The AMI Podcast

Diversity within Shia Islam 

Dr. Jones presented a paper on ‘Islam and Science’, which drew on  previous research on perceptions of evolution by the research team for  the project ‘Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum’, as well as new research being  conducted on views of Islam and science among Muslim religious leaders.  He spoke about the findings of a survey of British Muslims on science  and evolution, highlighting that British Muslims are marginally more  likely to identify with science than the wider British public but remain  both sceptical and uncertain about biological evolution. Muslims’  evolution scepticism varies significantly depending on how questions are  asked, while they are also considerably more likely to suggest that  they do not know how to respond.

This presentation looked at narratives dealing with the experiences  of female scholars within the Sunni Muslim community in the UK, with a focus on the South Asian community. The South Asian community is  responsible for setting up many of the traditional Islamic learning  institutions (darul ulums) in the UK for both male and female students. Many  of these institutions will follow the same curriculum whereby students will study the same texts and subjects, yet female graduates often face greater challenges upon graduation. Often their education is questioned  and their opportunities to serve their communities are more limited.  This presentation highlighted some of those challenges through personal  narratives taken from various studies conducted in the UK. Finally, it called for greater community participation in creating a more accepting  space for female scholars and a more supportive community network so  that they are able to better serve their communities, and the community  is able to benefit from their knowledge and expertise.

Dr. Rajani explained the dynamics of the abovementioned Centre,  explaining how scholars from various denominations come together and  attempt to give unified responses to some of the questions and  challenges facing Muslims today. Dr. Rajani clarified the processes and  methods that the Centre employs to try and arrive at jointly agreed  opinions, which are then disseminated in the form of online statements. Hitherto,  the Centre has produces 43 statements, ranging from jurisprudential  issues – like the permissibility of consuming stunned meat – to  theological matters – like the finality of the prophethood of Prophet  Muhammad (pbuh). The Centre’s work has shown what can be achieved when  Muslims work together despite the differences in their ideological and  even theological stances.

Providing an in-depth and extensive analysis of the concept of power as articulated by Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (1935–2010), this case study analyses the systemic conceptualisation of power and his argumentation of sacralising Islamised power. The volume also offers a quick overview of how the concept was understood and articulated by other Shi‛ite jurists such as Ayatollah Khomeini. Examining Fadlallah’s oeuvre, in particular his seminal book Islam and the Logic of Power [ al-Islam wa-mantiq al-quwwa ], this book focuses on the narrative itself, which played a central role in the radical transformation that occurred in the Shi‛te concept of empowerment and its recognition as a necessity. The analysis of Fadlallah’s conceptualisation and argumentation illustrates the mechanism of sacralising righteous power as well as the means of gaining it. Fadlallah reinterpreted Shi‛sm as a project of empowerment to initiate and sustain an “impulse of power” amongst the Lebanese Shi‛tes in the most critical moment of modern Lebanese history.

Dr Zarepour demonstrated Fārābī’s interpretation of Aristotle’s work  on logical fallibilism. He showed how Fārābī’s views differs from  Aristotle on logical and theological fatalism. To reject these types of  fatalism, Fārābī argues that the truth values of future contingent  propositions are already distributed but this distribution is  indefinite. As a result, that a contingent proposition is now true does  not make it necessary in itself. Formalising Fārābī’s solutions to the  problems of logical and theological fatalism in the language of  contemporary modal logic, Dr Zarepour discussed its strength and  weakness. He also showed that although Fārābī defends these solutions,  there can be found passages in his commentary which signal that he is  not totally satisfied with them. These passages can be taken as a sign  for his implicit inclination towards a specific sort of open theism  which was later explicitly defended by some important figures of Arabic  philosophy.

Dr Amina Inloes presents "Female Scholarship and Authority in Islamic Scripture"

Dr Ali Reza Bhojani discusses "Theorising Diversity & Difference within Muslims Scholarly traditions"

Shaykh Umar Ramadhan presents "Theorising Diversity & Difference within Muslim Traditions"

Islam’s fourth caliph, Ali can be considered one of the most revered figures in Islamic history. His nearly universal portrayal in Muslim literature as a pious authority obscures centuries of contestation and the eventual rehabilitation of his character. In this book, Nebil Husayn examines the enduring legacy of the nawasib, early Muslims who hated Ali and his descendants. The nawasib participated in politics and discussions on religion at least until the ninth century. However, their virtual disappearance in Muslim societies has led many to ignore their existence and the subtle ways in which their views subsequently affected Islamic historiography and theology. By surveying medieval Muslim literature across multiple genres and traditions including the Sunni, Mutazili, and Ibadi, Husayn reconstructs the claims and arguments of the nawa¯sib and illuminates the methods that Sunni scholars employed to gradually rehabilitate the image of Ali from a villainous character to a righteous one. Nebil Husayn is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami, where his research considers the development of Islamic theology, historiography, and debates on the caliphate. Husayn obtained his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University.