The AMI Podcast

In 874 CE, the eleventh Imam died, and the Imami community splintered. The institutions of the Imamate were maintained by the dead Imam's agents, who asserted they were in contact with a hidden twelfth Imam. This was the beginning of 'Twelver' Shiʿism. Edmund Hayes provides an innovative approach to exploring early Shiʿism, moving beyond doctrinal history to provide an analysis of the socio-political processes leading to the canonisation of the Occultation of the twelfth Imam. Hayes shows how these agents cemented their authority by reproducing the physical signs of the Imamate, including protocols of succession, letters and the alm taxes. Four of these agents were ultimately canonised as “envoys” but traces of earlier conceptions of authority remain embedded in the earliest reports. Hayes dissects the complex and contradictory Occultation narratives to show how, amidst the claims of numerous actors, the institutional positioning of the envoys allowed them to assert a quasi-Imamic authority in the absence of an Imam.

Ramon Harvey revisits the Muslim theologian Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) from Samarqand and puts his system, and that of the Māturīdī school, into lively dialogue with modern thought. Combining rigorous study of Arabic Māturīdī texts with insights from Husserl’s phenomenology  and analytic theology, Harvey explores themes from epistemology and  metaphysics to the nature of God and specific divine attributes  (omniscience and wisdom, creative action, divine speech and the Qur’an).  His systematic treatment of these topics shows that a contemporary Islamic philosophical theology, or kalām jadīd, can be true to the past, yet dynamic in the present, and can provide original  and constructive answers to perennial theological questions.

The goal of this seminar is to discuss the invention of “religion” in the modern-colonial West as a category which ensured and reified racial hierarchies around the world and tied Christianity to whiteness whilst simultaneously positioning other religions, including Islam, at the bottom of a racial-religious hierarchy. This modern invention of ‘religion’ was also a very gendered process that enabled the production of religious hierarchies while simultaneously rationalising and justifying the privatisation of religion in an Enlightenment, post-Westphalian European context. This gendered and modern-colonial invention of religion has implications for how religion and religious actors (or actors perceived as such) are discussed, perceived, and treated within the realm of Global Politics.

Dr Joshua Ralston discusses his book "Law and the Rule of God: A Christian Engagement with Shari'a" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani.   In Law and the Rule of God, Joshua Ralston presents an innovative approach to Christian-Muslim dialogue. Eschewing both polemics and apologetics, he proposes a comparative framework for Christian engagement with Islamic debates on sharī'a. Ralston draws on a diverse range of thinkers from both traditions including Karl Barth, Ibn Taymiyya, Thomas Aquinas, and Mohammad al-Jabri. He offers an account of public law as a provisional and indirect witness to the divine rule of justice. He also demonstrates how this theology of public law deeply resonates with the Christian tradition and is also open to learning from and dialoguing with Islamic and secular conceptions of law, sovereignty, and justice.

Dr Anver M. Emon discusses his book "Islamic Natural Law Theories" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani. By recasting the Islamic legal tradition in terms of legal philosophy, Anver Emon's Islamic Natural Law Theories sheds substantial light on an uncharted tradition of natural law theory and offers critical insights into contemporary global debates about Islamic law and reform.

Dr Cyrus Ali Zargar discusses his book "Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism" with Dr Ali-Reza Bhojani. Islamic philosophy and Sufism evolved as distinct yet interweaving strands of Islamic thought and practice. Despite differences, they have shared a concern with the perfection of the soul through the development of character. In The Polished Mirror, Cyrus Ali Zargar studies the ways in which, through teaching and storytelling, pre-modern Muslims lived, negotiated and cultivated virtues. Examining the writings of philosophers, ascetics, poets, and saints, he locates virtue ethics within a dynamic moral tradition.

The generally perceived notion/purpose of ijtihād is to provide a  solution where there is no direct text on a particular issue. Given that  within the theories of Islamic law, it is a well-accepted fact that  an ijtihād would not necessarily negate another ijtihād on the same  issue, one may arrive at the question of sanctity in relation to the  fatwas issued as a result of different ijtihāds being carried out. This  study therefore looks at whether the body of fatwas issued are any less  in their sacredness as a result of differences and variations  in ijtihādi conclusions. The study will follow a textual analysis and  its scope falls within the broad sphere of theology.

This paper will discuss the impact of the case method on three  separate cohorts, all in the context of Islamic education. Although a  very widely used tool in higher education, the use of the case method is  rare in Islamic education, normally being superseded by a traditional  didactic or instructive style of teaching, a feature that often extends  across most age groups and even into specialised seminary learning.  Retrospective observational analysis was conducted on three separate  cohorts in the community who were exposed to the case methodology over a  period of five years. Three separate areas of growth were seen in the  cohorts in varying degrees. Personal growth and mentoring of  the individual through the acquisition of key life skills such as  critical analysis, public speaking, presentation skills and ability to  collaborate with others. Increasing knowledge base of the individual in a wide variety of Islamic and non-Islamic disciplines. Triggers for community action following identification of critical societal issues. Significant  areas requiring greater engagement by community leaders were also  frequently flagged up such as suppressed atheism, apostasy, child abuse,  mental health and ethical practices of Muslims. Above all, the nature  of the case method ensured cross-generational as well as cross-gender  conversations on major neglected issues affecting Muslims in the UK,  ultimately allowing participants to critically evaluate their faith in a  safe space without judgement, develop key life skills and study Islam  in context of the modern world and tackle major societal issues relevant  not only to Muslims, but society as a whole.

Averroes adopted a legal-centric epistemological framework in order  to prove #Philosophy as #Islamic. The main focus was to demonstrate to  what extent philosophy was Islamic using Averroes’ systematised  framework from his legal treatise, Kitāb faṣl al-maqāl as a rebuttal to  Muslim jurists who considered philosophy as anti-Islamic. Using  Averroes’ legal treatise, Sayyid Wajee showed how Averroes employs the  legal methodology and the principles adopted by Muslim jurists against  them, highlighting the compatibility between philosophy and Islam. Moreover, Averroes’ grounds his assertions of philosophy as an Islamic  endeavour by combining the technical jargon of the jurists with Qurʾānic  passages as a way of conclusively affirming the concept of ‘Islamic  philosophy’. The presentation highlighted the negative attitude towards philosophy in the 12th century and this attitude persisting in the 21st century  in certain Islamic institutions. Sayyid Wajee emphasised on #Averroes  premise that the study of law which is widely accepted by Muslim  thinkers as an Islamic enterprise according to the jurists themselves,  the same sentiment should be afforded to Muslim philosophers

The presentation aimed to cover the question of whether Muslims are allowed to reside in non-Muslim majority countries under the condition of religious freedom. It encompassed an analysis of the major textual  evidence on this topic, regardless of whether they argue for  permissibility or prohibition. The focus is to engage with the seemingly  contradictory arguments considering their authenticity, historical  context and meaning, in the hope of coming close to, or advancing, the  understanding of the religious opinion on the matter. Shaykh Zaini  argued that emigration was mandatory under certain historical  circumstances experienced by early companions, then it became advisory  following the conquest of Mecca and the establishment of the religion.