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The CISS is proud to announce its forthcoming conference called: ‘Pioneering works in Islamic Sciences: Shi’i scholarship from 16th century – present.’

The conference will be held on Saturday 5th March 2011 it the Khalili Lecture Theatre at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. The conference aims to bring out Shi’a scholarship post 16th century – an area generally neglected in academia. In this period, Shi’a scholars were able to flourish in less oppressive conditions producing works like Al-Asfar al-Arba’a by Mulla Sadra and Bihar al-Anwar by Allamah Majlisi. We invite abstracts from scholars and PhD students to be submitted by December 10th 2010. For more information, see below.

‘Pioneering works in Islamic sciences: Shi’i scholarship from 16th century – present’

A Centre for Islamic Shi’a Studies (CISS) conference

Saturday March 5th 2011, 9:30am – 5pm

Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London

Islamic sciences is a broad term which includes jurisprudence (fiqh), narration studies (hadith), biographical studies (rijal), philosophy (falsafa), theology (kalam), mysticism (irfan), Arabic language (arabiyyah) and exegesis (tafsir). Its rich history is explicitly connected to the revelation of the Qur’an and the sunnah (tradition). Specifically, Shi’i scholarship is characterised by the interpretation of not only the Qur’an but the teachings of the Fourteen Infallibles (ma’sumin). According to the Shi’a faith, the Prophet and Twelve Imams are regarded as offering unique and authentic wisdom in interpreting the Qur’an and guiding humanity. In particular, their teachings have been the bedrock and influence of many pioneering works in Shi’i scholarship from the 16th century onwards which was a flourishing time for Shi’a scholars because of the freedom they had from persecution and oppression. This allowed them to produce many outstanding works in the fields described above.

This conference will focus on notable texts by Shi’a scholars produced in that period and beyond to the present day. To give a flavour of these works and perhaps what academics may write about (this is not an exhaustive list), here are some below:

Wasaail Al-Shi’a by Al-Hurr al-Amili

Al-Asfar al-Arba’a by Mulla Sadra

Bihar al-Anwar by Allamah Majlisi

Al-Makasib Al-Muharamah by Murtadha Al-Ansari

Kifayat Al-Usul by Akhund Khurasani

Mu’jam Rijal Al-Hadith by Ayatullah Al-Khoei

The texts above and many more have hardly been analysed or written about in Western academia yet their influence on Islamic sciences and the life of Muslims have been far-reaching. We invite scholars and PhD students to submit abstracts of up to 400 words (with a CV) on a Shi’a text of their choice from the 16th century onwards till the present day. Themes related to the chosen text are entirely up to the scholar but we emphasise that the text should be central to the abstract. The CISS intends to publish accepted papers.

Deadline for abstracts: December 10th 2010

Imranali Panjwani: i.panjwani@shiastudies.org.uk

For any queries, e-mail

Website: www.shiastudies.org.uk

Tel: +44 20 8451 3322