The Shi‘i Studies Conference Abstracts and Schedule brochure can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdk7rx7csrasgha/ShiiStudiesBrochure.pdf?dl=0

8:30 am – 8:45 am Registration for in-person attendees |
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8:45 – 8:50 Opening remarks by Dr Mohammed Ali Ismail, Director of Research and Publications at The Islamic College 8:50 – 9:00 Opening address by Seyed Hashem Moosavi, Director of Hawza Ilmiyya of England |
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9:00 – 10:00 Panel: Interfaith and Intrafaith Studies Chaired by Amina Inloes |
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Q. 9: 28 and its Role in Sunni/Shi‘a Polemics | Oliver Leaman, Accademia Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy |
American Shia Muslim Interfaith Engagement: How Shia Muslims Can Achieve Peaceful Coexistence with American Evangelicals | Tim Orr, Indiana University Purdue University Columbus, USA |
Nader Shah’s Ja‘fari Madhhab: Shi‘i-Sunni Reconciliation in an Imperial Context | Mohammad Amir Hakimi Parsa, SOAS, London, UK |
10:00 – 10:15 Break |
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10:15 – 1:00 Panel: Theology, History, and Sacred Texts Chaired by Amir DeMartino |
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Inscriptions As a New Source in Ismaili History | Karim Javan, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, UK |
The Unknowable Lord Has Manifested: Quiddity of Deity Between Divine Immanence, and Divine Transcendence, within the Ismaili Ginān | Stephen Cúrto, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA |
The Prophetic Sīrah through the Qurʿānic Paradigm: A Case Study of the Battle of Uḥud | Zoheir Ali Esmail, London, UK |
Quranic Verses Shaping Djem and False Perception of Alevism in the Society | Birul Topuz, Potsdam, Germany |
A Mobile and Invisible Religion: The Kizilbash (Alevi) Belief System in Dersim | Cevat Dargin, Princeton, USA |
1:00 – 2:00 Lunch |
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2:00 – 3:45 Panel: Film, Theatre, Literature, and Social Media Chaired by Amir Dastmalchian |
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How does the Hollywood film Dune present the Mahdi through a secular humanist lens? | Reza John Vedadi, Loughborough University, London |
A Tale of Harmony in Different Contexts: Premchand’s Theatrical Adaptation of the Epic of Karbala | Anuran Dasgupta, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India |
The Holy Grail, Islam, and Imam ‘Ali | Frank Gelli, Church of England |
Shi‘a Visual Epistemology and its Application in the Field of Social Media | Malakeh Shahi, Berlin, Germany |
Expressing Devotion to Shi‘i Imams in the Early Modern Poetry from Badakhshan | Nourmamadcho, Nourmamadchoev, Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK |
3:45 – 4:00 Break |
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4:00 – 5:30 Panel: Islamic Law Chaired by Mohammed Ali Ismail |
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Some Notes on the Uses of Documentary Evidence in Imami Law | Aun Hasan Ali, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA |
Changing Patterns in Fatwas on Women in the Contemporary Shi‘a World | Leila Chamankhah, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA |
Sharia and the Development of Iranian Family Law | Fateme Zeynodini, Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran |
The Concept of Insaf (Equity) According to its Applications in the Words of Jurists | Javad Esmaeili, International Institute for Islamic Studies, Qom, Iran |
5:30 – 6:30 Panel: Philosophy Chaired by Hamid Tehrani |
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A New Critical Approach to Fact-Value Relationships | Ali Paya, The Islamic College, London, UK |
Deceit, the Imagination, and Reason: Ibn Khaldūn and Occult Causation | Reem Elghonimi, Austin, Texas, USA |
A Sadrian Interpretation of Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument | Adam Ient, Peterborough, UK |
6:30 – 6:40 Closing address by Dr Isa Jahangir, Principal of The Islamic College |