Central Library at Firdausi University in Mashhad, Iran, and Librarian at the IIS, before taking on the role of Research Associate.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Scholars Attend Launch of Diwan-i Qa’imiyyat
•Publication Content: Contemplation and Action: the Spiritual Autobiography of a Muslim Scholar
•News Archive, 2011: New publication of Nasir al-Din Tusi’s works
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13827&l=en
January 2013
Dr Sayyad Jalal Badakhchani, Research Associate at the IIS, has recently been awarded the certificate of honour by the Heritage Foundation and the National Library of Iran for his contributions to reintroducing the extant Persian text of Qa'imiyat, a collection of poems from the Alamut period of Ismaili history.
Dr Badakhchani’s latest publication, a Persian edition of the Diwan-i Qa’imiyyat, attributed to the 13th century poet and scholar, Hasan Mahmud-i Katib, was published in 2011 by the IIS, in collaboration with the Written Heritage Research Centre in Tehran. This edition was prepared, in part, using an extant copy of the manuscript of the Diwan which was discovered during the renovation of an old building, where it had been hidden for many centuries. Almost thirty years after this discovery, Dr Badakhchani found photocopies of other sections, which account for the missing sections. The Persian edition reflects two of the seven volumes of Hasan Mahmud-i Katib’s original work.
“The importance of Hasan’s works”, Dr. Badakhchani stated, “lies in the fact that, until the discovery of a more reliable source on the Nizari Ismaili doctrine of Qiyamat, his writings remain the most extensive and contemporary interpretation to survive up to our time.”
Hasan-i Mahmud-i Katib was a close associate of the famous thirteenth-century Muslim intellectual, Nasir al-din Tusi. Hasan actively compiled Tusi’s lectures and scholarly writings. As a result of the relationship between the two individuals, Hasan was able to obtain a respectable grasp of Tusi’s ideas and render them in poetic form. Furthermore, Hasan also composed his own poems and collected the works of past Ismaili poets from the Alamut period.
In 1233 CE, Hasan presented a compilation of poems to the Nizari Ismaili Imam of his time, Imam ‘Ala al-Din Muhammad. At least three copies of this version, which Hasan named Qa’imiyat, are known to have survived to the present day.
The surviving texts of the Alamut period reveal that the Persian Ismaili Community maintained a sophisticated literary tradition, elaborating their response to the changed circumstances of this period. The Qa’imiyat occupies a unique place in the literary tradition of the Nizari Ismailis, shedding light on their teachings of the twelfth century CE.
The Persian text has been published with an extensive introduction by Professor Shafi‘i Kadhkani, a well-known contemporary Persian writer, poet and literary critic. He states that, in the development of Persian poetry and its Ismaili component, “the Qaimiyat is a masterly poetical work much richer in Ismaili terminology, not only of the Diwan of Nasir-i Khusraw and Nizari Quhistani, but also the prose writings of Nasir al-din Tusi.” The present edition also includes a brief English introduction by Dr Badakhchani.
Dr Badakhchani obtained his MA in Islamic Philosophy from the faculty of Theology at the University of Mashhad in 1975 and his doctorate in Islamic Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1989. He served as Deputy Director of the Central Library at Firdausi University in Mashhad, Iran, and Librarian at the IIS, before taking on the role of Research Associate.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Scholars Attend Launch of Diwan-i Qa’imiyyat
•Publication Content: Contemplation and Action: the Spiritual Autobiography of a Muslim Scholar
•News Archive, 2011: New publication of Nasir al-Din Tusi’s works
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13827&l=en
STEP Teacher Presents at the History of Education Society’s Annual Conference
February 2013
Faheem Hussain, a student from the class of 2012 of the IIS Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP), presented a paper, entitled Textbooks, Power and Society at the History of Education Society's Annual Conference on Rulers, Rebels & Reformers, hosted by the University of Winchester in Exeter, UK in December 2012.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113872
*******
European Chapter Group Alumni Meet in Istanbul
February 2013
Alumni from across Europe met in Istanbul for their annual meeting on 7-10 December 2012. The meeting brought together 19 alumni to explore “Ethics in the Modern World”.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113867
*******
IIS awards first Mohammed Arkoun Doctoral Scholarship
February 2013
The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) is pleased to announce the award of the first Mohammed Arkoun Doctoral Scholarship to Yaser Mirdamadi, who will pursue his doctoral studies at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh. He was selected from amongst 40 applicants from 11 countries
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113862
February 2013
Faheem Hussain, a student from the class of 2012 of the IIS Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP), presented a paper, entitled Textbooks, Power and Society at the History of Education Society's Annual Conference on Rulers, Rebels & Reformers, hosted by the University of Winchester in Exeter, UK in December 2012.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113872
*******
European Chapter Group Alumni Meet in Istanbul
February 2013
Alumni from across Europe met in Istanbul for their annual meeting on 7-10 December 2012. The meeting brought together 19 alumni to explore “Ethics in the Modern World”.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113867
*******
IIS awards first Mohammed Arkoun Doctoral Scholarship
February 2013
The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) is pleased to announce the award of the first Mohammed Arkoun Doctoral Scholarship to Yaser Mirdamadi, who will pursue his doctoral studies at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh. He was selected from amongst 40 applicants from 11 countries
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113862
IIS Launches 2013 Lecture Series
March 2013
Mr Daniel Beben of Indiana University, USA, and Mr Matthew Melvin-Koushki of Oxford Universtiy, UK, were the first two speakers in the IIS’ 2013 Lecture Series.
Mr Daniel Beben of Indiana University, USA, delivered a lecture at the IIS on 15th January, entitled Jami‘ al-salasil and the Place of Nasir-i Khusraw in the Central Asian Sufi Tradition. Mr Beben is a PhD Candidate at Indiana University and is currently conducting research on the Ismaili tradition of Central Asia from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.
The focus of this lecture was Nasir-i Khusraw, a renowned poet, philosopher, and Ismaili missionary of the eleventh century. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited for having introduced the people of the mountainous Central Asian province of Badakhshan to the Ismaili Muslim tradition and is still widely revered among the Ismaili communities of Central Asia. However, there is also another aspect to the legacy of Nasir-i Khusraw in Central Asia which has not been as widely recognised, namely his reputation as a Sufi saint among many Sunni communities in Badakhshan and surrounding areas.
This aspect of Nasir-i Khusraw’s legacy is documented in a number of texts dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, which are often accompanied by a pseudo-autobiography of Nasir-i Khusraw. This fabricated autobiography seeks to re-write the history of Nasir-i Khusraw, presenting him as a Sunni Muslim with no affiliation to the Ismailis.
In his talk, Mr Beben surveyed a body of hagiographical literature produced between the 14th and 19th centuries which reflect the acceptance and establishment of Nasir-i Khusraw within the Sufi traditions of Central Asia. He focussed particularly on an account found in a previously unstudied source: the Jami‘ al-salasil of Majd al-Din ‘Ali Badakhshani.
According to Mr Beben, the Jami‘ al-salasil is a hagiographical summary written in 1640 in India by the grandson of a well-known Shaykh of the Kubravi Sufi order from Badakhshan. The text explores the major Sufi communities of India and Central Asia, looking particularly at the local mystical traditions of Badakhshan and asserting the prominence of this region within the spiritual geography of the eastern Muslim world. Badakhshani’s account of Nasir-i Khusraw in this text offers a unique window into the appropriation of this figure within the narrative traditions of the Central Asian Sufi orders.
“The importance of this textual tradition is not found in what it may tell us about the historical biography of Nasir-i Khusraw, but rather in what it may tell us about the histories of the communities in which it developed and circulated. It reveals to us a rich pattern of interactions between Ismaili and non-Ismaili communities in Central Asia, centred on the personage and sanctity of Nasir-i Khusraw, and demonstrates how the legacy of this figure became a means for the people of Badakhshan to assert their place within the broader currents of Muslim civilization”, says Mr Beben.
Daniel Beben also examined a number of ‘counter-narratives’ found in Ismaili texts and in the records of Russian ethnographic accounts of Ismaili communities from the early twentieth century, which demonstrate an effort to place the Ismaili da‘wa once again at the centre of Central Asia’s religious history. Mr Beben argued that these accounts demonstrate that the Ismaili tradition of Central Asia, far from being a marginal phenomenon in the region, was in fact closely engaged with the broader spiritual debates of Muslim society in Central Asia.
Mr Melvin–Koushki’s lecture on Occultism, Science and Empire in the Early Modern Islamic World, which took place on 26 February, discussed his initial research into Letterism as a scientific endeavour in the early modern Muslim world. In his lecture, Mr Melvin-Koushki made a case for further study into how occultism had an impact on the construction of the early modern empire and the development of experimental natural philosophy. He argued that, in order to properly evaluate the great florescence of occultist discourses in the Islamic world from the 13th Century onwards, a fundamental re-periodisation of later history is required.
Mr Melvin-Koushki said, “We need to re-look at texts and history of the early modern Islamic world while recognising the emergence of walaya, or sanctified power, as a hegemonic concept in Islamic cultures, which drove intellectual, social, religious, political, economic and creative developments, often associated with the advent of modernity. In other words, by the early modern period, sainthood was adopted as a fundamental basis for a wide range of cultural narratives from theories of kingship to occult science”.
To see Daniel Beben talk about his research view this video:
Related pages on the IIS website:
•News Story 2013: New IIS publication explores the philosophical poetry of Nasir-i Khusraw
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Publishes New Translation of Nasir-i Khusraw’s Last Known Work
•Lifelong Learning Article: Nasir Khusraw: Fatimid Intellectual
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113882
March 2013
Mr Daniel Beben of Indiana University, USA, and Mr Matthew Melvin-Koushki of Oxford Universtiy, UK, were the first two speakers in the IIS’ 2013 Lecture Series.
Mr Daniel Beben of Indiana University, USA, delivered a lecture at the IIS on 15th January, entitled Jami‘ al-salasil and the Place of Nasir-i Khusraw in the Central Asian Sufi Tradition. Mr Beben is a PhD Candidate at Indiana University and is currently conducting research on the Ismaili tradition of Central Asia from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries.
The focus of this lecture was Nasir-i Khusraw, a renowned poet, philosopher, and Ismaili missionary of the eleventh century. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited for having introduced the people of the mountainous Central Asian province of Badakhshan to the Ismaili Muslim tradition and is still widely revered among the Ismaili communities of Central Asia. However, there is also another aspect to the legacy of Nasir-i Khusraw in Central Asia which has not been as widely recognised, namely his reputation as a Sufi saint among many Sunni communities in Badakhshan and surrounding areas.
This aspect of Nasir-i Khusraw’s legacy is documented in a number of texts dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, which are often accompanied by a pseudo-autobiography of Nasir-i Khusraw. This fabricated autobiography seeks to re-write the history of Nasir-i Khusraw, presenting him as a Sunni Muslim with no affiliation to the Ismailis.
In his talk, Mr Beben surveyed a body of hagiographical literature produced between the 14th and 19th centuries which reflect the acceptance and establishment of Nasir-i Khusraw within the Sufi traditions of Central Asia. He focussed particularly on an account found in a previously unstudied source: the Jami‘ al-salasil of Majd al-Din ‘Ali Badakhshani.
According to Mr Beben, the Jami‘ al-salasil is a hagiographical summary written in 1640 in India by the grandson of a well-known Shaykh of the Kubravi Sufi order from Badakhshan. The text explores the major Sufi communities of India and Central Asia, looking particularly at the local mystical traditions of Badakhshan and asserting the prominence of this region within the spiritual geography of the eastern Muslim world. Badakhshani’s account of Nasir-i Khusraw in this text offers a unique window into the appropriation of this figure within the narrative traditions of the Central Asian Sufi orders.
“The importance of this textual tradition is not found in what it may tell us about the historical biography of Nasir-i Khusraw, but rather in what it may tell us about the histories of the communities in which it developed and circulated. It reveals to us a rich pattern of interactions between Ismaili and non-Ismaili communities in Central Asia, centred on the personage and sanctity of Nasir-i Khusraw, and demonstrates how the legacy of this figure became a means for the people of Badakhshan to assert their place within the broader currents of Muslim civilization”, says Mr Beben.
Daniel Beben also examined a number of ‘counter-narratives’ found in Ismaili texts and in the records of Russian ethnographic accounts of Ismaili communities from the early twentieth century, which demonstrate an effort to place the Ismaili da‘wa once again at the centre of Central Asia’s religious history. Mr Beben argued that these accounts demonstrate that the Ismaili tradition of Central Asia, far from being a marginal phenomenon in the region, was in fact closely engaged with the broader spiritual debates of Muslim society in Central Asia.
Mr Melvin–Koushki’s lecture on Occultism, Science and Empire in the Early Modern Islamic World, which took place on 26 February, discussed his initial research into Letterism as a scientific endeavour in the early modern Muslim world. In his lecture, Mr Melvin-Koushki made a case for further study into how occultism had an impact on the construction of the early modern empire and the development of experimental natural philosophy. He argued that, in order to properly evaluate the great florescence of occultist discourses in the Islamic world from the 13th Century onwards, a fundamental re-periodisation of later history is required.
Mr Melvin-Koushki said, “We need to re-look at texts and history of the early modern Islamic world while recognising the emergence of walaya, or sanctified power, as a hegemonic concept in Islamic cultures, which drove intellectual, social, religious, political, economic and creative developments, often associated with the advent of modernity. In other words, by the early modern period, sainthood was adopted as a fundamental basis for a wide range of cultural narratives from theories of kingship to occult science”.
To see Daniel Beben talk about his research view this video:
Related pages on the IIS website:
•News Story 2013: New IIS publication explores the philosophical poetry of Nasir-i Khusraw
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Publishes New Translation of Nasir-i Khusraw’s Last Known Work
•Lifelong Learning Article: Nasir Khusraw: Fatimid Intellectual
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113882
Qur’anic Studies scholars present papers at the American Oriental Society Meeting, 2013
April 2013
Four scholars from the Qur’anic Studies Unit at the IIS, Drs Nuha Al-Sha’ar, Karen Bauer, Stephen Burge and Asma Hilali, presented papers at the 223rd American Oriental Society meeting. This year’s meeting was held in Portland, USA, between 15 and 18 March 2013, and was attended by over 150 academics from across the globe.
Dr Nuha Al-Sha’ar presented a paper entitled ‘The Use of the Qur’an in Andalusian Poems (Muwashshahat) of the Thirteenth Century: A Case Study of Ibn Sahl al-Ishbili’. Dr Al-Sha’ar commented on how little attention has been paid to the religious components of the muwashshahat, especially regarding its Qur’anic themes and their functions in the text. She sought to set this right by providing a case study of some of the muwashshahat by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn Sahl al-Isra’ili al-Ishbili (died ca. 1250). He was a convert to Islam from Judaism, who is considered one of the greatest poets of al-Andalus.
Dr Karen Bauer presented a paper entitled ‘Women’s Rights are Like their Duties bi’l-ma’ruf: The Ethical Treatment of Wives in Classical Tafsir and Marriage Contracts’. Dr Bauer noted that classical Islamic marital ethics has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, with authors particularly focusing on the inequalities between husbands and wives. She pointed to Kecia Ali’s study of Hanafi, Shafi‘i and Maliki juridical opinions of marriage and divorce, and the jurists’ justifications for their rulings, which shows that notions of equality in marriage that are common in some parts of the world today are not reflected in Classical Islamic juridical opinions on the role of husband and wife.
Dr Stephen Burge presented a paper entitled ‘Al-Suyuti: Hadith, Politics, Power, and “People Control”’. Dr Burge provided a survey of the works of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) and argued that many of them can be viewed as means to control the masses. He noted that al-Suyuti sought to influence the religious and social practices of the masses by accommodating popular aspects of culture into normative Islam.
Dr Asma Hilali presented a paper entitled ‘The Oldest Manuscript of the Qur’an: An Edition and Commentary on Selected Passages of the Qur’an Manuscript 27.1 Dar al-Makhtutat, Yemen’. In her paper, Dr Hilali provided a summary of the oldest fragments of this Qur’an manuscript, which was discovered in 1979. Dr Hilali described the page as containing two layers of Qur’anic texts, an initial layer which had been deleted and replaced with a second layer. In her presentation she discussed the problematic passages of the manuscript (folios 5a; 5b; 6a; 11b; 21a) and presented the particularities of each passage, focusing on the problem of the Qur’anic variants (additions/omissions, ‘extra-qur’anic’ texts). Based on these particularities, Dr Hilali presented conclusions related to the manuscript’s use and status.
The meeting is an annual event, hosted by The American Oriental Society, the oldest learned society in the United States devoted to basic research in the languages and literatures of Asia. It includes such subjects as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography, epigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectual and imaginative aspects of Oriental civilisations, especially of philosophy, religion, folklore and art.
Further details of the papers presented can be found here.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Research Associate Presents Paper at Annual Meeting of American Oriental Society
•Academic Article: Al-Suyuti on the Merits of Imam ‘Ali by Dr Stephen Burge
•News Archive, 2009: Dr Karen Bauer Presents Paper on “Tafsir and its Audience”
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113942
******
Husayn B. ‘Ali: Life and Significance in Shi‘ism
Professor Wilferd Madelung
This is an edited version of an article originally published in the Encyclopedia Iranica on December 15, 2004 available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/; print Vol. XII, Fasc. 5, p. 493-498
Download the PDF of the article
Table of Contents:
•Hasan and Husayn in the Prophet’s household
•During the Caliphate of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib
•Relations between Banu Ummaya and Banu Hasham
•Ascension of Yazid b. Mu‘awiya to the Caliphate
•The Shia uprising against Yazid b. Mu‘awiya
•Yazid’s orders to deter Husayn and his supporters
•Withdrawal of the Kufan Shia
•The Event of Karbala
•Encounter between Husayn and Yazid’s Commander Omar b. Sa‘d
•Orders for Commander ‘Omar b. Sa‘d to fight Husayn
•The night before the battle of Karbala’
•The battle of Karbala’
•Survivors of the battle of Karbala’
•The impact of the Event of Karbala’
•The family of Husayn
•Bibliography
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113962
*******
Live Webcast of A Companion to Muslim Cultures book launch
The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce a book launch for A Companion to Muslim Cultures edited by Dr Amyn B Sajoo.
Venue: Social Hall, The Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, SW7 2SL, London
Date: 2nd May, 2013
Time: 8:15 pm
Dr Sajoo will engage in an on-stage discussion with Raficq Abdulla about this latest publication in the Muslim Heritage Series.
The event will take place at 7:45 pm on Thursday 2nd May 2013 at the Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, London SW7 2SL.
Limited places are available at the book launch; please contact Sarah Ismail at [email protected] if you are interested in attending this event.
This event will be viewable live from this page at 8:15 PM BST on the 2nd of May, 2013.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113922
April 2013
Four scholars from the Qur’anic Studies Unit at the IIS, Drs Nuha Al-Sha’ar, Karen Bauer, Stephen Burge and Asma Hilali, presented papers at the 223rd American Oriental Society meeting. This year’s meeting was held in Portland, USA, between 15 and 18 March 2013, and was attended by over 150 academics from across the globe.
Dr Nuha Al-Sha’ar presented a paper entitled ‘The Use of the Qur’an in Andalusian Poems (Muwashshahat) of the Thirteenth Century: A Case Study of Ibn Sahl al-Ishbili’. Dr Al-Sha’ar commented on how little attention has been paid to the religious components of the muwashshahat, especially regarding its Qur’anic themes and their functions in the text. She sought to set this right by providing a case study of some of the muwashshahat by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn Sahl al-Isra’ili al-Ishbili (died ca. 1250). He was a convert to Islam from Judaism, who is considered one of the greatest poets of al-Andalus.
Dr Karen Bauer presented a paper entitled ‘Women’s Rights are Like their Duties bi’l-ma’ruf: The Ethical Treatment of Wives in Classical Tafsir and Marriage Contracts’. Dr Bauer noted that classical Islamic marital ethics has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years, with authors particularly focusing on the inequalities between husbands and wives. She pointed to Kecia Ali’s study of Hanafi, Shafi‘i and Maliki juridical opinions of marriage and divorce, and the jurists’ justifications for their rulings, which shows that notions of equality in marriage that are common in some parts of the world today are not reflected in Classical Islamic juridical opinions on the role of husband and wife.
Dr Stephen Burge presented a paper entitled ‘Al-Suyuti: Hadith, Politics, Power, and “People Control”’. Dr Burge provided a survey of the works of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) and argued that many of them can be viewed as means to control the masses. He noted that al-Suyuti sought to influence the religious and social practices of the masses by accommodating popular aspects of culture into normative Islam.
Dr Asma Hilali presented a paper entitled ‘The Oldest Manuscript of the Qur’an: An Edition and Commentary on Selected Passages of the Qur’an Manuscript 27.1 Dar al-Makhtutat, Yemen’. In her paper, Dr Hilali provided a summary of the oldest fragments of this Qur’an manuscript, which was discovered in 1979. Dr Hilali described the page as containing two layers of Qur’anic texts, an initial layer which had been deleted and replaced with a second layer. In her presentation she discussed the problematic passages of the manuscript (folios 5a; 5b; 6a; 11b; 21a) and presented the particularities of each passage, focusing on the problem of the Qur’anic variants (additions/omissions, ‘extra-qur’anic’ texts). Based on these particularities, Dr Hilali presented conclusions related to the manuscript’s use and status.
The meeting is an annual event, hosted by The American Oriental Society, the oldest learned society in the United States devoted to basic research in the languages and literatures of Asia. It includes such subjects as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography, epigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectual and imaginative aspects of Oriental civilisations, especially of philosophy, religion, folklore and art.
Further details of the papers presented can be found here.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2012: IIS Research Associate Presents Paper at Annual Meeting of American Oriental Society
•Academic Article: Al-Suyuti on the Merits of Imam ‘Ali by Dr Stephen Burge
•News Archive, 2009: Dr Karen Bauer Presents Paper on “Tafsir and its Audience”
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113942
******
Husayn B. ‘Ali: Life and Significance in Shi‘ism
Professor Wilferd Madelung
This is an edited version of an article originally published in the Encyclopedia Iranica on December 15, 2004 available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/; print Vol. XII, Fasc. 5, p. 493-498
Download the PDF of the article
Table of Contents:
•Hasan and Husayn in the Prophet’s household
•During the Caliphate of ‘Ali b. Abi Talib
•Relations between Banu Ummaya and Banu Hasham
•Ascension of Yazid b. Mu‘awiya to the Caliphate
•The Shia uprising against Yazid b. Mu‘awiya
•Yazid’s orders to deter Husayn and his supporters
•Withdrawal of the Kufan Shia
•The Event of Karbala
•Encounter between Husayn and Yazid’s Commander Omar b. Sa‘d
•Orders for Commander ‘Omar b. Sa‘d to fight Husayn
•The night before the battle of Karbala’
•The battle of Karbala’
•Survivors of the battle of Karbala’
•The impact of the Event of Karbala’
•The family of Husayn
•Bibliography
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113962
*******
Live Webcast of A Companion to Muslim Cultures book launch
The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to announce a book launch for A Companion to Muslim Cultures edited by Dr Amyn B Sajoo.
Venue: Social Hall, The Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, SW7 2SL, London
Date: 2nd May, 2013
Time: 8:15 pm
Dr Sajoo will engage in an on-stage discussion with Raficq Abdulla about this latest publication in the Muslim Heritage Series.
The event will take place at 7:45 pm on Thursday 2nd May 2013 at the Ismaili Centre, 1 Cromwell Gardens, London SW7 2SL.
Limited places are available at the book launch; please contact Sarah Ismail at [email protected] if you are interested in attending this event.
This event will be viewable live from this page at 8:15 PM BST on the 2nd of May, 2013.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113922
IIS Scholar Presents Paper at Engaging Sociology Conference in London
May 2013
Dr Al-Karim Datoo, Research Coordinator for the Constituency Studies Unit at the IIS, presented a paper entitled ‘ Sociological exploration of values in a globalising context’ at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference ‘Engaging Sociology’ on 5 April 2013 in London.
In his presentation, Dr Datoo analysed how the forces and processes of globalisation impact the formation of values, with specific reference to understanding the nature of global-local dynamics which shape social and moral values of youth in Pakistan. Drawing upon his one-year long critical ethnographic study of a high school in Karachi, Dr Datoo argued that, like images, ideas, economies and people, value systems are also set in motion due to the processes of globalisation.
His presentation highlighted the complex trajectory of global cultural flows which circulate in the daily lives of youth (through media and education), as well as the variety of socio-political ideological exposure which in turn constitute and alter contemporary value-scapes of youth in the Pakistani context. In this regard, Dr Datoo theorised as to how opposing factors such as: global and local, modern and traditional, occident and orient shape young people’s interpretations of the world, their self and others which, in turn, influence what youth come to value as worthwhile in their daily lives in today’s globalising world. Dr Datoo concluded his presentation by suggesting some theoretical optics which may prove useful in doing sociological studies on values.
Speaking about his presentation, Dr Datoo said:
‘My aim was to highlight some of the key theoretical optics with which to look at cross-cultural dynamics that play a part in the construction of values. This will help in designing ethnographic research around the theme of globalisation and the development of values.’
Dr Al-Karim Datoo is Research Coordinator in the Department of Constituency Studies at the IIS. Prior to joining the IIS, Dr Datoo was Assistant Professor at the Aga Khan University-Institute of Educational Development where he taught and researched for 9 years in areas of educational research, social sciences and humanities. Dr Datoo has a PhD in Sociology of Education from McGill University, Canada. His doctoral ethnography explored the nexus between cultural globalisation, curriculum and youth identity in an urban Pakistani context. Prior to his PhD, Dr Datoo completed an MSc in Educational Research Methodology at University of Oxford and is a graduate of the IIS Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities.
Related Pages on the IIS website:
•Alumni News & Events, 2012: IIS Alumnus Contributing to Improve Quality of Life in Northern Pakistan
•News Archive, 2009: IIS Scholar Investigates Perceptions of Youth in Northern Pakistan
•Lifelong Learning Article: Religion and Globalisation: Perspectives for the New Millennium
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113982
May 2013
Dr Al-Karim Datoo, Research Coordinator for the Constituency Studies Unit at the IIS, presented a paper entitled ‘ Sociological exploration of values in a globalising context’ at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference ‘Engaging Sociology’ on 5 April 2013 in London.
In his presentation, Dr Datoo analysed how the forces and processes of globalisation impact the formation of values, with specific reference to understanding the nature of global-local dynamics which shape social and moral values of youth in Pakistan. Drawing upon his one-year long critical ethnographic study of a high school in Karachi, Dr Datoo argued that, like images, ideas, economies and people, value systems are also set in motion due to the processes of globalisation.
His presentation highlighted the complex trajectory of global cultural flows which circulate in the daily lives of youth (through media and education), as well as the variety of socio-political ideological exposure which in turn constitute and alter contemporary value-scapes of youth in the Pakistani context. In this regard, Dr Datoo theorised as to how opposing factors such as: global and local, modern and traditional, occident and orient shape young people’s interpretations of the world, their self and others which, in turn, influence what youth come to value as worthwhile in their daily lives in today’s globalising world. Dr Datoo concluded his presentation by suggesting some theoretical optics which may prove useful in doing sociological studies on values.
Speaking about his presentation, Dr Datoo said:
‘My aim was to highlight some of the key theoretical optics with which to look at cross-cultural dynamics that play a part in the construction of values. This will help in designing ethnographic research around the theme of globalisation and the development of values.’
Dr Al-Karim Datoo is Research Coordinator in the Department of Constituency Studies at the IIS. Prior to joining the IIS, Dr Datoo was Assistant Professor at the Aga Khan University-Institute of Educational Development where he taught and researched for 9 years in areas of educational research, social sciences and humanities. Dr Datoo has a PhD in Sociology of Education from McGill University, Canada. His doctoral ethnography explored the nexus between cultural globalisation, curriculum and youth identity in an urban Pakistani context. Prior to his PhD, Dr Datoo completed an MSc in Educational Research Methodology at University of Oxford and is a graduate of the IIS Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities.
Related Pages on the IIS website:
•Alumni News & Events, 2012: IIS Alumnus Contributing to Improve Quality of Life in Northern Pakistan
•News Archive, 2009: IIS Scholar Investigates Perceptions of Youth in Northern Pakistan
•Lifelong Learning Article: Religion and Globalisation: Perspectives for the New Millennium
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=113982
Ya Ali Madad.
I wish to know if if any close study on translation of Quran in done in IIS as a research subject
A folly by all translators has made this Ummah go wrong n directionless.
the straight forward meaning og the word Imam is Guide/leader
and the word Mubeen is zahir that is seen/living.
The final word of Quran for mankind was no joke but a serious order n message.
When the word 'Imam E Mubeen' was mentioned all 100% quack translator
tralanted it as register , did not they have simple common sense to understand the words.
The whole of Quran tafseer is all Bull shit and translation also are mis leading.
Can we Ismaili, Those who are is good in Arabic n English translate Quran again
and for tafseer I can offer my services.
we must with no fear to do this and save Ummah going to the drains
with quacks of the past.
How does one go about it.
Time for ALI to open up in near future is mandated and it is we who have to prepare ground for it.
LETS GO FOR IT.
FOR ALI N FOR UMMAH.
I wish to know if if any close study on translation of Quran in done in IIS as a research subject
A folly by all translators has made this Ummah go wrong n directionless.
the straight forward meaning og the word Imam is Guide/leader
and the word Mubeen is zahir that is seen/living.
The final word of Quran for mankind was no joke but a serious order n message.
When the word 'Imam E Mubeen' was mentioned all 100% quack translator
tralanted it as register , did not they have simple common sense to understand the words.
The whole of Quran tafseer is all Bull shit and translation also are mis leading.
Can we Ismaili, Those who are is good in Arabic n English translate Quran again
and for tafseer I can offer my services.
we must with no fear to do this and save Ummah going to the drains
with quacks of the past.
How does one go about it.
Time for ALI to open up in near future is mandated and it is we who have to prepare ground for it.
LETS GO FOR IT.
FOR ALI N FOR UMMAH.
kmaherali wrote:IIS scholar presents paper on the place of religion in modern Afghanistan
November 2012
Dr Yahia Baiza of IIS’ Central Asian Studies Unit presented a paper entitled, Religion, State and Politics: An Analysis of Religion’s Place in Modern Afghanistan, at a conference on Religious Difference and Conflict, at Stranmillis University College of Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Conference, held from 5-7 September, was organised by the Stranmillis University College and the Department of Religious Studies of The Open University.
Focusing on Afghanistan as a case study, Dr Baiza argues that religion has always been an important element in human history, society and people’s lives. His paper points out that, regardless of a country’s political structure, system of governance, economic infrastructure, and educational provisions, religion always has an important place in society. Even in the most secular societies, religion continues to shape social and cultural norms, communities’ relationships and individual behaviour. In more traditional societies, religion occupies a central position, and is more than a personal or communal belief. In Afghanistan, where society still preserves a great deal of its traditional character and identity, religion has been one of the most powerful elements in shaping all domains and stages of people’s lives.
Dr Baiza’s paper analyses the relationship between religion, state and politics in modern Afghanistan. Speaking at the conference, Dr Bazia, said: “In analysing the role and influence of religion in any sphere of life, it is important to distinguish between ‘religion,’ as a set of divine commands, laws and guidance revealed through divine scripture, and religion as an interpretation of institutionalised authorities. Another distinction is that of religion as a set of practices and rituals among ordinary members of society.”
Dr Baiza discussed a number of legal cases around access to education for women since 2007 and demonstrated how in such cases religion is used as a political tool by which people in power and institutionalised religious authorities attempt to spread their political influence and monopoly of power in society. Dr Baiza also highlights the rising number of civil society institutions which, together with international civil organisations, help for the people’s voice to be heard within the broader religio-political context and make a visible impact on the decisions made by religious and state institutions. Dr Baiza’s paper concludes by underlining the influence of the legacies of the past, an assessment of the current challenges, and the prospects for the future.
Dr Bazia’s paper was presented alongside other papers discussing Sectarianism and Politics in Asia, including a paper by Kurshid Sana Khan (University of Edinburgh, and an IIS Alumnus) on “Living amid the Religious and Ethnic Fault Lines in Pakistan: The Residential Preferences of Ismailis in Karachi”.
Related Pages on the IIS Website:
•News Archive, 2011: IIS Scholars Present at the European Society for Central Asian Studies
•News Story 2012: CASU Organises Lecture on the State of Science and Scholarship in Central Asia
•Central Asian Studies: Publications
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?C ... 13747&l=en
Is the paper available? would you be able to share a link to it? I would be keen to read it.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies launches a redesigned website
TheIsmaili.org
23 July 2015
The Institute of Ismaili Studies recently launched a major redesign of its website — www.iis.ac.uk. The updated site offers a complete new look and a smooth user experience that is compatible with desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Launched in 2000, the IIS website is a resource for anyone interested in the study of Ismaili history, heritage and thought, and in Shia Islam more broadly. The website features articles on a wide range of themes, information on the Institute’s publications, author interviews, photo galleries, and a glossary of Arabic and Persian terms. Visitors can also keep abreast of the latest news, activities and developments at the academic institution.
“The Institute has made a significant investment in its website to enable users to continue to enjoy quick and reliable access to authentic, well-researched resources,” says Shiraz Kabani, Acting Head of the Department for Communications and Development at the IIS. “The new design means that author interviews, reading guides and articles on particular themes are easy to find, and we hope this will encourage members of the Jamat to visit the site more regularly.”
More intuitive user experience
One of the new features is the Learning Centre, a section of the site designed for non-specialist users from the Jamat as well as the wider public. This part of the site includes filmed interviews with authors and scholars, articles on subjects ranging from the history and thought of the Ismailis to more contemporary themes, encyclopaedia articles by renowned scholars in the field of Islamic Studies, as well as access to the IIS’ Secondary Curriculum resources and media-rich learning galleries.
In response to user feedback, existing content has been reorganised so that users can navigate the website more intuitively. For instance, Research has been separated from Publications, and those interested in the Institute's graduate and doctoral scholarship programmes can find the information with fewer clicks.
“We are committed to providing well-researched scholarship on the intellectual traditions of the Ismailis through the Institute’s publications and research projects,” explains IIS Co-Director Dr Farhad Daftary. “The website and associated technologies now make this research available to a wider academic community as well as members of the Ismaili community and the general public. We hope that the IIS website will continue to serve as a central reference point for authentic information on the Ismailis that academics as well as members of the Ismaili community will feel confident in using and recommending to their colleagues, friends and associates.”
Future plans
The redesign heralds a whole host of planned features that will enable audiences to engage more closely with The Institute of Ismaili Studies. Making knowledge more accessible is an important objective, says Shaheena Ormerod-Sachedina, Communications and Resource Development Manager at the IIS.
“We want to make the work of the Institute as accessible to as many people as possible,” she says. “Currently, we are working to upload previously translated sections of the site in Arabic, French, Persian, and Russian. Going forward, key pages will continue to be translated in these languages to ensure that the IIS is able to reach out to members of the Jamat globally.”
The IIS also hopes to present manuscripts, artefacts and other special objects in their historical and cultural context. Wafi Momin, Keeper of the Ismaili Special Collections says “we look forward to making parts of the Institute's special collections available to the Jamat and members of the public through online galleries and physical exhibitions. We are also keen to highlight the significant donations we have received from individuals and institutions over the years.”
Established in 2013, the Ismaili Special Collections Unit systematically catalogues, preserves, digitises, and studies nearly 3,000 manuscripts and several hundred volumes of rare books, periodicals and journals. The collection also includes a number of important coins from the Fatimid and Alamut periods of Ismaili history.
A new section of the site will allow users to browse image galleries in the Special Collections area of the IIS Website to see examples of Arabic, Persian and Khojki manuscripts, with special relevance to the heritage of Ismaili communities worldwide. Other planned initiatives include new interactive galleries and videos of lectures and interviews.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit the newly redesigned website of The Institute of Ismaili Studies at www.iis.ac.uk and be sure to sign up for their email updates
http://www.theismaili.org/news-events/i ... ed-website
TheIsmaili.org
23 July 2015
The Institute of Ismaili Studies recently launched a major redesign of its website — www.iis.ac.uk. The updated site offers a complete new look and a smooth user experience that is compatible with desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
Launched in 2000, the IIS website is a resource for anyone interested in the study of Ismaili history, heritage and thought, and in Shia Islam more broadly. The website features articles on a wide range of themes, information on the Institute’s publications, author interviews, photo galleries, and a glossary of Arabic and Persian terms. Visitors can also keep abreast of the latest news, activities and developments at the academic institution.
“The Institute has made a significant investment in its website to enable users to continue to enjoy quick and reliable access to authentic, well-researched resources,” says Shiraz Kabani, Acting Head of the Department for Communications and Development at the IIS. “The new design means that author interviews, reading guides and articles on particular themes are easy to find, and we hope this will encourage members of the Jamat to visit the site more regularly.”
More intuitive user experience
One of the new features is the Learning Centre, a section of the site designed for non-specialist users from the Jamat as well as the wider public. This part of the site includes filmed interviews with authors and scholars, articles on subjects ranging from the history and thought of the Ismailis to more contemporary themes, encyclopaedia articles by renowned scholars in the field of Islamic Studies, as well as access to the IIS’ Secondary Curriculum resources and media-rich learning galleries.
In response to user feedback, existing content has been reorganised so that users can navigate the website more intuitively. For instance, Research has been separated from Publications, and those interested in the Institute's graduate and doctoral scholarship programmes can find the information with fewer clicks.
“We are committed to providing well-researched scholarship on the intellectual traditions of the Ismailis through the Institute’s publications and research projects,” explains IIS Co-Director Dr Farhad Daftary. “The website and associated technologies now make this research available to a wider academic community as well as members of the Ismaili community and the general public. We hope that the IIS website will continue to serve as a central reference point for authentic information on the Ismailis that academics as well as members of the Ismaili community will feel confident in using and recommending to their colleagues, friends and associates.”
Future plans
The redesign heralds a whole host of planned features that will enable audiences to engage more closely with The Institute of Ismaili Studies. Making knowledge more accessible is an important objective, says Shaheena Ormerod-Sachedina, Communications and Resource Development Manager at the IIS.
“We want to make the work of the Institute as accessible to as many people as possible,” she says. “Currently, we are working to upload previously translated sections of the site in Arabic, French, Persian, and Russian. Going forward, key pages will continue to be translated in these languages to ensure that the IIS is able to reach out to members of the Jamat globally.”
The IIS also hopes to present manuscripts, artefacts and other special objects in their historical and cultural context. Wafi Momin, Keeper of the Ismaili Special Collections says “we look forward to making parts of the Institute's special collections available to the Jamat and members of the public through online galleries and physical exhibitions. We are also keen to highlight the significant donations we have received from individuals and institutions over the years.”
Established in 2013, the Ismaili Special Collections Unit systematically catalogues, preserves, digitises, and studies nearly 3,000 manuscripts and several hundred volumes of rare books, periodicals and journals. The collection also includes a number of important coins from the Fatimid and Alamut periods of Ismaili history.
A new section of the site will allow users to browse image galleries in the Special Collections area of the IIS Website to see examples of Arabic, Persian and Khojki manuscripts, with special relevance to the heritage of Ismaili communities worldwide. Other planned initiatives include new interactive galleries and videos of lectures and interviews.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit the newly redesigned website of The Institute of Ismaili Studies at www.iis.ac.uk and be sure to sign up for their email updates
http://www.theismaili.org/news-events/i ... ed-website
Islamic Humanism
http://iis.ac.uk/events/islamic-humanism
17th February 2016
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA.
United Kingdom
This lecture will discuss how developing themes found in the Qur’an and culled from Greek and Jewish, Indian and other sources, Muslim thinkers forged a compelling humanism, precious in the classical age and deserving recovery and reconstruction in our own. The literary form of the risāla (or essay), which developed from the letter writing familiar to the secretarial class, significantly contributed to Islamic humanism. For the informality of a letter overcomes the stiffness of a treatise, the intensity of oratory the and sidesteps the agonistic potential of many a dialogical exchange. The intimacy of address to a friend establishes a sense of privacy and confidentiality even as it modestly vouches for the need that publication seeks to serve. So we readily appreciate the use of the risāla form in the philosophical essays of al-Kindī and in those of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, where Indian fables mingle with Greek philosophy and science, Arabic lore and poetry. Ibn ufayl and Maimonides in his wake adopt the risāla form for just these reasons.
The intimacy of the risāla is a natural setting for the moral counsels of virtue ethics developed in more systematic form by Miskawayh on the model established by Yayā b. ‘Adī and naturalised in the context of Sufi pietism by al-Ghazālī. Virtue ethics softens the command ethics of scripture and thematizes ethical concerns in terms of the refinement of character, whose anatomy natural history of strengths and weaknesses Islamic moralists view with a hygienic eye. Ta’dīb, the Arabic counterpart of the Greek paideia relies on the pedagogical value of literature and history to convey lessons better learned from shared than from personal experience.
Beyond the intimacy of the risāla and the refinement of ta’dīb we should consider the commitment to evidence and argument that are the ideals of science and philosophy, part of the heritage of the great Islamic inquirers. Al-Fārābī speaks for those commitments when he criticizes the mutakallimūn for their invocation of ad hoc assumptions. But we can see the interplay of pre-philosophical with philosophical commitments when al-Fārābī rejects Ash‘arite determinism for its moral and theological deficits, just as we can see it in al-Rāzī’s strenuous efforts to save (what he takes to be a Platonizing version of) divine creation – and again in Ibn Sīnā’s doctrines of the world’s contingency and the individuation of disembodied souls. In all of these cases, and even in al-Rāzī’s view that evils outweigh goods in this life, what drives the argument, even in the face of intellectualism is a humanism rooted in the affirmation of individual moral responsibility and accountability and the inestimable worth of the human person.
Speaker(s)
Professor Lenn Goodman
Lenn E. Goodman, D. Phil., is Professor of Philosophy and Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. His many books include Religious Pluralism and Values in the Public Sphere (Cambridge University Press, 2014); Coming to Mind: The Soul and its Body (with D. G. Caramenico, University of Chicago Press, 2013); Creation and Evolution (Routledge, 2010); his Gifford Lectures, Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself (Oxford University Press, 2008); In Defense of Truth: A Pluralistic Approach (Humanity Press, 2001); Jewish and Islamic Philosophy: Crosspollinations in the Classic Age (Edinburgh University Press & Rutgers University Press, 1999); Avicenna (Cornell University Press, 2006), Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Ibn Yaqzan (University of Chicago Press, 2009) – and of course Islamic Humanism (Oxford University Press, 2003); and (with Richard McGregor) The Case of the Animals vs Man Before the King of the Jinn, the 22nd of the Rasâ’il of the Ikhwân al-Safâ’ (Oxford University Press, 2009), the first volume to appear in the Institute’s multi-volume collection of complete Rasâ’il...
http://iis.ac.uk/events/islamic-humanism
17th February 2016
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA.
United Kingdom
This lecture will discuss how developing themes found in the Qur’an and culled from Greek and Jewish, Indian and other sources, Muslim thinkers forged a compelling humanism, precious in the classical age and deserving recovery and reconstruction in our own. The literary form of the risāla (or essay), which developed from the letter writing familiar to the secretarial class, significantly contributed to Islamic humanism. For the informality of a letter overcomes the stiffness of a treatise, the intensity of oratory the and sidesteps the agonistic potential of many a dialogical exchange. The intimacy of address to a friend establishes a sense of privacy and confidentiality even as it modestly vouches for the need that publication seeks to serve. So we readily appreciate the use of the risāla form in the philosophical essays of al-Kindī and in those of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ, where Indian fables mingle with Greek philosophy and science, Arabic lore and poetry. Ibn ufayl and Maimonides in his wake adopt the risāla form for just these reasons.
The intimacy of the risāla is a natural setting for the moral counsels of virtue ethics developed in more systematic form by Miskawayh on the model established by Yayā b. ‘Adī and naturalised in the context of Sufi pietism by al-Ghazālī. Virtue ethics softens the command ethics of scripture and thematizes ethical concerns in terms of the refinement of character, whose anatomy natural history of strengths and weaknesses Islamic moralists view with a hygienic eye. Ta’dīb, the Arabic counterpart of the Greek paideia relies on the pedagogical value of literature and history to convey lessons better learned from shared than from personal experience.
Beyond the intimacy of the risāla and the refinement of ta’dīb we should consider the commitment to evidence and argument that are the ideals of science and philosophy, part of the heritage of the great Islamic inquirers. Al-Fārābī speaks for those commitments when he criticizes the mutakallimūn for their invocation of ad hoc assumptions. But we can see the interplay of pre-philosophical with philosophical commitments when al-Fārābī rejects Ash‘arite determinism for its moral and theological deficits, just as we can see it in al-Rāzī’s strenuous efforts to save (what he takes to be a Platonizing version of) divine creation – and again in Ibn Sīnā’s doctrines of the world’s contingency and the individuation of disembodied souls. In all of these cases, and even in al-Rāzī’s view that evils outweigh goods in this life, what drives the argument, even in the face of intellectualism is a humanism rooted in the affirmation of individual moral responsibility and accountability and the inestimable worth of the human person.
Speaker(s)
Professor Lenn Goodman
Lenn E. Goodman, D. Phil., is Professor of Philosophy and Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. His many books include Religious Pluralism and Values in the Public Sphere (Cambridge University Press, 2014); Coming to Mind: The Soul and its Body (with D. G. Caramenico, University of Chicago Press, 2013); Creation and Evolution (Routledge, 2010); his Gifford Lectures, Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself (Oxford University Press, 2008); In Defense of Truth: A Pluralistic Approach (Humanity Press, 2001); Jewish and Islamic Philosophy: Crosspollinations in the Classic Age (Edinburgh University Press & Rutgers University Press, 1999); Avicenna (Cornell University Press, 2006), Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Ibn Yaqzan (University of Chicago Press, 2009) – and of course Islamic Humanism (Oxford University Press, 2003); and (with Richard McGregor) The Case of the Animals vs Man Before the King of the Jinn, the 22nd of the Rasâ’il of the Ikhwân al-Safâ’ (Oxford University Press, 2009), the first volume to appear in the Institute’s multi-volume collection of complete Rasâ’il...
IIS Update
We are pleased to inform you that the IIS Update is available online and in print.
Highlights include:
•An exploration of the plurality of Shi'i traditions from their early history to contemporary times.
•Insights into the Secondary Curriculum module, Faith and Practice in Islamic Traditions.
•Reflecting on over 50 years of scholarship with Professor Madelung.
Link:
http://iis.ac.uk/sites/default/files/ii ... al-web.pdf
We are pleased to inform you that the IIS Update is available online and in print.
Highlights include:
•An exploration of the plurality of Shi'i traditions from their early history to contemporary times.
•Insights into the Secondary Curriculum module, Faith and Practice in Islamic Traditions.
•Reflecting on over 50 years of scholarship with Professor Madelung.
Link:
http://iis.ac.uk/sites/default/files/ii ... al-web.pdf
Shi‘i Islam: History, Doctrines, and Practices – A moderated discussion on Shi‘i heritage with the editor
The Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam Presents – The Institute of Ismaili Studies and the The Ismaili Council for Ottawa
Shi‘i Islam: History, Doctrines, and Practices – A moderated discussion on Shi‘i heritage with the editor
SUNDAY AT 2:30 P.M. MAY 15, 2016
Carleton University – 303 Paterson Hall
Dr. Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, Head of Shi’i Studies Unit at the IIS
Moderator, Professor Karim H. Karim, Director, The Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam
The Shi‘i Heritage Series was launched in 2013 by The Institute of Ismaili Studies with the aim of enhancing general knowledge of Shi‘i Islam and promoting a better understanding of its history, doctrines and practices in their historical and contemporary manifestations. Covering all Shi‘i communities and traditions, the series also aims to engage in discussions on theoretical and methodological issues encountered in the field.
/ismailimail.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/a-moderated-discussion-on-shii-heritage-iis-ismaili-council-of-ottawa-and-the-carleton-centre-for-the-study-of-islam-presents/
The Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam Presents – The Institute of Ismaili Studies and the The Ismaili Council for Ottawa
Shi‘i Islam: History, Doctrines, and Practices – A moderated discussion on Shi‘i heritage with the editor
SUNDAY AT 2:30 P.M. MAY 15, 2016
Carleton University – 303 Paterson Hall
Dr. Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, Head of Shi’i Studies Unit at the IIS
Moderator, Professor Karim H. Karim, Director, The Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam
The Shi‘i Heritage Series was launched in 2013 by The Institute of Ismaili Studies with the aim of enhancing general knowledge of Shi‘i Islam and promoting a better understanding of its history, doctrines and practices in their historical and contemporary manifestations. Covering all Shi‘i communities and traditions, the series also aims to engage in discussions on theoretical and methodological issues encountered in the field.
/ismailimail.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/a-moderated-discussion-on-shii-heritage-iis-ismaili-council-of-ottawa-and-the-carleton-centre-for-the-study-of-islam-presents/
Between Medieval Sufi Apologetics and Polemics: The Rise and Fall of Awhad al-Din Kirmani (d.1238)
15th September 2016
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA
.United Kingdom
Annemarie Schimmel Memorial Lecture
Awhad al-Dininfo-icon Kirmani is a controversial figure among the pantheon of great Sufi masters from the medieval period. He occupied perhaps the most prestigious position to which a Sufi could aspire, for the caliphinfo-icon appointed him the shaykhinfo-icon al-shuyukh of the Marzubiyya convent in Baghdad. Yet within a generation, he was vilified by the most prestigious Sufis of the age, including Rumi, and by others who cited the opinions of Suhrawardi and Shams-i Tabrizi. This presentation re-opens the case of Kirmani and attempts to make sense of the controversy in light of the development of Sufisminfo-icon in the medieval period.
The Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship, inaugurated in 2004, is awarded every three years to a scholar working in the fields of interest to the late Professor Schimmel such as Islamic mysticism, Arabic, Persian and South Asian literatures and literary and artistic expressions of Muslim devotional life.
This lecture will be introduced by Professor Ali Asani - Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religions and Cultures, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations, Harvard University.
Speaker(s)
Dr Lloyd Ridgeon
Dr Lloyd Ridgeon is Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow. He is primarily interested in medieval Persian Sufisminfo-icon and has published a number of works in this field, as well as in associated areas, including jawanmardi. He is the editor of The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and Iran. Dr Ridgeon was awarded the Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship in 2013.
http://iis.ac.uk/events/between-medieva ... mani-d1238
*****
Fatimids and Umayads: Competing Caliphates
The Institute of Ismaili Studies,
London, 23-25 September 2016
Relations between the Fatimid caliphate and its neighbour and opponent, the Umayyad caliphate of al-Andalus constitute a field of study. The forthcoming conference endeavours to create an academic forum in which to reflect upon and illustrate the processes and mechanisms of interaction.
For more information please contact Ms Naushin Shariff [email protected]
15th September 2016
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA
.United Kingdom
Annemarie Schimmel Memorial Lecture
Awhad al-Dininfo-icon Kirmani is a controversial figure among the pantheon of great Sufi masters from the medieval period. He occupied perhaps the most prestigious position to which a Sufi could aspire, for the caliphinfo-icon appointed him the shaykhinfo-icon al-shuyukh of the Marzubiyya convent in Baghdad. Yet within a generation, he was vilified by the most prestigious Sufis of the age, including Rumi, and by others who cited the opinions of Suhrawardi and Shams-i Tabrizi. This presentation re-opens the case of Kirmani and attempts to make sense of the controversy in light of the development of Sufisminfo-icon in the medieval period.
The Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship, inaugurated in 2004, is awarded every three years to a scholar working in the fields of interest to the late Professor Schimmel such as Islamic mysticism, Arabic, Persian and South Asian literatures and literary and artistic expressions of Muslim devotional life.
This lecture will be introduced by Professor Ali Asani - Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religions and Cultures, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations, Harvard University.
Speaker(s)
Dr Lloyd Ridgeon
Dr Lloyd Ridgeon is Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow. He is primarily interested in medieval Persian Sufisminfo-icon and has published a number of works in this field, as well as in associated areas, including jawanmardi. He is the editor of The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and Iran. Dr Ridgeon was awarded the Annemarie Schimmel Fellowship in 2013.
http://iis.ac.uk/events/between-medieva ... mani-d1238
*****
Fatimids and Umayads: Competing Caliphates
The Institute of Ismaili Studies,
London, 23-25 September 2016
Relations between the Fatimid caliphate and its neighbour and opponent, the Umayyad caliphate of al-Andalus constitute a field of study. The forthcoming conference endeavours to create an academic forum in which to reflect upon and illustrate the processes and mechanisms of interaction.
For more information please contact Ms Naushin Shariff [email protected]
Tajik national identity in the context of the shahnama: the persian book of king
Thursday 20 October, 16:00 - 17:30
ismc
210 euston road
nw1 2da london
The presentation gives an overview of manuscript and wall paintings from the Tajik Museum and archive collections that portray subject matter from the Persian Shahnama epic that chronicles the pre-Islamic history and myths of Iran and Central Asia. Full of battles and romances taking place across real geographical sites in the region, the stories and scenes are not merely illustrations of a text but have political significance when the context and period of their production are analysed. Their importance has carried over to the present day, and has been harnessed by Tajiks as a means to articulate their nascent national identity.
Ms. Comstock-Skipp’s Fulbright research investigates Tajik cultural and artistic history and heritage with regards to manuscript and wall paintings that portray subject matter from the Persian Shahnama epic. This Book of Kings chronicles the pre-Islamic history of Iran and Central Asia, comparable to Greek legends and Arthurian lore in the West in terms of its cultural significance. Its circulation in the manuscript arts has been well documented and researched with regards to Iran, but its significance to Tajik ideas of nationhood and identity in the context of a greater pan-Persianism that transcends modern borders has not.
About the speaker
Ms. Jaimee Comstock-Skipp holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Near Eastern studies with a specialty in Islamic civilisations. She also holds an MA from the Williams College graduate programme in the History of Art (2012), and a second MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (2015), where she studied Mongol through Safavid Persian book arts. She studied Farsi and Tajiki as part of the Critical Languages Scholarship and the Critical Languages Institute programmes in Tajikistan, and was the resident director of the National Security Language Initiative for the Youth Tajiki programme in 2013 and 2014.
Registration
To attend the event in person, please register here.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tajik-na ... 8282560901
To listen to the online webinar, please register here.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist ... 1737643268
*********
Intellectual Interactions in the Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread
This international conference and subsequent edited volume aim at bringing together a series of case studies reflecting various aspects of intellectual interactions as well as actual and possible influences between Ismailis and other groups and movements within the complex body of Islamic civilisation.
The conference emphasises the intellectual diversity of the Islamic world and focuses on a religious group, in this case the Ismailis, in the context of its intellectual relationships with other groups and currents within Islam. It is an approach that can produce a result quite different from, and complementary to, the image obtained from the study of historiographical and doxographical literature alone.
The project covers incipient Ismailism as well as all the main communities such as the Fatimids, the Nizārīs, the Ṭayyibīs, and Pamiri and Indian Ismailism, with ‘Intellectual Interactions’ being divided into eight broad chapters:
1) Sources and their Interpretation
2) The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ and the Ismailis
3) Polemics
4) Authority and Law
5) Philosophy
6) Mystical, Gnostic and Messianic Trends
7) Ismaili-Sufi Relationships
Exegesis and Interactions across Religious Boundaries.
The conference brings together an international team of about 30 leading
scholars.
(13.62 MB)
Registration is required in order to attend the conference. Please email your details (affiliation, position/title, the sessions or days you would like to attend, and how this relates to your work/studies) to [email protected] (link sends e-mail)
This event will be webcast. For webcast registration please follow the registration details above, adding that you would like to register for the webcast. You will receive a webcast link closer to the time of the conference.
Please note that by registering for this event you are consenting to the IIS using any photos and videos taken at the event for publicity material.
http://iis.ac.uk/intellectual-interacti ... amic-world
Thursday 20 October, 16:00 - 17:30
ismc
210 euston road
nw1 2da london
The presentation gives an overview of manuscript and wall paintings from the Tajik Museum and archive collections that portray subject matter from the Persian Shahnama epic that chronicles the pre-Islamic history and myths of Iran and Central Asia. Full of battles and romances taking place across real geographical sites in the region, the stories and scenes are not merely illustrations of a text but have political significance when the context and period of their production are analysed. Their importance has carried over to the present day, and has been harnessed by Tajiks as a means to articulate their nascent national identity.
Ms. Comstock-Skipp’s Fulbright research investigates Tajik cultural and artistic history and heritage with regards to manuscript and wall paintings that portray subject matter from the Persian Shahnama epic. This Book of Kings chronicles the pre-Islamic history of Iran and Central Asia, comparable to Greek legends and Arthurian lore in the West in terms of its cultural significance. Its circulation in the manuscript arts has been well documented and researched with regards to Iran, but its significance to Tajik ideas of nationhood and identity in the context of a greater pan-Persianism that transcends modern borders has not.
About the speaker
Ms. Jaimee Comstock-Skipp holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Near Eastern studies with a specialty in Islamic civilisations. She also holds an MA from the Williams College graduate programme in the History of Art (2012), and a second MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (2015), where she studied Mongol through Safavid Persian book arts. She studied Farsi and Tajiki as part of the Critical Languages Scholarship and the Critical Languages Institute programmes in Tajikistan, and was the resident director of the National Security Language Initiative for the Youth Tajiki programme in 2013 and 2014.
Registration
To attend the event in person, please register here.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tajik-na ... 8282560901
To listen to the online webinar, please register here.
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist ... 1737643268
*********
Intellectual Interactions in the Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread
This international conference and subsequent edited volume aim at bringing together a series of case studies reflecting various aspects of intellectual interactions as well as actual and possible influences between Ismailis and other groups and movements within the complex body of Islamic civilisation.
The conference emphasises the intellectual diversity of the Islamic world and focuses on a religious group, in this case the Ismailis, in the context of its intellectual relationships with other groups and currents within Islam. It is an approach that can produce a result quite different from, and complementary to, the image obtained from the study of historiographical and doxographical literature alone.
The project covers incipient Ismailism as well as all the main communities such as the Fatimids, the Nizārīs, the Ṭayyibīs, and Pamiri and Indian Ismailism, with ‘Intellectual Interactions’ being divided into eight broad chapters:
1) Sources and their Interpretation
2) The Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ and the Ismailis
3) Polemics
4) Authority and Law
5) Philosophy
6) Mystical, Gnostic and Messianic Trends
7) Ismaili-Sufi Relationships
Exegesis and Interactions across Religious Boundaries.The conference brings together an international team of about 30 leading
scholars.
(13.62 MB)
Registration is required in order to attend the conference. Please email your details (affiliation, position/title, the sessions or days you would like to attend, and how this relates to your work/studies) to [email protected] (link sends e-mail)
This event will be webcast. For webcast registration please follow the registration details above, adding that you would like to register for the webcast. You will receive a webcast link closer to the time of the conference.
Please note that by registering for this event you are consenting to the IIS using any photos and videos taken at the event for publicity material.
http://iis.ac.uk/intellectual-interacti ... amic-world
IIS Update - Edition 17
The Institute has been publishing an annual IIS Update since 2000, to inform its supporters, affiliates and well-wishers of its programmes and activities. The IIS Update includes information about the Institute’s recent and forthcoming projects, as well as news about its publications and staff.
http://iis.ac.uk/iis-update/iis-update-2017
The Institute has been publishing an annual IIS Update since 2000, to inform its supporters, affiliates and well-wishers of its programmes and activities. The IIS Update includes information about the Institute’s recent and forthcoming projects, as well as news about its publications and staff.
http://iis.ac.uk/iis-update/iis-update-2017
Before the Printed Word: Texts, Scribes and Transmission
12th October 2017 to 13th October 2017
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA
United Kingdom
A Symposium on Manuscript Collections Housed at the IIS.
Ismaili historiography has often lamented the destruction of renowned libraries developed under the Fatimids in Egypt (10th–12th centuries) and the Nizaris of Alamut times (11th–13th centuries). In many ways, this loss represented the eclipse of an important chapter in Muslim history that had witnessed the flourishing of learning and intellectual exchange across different societies. While it is hard to estimate with any certainty the extent of literary production engendered by this intellectual activity, or what was permanently lost in the wake of the destruction of these libraries, the surviving manuscript evidence points to a staggering wealth of textual material produced not only in Fatimid-Alamut times, but in other periods in Ismaili history too.
A significant body of this surviving material is now preserved at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London (IIS) in a remarkable collection of nearly 3,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Indic languages. While the establishment of the IIS in 1977 gave the burgeoning field of Ismaili studies a major impetus, much of the manuscript material still awaits systematic research, discussion and publication. This was the primary drive behind a manuscript analysis project initiated by the IIS in 2014, a project established to accelerate the study of different aspects of the manuscript collection housed at the IIS.
The present symposium, the first of its kind organized by the IIS, aims to bring together scholars who have either contributed directly to the manuscript analysis project, or worked on the IIS manuscript repository or other similar manuscripts, to share their findings and insights. The papers in the symposium seek to bring into the study of manuscripts perspectives ranging from textual analysis and transmission, reading practices, scribal culture, codicological assessment and beyond.
To attend the event or view the live webcast, please ensure you pre-register by filling the event registration form.
Please note that this event will be photographed and recorded. By attending this event, you consent to photography, audio recording, video recording and their release ​by the IIS for marketing and promotional purposes.
For symposium programme, please click here.
http://iis.ac.uk/events/printed-word-te ... ansmission
12th October 2017 to 13th October 2017
The Institute of Ismaili Studies
210 Euston Road
London
NW1 2DA
United Kingdom
A Symposium on Manuscript Collections Housed at the IIS.
Ismaili historiography has often lamented the destruction of renowned libraries developed under the Fatimids in Egypt (10th–12th centuries) and the Nizaris of Alamut times (11th–13th centuries). In many ways, this loss represented the eclipse of an important chapter in Muslim history that had witnessed the flourishing of learning and intellectual exchange across different societies. While it is hard to estimate with any certainty the extent of literary production engendered by this intellectual activity, or what was permanently lost in the wake of the destruction of these libraries, the surviving manuscript evidence points to a staggering wealth of textual material produced not only in Fatimid-Alamut times, but in other periods in Ismaili history too.
A significant body of this surviving material is now preserved at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London (IIS) in a remarkable collection of nearly 3,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Persian and Indic languages. While the establishment of the IIS in 1977 gave the burgeoning field of Ismaili studies a major impetus, much of the manuscript material still awaits systematic research, discussion and publication. This was the primary drive behind a manuscript analysis project initiated by the IIS in 2014, a project established to accelerate the study of different aspects of the manuscript collection housed at the IIS.
The present symposium, the first of its kind organized by the IIS, aims to bring together scholars who have either contributed directly to the manuscript analysis project, or worked on the IIS manuscript repository or other similar manuscripts, to share their findings and insights. The papers in the symposium seek to bring into the study of manuscripts perspectives ranging from textual analysis and transmission, reading practices, scribal culture, codicological assessment and beyond.
To attend the event or view the live webcast, please ensure you pre-register by filling the event registration form.
Please note that this event will be photographed and recorded. By attending this event, you consent to photography, audio recording, video recording and their release ​by the IIS for marketing and promotional purposes.
For symposium programme, please click here.
http://iis.ac.uk/events/printed-word-te ... ansmission
Officially IIS is 40 years on November 25,2017.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
MHI Talika(excerpt)
Friday November 25, 1977
"" It gives Me great happiness to inform My Jamat of the formal inauguration in London (UK) of the Institute of Ismaili. Studies.(IIS).As My spiritual children are aware, not since the Fatimid period has there been in existence a Research Centre for Ismaili Studies, manned essentially by outstanding Ismaili men and women scholars. This is therefore a significant step in making it possible for My Jamat to secure the fruits of Ismaili scholarship in the history, philosophy, theology and literature of Ismailism and Islam by virtue of an academic institution created by our own efforts and resources. ""
.....Talika to Canadian Jamat
..... Excerpt
..... Toronto Ontario Canada
..... Friday November 25, 1977
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
MHI Talika(excerpt)
Friday November 25, 1977
"" It gives Me great happiness to inform My Jamat of the formal inauguration in London (UK) of the Institute of Ismaili. Studies.(IIS).As My spiritual children are aware, not since the Fatimid period has there been in existence a Research Centre for Ismaili Studies, manned essentially by outstanding Ismaili men and women scholars. This is therefore a significant step in making it possible for My Jamat to secure the fruits of Ismaili scholarship in the history, philosophy, theology and literature of Ismailism and Islam by virtue of an academic institution created by our own efforts and resources. ""
.....Talika to Canadian Jamat
..... Excerpt
..... Toronto Ontario Canada
..... Friday November 25, 1977
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The Institute of Ismaili Studies celebrates 40 years
Prince Rahim was the guest of honour at a celebration hosted by The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London on 24 November 2017. The reception followed a commemorative lecture held at the Ismaili Centre London the previous evening. The events took place to mark 40 years since the establishment of the IIS in 1977.
Upon his arrival in Central London, Prince Rahim was received by Dr Farhad Daftary, Director of the IIS, and members of the Institute’s Board of Governors. Past members of the IIS Board, and current staff and students were also in attendance.
On behalf of the Board of Governors, Mr Naguib Kheraj delivered welcome remarks to guests in which he paid tribute to the staff and students, “An academic institution is all about people – we’re about the results of human intellectual endeavour and the development of minds and knowledge. The collective endeavour of those in the room and the many past colleagues and alumni who aren’t able to be with us today are what make IIS what it is today.”
In his remarks, Prince Rahim thanked members of staff for their contribution to the work of the Institute, and commented, “Forty years may feel like a long time, but it’s a very short time in the life of an academic institution. IIS is a unique institution in terms of its mandate and role and it hasn’t simply been following an established model which has been implemented before.... this anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on our progress and achievements, and to celebrate the people who have made them possible.”
Prince Rahim also remarked that IIS students are the lifeblood of the Institute and our future leaders, and acknowledged the importance of the IIS as a whole to the Jamat over the past 40 years.
“We have seen in these last decades the globalisation of the Jamat and its patterns of migration, which have made it even more important to be able to provide the Jamat with authentic and well prepared materials which enable an understanding of its history and of its heritage and of matters of the faith and its practice,” Prince Rahim said. He also recognised that the IIS has benefited from generous support from the Jamat, which has helped make their 40 years of work possible.
Prince Rahim later congratulated thirteen members of staff for their long-standing service to the Institute. They included Dr Farhad Daftary, Director of the IIS and Head of its Department of Academic Research and Publications; Mr Shams Vellani, and Dr Aziz Esmail, who have played an instrumental role in the formation and journey of the Institute since the 1970’s; as well as Ms Anna Spinola, who has greeted staff, students and visitors every morning at the front desk for over 30 years.
Dr Shainool Jiwa delivered a vote of thanks and closing remarks, thanking Prince Rahim for attending the reception, and acknowledging the work of all staff and volunteers in organising the event. Dr Jiwa closed proceedings with an evocative verse of poetry from Nasir Khusraw:
“Kindle the candle of intellect in your heart
And hasten with it to the world of brightness;
If you want to light a candle in your heart,
Make knowledge and goodness its wick and oil.”
The previous evening, The Institute welcomed guests to an event at the Ismaili Centre London. Entitled Connecting the Past, Present and the Future, the commemorative lecture took place as part of the IIS’ 40th anniversary celebrations, which coincides with Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Diamond Jubilee commemorations.
A series of short talks explored themes integral to to the Institute’s work, and were presented by Dr Farhad Daftary, Dr Omar Ali de Unzaga, Dr Laila Halani and Dr Walid Ghali respectively. The speakers explained how the Institute’s work in academia and education plays a key role in strengthening the Jamat’s capacity to navigate modern-day challenges. This was followed by a lively on-stage conversation moderated by Dr Shainool Jiwa.
Guests at the event were also able to view an illustrated timeline display showcasing key milestones in the 40-year history of the Institute.
For the past four decades, the Institute has provided a space to preserve and study Ismaili heritage, and has worked to develop educational programmes and human resources to serve the needs of the Jamat. Since its establishment in 1977 with six members of staff, the IIS has seen significant growth, now employing 115 people, and has produced 138 publications, translated into a number of languages. Next year, the Institute will move to a new permanent home in London’s Kings Cross, and through its expanding projects and programmes, will continue to strengthen it’s contribution and impact on the education of the global Jamat.
https://the.ismaili/news/institute-stud ... s-40-years
Prince Rahim was the guest of honour at a celebration hosted by The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS) in London on 24 November 2017. The reception followed a commemorative lecture held at the Ismaili Centre London the previous evening. The events took place to mark 40 years since the establishment of the IIS in 1977.
Upon his arrival in Central London, Prince Rahim was received by Dr Farhad Daftary, Director of the IIS, and members of the Institute’s Board of Governors. Past members of the IIS Board, and current staff and students were also in attendance.
On behalf of the Board of Governors, Mr Naguib Kheraj delivered welcome remarks to guests in which he paid tribute to the staff and students, “An academic institution is all about people – we’re about the results of human intellectual endeavour and the development of minds and knowledge. The collective endeavour of those in the room and the many past colleagues and alumni who aren’t able to be with us today are what make IIS what it is today.”
In his remarks, Prince Rahim thanked members of staff for their contribution to the work of the Institute, and commented, “Forty years may feel like a long time, but it’s a very short time in the life of an academic institution. IIS is a unique institution in terms of its mandate and role and it hasn’t simply been following an established model which has been implemented before.... this anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on our progress and achievements, and to celebrate the people who have made them possible.”
Prince Rahim also remarked that IIS students are the lifeblood of the Institute and our future leaders, and acknowledged the importance of the IIS as a whole to the Jamat over the past 40 years.
“We have seen in these last decades the globalisation of the Jamat and its patterns of migration, which have made it even more important to be able to provide the Jamat with authentic and well prepared materials which enable an understanding of its history and of its heritage and of matters of the faith and its practice,” Prince Rahim said. He also recognised that the IIS has benefited from generous support from the Jamat, which has helped make their 40 years of work possible.
Prince Rahim later congratulated thirteen members of staff for their long-standing service to the Institute. They included Dr Farhad Daftary, Director of the IIS and Head of its Department of Academic Research and Publications; Mr Shams Vellani, and Dr Aziz Esmail, who have played an instrumental role in the formation and journey of the Institute since the 1970’s; as well as Ms Anna Spinola, who has greeted staff, students and visitors every morning at the front desk for over 30 years.
Dr Shainool Jiwa delivered a vote of thanks and closing remarks, thanking Prince Rahim for attending the reception, and acknowledging the work of all staff and volunteers in organising the event. Dr Jiwa closed proceedings with an evocative verse of poetry from Nasir Khusraw:
“Kindle the candle of intellect in your heart
And hasten with it to the world of brightness;
If you want to light a candle in your heart,
Make knowledge and goodness its wick and oil.”
The previous evening, The Institute welcomed guests to an event at the Ismaili Centre London. Entitled Connecting the Past, Present and the Future, the commemorative lecture took place as part of the IIS’ 40th anniversary celebrations, which coincides with Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Diamond Jubilee commemorations.
A series of short talks explored themes integral to to the Institute’s work, and were presented by Dr Farhad Daftary, Dr Omar Ali de Unzaga, Dr Laila Halani and Dr Walid Ghali respectively. The speakers explained how the Institute’s work in academia and education plays a key role in strengthening the Jamat’s capacity to navigate modern-day challenges. This was followed by a lively on-stage conversation moderated by Dr Shainool Jiwa.
Guests at the event were also able to view an illustrated timeline display showcasing key milestones in the 40-year history of the Institute.
For the past four decades, the Institute has provided a space to preserve and study Ismaili heritage, and has worked to develop educational programmes and human resources to serve the needs of the Jamat. Since its establishment in 1977 with six members of staff, the IIS has seen significant growth, now employing 115 people, and has produced 138 publications, translated into a number of languages. Next year, the Institute will move to a new permanent home in London’s Kings Cross, and through its expanding projects and programmes, will continue to strengthen it’s contribution and impact on the education of the global Jamat.
https://the.ismaili/news/institute-stud ... s-40-years
Video: The Institute of Ismaili Studies celebrates 40 years
https://the.ismaili/video-institute-stu ... s-40-years
https://the.ismaili/video-institute-stu ... s-40-years
IIS launches the World of Islam series with The Fatimids: The Rise of a Muslim Empire
The IIS is delighted to announce the release of the first book in the World of Islam series – in print, e-book and audiobook formats. This new series has been created for a general, non-academic, audience in order to provide engaging introductions to historical, cultural, social and religious topics that explore the rich diversity of Islam. Aimed at Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike, these accessible books are intended to spark deeper interest and to stimulate people to think differently about Islam.
To date, the publications of the IIS have been mainly academic books for a scholarly readership – the IIS has been instrumental in securing the field of Ismaili studies, as well as contributing significantly to Shi‘i and Islamic studies more widely. It was felt that the time is ripe to bring the robust scholarship for which the IIS is known to a broader audience, who could benefit from reliable and interesting introductions to relevant Islamic topics.
It is fitting that the first World of Islam book is a lively account of the initial Fatimid Imam-caliphs, and the founding of their Shi‘i empire (909–1171). Dr Shainool Jiwa, an Islamic historian specialising in the Fatimids, on whom she has published and lectured extensively, presents a concise overview that conveys heartfelt enthusiasm for her subject.
More...
https://iis.ac.uk/news/iis-launches-wor ... lim-empire
The IIS is delighted to announce the release of the first book in the World of Islam series – in print, e-book and audiobook formats. This new series has been created for a general, non-academic, audience in order to provide engaging introductions to historical, cultural, social and religious topics that explore the rich diversity of Islam. Aimed at Muslim and non-Muslim readers alike, these accessible books are intended to spark deeper interest and to stimulate people to think differently about Islam.
To date, the publications of the IIS have been mainly academic books for a scholarly readership – the IIS has been instrumental in securing the field of Ismaili studies, as well as contributing significantly to Shi‘i and Islamic studies more widely. It was felt that the time is ripe to bring the robust scholarship for which the IIS is known to a broader audience, who could benefit from reliable and interesting introductions to relevant Islamic topics.
It is fitting that the first World of Islam book is a lively account of the initial Fatimid Imam-caliphs, and the founding of their Shi‘i empire (909–1171). Dr Shainool Jiwa, an Islamic historian specialising in the Fatimids, on whom she has published and lectured extensively, presents a concise overview that conveys heartfelt enthusiasm for her subject.
More...
https://iis.ac.uk/news/iis-launches-wor ... lim-empire
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and His Highness the Aga Khan Inaugurate the Aga Khan Centre
27th June 2018
On 26 June, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales inaugurated the Aga Khan Centre in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan. Among the guests were the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and the Minister of State for the Commonwealth and United Nations, Lord Ahmad.
To mark this historic occasion, His Highness the Aga Khan was joined by his family, expressing great pride in opening of the Aga Khan Centre and said:
“We celebrate today a beautiful new architectural accomplishment. As we do so, we also honour those who have made this Centre possible - and the values that have inspired their work. Two of those values which deserve special mention today - the value of education as a force for cooperation and healing in our world - and the value of architecture as a source of inspiration and illumination.
The value of education, of course, is at the heart of this project. We are proud to open here a new home for two important educational institutions associated with the Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili Imamat. One is the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations of the Aga Khan University. The other is the Institute of Ismaili Studies. The UK offices of the Aga Khan Foundation will also be located here. These institutions - through their teaching and research, their rich library and archival resources, as well as their tours and public programmes - will enrich the lives of people from the entire world.”
MORE...
https://iis.ac.uk/news/his-royal-highne ... han-centre
27th June 2018
On 26 June, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales inaugurated the Aga Khan Centre in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan. Among the guests were the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and the Minister of State for the Commonwealth and United Nations, Lord Ahmad.
To mark this historic occasion, His Highness the Aga Khan was joined by his family, expressing great pride in opening of the Aga Khan Centre and said:
“We celebrate today a beautiful new architectural accomplishment. As we do so, we also honour those who have made this Centre possible - and the values that have inspired their work. Two of those values which deserve special mention today - the value of education as a force for cooperation and healing in our world - and the value of architecture as a source of inspiration and illumination.
The value of education, of course, is at the heart of this project. We are proud to open here a new home for two important educational institutions associated with the Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili Imamat. One is the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations of the Aga Khan University. The other is the Institute of Ismaili Studies. The UK offices of the Aga Khan Foundation will also be located here. These institutions - through their teaching and research, their rich library and archival resources, as well as their tours and public programmes - will enrich the lives of people from the entire world.”
MORE...
https://iis.ac.uk/news/his-royal-highne ... han-centre
Academic Article
The Baghdad Manifesto (402 /1011) A Re-Examination of Fatimid-Abbasid Rivalry
Dr. Shainool Jiwa
Download Pdf (link is external)
Introduction
Just over a century after the Fatimids had established their caliphate in North Africa in 297 AH / 909 CE, and four decades after the transfer of their capital to Cairo in 362 AH / 973 CE, the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir bi’llah (r. 381–422 AH / 991–1031 CE) issued what became known in Muslim historiography as the Baghdad Manifesto. Proclaimed publicly in the Abbasid capital in 402 AH / 1011 CE, and subsequently read out across the Abbasid lands, its principal purpose was to invalidate the Alid lineage of the Fatimids and thus their claim to be the descendants of the Prophet, through his daughter, Fatima, and Ali b. Abi Talib; and by these means to render illegitimate their claim to be vested with the sole legitimate, universalist authority and leadership of the Islamic world.
More....
https://iis.ac.uk/academic-article/bagh ... -rivalry-0
The Baghdad Manifesto (402 /1011) A Re-Examination of Fatimid-Abbasid Rivalry
Dr. Shainool Jiwa
Download Pdf (link is external)
Introduction
Just over a century after the Fatimids had established their caliphate in North Africa in 297 AH / 909 CE, and four decades after the transfer of their capital to Cairo in 362 AH / 973 CE, the Abbasid caliph al-Qadir bi’llah (r. 381–422 AH / 991–1031 CE) issued what became known in Muslim historiography as the Baghdad Manifesto. Proclaimed publicly in the Abbasid capital in 402 AH / 1011 CE, and subsequently read out across the Abbasid lands, its principal purpose was to invalidate the Alid lineage of the Fatimids and thus their claim to be the descendants of the Prophet, through his daughter, Fatima, and Ali b. Abi Talib; and by these means to render illegitimate their claim to be vested with the sole legitimate, universalist authority and leadership of the Islamic world.
More....
https://iis.ac.uk/academic-article/bagh ... -rivalry-0
Harvard & IIS scholars present on Nizari Ismaili Thought at Iranian Studies Conference
BY ISMAILIMAIL POSTED ON AUGUST 14, 2018
The Association for Iranian Studies Conference taking place at UC Irvine on August 15, 2018 features the following:
Panel Title: Messianic Eschatology of Nizari Ismailis: Reassessment and Frameworks of Interaction
Convenor: Daryoush Mohammad Poor, Institute of Ismaili Studies
Chair: Elizabeth Alexandrin, University of Manitoba
Khalil Andani, Harvard University:
“Reconciling the Two Wisdoms (al-hikmatayn): The Source of Shahrastani’s Ismaili Teachings in Nasir-i Khusraw”
Daryoush Mohammad Poor, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Shahrastani’s Role in the Articulation of the Doctrine of Qiyamat among Nizari Ismailis”
Karim Javan, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Hasan ‘ala Dhikrihi al-Salam and His Proclamation of Resurrection”
Sayyed Jalal Hosseini Badakhchani, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Hasan-i Mahmud-i Katib and His Vision of the Preachings of the Resurrection”
Source: https://associationforiranianstudies.or ... rogram.pdf
BY ISMAILIMAIL POSTED ON AUGUST 14, 2018
The Association for Iranian Studies Conference taking place at UC Irvine on August 15, 2018 features the following:
Panel Title: Messianic Eschatology of Nizari Ismailis: Reassessment and Frameworks of Interaction
Convenor: Daryoush Mohammad Poor, Institute of Ismaili Studies
Chair: Elizabeth Alexandrin, University of Manitoba
Khalil Andani, Harvard University:
“Reconciling the Two Wisdoms (al-hikmatayn): The Source of Shahrastani’s Ismaili Teachings in Nasir-i Khusraw”
Daryoush Mohammad Poor, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Shahrastani’s Role in the Articulation of the Doctrine of Qiyamat among Nizari Ismailis”
Karim Javan, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Hasan ‘ala Dhikrihi al-Salam and His Proclamation of Resurrection”
Sayyed Jalal Hosseini Badakhchani, Institute of Ismaili Studies:
“Hasan-i Mahmud-i Katib and His Vision of the Preachings of the Resurrection”
Source: https://associationforiranianstudies.or ... rogram.pdf