Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies

Monday 18th-Tuesday 19th May 2026

Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (the Aga Khan University) & 
The Institute for Ismaili Studies

10 Handyside Street, London, N1C 4DN

 

Conference Programme

The British Association for Islamic Studies is delighted to be returning to the Aga Khan University's Institute for the Study of Muslims Civilisations and The Institute of Ismaili Studies at the Aga Khan Centre, London, for its 2026 Annual Conference on 18 & 19 May 2026. 

Below you will find the provisional conference programme. Please be aware that the programme is likely to change in the months leading up to our conference. 

To view the programme with all paper abstracts CLICK HERE.

 

Day 1: Monday 18 May 2026

 

10.00 - 10.10: Words of Welcome (ACR)

 

Fozia Bora (University of Leeds, Chair of the British Association for Islamic Studies) and Jonas Otterbeck (ISMC). 

 

10.10 - 11.20: Opening Keynote (ACR)

 

Professor Ovamir Anjum (University of Toledo) 

'Managing Deep Differences: Notes on an Ummatic Political Theory'

Chair: Dr Hadiza Kere Abdulrahman (University of Lincoln)

 

11.20-11.30: BRAIS Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World Announcement (ACR)

  

11:30-12:00: Refreshments

 

12.00-13.30: Panel Session 1   

 

Akhbārī Knowledge and the Reconfiguration of Shiʿi Scholarship in Late Safavid Iran (Room 219)

Chair: Majid Montazer Mahdi (Institute of Ismaili Studies)

Robert Gleave (University of Exeter) Safavid Akhbārī ḥadīth commentary: Muḥammad Taqī al-Majlisī’s Lawāmiʿ Ṣāhibqirānī 

Majid Montazer Mahdi (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Writing the Self into Tradition: al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī and the Politics of Scholarly Memory 

Zahra Jafari (University of Exeter) Late Safavid Akhbārī Reorientation: Shaykh Yūsuf al-Baḥrānī’s Legal Legacy

 

Lived Islam in Britain: Welfare, Solidarity, and Spiritual Experience (Room 216)

Chair: Jorgen Neilsen (University of Birmingham)

Hanan Basher (Cardiff University) Qur'anic Approaches to Spiritual Care by Muslim Chaplaincy in British Higher Education 

Muhammad Nabil (SOAS) Britain's First Muslim Burial Fund: Archival Narratives of Migration, Civil Society and Welfare 

Muthanna Saari (University of Sussex) Zakat and the moral economy: Ethic of care, social solidarity and the aspiration for a good life 

Ruqaiah Al-Kabab (University of Salford) Young Arab Muslim Adults' Lived Spiritual Experience with Allah while studying in the UK: An integrated research methodology 

 

Gender, Power, and Interpretation in Islamic History and Thought (Room 220)

Chair: Karen Bauer (The Institute of Ismaili Studies) 

Majideh Qazizadeh (University of Exeter) Women, Myth, and the Gendering of Chess in Islamicate Literature 

Laila Halani (The Institute of Ismaili Studies) Female empowerment: 'Khoja' and Momin engagement with their Aga Khan III's vision as reflected in the community's Rules (1905-1950s) 

Qudsia Mirza (University of East London) Beyond Text and Tradition: Women's Interpretive Interventions in Modern Islamic Law 

 

Transmission of Knowledge and Classifications of the Sciences Across Islamicate Cultures (Room 215)

Chair: Petra Schmidl (FAU Erlangen-Nuernberg) 

Godefroid de Callatay (UCLouvain) The Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’s classification of the sciences: an overview of its diffusion and reception over the ages and cultures 

Laura Tribuzio (UC Louvain) Marks of Power, Traces of Knowledge: Ottoman Manuscripts of the Mujmal al-Ḥikma and the Brethren of Purity 

Ahmed Tahir Nur (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) From Alexandria to Baghdad to Istanbul: Tracing an Influential Framing of Knowledge 

Razieh Mousavi (FAU Erlangen-Nuernberg) Unity in Diversity: Numbers and the Synthesis of Knowledge in a Safavid Classification of Sciences 

 

Beyond Historiography: Alternative Sources for Early and Medieval Islamic History (Room 221)

Chair: Adam Ramadhan (Leiden University)

Leone Pecorini Goodall (Leiden University) Identifying and investigating maternal kinship ties in Umayyad and Alid panegyric 

Aliya Abdulkadir Ali (University of Cambridge) Imagining and Erasing: Women’s Political Roles in Early Islamic Genealogical and Narrative Traditions 

Aslisho Qurboniev (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Using Fatimid ‘propaganda’ as a historical source 

Clement Salah (University of Oxford) Manuscripts and Mālikī Scholarship: The Kairouan Collection as an Alternative Source for Early Islamic History 

 

East African Muslim sojourners in colonial Britain: Archaeology, anthropology and the (counter) archive of Bradford's 1904 Somali Village (ACR)

Chair: Fozia Bora (University of Leeds) 
 
The Somali Village in Colonial Bradford project investigates the largely buried and significantly overlooked history of the 1904 Great Exhibition in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford, within which a key attraction was a ‘Somali Village’. Around 57 Somali men, women and children travelled to Bradford from Somalia via France to live in a recreated village in Lister Park and perform daily cultural activities for visitors. The Village was a great success in terms of attracting visitors and commentary in the local press, yet its memory has been almost entirely erased from public consciousness. Led by a team of researchers based the UK and in Europe, our Somali-led project aims to reclaim this history by centering Somali voices, uncovering archives, and challenging British and European colonial perspectives, engaging the contemporary Somali diaspora and local culture for a co-curated reinterpretation of this colonial-era ethnographic display. 
 
Fozia Bora (University of Leeds) Local and global resonances of counter-archival research on Bradford's Somali Village of 1904
 
Christopher Gaffney (University of Bradford) Uncovering the 1904 Bradford Exhibition
 
Abira Hussain (UCL) The zoological framing of Somali subjects
 
Yahya Birt (Everyday Muslim) The Problem with Agency in the Völkershauen: The Case of Bradford's Somali Village in 1904

 

13.30-14.30: Lunch

  

14.30-16.00: Panel Session 2 

 

Ijtihād, Ethics, and Islamic Legal Theory Across Time (Room 219)

Chair: Mohammad Rasekh (Institute of Ismaili Studies) 

Ali-Reza Bhojani (University of Birmingham) Ijtihād and plurality: theorising difference from theology to law and ethics 

John Burden (University of Chicago) After Ijtihād: Imām al-Ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī and the Emergence of the Qāʿida Fiqhiyya 

Alexandre Caeiro (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) Social Critique in Modern Hadith Commentary: A Study of the Doha Sharia Judge Aḥmad b. Ḥajar Āl Būṭāmī al-Bin‘alī’s 1981 Kabā’ir Text 

 

Al-Bukhārī: Islam’s Foremost Traditionist (Room 221)

Chair: Rob Gleave (University of Exeter) 

Belal Alabbas (Cambridge Muslim College/University of Bristol), Jon Hoover (University of Nottingham), Omar Anchassi (University of Bern) and Ramon Harvey (Cambridge Muslim College) will discuss Dr Alabbas’s new book ‘Al-Bukhārī: The Life, Theology and Legal Thought of Islam’s Foremost Traditionist’. 

 

Infrastructures of Care, Charity and Constraint: Islamic Authority from the Humanitarian Sphere to the Household (Room 215)

Chair: Justin Jones (University of Oxford)

Emma Tomalin (University of Leeds) Beyond Tangibles: Muslim Local Faith Actors and the Intangible Work of Post-Conflict Development in Mindanao 

Sandra Pertek (University of Birmingham) Developing Islamic ethico-legal framework toward women’s protection in forced displacement 

Muhammad Nabil (SOAS) British Muslim Charities: Contemporary Manifestations of Canons and Traditions 

Muhammad Faisal Khalil (University of Oxford) Fractal Sovereignty and Rent Registers in the Muslim Household: Clerical Fief-holders from Marriage to Death

 

Transregional Sufism: Ontology, Ritual, and Reform from the 13th Century to the Present (Room 220)

Chair: Walid Ghali (AKU-ISMC) 

Sepideh Afrashteh (Ryukoku University) The Ontology of the Human Being in Rūmī’s Mathnawī in Light of Ibn ʿArabī’s Metaphysical Thought 

Fitzroy Morrissey (University of Oxford) Ibn ʿArabī’s treatment of samāʿ in al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyyah 

Tom Woerner-Powell (University of Manchester) Yataqarrabu ilayi bilnawāfili: Ethics of Supererogation and Sufi Social Activism

 

New Approaches to Shiʿi Hadith (ACR)

Chair: George Warner (Institute of Ismaili Studies)

Zarangez Karimova (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Inside al-Wāfī: Epistemology and Ontology in Fayḍ al-Kāshānī's Compendium 

Stephen Burge (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Fasting in al-Kulaynī’s Furūʿ al-Kāfī: A Structural Analysis 

Hasan Al-Khoee (Institute of Ismaili Studies) The Traditions of the Imams as Historiographical Correctives in Early Shiʿi Literature 

George Warner (Institute of Ismaili Studies) ‘Our Speech Is Difficult’: Conceptualising the Speech of ʿAlī in Early Commentaries on Nahj al-balāgha 

 

16.00-16.30: Refreshments

 

16.30-18.00: Panel Session 3 

 

Beyond Boundaries: Examining Cross-Communal Interactions in Early and Medieval Islam (ACR)

Chair: Leone Pecorini Goodall (Leiden University)

Kyle Longworth (Leiden University) Does Class Transcend Community? The Economic Backgrounds of Muslim and Non-Muslim Administrators during the Umayyad Caliphate (ca. 661–750) 

Adam Ramadhan (Leiden University) Congregational Prayer and Communal Boundaries in the Early Imāmī Community 

Yi-Chia Chang (University of Edinburgh) Crossing Communal Knowledge Boundaries: The Transmission and Reception of Yaḥyā b. Sallām al-Baṣrī’s Tafsīr in the Early Islamic West

Clara Pitocchi (University of Oxford) Legal Confusion or Legal Pluralism? A Draft Inheritance Query to Muslim Jurists from the Cairo Geniza 

 

Islam, Knowledge, and Narrative in Contemporary Culture (Room 220)

Chair: Uzair Ibrahim (University of Exeter) 

Silke Ackermann (Oxford University, History of Science Museum) What do we mean by "Islamic Science" in Museums? 

Jonas Otterbeck (Aga Khan University, ISMC) Cubism is Divine: Rasheed Araeen's universalism and rebuttal of Eurocentric art history 

Usaama Al-Azami (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) “Liberalizing Islamism” in the Post-Arab Spring Moment: The Case of Jasser Auda 

 

Reconfiguring “Reality”, Authority, and Political Theology in Contemporary Muslim Thought: Fiqh al-Wāqiʿ, Post-Salafism, and the Politics of Islamic Renewal (Room 221)

Chair: Besnik Sinani (Tubingen University) 

Besnik Sinani (Tubingen University) Post-Salafism: Religious Revisionism and Political Transformation in Contemporary Muslim Thought 

Rezart Beka (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) Theorizing Reality in Contemporary Islamic Thought: The Case of Scholars of Fiqh al-Wāqiʿ 

Ermin Sinanovic (Shenandoah University) Embedded Islamism: Evidence from Southeast Asia

 

Towards a “Barbados-to-Bengal” Complex? Rethinking the Scales of Global Islam through Latin America and the Caribbean (Room 219)

Chair: Ken Chitwood (Universität Bayreuth)

This roundtable proposes a “Barbados-to-Bengal Complex” as both an extension and critique of Shahab Ahmed’s  “Balkans-to-Bengal Complex.” Ahmed mapped a vast post-Mongol, Afro-Eurasian zone—stretching from Southeast Europe through Anatolia, Iran, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent—held together by shared concepts, Sufi-inflected practices, circulating texts, and entangled histories. While his formulation, which foregrounded the movement of people, ideas, texts, and devotional forms, challenged Eurocentric divisions and disciplinary silos, its geographic concentration inadvertently reinforced the marginalization of histories and contemporary formations beyond Afro-Eurasia. Specifically, this roundtable discusses an agenda for theorizing global Islam in ways that are not merely geographically expanded but conceptually re-scaled. It positions the Americas as integral, rather than peripheral, to understanding Islamic belonging, circulation, and religious formation in a globalised world. 

Participants:

Kholoud Al-Ajarma (University of Edinburgh)

Ken Chitwood (Universität Bayreuth)

Mark Lindley-Highfield of Ballumbie Castle (University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness) 

 

Negotiating Muslimness: Gender, Law, Media, and Power in Global Context (Room 215)

Chair: Aneeq Ejaz (University of Texas at Austin) 

Sumeera Hassan (University of Helsinki) Scripturalist Micro-Authority Online: Clip Culture and the Negotiation of Kinship Ethics in the Finnish-Pakistani Diaspora

Gianluca Parolin (Aga Khan University, ISMC) Nitṭallaʾ? Redefining Agency in Divorce on Egyptian Screens: Intersections of Gender and Class in Islamic Law and the Humanities 

Nafisa Kianni (University of East London) An intersectional analysis of British Muslim women’s political experiences during the process of selection, election and operation of the work environment

 

18.00-19.00: Reception hosted by the Aga Khan University's Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (Atrium)

 

18.30-19.30: Special Panel: Advice for Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers in Islamic Studies (ACR)

BRAIS is committed to supporting Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers as part of its focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Islamic Studies. In doing so, BRAIS aims to create an academic community that is both open and inclusive for those who are not yet established in their fields. This panel gathers a range of scholars who will share advice and experiences as part of our initiative to support the development of the next generation of scholars across the many sub-disciplines of Islamic studies.

Chair: Alyaa Ebbiary (Lancaster University/ BRAIS EDI Officer) How to market yourself as an ECR in a corporatising HE sector

Omar Anchassi (University of Bern) Perspectives from the front lines of the academic job market 
 
Iman Dawood (LSE) Challenges of post-doctoral life, motherhood, and being an international student in the UK university sector 

Rob Gleave (Exeter University) Large research projects and recruiting postdocs

 

Day 2: Tuesday 19 May  

 

10.00-11.30: Panel Session 4 

 

Law, Authority, and Reform in the Late Ottoman Empire (Room 220)

Chair: Tom Woener-Powell (University of MAnchester)

Hamdi Çilingir (Sakarya University) and Şerife Eroğlu Memiş (Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University) Between State Interest and Waqf Interest: The Council of State (Şûrâ-yı Devlet) and Ottoman Interventions in Waqfs, 1868–1908 

Ismail Noyan (Simon Fraser University) Towards a More Connected History of the Mecelle: Islamic Law, Codification, and Transimperial Networks Beyond Istanbul 

Bilal Taşkın (Istanbul Medeniyet University) Layers of Reality in Late Ottoman Thought: Ismā‘īl al-Galanbawī’s Theory of Nefs al-Amr 

 

From Creed to Currency: Islamic Legal and Ethical Reasoning Across Time and Space (Room 215)

Chair: Ali-Reza Bhojani (University of Birmingham) 

Camelia Garchi (Ez-zitouna University) Shari'ah Compliance or Islamic Moral Economy? Operationalising Ibn Ashur's Maqasid via sustainability 

Kadir Gombeyaz (Kocaeli University) The First (?) Commentary on al-Fiqh al-Akbar Written in Mamluk Egypt: Ahmad b. Sayf al-Din b. Fakhr al-Din al-Nasafi and His Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar 

Syed Muhammad Bilal Zaidi (LUMS) When "Principal" Loses Meaning: Ribā, Fiat Money, and the Ethics of Obligation 

 

Between Tradition and Nation in East and Southeast Asian Islam (Room 219)

Chair: Ermin Sinanovic (Shenandoah University) 

Adele Cozzani (University of Naples) Islamic education in China during the Ming-Qing era: an introduction to Jingtang Jiaoyu, the Chinese Islamic educational system 

Trang Nguyen Quynh (VNU University of Social Sciences and Humanities) The Philosophy of “Purification” in Shiʿa Theology and Its Localization through the Roja Ritual of the Cham Bani Community in Vietnam 

Irfan Sarhindi (University of Oxford) Between Pancasila and Caliphate: Muslim Students Making Sense of Political Standpoints in Indonesia's Post-Digital Education 

Tingting Zhong (University of St Andrews) A Mainland Hui Muslim on the Periphery: Naming "Self" and "Other" in Ma Jianfu's Zaichang de Xinyang 

 

Islam in Contemporary Europe: Faith, Migration, and Governance (Room 221)

Chair: Alyaa Ebbiary (Lancaster University)

Martin Eidrup (University of Gothenburg) and Goran Larsson (University of Gothenburg) Regulating Islam Through Democracy Criteria: A Comparison of Swedish and Belgian Legislation 2015-2025 

Egdunas Racius (Vytautas Magnus University) and Katarzyna Gorak-Sosnowska (Warsaw School of Economics) Migration of Central and Eastern European convert Muslims to the MENA region: between religious obligation (of hijra) and utility 

Daniel Vékony (Corvinus University of Budapest) Rejecting “bad Muslims”: The selective nature of Central European migration policies and image construction of Muslims in the context regular and irregular migration 

 

Hermeneutics in Motion: Ethics, Mysticism, and Moral Consciousness in the Qurʾān (ACR)

Chair: Ahmed Tahir Nur (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Sheam Abdul Aziz Khan (Cardiff University) Before the Pen Touches the Page: The Qur'an as Read by its Translators - A Study of Contextual Determinants in the Hermeneutics of Qur'anic Translation 

Shabnaz Khan (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Between Text and Practice: Testimonial Inequality, Qurʾānic Verse 2:282, and It's Legal Application in Pakistan  

Abdud Dayyan Mohammad Younus (University of Birmingham) Mystical Ways of Knowing and Hermeneutical Coherence in Tafsīr al-Mahāʾimī 

  

11:30-12:00: Refreshments

 

12.00-13.30: Panel Session 5   

 

Muslim Women at the Intersection of Theology and the State (221)

Chair: Laila Halani (Institute of Ismaili Studies) 

Whitney Buchanan (University of Edinburgh) Progressive Muslimah Leaders' Engagement with Political Muslim Advocacy in the United States and Germany 

Anika Kabani (University of Oxford) Islam as Explanation, Secularity as Requirement: The predicament of Muslim women asylum seekers in the U.S. 

Fatimah Aidara (Independent Researcher) Rābiʿah Reimagined: Divine Love and Poetic Longing in Contemporary Expressions of Tasawwuf 

Thulfekar Ali (University of Glasgow) Which Eve, Which Women? Creation Narratives and the Making of Women’s Status in Islamic Thought 

 

Islam in Conversation: Textual, Theological, and Religious Boundaries (Room 215)

Chair: Clara Pitocchi (University of Oxford)

Marina Pyrovolaki (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Jesus as Word and Spirit in the Qur'an: Reframing Christology after Nicaea 

Martin Whittingham (Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies Oxford and Regent's Park College, Oxford) Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rashīd Riḍā on the Bible 

Yasmin Ilkhani (AKU ISMC) The Inversion of Death Pollution in a Contemporary Zoroastrian Cemetery in Yazd, Iran 

 

Islam, Authority, and Society in the Contemporary Gulf (Room 220)

Chair: Tom Lea (University of Edinburgh)

Fatima  Elhag (University of Oxford) Family Law in the Gulf: Gender Dynamics, Litigants' Strategies, and Socio-Legal Analysis of Qatar's Judicial Rulings 

Philippe Thalmann (University of Cambridge) Prophetic Landscapes: Salafi lives in post-oil Saudi Arabia 

Daniel Miller (University of Oxford) "Occupying the Holy Lands of Islam": Intra-Wahhabi Contestation over Non-Muslim Intervention in the Gulf War 

 

Islam, Secularism, and Political Authority (Room ACR)

Chair: Tom Woener-Powell (University of Manchester)

Umar Shareef (Georgetown University) Revisiting the Islamic Secular 

Yahaya Halidu (The University of Texas at Austin) Islam, Modernity & The Crises of Secular Ideologies in Ghana 

Dietrich Reetz (Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient) Religious Governance and Socialist Ideals: Barkatullah's Pamphlet on "Islam and Socialist Body-Politic" in 1919 

Aneeq Ejaz (University of Texas at Austin) Sacralized Words, Enshrined Body: Pakistan's Founding Father between Scriptural Religion and Sacred Kingship    

 

Prophethood, Polemic, and Metaphysics in Sunni Kalām (Room 219)

Chair: Stephen Burge (Institute of Ismaili Studies) 

Navid Chizari (Ibn Haldun University) The Rational Necessity of Prophethood in Classical Muslim Thought 

Ramon Harvey (Cambridge Muslim College) The Jagged Reed Pen Cuts Sharply: On al-Māturīdī's Lampoons of al-Kaʿbī 

Robbie Hoque (University of London) Cognitive Psychology and a Taymiyyan framework for a theory of divine mind. 

Davide Ravazzoni (University of Groningen) What Equals the Thing in the Souls: Ibn Taymiyya on Desire and Just Price in Commercial Exchange 

 

13.30-14.30: Lunch

  

14.30-16.00: Panel Session 6 

 

From Page to World: Materiality and Meaning in Arabic Manuscripts (Room 221)

Chair: Aslisho Qurboniev (Institute of Ismaili Studies) 

Sarah Bowen Savant, Mathew Barber, Lorenz Nigst, Masoumeh Seydi, and Peter Verkinderen  (AKU-ISMC): KITAB-Transform – Transforming the Story of the Arabic Book, 700–1800 

Jonas Burkhard (Yale University) The Many Lives of the Most Popular Arabic Manuscript World Map: Ibn al-Wardī's (d. 1457) Kharīdat al-ʿAjāʾib wa-Farīdat al-Gharāʾib 

Ahmad Arif Zulkefli (International Islamic University Malaysia) The Importance of Codicological Evidence in African Islamic Manuscript Traditions: A Case Study of Taqyīd fī Bayān Wazn al-Aʿmāl by Aḥmad ibn Mubārak al-Sijilmāsī (d. 1156/1743) 

 

Theology at the Limits of Reason: From Post-Classical Debates to AI (Room 220)

Chair: Mansur Ali (Cardiff University)

Amir Mohammad Emami (University of Exeter) Beyond Conception: Mīrzā Mahdī Iṣfahānī’s Critique of Conceptualising God in Islamic Philosophical Theology 

Azad Raouf Qazaz (KU Leuven) Zeroness (al-ṣifrāniyya) beyond Oneness (al-waḥdāniyya): A New Metaphor for Divine Transcendence 

Sofia Tsourlaki (SOAS) Islamic Liberation Theology in the Digital Age: Critical Reasoning, and AI-Mediated Religious Engagement.    

  

Exploring Qurʾānic Meaning: Stylistic and Theological Perspectives (Room 215)

Chair: Fozia Bora (University of Leeds)

Saf Chowdhury (Cambridge Muslim College) Balancing Revelation and Application: An Analysis of Shaykh ʿAlī al-Qaradāghī’s Fiqh al-Mīzān 

Amina Inloes (The Islamic College) Meteors in the Qur'an 

Muhammad Faisal Khalil (University of Oxford) Sūrat al-Baqarah: Redactional Layering or Prophetic Dramaturgy? An Apocalyptic-Stage Stylometric Adjudication 

Saeid Sobhani (Islamic college of London) The Glorification of All Beings in the Qurʾān: A Theological and Philosophical Study of Tasbīḥ 

 

Authority, Community, and Visibility in Shiʿi and Alevi Contexts (Room 219)

Chair: Uzair Ibrahim (Univeristy of Exeter)

Carlos Mendez (University of Edinburgh) The Growing Mediated Visibility of Shi`ism and the (Co)Construction of a Renewed Shi`i Publicness 

Hossein Mousavi (Royal Holloway, University of London)  Were Shi’i Clerics Eurocentric in the 1920s? A Hermeneutic Challenge to the Definition of Eurocentrism in the Social Sciences 

Ufuk Erol (Leibniz Institute of European History) Producing Religious Authority: Sayyid Families, Genealogies and the Making of Alevi Religious Leadership 

 

British Muslim Experiences of Inclusion, Exclusion, and Solidarity (ACR) 

Chair: Haroon Sidat (Cardiff University)

Tasnim Idriss (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Islamophobia on Social Media in the UK: Discursive Dynamics and Muslim Responses on X during the 2023 Gaza War 

Iman Dawood (London School of Economics & Political Science) Forging 'Unity' in Times of Peril: British Muslim Activism in the Era of Far-Right Politics 

Muhammed Tajri (Al-Mahdi Institute) The Practitioners' Predicament – Challenges in Caring for Clients on the Shia-LGB Nexus 

Muhammad Abbasi (Royal Holloway University of London) Legal Status of Unregistered Muslim Marriages (Nikāḥ) under English law 

 

16.00-16.30: Refreshments

 

16.30-18.00: Closing Keynote Session

 

Islamic Literary Heritage at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (ACR)

Dr Nourmamadcho Nourmamadchoev and Dr. Karim Javan (Ismaili Special Collections Unit The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London)

An opportunity to view some of the stunning manuscripts held by the Institute for Ismaili Studies with specialist insight from colleagues at the IIS Special Collections Unit.

 

 

 

 

 

2022 Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies

Monday 6th - Tuesday 7th June

The University of Edinburgh 

 

Conference Programme

 

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PROGRAMME IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE 

 

All panels and plenaries will take place in the University of Edinburgh's School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at 50 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JU.

The Publisher Exhibition will be located in the same space as the main conference.

 

- Click here to register for the conference.

- Click here for further information about conference accommodation

 

Monday 6th June 2022 

 

09.00 onward: Registration open    

 

09.45 – 10.00: Words of Welcome 

  

10.00 – 11:15: Plenary 1:  

 

Professor Salman Sayyid (University of Leeds) 

Critical Muslim Studies: Decolonizing the Islamicate? 

 

11:15-11:30: BRAIS-de Gruyter Prize Ceremony

 

11.30 – 12.00: Coffee/Tea 

 

12.00 – 13.30: Panel Session 1 

 

Qur’anic Hermeneutics: Tools and Approaches

Room G01

Chair: Haroon Sidat (Cardiff University)

Amira  Abou-Taleb (University of Helsinki) A Mandate for Beauty in the Qur’an: the iḥsān imperative

David  Vishanoff (University of Oklahoma) Anthropological Reorientations in Qur’anic Hermeneutics: History, Structuralism, Ideology, Phenomenology, and Postmodernism

Hany  Rashwan (UAE University/University of Birmingham) Bayān, faṣāḥah, and balāghah in the Qur’ān: Orality in early Islamic literary criticism

Sohaib Saeed (Ibn 'Ashur Centre) The Multiple Authorship of al-Rāzī's Great Exegesis: Old and New Evidence

 

Muslims in Britain: Responding to Challenges and Changing Dynamics

Room G02

Chair: Alyaa Ebbiary (University of Durham)

Fatou Sambe (Cardiff University) Black Muslim Convert Experiences in Britain

Davide Pettinato (University of Exeter) Environmental activism, the ‘everyday’, and ethical/pious self-cultivation: insights from a youth-led British Muslim charity

Sharaiz Chaudhry (University of Edinburgh) Islamic Liberation Theology in Practice:  A Comparative Analysis of British Muslims’ Activism Against Class Inequality

Muzaffer Can Dilek (University of Huddersfield) Politics, education policy and teacher professional identity: Muslim teachers in England

  

Falsafa and Theology in the Medieval Period

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: Fozia Bora (University of Leeds)

Raissa von Doetinchem de Rande (Rhodes College) A Possible Influence: Ibn Masarra’s (d. 931) Risālat al-iʿtibār and Ibn Ṭufayl’s (d. 1185) Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān 

Torsten Hylen (Dalarna University) Three times Karbalāʾ: comparing early accounts of the death of al-Ḥusayn

Muhammad Sami (University of Oxford) Suprarational Knowledge According to the School of Ibn ‘Arabī

Belal Abu-Alabbas (University of Exeter) Lafẓī bi-l-Qurʾān makhlūq? Al-Bukhārī and his Adversaries on the Lafẓ Controversy

 

Muslims and the Environment: Contesting the Contemporary Religious and Cultural Discourses

Room G05

Chair: Kholoud Al-Ajarma (University of Edinburgh)

Siti Sarah Muwahidah (University of Edinburgh) and Fuad Faizi (State Islamic Institute of Syekh Nurjati Cirebon) The Localization of Global Climate Crisis Narratives in Indonesian Muslim Societies: Promises and Problems

Jawida Mansour (University of the People) and Kholoud Al-Ajarma (University of Edinburgh) Questioning Tobacco Production: health, environment, and economic struggle among Muslims in Palestine

Zainal Abidin Bagir (Universitas Gadjah Mada) and Haryani Saptaningtyas (Sebelas Maret University) Contrast and Convergence in Indonesian Religious Environmentalism:  A Case Study of Religious and Secular Environmental Activism

Rana Abu-Mounes (Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford) Muslim and Christian Responses to the Water Crisis in Jordan

 

Contemporary Fiqh and Jurisprudence 

Room G06

Chair: Usaama al-Azami (University of Oxford)

Fatima Barkatulla (SOAS) Between Protectionism and Surrender: Qaradawi’s Wasatiyya and Orthodox Pragmatism in Islamic Legal Theory

Rami Koujah (Princeton University) Maqasid al-shar’'a as virtue jurisprudence

Mansur Ali (Cardiff University) Tying the knot virtually: E-Nikah in Hanafi fiqh

Al Muatasim Al Maawali (Sultan Qaboos University) The Omani Experience of Islamic Banking– A Juristic Approach to the Question, How Islamic is Islamic Banking?

 

13.30 – 14.30: Lunch

 

14.30 – 16.00: Panel Session 2

 

The Qur’an: Classical and Modern Approaches to the Sacred Text

Room G01

Chair: Sohaib Saeed (Ibn 'Ashur Centre)

Josef Linnhoff (The Institute of Advanced Usuli Studies) Coherence and Context: Khaled Abou El Fadl’s Approach to Qur’anic Exegesis

Fadhli Lukman (Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta) The State, Islamic Caliphate, and the Official Qurʾān Translation: the politics of Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya of the Republic of Indonesia

Muhammad Faisal Khalil (University of Oxford) What Pigs and Other Animals Teach Us About the Vulnerability of Moral Development

 

Contemporary Turkey: Religion, Identity and Society

Room G02

Chair: Mahdi Mosawi (University of Edinburgh)

Müge Akpinar (Freie Universität Berlin) Taking Care of the Self, Taking Care of Nature: An Ethnographic Account of Fitrah and Lived Islam in Contemporary Turkey

Caroline Tee (University of Chester) Religious Charisma in the Shadow of the State: Alternative Pathways to ‘’Routinisation’' in Turkey

Iffet Piraye Yuce (Université Paris 8 / Center for Sociological and Political Research in Paris) Intersectional Approaches to Multiple Identities: Muslim Women Entrepreneurs in Turkey

  

Why Race Matters in Islamic Studies: Theoretical and Ethnographic Contributions from Muslim Africa and its Diaspora

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: Ezgi Guner (University of Edinburgh)

Marta Scaglioni (University of Milano-Bicocca) Race and racism in Southern Tunisia

Valerio Colosio (Ankara Social Science University) Race, ethnicity and otherisation in a post-slavery context: The case of Guéra province in central Chad

Ezgi Guner (University of Edinburgh) Racing the Ummah: Humanitarianization of Muslim Internationalism and the Reconstruction of Turkish Whiteness in Africa

 

Ibn Taymiyya: Ontology, Epistemology and Scripture

Room G05

Chair: Jaan Islam (University of Edinburgh)

Danial Lav (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Ibn Taymiyya on Ontological Dependence and Its Ground 

Jon Hoover (University of Nottingham) Ibn Taymiyya on the Gospel’s Relation to the Torah

Safaruk Chowdhury (Cambridge Muslim College) Ibn Taymiyya’s Fiṭralism and Alvin Plantinga’s Religious Epistemology: A Study in Comparative Theories of Belief

 

British Islam: Challenges, Responses, Relationships

Room G06

Chair: Jorgen Nielson (University of Birmingham)

Laura Jones-Ahmed (Cardiff University) The Plurality of Time in Ramadan: Moon Sighting and the Search for Laylatul Qadr

Hugh Goddard (University of Edinburgh) Edinburgh and the World of Islam

Riyaz Timol (Cardiff University) Understanding British Imams: Presentation of Project Findings

Haroon Sidat (Cardiff University) Virtue and Action as Habitus: From Taalib to Khaadim

 

16.00 – 16.30: Refreshments

 

16:30 – 18:00: Panel Session 3

  

Muslim Use of Media: From Empire to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Room G01

Chair: Michael Munnik (Cardiff University)

Ibrahim Suberu (University of Port Harcourt) Digital Religiosity and the Effects of Virtual Da’awah among Nigerian Muslims Youths

Wael Hegazy (University of California Santa Barbara) Online Islamic Rituals in the Western Context

Hayat Douhan (Free University of Berlin) 2.0 Mosques in Times of The Pandemic: The Digital Media Uses among Moroccan Mosques in Germany

 

Counter radicalisation policies and their effects on Belgian Muslims

Room G02

Chair: Arthemis Snijders (KU Leuven)

Mieke Groenink (KU Leuven) Islamic religious actors providing theological counternarratives for deradicalisation in Belgium

Arthemis Snijders (KU Leuven/Ugent) 'Worse than a criminal record': The effects of counter radicalisation policies and discourse on Belgian Muslims

Lore Janssens (KU Leuven) The body as compass: the ways frontline workers’ embodiment reproduces Muslims as suspect category

 

Islamic Law: Peace, Resistance, and Rebellion

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: Usaama al-Azami (University of Oxford)

Kaleem Hussain (University of Birmingham) Peace & Reconciliation Based on International and Islamic Law

Walaa Quisay (University of Manchester) Carceral Fiqh: Debates on the Permissibility of Hunger Strikes 

Jaan Islam (University of Edinburgh) The Law of Rebellion in Jihadi-Salafism: A Study of Sayyid Imām al-Sharīf and Abū Baṣīr al-Ṭarṭūsī

 

Islam and Gender: Challenging Patriarchy and Authority

Room G05

Chair: Tazeen Ali (Washington University in St. Louis)

Masoumeh Velayati (University of Warwick) Liberation Theology: Re-visiting the Polygamy Verses from a Gender Perspective

Laiqah Osman (Cardiff University) Muslim Women and the Dilemma of Gendered Spiritual Abuse

Shadaab Rahemtulla (University of Edinburgh) Towards an Egalitarian Islamic Masculinity: Prophet Muhammad, Khadijah, and the Politics of (Patriarchal) Memory

 

Tuesday 7th June 2022

 

09.30 – 11.00: Panel Session 4

 

Muslim Representation and Authority in the Media

Room G01

Chair: Sharaiz Chaudhry (University of Edinburgh)

Michael Munnik (Cardiff University) When Journalists Apply the Label ‘Muslim’

Tazeen Ali (Washington University in St. Louis) Beyond TV Terrorists: Politics, Sex, and American Islam in Hulu’s Ramy

Siti Sarah Muwahidah (University of Edinburgh) Shi'i Women's Digital Da'wa in Indonesia:  Nurturing New Female Authorities And Bridging Sectarian Divides

 

Muslim-Jewish Encounter: Diversity and Distance in Urban Europe

Room G02

Chair: Yulia Egorova (University of Durham)

The panel will be a round-table discussion involving scholars working on the Muslim-Jewish Encounter study funded by the Open Research Area (ORA) for the Social Sciences. This joint research project explores intercultural, interethnic and interreligious encounters as exemplified by Jews and Muslims in urban Europe; focusing on France, Germany and the UK, countries which on the face of it have followed different models of framing majority-minority relations, creating ideal conditions for a comparative study of the possibilities of living together in European cities. Although previous academic studies indicate that negative attitudes to Jews and to Muslims correlate with each other in wider society, current public discourse has instead emphasised growing antagonism between them, relating to events in the Middle East and to the rise of Islamist terror and its counteraction. However, there is ethnographic evidence that relations in urban neighbourhoods are often more complex: everyday commercial exchange, cultural traffic within music and arts scenes, spontaneous and institutionalised interfaith initiatives, nostalgic attempts to retrieve periods of conviviality, and banal contact in the street are among the many forms these relations can take. The proposed panel will bring together researchers working on the project who will present and put in a comparative perspective initial findings from their ethnographic studies in different cities in France, Germany and the UK.

 

 

Religious Discourses in Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: David Warren (Washington University in St. Louis) 

Usaama al-Azami (University of Oxford)  Islamic Autocracy as Political Theology: Abdullah Bin Bayyah's Theory of Autocracy

David  Warren (Washington University in St. Louis) “Tolerance is Lived and Practiced Here”: The Politics of Interfaith Dialogue in the United Arab Emirates

Arif Rabbani  (SOAS University of London) Criticisms of child marriage in Islam and contemporary legal reforms: The case of Saudi Arabia and Malaysia

  

Mapping Sufi Trajectories: From the Late Ottoman Empire to Republican Turkey

Room G05

Chair: Ezgi Guner (University of Edinburgh)

Eda Güçlü (Ludwig-Maximilians University) Mapping the Memoirs of Aşçı İbrahim Dede: A Spatial Reading

Feyza Burak-Adli (Northwestern University) “We belong neither to that nor this/Yet we belong both to that and this:” Sufi Sheikh Kenan Rifai, Modernity and Class in Turkey

Çiçek İlengiz (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) Sensing Sufi Love: Inheriting Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

 

Diachronic Studies in Islamic Law, Ethics, and Legal Theory

Room G06

Chair: Jaan Islam (University of Edinburgh)

Samira Musleh (University of Minnesota - Twin Cities) Materialist Feminism, Premodern Marital Economy, and Islamic Ethics of Labor

Ataul Khabir (Cambridge University) A reconstruction of al-Ghazālī’s attempt to extend of the Divine Law

Adam Ramadhan (University of Oxford/Al-Mahdi Institute) Qāʿidat al-injibār: Rehabilitating Weak Traditions in Imāmī uṣūl al-fiqh

  

11:00 – 11.30: Refreshments

 

11.30 – 13:00: Panel Session 5

 

Muslims in Minority Contexts: Integration, Securitisation and Belonging

Room G01

Chair: Alyaa Ebbiary (University of Durham)

Adam Possamai (Western Sydney University) Hyper-securitisation and Belonging: Understanding the Plight of Young Muslims in Australia

Emine Turkoglu (Helsinki University) Integration Aspirations and Realities of the Gulen Movement Members in Finland

Mahmud Bin Sayeed (University of Warwick) Exploring the Teaching of Arabic in Three Independent Muslim Secondary Schools in the UK: An Empirical Enquiry

 

Islamicate Perspectives on Nation, Identity and the Other

Room G02

Chair: Hugh Goddard (University of Edinburgh)

Doga Ozturk (Independent Scholar) Resisting Orientalism by “Domesticating” the Orient: Fatma Aliye’s Namdaran-ı Zenan-ı İslamiyan

Sarah Copsey Alsader (University of Kent) Discourses of Islam in British Romantic Poetry

Dogukan Atmaca (UCL) Reshaping Ottoman Constantinople with Confessionalization

Nasser AlFalasi (University of Edinburgh) ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Muqaffa‘ and his  administrative legacy

 

(De)colonial Perspectives Across Time

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: Ali Kassem (University of Edinburgh)

Ibrahim Khan (University of Chicago) Rethinking Indian Muslim Nationalism: Husain Ahmad Madani’s Composite Nationalism as Anti-Colonialism

Gehad Hasanin (University of Oxford) The Orient’s Colonial Wounds: Engaging Decolonial Theory Through Maḥmūd Moḥammad Shākir’s Critique of Orientalism

Nagat Emara (Humboldt University) The Transformation of the concept of umma in the Age of Nationalism: A study of al-Marsafi's 1881 Risalat al-Kalim al-Thaman

 

The Dynamics of Sunni-Shi‘a relations in Europe

Room G05

Chair: Elvire Corboz (University of Edinburgh)

Olav Elgvin (University of Bergen) For the Greater Good: Common Goals and Institutional Sunni-Shi‘a Cooperation in Norway

Teemu Pauha (University of Helsinki) Mut‘a marriage, online boundary-work, and the social psychology of Sunni-Shi‘a relations

Elvire Corboz (University of Edinburgh) From the margins to the centre: Shi‘a-led grassroots organisations and the shaping of an inclusive Muslim identity in Britain (Co-authored with Emanuelle Degli-Esposti, University of Cambridge)

 

Heroes and Villains on the Move: How Stories of the Revered and Reviled Cross Cultural and Linguistic Boundaries

Room G06

Chair: Lucy Deacon (University of Edinburgh) 

Sarah Slingluff (University of Edinburgh) The ‘Hero Takes a Fall’? Questioning Dominant Narratives of Mūsā ibn Nuṣayr’s Corruption in Andalusi History

Kieran Hagan (University of Edinburgh) The Medieval Armenian Popular Image of Muhammad

Jaakko Hameen-Anttila (University of Edinburgh) Old heroes meet new ones: Encounters of Rustam and Ali and the Islamic identity of Iran

Lucy Deacon (University of Edinburgh) Karbala on Stage: Retelling the Martyrdom of Imam Husain in the Iranian Taʿziyeh

 

13.00 – 14.00: Lunch

 

14.00 – 15.30: Panel Session 6

 

Maps, Manuscripts and Material Culture

Room G01

Chair: Fozia Bora (University of Leeds)

Noha Hussein (Nottingham Trent University) Encountering Modernity: Quranic Epigraphy in Contemporary Mosque Architecture in the West

Sainulabdeen Mohammed Thameem (University of Birmingham) Medieval Sri Lanka in the Eyes of Andalusian Geographer Al-Bakrī (1014-1094)

Saeko Yazaki (University of Glasgow) The Islamic Manuscript Collection of A.S. Yahuda in Princeton University Library: A History of Acquisition

Asli Altinisik (Free University of Berlin) Lebaneseness and Private Capital at the National Museum of Beirut

 

Islamic Law in Historical Contexts

Room G02

Chair: Noorhaidi Hasan (Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia) 

Grant  Kynaston (University of Cambridge) Conceptions of Islamic Law in the Colonial Court Practice of the Netherlands-Indies, 1848-1867

Ismail  Noyan (Simon Fraser University) Mecelle as the Product of Global Islamic Networks

Muhammad Almarakeby (International Islamic University of Indonesia) Neither Quiescent nor Rebellious: Legal Obligation in the Time of Necessity

 

Shiism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Lecture Theatre G03

Chair: Elvire Corboz (University of Edinburgh)

Oliver Scharbrodt (Lund University) Contesting Ritual Practices in Twelver Shiism: Modernism, Sectarianism and the Politics of Self-Flagellation (taṭbīr)

Faezeh Izadi (University of Calgary) Religion in the face of the modern world: A case study of Radical Life Extension and Shia Islam

Muhammad Tajri (Al-Mahdi Institute) Evolution of Shīʿī Taqlīd on UK University Campuses

Murtaza Shakir (Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah) The Beseeched Burial: Reflections on the Historical Events Associated with the Shrine of Al-Sayyida Nafīsa in Cairo

 

Revisiting Hadith Literature: Attribution, Authority and Editorship

Room G05

Chair: Haroon Sidat (Cardiff University)

Shahin Machinchery (Universität Erfurt) Application of Takhrij as a tool: On the origin and the reliability of Isra’iliyyat of Wahab b Munabbih.

Ahmed Ragab AbuZayd (The University of Wales TSD) The Impact of Editors on Moral Hadith Classification in both Print and Digital Forms of Al-Adab Al-Mufrad

Mostafa Movahedifar (University of Birmingham) An Isnād-analytical Method: A Reconsideration of the Origin of Ismuhū Ismī Ḥadīth

 

Muslim Societies in (Post)Colonial Contexts

Chair: Usaama al-Azami

Room G06

Ali Kassem (University of Edinburgh) Anti-Muslim Hate on the Eastern Shores of the Mediterranean: Coloniality, Racialisation, and the post-colonial nation-state

Bakir S. Mohammad (University of Glasgow) From a Muḥaddith to a National Religious Figure: Badr al-Dīn al-Ḥasanī’s role in Syria’s Grand Revolt

 

15.30 – 16.00: Coffee/Tea 

 

16.30 – 18.00: Closing Keynote

 

Fatima Manji

Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain's Lost Love of the Orient

UPDATE: Unfortunately Fatima is not well and unable to travel to Edinburgh. Our closing keynote has therefore been cancelled.

We will instead be hosting an extended refreshment and networking session from 15.30 - 17.00.                   

19.00 - 21.00: Evening Event (registration required)

 

Sema: Movements of the Soul and Sound

Univrsity of Eidnburgh Chaplaincy, 1 Bristo Pl, Edinburgh EH8 9AL

Delegates staying in Edinburgh on the Tuesday evening are warmly invite to a special performance bringing together Turkish and North African Sufi music and practice and organised by the Alwaleed Centre.

Refreshments served from 19.00 event begins at 19.30.

Further information and registration: https://souldandsound.eventbrite.co.uk

 

 

If you have a question about BRAIS 2022 which is not addressed below, please contact us on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

 

Q: Where is BRAIS 2022 taking place?

A: BRAIS 2022 will be hosted by the University of Edinburgh with the conference itself taking place in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at 50 George Square.

 

Q) How do I submit an abstract or a panel proposal for BRAIS 2022?

A) Please see our Call for Papers for all the information you need to submit your abstract/panel proposal.

 

Q) Can my abstract/panel proposal be in any language?

A) No. Submissions must be in English. Submissions in other languages will not be considered.

 

Q: Are there any topics within Islamic studies that the reviewing panel will not accept abstracts on?

A: No. All abstracts will be reviewed and decisions made based on the academic merits of the proposed paper/panel

 

Q: Do you accept abstracts from undergraduate or Masters students?

A: No. Only abstracts from PhD students in their second year of study or later will be accepted.

 

Q: How long should my paper last?

A: Papers on panels with four presenters should last no more than 15 minutes. Papers on panels with three presenters should last no more than 20 minutes.

 

Q: Will BRAIS be publishing abstracts, either on paper or online?

A: Yes, abstracts will be published online. This will happen after the conference.

   

Q: Can we submit an abstract as co-authors?

A: Yes, but normally only one author will be invited to present the paper at the conference.

 

Q: Should I send my CV as well as my abstract?

A: No, please do not send CVs as additional attachments. The form through which you submitted you paper/panel proposal asks you for all the information we need about you.

 

Q: Are we expected to submit our paper in advance, to share it without fellow panelists or to circulate it after the conference?

A: No. You may wish to do so, but it is not a requirement for participating in the conference.

 

Q: How many people should be in a panel? Is there a minimum or maximum?

A: The ideal pre-proposed panel should consist of four papers with one member of the panel acting as Panel Chair. Panels of three papers may be submitted but the reviewing committee may use their discretion to add a fourth person to any pre-proposed panel should they find a suitable abstract.

 

Q: When will I find out if my abstract has been accepted?

A: The deadline for BRAIS 2022 abstract submissions is Monday 31st January. Reviewing all abstracts and drafting the programme is a lengthy process, but we hope to inform all applicants of our decision by the middle of March 2022. This includes applicants whose abstracts are on the reserve list.

 

Q: What should I consider in preparing my paper?

A: 

  • Make one new argument, not more. Be concise and to the point.
  • Write the paper as an oral communication. Signpost to help listeners follow the argument.
  • Practice the paper to make sure it is clear and coherent and stays well within the time limit (15 minutes for a paper on a four presenter panel).
  • PowerPoint presentation facilities will be available. With PowerPoint, less is more. Make sure the font size is easily visible (at least size 26) and the layout is simple and logical. Also, make sure your visual presentation supports your oral presentation, not detracts from it. Avoid overloading slides with excessive information.

For further guidance on conference presentations, see:

James Gelvin, ‘Preparing and Delivering Conference Papers’

Mary E. Hunt, ‘Be Brief, Be Witty, Be Seated’

Devin Stewart, ‘Suggestions for Presenting a Conference Paper at IQSA’

Julie J. Kilmer, ‘Student Guide to Presenting at the AAR’

 

Q: How do I register as a delegate for BRAIS 2022?

A: Delegates can now register online HERE.

         

Q: If my abstract is accepted, will I have to become a member of BRAIS in order to present my paper at the conference?

A: We would expect all those who are giving papers at the conference to be members of BRAIS but will not insist on this. Remember, BRAIS members receive significant discounts on conference delegate fees.

 

Q: Can the conference registration payment be made by invoice or must a credit card be used?

A: Payment must be made online using a credit or debit card. We cannot issue invoices. Once you have made your payment you will receive a digital receipt via the email address you provided.

 

Q: Is accommodation available for conference delegates?

A: BRAIS will not be offering accommodation options for BRAIS 2022 due to the wide range of accommodation options being available near the venue. We have compiled a list of accommodation options across the city which can be viewed HERE.

 

Q: What happens if I have registered but can no longer attend the conference? Can I get a refund?

A: If this happens to you, please contact us as soon as possible: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. BRAIS can refund delegates up to two weeks before the start of the conference (Monday 23rd May 2022). After this date, no refunds will be possible, regardless of individual circumstances.

   

Q: I will be using a Powerpoint when giving my paper. Do I need to submit this in advance?

A: No. If you are giving a paper at the conference and will be using Powerpoint, please bring your presentation with you on a memory stick. The university technicians will not be able to assist with private laptops. All the machines will be PCs.

 

Q: I am chairing a panel. What should the panel format be?

A: The primary role of the panel chair is to keep time in the interest of fairness to all presenters and the audience. Each panel session is 90 minutes. The presentation time allocated for each paper on a four presenter panel is 15 minutes. Papers on panels with three presenters may run to 20 minutes. We recommend that papers be presented together in the first 60 minutes, leaving 30 minutes for discussion with the audience at the end. This ensures that all presenters receive their full allocation of time to present before turning to audience questions, and it facilitates integrative discussion across the papers.

  

Q: Will there be WiFi access?

A: Wifi will be avilable via Eduroam. Instructions on how to join the Wifi network will be found in your delegate pack.

 

Q: Will there be a prayer room available during the conference?

A: Yes. A multi-faith prayer room will be available throughout the conference. Edinburgh Central Mosque is just a two-minute walk from the venue if you would prefer to pray in congregation.

   

Q: How much does it cost to become a member of BRAIS?

A: For membership costs, please see HERE.

 

Q: Do you offer any financial assistance to students whose abstracts are accepted? (i.e. travel, fee waiver, accommodation etc)

A: PhD students are eligible to apply for conference bursaries. Further information on bursaries will be sent to all those whose papers are selected for the final programme.

 

Q: Do you provide any assistance with obtaining a visa to attend the conference?

A: For candidates whose abstracts have been selected and who happen to reside outside the EU, please write us stating that you require a formal letter of invitation for obtaining a visa: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Q: Once the conference is over, can you provide individuals with a certificate of attendance/participation? Is there a charge for this service?

A: Yes. In order to obtain the certificate, please write to the BRAIS Administrator on the above email address, clearly stating your name and the title of the paper which you presented. The certificate may take a couple of weeks to produce but there is no fee for this service.

 

Q: Are there any plans to publish conference proceedings after the conference?

A: At this stage there are no plans to publish proceedings from the conference, but this is certainly something which may be considered in future years.

   

Q: I am not currently affiliated to any higher or further education institution. Can I still submit an abstract?

A: Yes, absolutely. We very much welcome abstracts from independent scholars.

 

Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies

The University of Edinburgh 

Monday 6 - Tuesday 7 June 2022 

Conference Registration

We look forward to welcoming you to the 2022 Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies on 6th and 7th June 2022.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration for the conference is managed by our hosts at the University of Edinburgh via the University's online payment system,  ePay. 

Further information about delegate fees can be found below.

We are not offering accommodation packages for BRAIS this year due to the wide variety of accommodation options available near the venue. We hope to offer generous discounts on University of Edinburgh accommodation and further information will be available by the end of March 2022.

Become a Member of BRAIS and SAVE ON DELEGATE FEES

Remember, BRAIS members receive significant discounts on conference fees. Although you can attend BRAIS 2022 as a non-member of BRAIS, would therefore suggest you sign-up as a member before registering in order to claim your discounted delegate fee.

To become a member of BRAIS, click HERE. 

Delegate Fees and Registration:

Delegates can choose to attend the full conference (two days) or just one day. There are three delegate categories to choose from and the costs are outlined below. Delegate fees include lunch + all refreshment during the day.

Full Conference Fees:

Student member of BRAIS: £85 - BOOK HERE

Student non-members + Full/Associate Members of BRAIS: £130 - BOOK HERE

Non-students/non-members of BRAIS: £160 - BOOK HERE

Single Day Fees:

Student member of BRAIS: £50 - BOOK HERE

Student non-members + Full/Associate Members of BRAIS: £75 - BOOK HERE

Non-student/non-members of BRAIS: £90 - BOOK HERE

Any Questions?

If you have any questions at all, please contact the BRAIS 2022 team directly: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS) and De Gruyter are delighted to announce the outcome of the sixth (2021) round of the BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.

The winning submission was:

Amin El-Yousfi
 
University of Cambridge
 
The Neoliberal Turn in Regulating Islam: Between the Paradoxes of Neutrality and Legitimacy in France and the UK
 

 

Abstract

This dissertation analyses how everyday Muslim pieties encounter and operate through policies of secular and neoliberal governmentality. Based on an ethnographic analysis of the everyday life of local Muslim leaders and various state and non-state actors in France and the UK, this work studies the neoliberal turn in regulating Islam. This turn refers to the importation of formalities, rules and procedures, and the development of manuals, toolkits and guidelines derived from private enterprise and corporate market into the traditional sphere of mosques and madrasahs (Islamic schools) as well as Halal and pilgrimage industries. This dissertation analyses the neoliberal turn as simultaneously and dialectically structured through the relation between top-down practices of legal regulation and the ground-up activity and agency of local Muslim actors. It is not only the manifestation of an operation of power (top-down), but also the operation of ethics (bottom-up). Both operations take place in light of two paradoxes. The first one refers to the state’s claim of neutrality although it constantly intervenes in the regulation of the socio-religious field. The second paradox lies in the local Muslim leaders’ calling for neoliberal bureaucratisation to become professional and legitimate, while resisting state attempts to control mosques and madrasahs, which are often plagued by opaque management. In this sense, this research discusses not only the existing contradictions of the so-called French and British secular ‘regulation of Islam’ but also the impact of the neoliberal turn on the ethical self-making of local Muslim leaders.

 

2021 Honorable Mention:

Hanif Amin Beidokhti

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Suhrawardī’s Criticism of the Aristotelian Doctrines of the Categories and Hylomorphism

 

More Articles ...

  1. BRAIS 2020: Provisional Programme
  2. BRAIS 2020: Registration
  3. BRAIS 2019: FAQs
  4. BRAIS 2019: Student Bursaries
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