BRAIS 2020 POSTPONED
 
The British Association for Islamic Studies and the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations have taken the decision to postpone the BRAIS 2020 Conference in response to the escalation of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.  
 
Many of our delegates are facing increasingly stringent travel restrictions and the situation is developing very quickly. As disappointed as we are to be postponing this much-anticipated conference, continuing would not be in the best interests of our delegates and we feel the decision to postpone is therefore unavoidable.

 

Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies 

Monday 6th-Tuesday 7th April 2020 

Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, London

 

Provisional Programme 

Please note: This programme is subject to change. 

Monday 6th April

  

09.00 – 10.00: Registration

 

10.00 – 10.15: Words of Welcome

 

10.15 – 11:30: Plenary 1:

 

Islam and Print in South Asia: Continuity and Rupture in Knowledge Production

Nur Sobers-Khan (The British Library)

 

11.30 – 12.00: Coffee/Tea

 

12.00 – 13.30: Panel Session 1 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. Conversion to Islam in the Modern World

Fatou Sambe (Cardiff University) Muslim Convert Families and the Experiences of Convert Children

Amir Sheikhzadegan (University of Fribourg) Becoming Muslim in Switzerland: A new typology of conversion motifs

Farrah Sheikh (Konkuk University) An Ethnographic Perspective on Conversion to Islam in “Multicultural” South Korea and the Struggle for Belonging

Michael Nollert (University of Fribourg), Diverse life stories and social ties: How Muslim converts decide between integration, co-existence and violent jihad

 

  1. Studies in Shiʿi Exegesis at the Institute of Ismaili Studies

Toby Mayer (Institute of Ismaili Studies) The Hermeneutic of Parables and Symbols in Shahrastani’s Keys to the Arcana

Alessandro Cancian (Institute of Ismaili Studies) The Birth of Shiʿi Sufism in Early Modern Iran and the Juridical Opinions in Sultan ‘Ali Shah’s (d. 1909) Qur’anic Commentary Bayan al-sa‘ada

Stephen Burge (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Ritual in a Contemporary Context: Fadl Allah on Fasting and Charitable Giving

Attash Sawja (Aga Khan University) Reception of the Qur'an among the Satpanthi Ismaili Khojas of Gujarat, in the contemporary period

 

  1. Early Modern and Modern Islamicate Art

Olga Nefedova (Orient-Institut Beirut) Religious Symbols in the Age of Religious Conservatism: Graduation Works of Iraqi Artists – Students of the USSR Art Institutions in 1959-1979

Nooshin Sahafiei (The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts) The functions of the Saqqa-Khaneh in Iran

Sara Choudhrey (University of Kent) Hybrid Materiality - Contemporary Islamic Art

Charlotte Bank (Independent Scholar) Queer Heavens: Articulating Gender Fluidity through Garden Imagery in Contemporary Middle Eastern Art

 

  1. Building Egalitarian Ethics and Jurisprudence of Marriage: A Musawah Panel

Mulki Al-Sharmani (University of Helsinki) and Amira Abou-Taleb (University of Helsinki) Researching Qur’anic Ethics: Methodological Reflections from Two Studies.

Shadaab Rahemtulla (University of Edinburgh) Towards an Egalitarian Islamic Masculinity: Prophet Muhammad, Khadijah, and the Politics of (Patriarchal) Memory (co-authored with Sara Ababneh)

Ziba Mir-Hosseini (SOAS) Rethinking Tamkin (wife’s duty of sexual obedience) in Muslim Family Laws

Lynn Welchman (SOAS) Trajectory of Reform of Muslim Family Laws (co-authored with Marwa Sharafeldin and Zahia Jouirou)

 

  1. Sufis, Salafis, Islamists and Copts: Inter- and Intra-faith Polemics after the Arab Spring

Ermin Sinanovic (Shenandoah University) Political Theology of Obedience and Competitive Authoritarianism in the Middle East

Rahma Bavelaar (University of Amsterdam) Mobilising Gendered Salafi Activism in Egypt in the Shadow of the Arab Spring

Usaama al-Azami (University of Oxford) Responding to Despotism in Modern Islam: The Contrasting Political Philosophies of Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī and ʿAbdullāh b. Bayyah

Besnik Sinani (Freie Universität Berlin) The Responses of Saudi Sufi Scholars to the Arab Spring: An Investigation of Religious Conceptions, Positionality, and Histories that Inform Scholarly Political Choices

 

  1. “Are You Sure?”: Post-Avicennan Ashʿarīs on Observation of the Physical World as a Means to Knowledge 

John Moffatt (SOAS) Reasoning and Reimagining the Ash‘arī Universe: Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī on Atoms, Time and Souls

Laura Hassan (University of Oxford) Ash‘arī Atomism in Decline? Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī on the Proof from Accidents

Hannah Erlwein (Max Planck Institute) On Knowledge of the Unobservable Through the Observable in kalām and falsafa

Fariduddin Attar (McGill University) Metaphysics and the Cosmic System in Post-Avicennian Ḥikma: The Transcendental Individuation of Human Souls according to Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī

 

13:30 – 14:30: Lunch

 

14:30 – 16:00: Panel Session 2 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. “Sufish”: New Socio-anthropological Perspectives on Sufi Narrative and Practice Beyond the Tariqa Model 

Fabio Vicini (McGill University) Sufism Beyond Sufism: Reading Practices, Sufi Cosmologies, and the Muslim Self

Nasima Selim (Freie Universität Berlin) “Who Are You in the Story [of Mushkil Gushā]?” Trickster Nafs, Nomadic Subjectivity, and Sufish Storytelling in Post-Secular Berlin

Francesco Piraino (KU Leuven) Secular Sufish: Abdennour Bidar and his Self-Islam

Naoki Yamomoto (Ibn Haldun University) Liu Zhi’s Five Phases of the Moon: Sayr wa Suluk literature in Chinese Islam

 

  1. The Qur'an: Ontology, Revelation and Hermeneutics

Khalil Andani (Harvard University) From God’s Speech to Gabriel’s Words: Sunni Ashʿarī Conceptions of Qur’ānic Revelation

Wahid Amin (Al-Mahdi Institute) Sadīd al-Dīn al-Ḥimṣī (d. ca. 600/1204) on God’s Created Speech:  A Twelfth Century Shīʿī Critique of “Inner Speech” (kalām nafsī)

Syed Zaidi (Emory University) The Brethren of Purity’s Use of the Qur’ān in their Treatise on Love

Joseph Lumbard (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) Building upon Izutsu: Using Integrated Semantic Fields in Quranic Studies

 

  1. English Engagements with Islam and the Islamic Worlds Through Time

Lubaaba Al-Azami (University of Liverpool) Performance and Profit at the Mughal Court: Sir Thomas Roe and Empress Nur Jahan

Mr Charles Beirouti (University of Oxford) Reading the Religious Diversity of the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman World: An Anglican Traveller’s Perspective

Eva Momtaz (University of Birmingham) Literary Representations of Eve: Quranic vs Miltonic

Sheam Khan (University of Leicester) A Critical Analysis of Mystical Interpretations in Laleh Bakhtiar’s Translation of The Sublime Qur’an.

 

  1. Studies in Islamic Law and Theology

Tarek Makhlouf (The University of Melbourne) Between Muʿtazilī Heritage and Ẓāhirī Imperative: Abū Ḥayyān al-ʾAndalusī’s (d. 745/1344) Philological Practice

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

Mahmoud Afifi (Lancaster University) Bint al-Shāṭīʾ: A Tradition-Based Feminist Voice for Women’s Emancipation

Amr Osman (Qatar University) Abortion between two discourses: Harm Aversion vs. Rights and Freedoms

 

  1. Gender and Aesthetics in Shia Religious Culture

Nada Al-Hudaid (University of Birmingham) Agency and materiality among Shia women artists in Kuwait

Fouad Marei (Max Weber Centre) Objects of walāya, or the power of ‘things’ in Shii political ecologies

Stefan Williamson Fa (University of Birmingham) Images of Mourning: Ritual Change and ‘Anti-Muharram’ Visual Culture in Azerbaijan

Yafa Shanneik (University of Birmingham) Does Shia aesthetic need a theory?

 

  1. Saladin Revisited: New perspectives on the life and legacy of Saladin

Abdul Rahman Azzam (Kitab Project) Men of the Turban, Men of the Swords

Mathew Barber (Aga Khan University) Saladin and al-Afdal b. Badr al-Jamali: (Mis)remembering the Fatimid counter-crusade

David Nicolle (Nottingham University) Arms from East and West: The Arms and Armour of Saladin's Armies, a mixed heritage

Gowaart Van Den Bossche (Aga Khan University) The Life and the Reader: a diachronic study of manuscript circulation of the Biographies of Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn

 

16:00 – 16:30: Coffee/Tea

 

16:30 – 18:00: Panel Session 3 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. Islamic Law through the Ages

Salman Younas (University of Oxford) Authority in the Early Ḥanafī School: The Emergence of Ẓāhir al-Riwāya

Elias Saba (Grinnell College) Author and Genre: A Study of an Unknown Text of Legal Distinctions

Rezart Beka (Georgetown University) The Jurisprudence of Reality (fiqh al-wāqiʾ) in Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī’s Thought

Abdul Rahman Mustafa (University of Paderborn) Islamic Secularism? The Politics of Ritual in Ibn Taymiyyah's Fatāwā

 

  1. Identity constructions among Britain’s Twelver Shi‘i communities: Engaging the Sunni “other”

Emanuelle Degli Esposti (University of Cambridge) “We’re not that kind of Muslim”: Islamophobia, intolerance, and the differentiation of (Shia) Muslim identity in Britain

Oliver Scharbrodt (University of Birmingham) Sectarianism, authenticity and the transnational politics of Twelver Shiism: the case of Yasser al-Habib

Carlos Mendez (The University of Edinburgh) Anti-Sunni provocations, ‘moral panic’ and ‘folk devil’ in Britain’s Shi'i Rafida trend

Elvire Corboz (The University of Edinburgh) A Shi‘i Discourse on Islamic Unity in the UK: Reconfiguring Majority-Minority Relations within Islam

 

  1. Early Qur’anic Studies

Merve Özaykal (İstanbul University) The Criticism by al-Jassās of his Predecessors on Abrogation

Martin Whittingham (CMCS, Oxford) Early Qur'anic Exegesis on Positive Verses about the Previous Scriptures

Ali Aghaei (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy) and Michael Marx (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy) Explicit vs Implicit Variant Readings of the Quranic Text in early Quranic exegesis: The Case of Tafsīr of Muqātil ibn Sulaymān (d. 767)

Sumayyah Bostan (University of California, Berkeley) Abu Hanifa’s opinion on reciting the Qur’an in Persian in the prayer as it appears in the post-classical commentary tradition

 

  1. Diachronic Studies in Law, Gender and Sexuality

Muhammad Zubair (Lahore University of Management Sciences) Regulation of Sex under Islamic Legal System: Application of Islamic Criminal (Hudood) Laws in Pakistan (1980-2018)

Mostafa Movahedifar (University of Birmingham) The position of content criticism within early Shīʿī hadith scholarship: the case study of the legal punishment of committing zinā with a female slave of one’s wife

Muhammad Faisal Khalil (University of Oxford) The Family as the Ordinary within Islam

Azadeh Sarjoughian (University of Birmingham) Homoerotic Scene in a Muslim Society: New Representation of Iranian Masculinity in Sadegh Tirafkan’s Photographs

 

  1. Modern Islamic Movements

Dietrich Reetz (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient) Amir or Shura: How to lead a global missionary movement of Islam like the Tablighi Jama’at

Alexander Weissenburger (Austrian Academy of Sciences) The return to purity: Husayn al-Huthi's ideas and their structural resemblance to Sunni fundamentalism

Khalidah Ali (University of Toronto) Political Subjectivity in the Muslim Brotherhood Project

Sara Tonsy (CHERPA, Institut d’Etudes Politique-Aix) An Alternative Political Economy in Egypt: the case of the Muslim Brotherhood

 

  1. Islamic Intellectual History

Mohammed Al Dhfar (University of Nottingham) Tafsīr and the conflict of the Empires in the 14th Century al-Subkī on al-Zamakhsharī’s Kashshāf

Neelam Hussain (University of Birmingham) Tracing Reception Histories and Readership through Manuscript Traditions: Sirr al-Asrar

I-Wen Su (National Chengchi University) ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī: a Critical Review and Reconstruction of His Biography

Hany Rashwan (University of Birmingham) Reconsidering the aural intertextuality of Ḥadīth literature: Abū Manşūr al-Thaʿālibī’s book, The Inimitability and Conciseness as a case study

 

Tuesday 7th April

  

09.00 – 09:45: BRAIS AGM

  

09.45 – 11:00: Plenary 2

 

Critical Muslim Studies: Decolonizing the Islamicate?

S. Sayyid (Leeds University)

 

11:00 – 11.30: BRAIS-De Gruyter Prize presentation

 

11:30 – 12.00: Coffee/Tea

 

12.00 – 13:30: Panel Session 4 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. Transnational Studies of Islamophobia

Ibrahim Suberu (University of Port Harcourt) Global Discrimination and Anti-Muslim Chauvinism: The Experience of Islamophobia in Contemporary Nigeria

Muhammed Babacan (University of Bristol) ‘Where are you really from?’: Islamophobia operated as everyday racism

Tatia Tavkhelidze (European University Viadrina) Boundaries between the living concept of Islamophobia and the term 'being Islamophobic'

Durali Karacan (Brunel University London) An Exploration of the Challenges of Bearded Muslim Men in the UK in the Age of Islamophobia

 

  1. Identity in Secular Spaces

Daniel DeHanas (King's College London) Discussing Race in the Muslim Atlantic

Ibtihal Ramadan (The University of Edinburgh), Muslim Academics Defining their Professional identity: Faith, Challenges, and Career Success

Carool Kersten (King's College London) From Abstraction to Sublimation: Literary writings & Muslim identity

Haroon Sidat (Cardiff University) The ‘Ulamā are Backwards: Looking at the Past to Navigate the Present

 

  1. Philosophical Dimensions of Qur’anic Studies

Raiyan Azmi (Independent) Perspectives from the analytic philosophy of religion on the Ashʿari doctrine of apologetic miracle (muʿjiza)

David Vishanoff (University of Oklahoma) Five Facets of the Anthropological Turn in Qur’anic Hermeneutics: History, Linguistics, Ideology, Phenomenology, and Postmodernism

William Stevenson (University of St. Thomas) Classical Political Rationalism and Qur'anic Revelation in al-Farabi's "The Attainment of Happiness"

Kayhan Özaykal (İstanbul Üniversitesi) al-Maturidi on al-ʿAql in metaphysics and ethics

 

  1. Aspects of Medieval History and Historiography

Fozia Bora (University of Leeds) Archives and archival sensibilities in Middle Period Arabic historiography

Essam Ayyad (Qatar University) Medieval Muslim Katātīb between Independent Thinking and Learning by Rote

Pascal Held (The American University in Cairo) Accounts of existential crisis and spiritual conversion in medieval Islam

Jennifer Griggs (Osnabrück Universität) Inter-Religious Exchange under the Mongols: Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī and Bar Hebraeus

 

  1. Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Interactions in Modernity

Saeko Yazaki (University of Glasgow) Zionism as the return to Judaeo-Islamic tradition: A.S. Yahuda (d. 1951), his scholarship and identity

Vanessa de Obaldia (DoSt-I Istanbul) New Churches in the Tanẓimāt Era: An Insight into the Ottoman Empire's Relations with the Latin Catholic Church

Johnson Elijah Amamnsunu (University of Wales Trinity Saint David) Negotiating Experience, Meaning and Social Realities of Faith Communities in Africa, A case of the Nasrul-lahi-li Fathi Society of Nigeria

Hanan Fara (University of Birmingham) Cultural Capital, Habitus and Social Capital impact on Muslim student’s university experiences?

 

  1. The Reception of the Past in Contemporary Iranian Shi’i Thought and Culture

Christopher Pooya Razavian (University of Birmingham) The Concept of Fitra: from Ibn Taymiyyah to Morteza Motahari

Amina Inloes (The Islamic College) Contemporary Shi‘ism through the Lens of the Mokhtārnāmeh

Alexander Khaleeli (University of Exeter) Historical narrative and state legitimacy in post-revolutionary Iran: The Sarbadars imagined as medieval Islamic revolutionaries

Mohsen Najafi (University of Exeter) Islamic Reform Project and the Nature of the Qur’an: The Case of Mojtahed Shabestari

 

13.30 – 14.30: Lunch

 

14.30 – 16.00: Panel Session 5 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. Law, Authority and Learning in Imami Shi‘ite Islam

Raha Rafii (University of Exeter) Envisioning the Medieval Judge in the Genre of Adab al-qāḍī, “The Protocol of the Judge”

Amin Ehteshami (University of Exeter) The Four Books: A Reception History

Kumail Rajani (University of Exeter) Even if the Prophet did not say it

Cameron Zargar (University of Exeter) Muftis, Marāji‘, and the Freedom to Pursue Fatwas

 

  1. The Māturīdī Theological Tradition

Safaruk Chowdhury (Whitethread Institute) A Very Heated Affair: Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s Justification for Hell’s Unending Chastisement

Ramon Harvey (Ebrahim College) The Case of the Missing Disciple: Abū al-Ḥasan al-Rustughfanī (d. ca. 345/956) and the Reception of the Theology of Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) before Māturīdism

Kamaluddin Ahmed (University of Oxford) The Kitāb talkhīṣ al-adilla li-qawāʿid al-tawḥīd of al-Ṣaffār al-Bukhārī (d. 534/1139): Crafting a Historical Genealogy of the Māturīdī School of kalām

Najah Nadi (Cambridge Muslim College) Īmān as taṣdīq in the Works of Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390)

 

  1. Islamic Law in the Medieval and Modern World

Hakime Reyyan Yasar (Mardin Artuklu University) From Fatwa Books to Codification: The Maintenance Code (Nafaka Kanunu) in Ottoman Family Law

John Burden (University of Chicago) The Logic of Iftāʾ: Ibn Marzūq’s Fatwā on European Paper

Josef Linnhoff (University of Edinburgh) A modern-day Ẓāhirī -The Legal Thought of Muhammad Asad (d. 1992)

Rami Koujah (Princeton University) How to Get Away with Murder: Homicide and Culpability in Islamic Law

 

  1. Islam and Society in the Britain

Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Coventry University) Amongst the last to leave: Understanding the journeys of Muslim Children in Care in Britain

Seán McLoughlin (University of Leeds) Mapping the UK’s Hajj Sector: Moving towards communication and consensus

Riyaz Timol (Cardiff University) Mapping the British Imamate: A National Profile of Britain’s Muslim Prayer Leaders

Fouzia Azzouz (University of Bristol) British Muslim marriage and divorce practices: Avenues for regulation

 

  1. Modern Sunni Trends

Hilary Kalmbach (University of Sussex) Hybridity, capital, and Islamic authority:  The emergence of “new religious intellectuals” in 20th century Egypt

Fabian Spengler (Tel Aviv University) The Limited Appeal of Salafiyya and Wasatiyya for Muslims in Europe

Mira Baz (University of Birmingham) Locating the British Muslim charity iERA within the Salafi tradition

Emine Bal (Queen Mary University) Modern adaptations of Al-Shāṭibī’s Maqāṣid theory

 

  1. Teaching and Learning Islam: Case Studies from Denmark, Sweden and Germany

Maria Lindebæk Lyngsøe (University of Copenhagen) Managing Tradition: Danish Muslim Women’s Islamic Education

Maximilian Lasa (University of Copenhagen) Expanding Horizons of Higher Islamic Education

Kasper Ly Netterstrøm (University of Copenhagen) Deciphering the ”Muslim” in Danish Muslim private schools

Simon Stjernholm (University of Copenhagen) Brief Reminders: Muslim Preachers, Mediation, and Time

 

16.00 – 16.30: Coffee/Tea

 

16.30 – 18.00: Panel Session 6 (6 concurrent panels)

 

  1. What does it take to be a citizen? Islam, belonging and the politics of ‘culture’ in anxious times (round table discussion)

Khadijah Elshayyal (University of Edinburgh) ‘From conditionality of engagement to conditionality of citizenship – Muslims in a brave new Britain’

Daan Beekers (University of Edinburgh) Culturalisation of citizenship in the Netherlands: sexual diversity, belonging and moral citizenship

Idil Akinci (University of Edinburgh) Culture in the ‘Politics of Identity’: Conceptions of national identity and citizenship among second generation non-Gulf Arab migrants in Dubai

Yahya Barry (University of Edinburgh) Negotiation and reconfigurations of citizenship: a case study of second generation and convert Muslims in Sweden and Denmark

Alexis Blouët (University of Edinburgh) “Is laicity a French legal tradition? The polemic around the right of Muslim mothers accompanying school trips to wear hijab.”

 

  1. Colonialism and the Empire of Law

Rozaliya Garipova (Nazarbayev University) Colonial Rule and the Legality of Marriage in the Russian Empire

Alexandre Caeiro (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) Justice before Oil: Pearl Trade, Diving Courts, and the British Legal Order in the Arabian Peninsula (1860s-1950s)

Sohaira Siddiqui (Georgetown University) A Subtle Imbibe: Islamic law in 19th Century Colonial Courts in India

Aishani Gupta (Stony Brook University) Colonial Women in Ajmer’s Dargah Sharif: gendered identities, exploitation and inscription of power in a Sufi sacred space.

 

  1. Who Owns History? References to Tradition among Bosnian Muslims as an Arena for Conflict, Negotiation and Concord

Catharina Raudvere (University of Copenhagen) Alerting, Guiding and Confirming: Prayer Circles among Bosnian Muslim Women and the Access to History

Zora Hesová (Charles University, Prague) The Meanings of Tradition in a Dense Religious Landscape of Bosnia-Herzegovina after 1995

Zora Kostadinova (University College London) Deploying Tradition and Sufi Practice: Young Naqshbandis in Sarjevo

Piro Rexhepi (Northampton Community College) Decolonial Islam and Izetbegović's Islamic Declaration

 

  1. Studies in Medieval and Modern Shiʿism

Mohammad Mesbahi (The Islamic College & Birmingham University) Interaction between the Hawza of Najaf and Qum in the latter half of the 20th century

Yousif Al-Hilli (University of Birmingham) The Forgotten Uprising: The 1991 Intifadha and The Political Role of Shia Clerics in Iraq

Samer El-Karanshawy (University of Exeter) The Memory of Husayn: the Drama of “History” and Ritual

Shayesteh Ghofrani (Institute of Ismaili Studies) Understanding Wilāya in Formative period of Shiʿism

 

 

  1. Diachronic Studies in Sufism

Gavin Picken (Hamad Bin Khalifa University) “Observing” Spiritual Purification:  Disciplining the Soul in al-Muḥāsibī’s Kitāb al-Riʿāya li Ḥuqūq Allāh

Omneya Ayad (The University of Uskudar) The Synthesis of Love and Sin in the Thought of Ibn ‘Ajība

Yahya Nurgat (University of Cambridge) ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and the Hajj: Sacred Space, Ritual Practice and Religious Experience.

John Zaleski (New York University Abu Dhabi) “The Inheritance of Hunger”: The Making of an Ascetic Ideal in Early ‘Abbasid Baghdad

 

  1. Gender in Modern Fatwas and Education

Alyaa Ebbiary (SOAS) “You can teach the sisters”: Muslim Women, Education and Religious Authority in Britain

Laiqah Osman (Cardiff University) Muslim Women in Britain and the Authority of online Islamic Content

Hakimeh Ayoobiyan (Shiraz University) Examining the Corpus-Based Representations of Muslim Women:  A Critical Discourse Analysis

Emad Mohamed (RGCL/University of Wolverhampton) Gender Differences in Fatwa

 

END OF PROGRAMME

 

 

BRAIS 2020 POSTPONED
 
The British Association for Islamic Studies and the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations have taken the decision to postpone the BRAIS 2020 Conference in response to the escalation of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.  
 
Many of our delegates are facing increasingly stringent travel restrictions and the situation is developing very quickly. As disappointed as we are to be postponing this much-anticipated conference, continuing would not be in the best interests of our delegates and we feel the decision to postpone is therefore unavoidable.

 

Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies

Monday 6th-Tuesday 7th April 2020

The Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations

10 Handyside Street, London, N1C 4DN 

Conference Registration

We look forward to welcoming you to the 2020 Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies on 6th and 7th April 2020.

Registration for the conference is managed by the Alwaleed Centre at the University of Edinburgh via the University of Edinburgh's ePay system. 

Further information about delegate fees can be found below.

PLEASE NOTE: We are not offering accommodation packages for BRAIS this year due to the wide variety of accommodation options available near the venue. Delegates should organise there own accommodation for the duration of their time in London.

Become a Member of BRAIS

Remember, BRAIS members receive significant discounts on conference fees. We therefore suggest you sign-up as a BRAIS member before registering for BRAIS 2019. To become a member of BRAIS, click HERE.

Delegate Fees

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.

Full Conference Fees:

Student member of BRAIS: £80

Student non-members + Full/Associate Members of BRAIS: £125

Non-students/non-members of BRAIS: £155

Single Day Fees:

Student member of BRAIS: £45

Student non-members + Full/Associate Members of BRAIS: £70

Non-student/non-members of BRAIS: £85

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

The British Association for Islamic Studies will be offering five bursaries for doctoral students whose papers have been accepted as part of the 2019 conference programme.

If you are a UK-based doctoral student and you are planning to submit a paper for BRAIS 2019, you might be eligible to apply for a conference fee-waiver. You will be able to apply if you meet the following criteria:

  • Applicants must be in their second year or higher of their PhD programme
  • Applicants must be based at a UK or Republic of Ireland institution during the time of the conference
  • Applicants should provide a formal statement of support from their supervisor
  • Applicants’ papers must have been accepted for the 2019 BRAIS conference

If you would like to apply for a student fee waiver, please download the application form by clicking HERE.

Please submit your form by Monday 25th February 2019. Completed forms should be emailed to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Applications will be considered by the BRAIS Conference Committee and fee waivers will be awarded based on the excellence of the abstract, quality and originality of the research and the potential for subsequent research.

If you have any questions about conference bursaries, please do not hesitate to contact us: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

BRAIS 2019: Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: Where is BRAIS 2019 taking place?

A: BRAIS 2019 is taking place in the Teaching and Learning Hub on the University Park Campus of the University of Nottingham, about 3 miles to the west of Nottingham city centre. The Teaching and Learning Hub is number 62 at the centre of the University Park map HERE. Accommodation will be in Cavendish Hall, which is at the far left on the University Park map, just to the lower left of number 55.

 

Q: How do I get to the University of Nottingham, University Park by train or coach?

A: The Nottingham rail and National Express coach stations are immediately next to each other in the Nottingham city centre. Standing taxis are available from the stations to University Park for about £10. Or take the tram in the direction of Toton Lane to the University of Nottingham stop (and walk about 10 minutes to the Teaching and Learning Hub) or to the University Boulevard stop (and walk about 10 minutes to Cavendish Hall). Both tram stops are indicated by name on the lower side of the University Park map HERE.

 

Q: How do I get to the University of Nottingham, University Park, by air?

A: East Midlands Airport is the closest airport, but it may be difficult to find a suitable flight. Birmingham airport is usually the next best option, with Manchester and London airports also possibilities. Full guidance on air travel is found HERE.

 

Q: How do I get to the University of Nottingham, University Park, by car?

A: The University of Nottingham is easily accessible via the M1. From Junction 25 of the M1, take the A52 east about 6 miles to the University Park campus. Those coming by car need to obtain a parking voucher or use the Pay and Display machines on campus. To arrange a parking voucher, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. well in advance of the conference. See the MAP of University Park for car parks. The car park in the centre of the map above number 16 is closest to the Teaching and Learning Hub (the conference venue). To enter the campus, use the University Park north entrance (Satnav code: NG7 2RD).

 

Q: How do I register as a delegate for BRAIS 2018?

A: Please see HERE.

 

Q: Is accommodation available for conference delegates?

A: Accommodation will be provided for those who have paid for residential packages at Cavendish Hall, Beeston Lane, Nottingham, NG7 2QL. No dinner will be served on Sunday evening. Dinner on Monday evening will be halal). Those wishing to stay for additional nights will have to make their own arrangements. Those who have not booked residential packages will also have to make their own accommodation arrangements. The De Vere Orchard Hotel and the Travelodge Nottingham Wollaton Park are within walking distance of the conference venue, and there is a wide selection of hotels in centre city Nottingham.

 

Q: What will it cost to attend BRAIS 2019?

A: Information on attendee and registration fees is available HERE.

 

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: 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 the BRAIS Administrator, Nadin Akta: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. BRAIS can refund delegates up until two weeks before the start of the conference (Sunday 1st April). After this date, no refunds will be possible.

 

Q: I want to book my accommodation via BRAIS. How many occupants can the rooms accommodate?

A: The rooms we are offering are single ensuite only. We do not have access to rooms which accommodate more than one person. If you require a room that accommodates more than one person you will need to make your own accommodation arrangements. 

 

Q: When I arrive at the conference, where should I come?

A: On Sunday, 14 April, arrival, accommodation check-in and registration are in Cavendish Hall between 15:00 and 23:30 (arrivals after 23:30 must inform the conference organizers at least three days in advance). Note that no dinner will be served on Sunday evening. On Monday and Tuesday, 15 and 16 April, arrival and registration are in the Teaching and Learning Hub.

 

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. All papers should be presented consecutively, with discussion of all papers taking place at the end.  

 

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: 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: Are we expected to submit our paper in advance, to share it without fellow panellists 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: 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: Where will the publisher exhibition be?

A: The publisher exhibition will be in the Teaching and Learning Hub, on the same floor as the conference sessions.

 

Q: Will there be WiFi access?

A: Yes. Visitor wifi access is available as detailed in the Nottingham Conferences delegate brochure, p. 5, HERE. Eduroam is also available.

 

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

A: Yes. The prayer room will be located in Room B03 in the Teaching and Learning Hub .

 

Q: Will there be a place to store my luggage after I check out from my accommodation on the morning of the 16th of April?

A: Yes. A room will be provided for this purpose in the Teaching and Learning Hub.

 

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. It bears repeating that BRAIS members receive significant discounts on conference delegate fees.

 

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. The deadline for applications is 25th Feb 2019. Please see HERE. 

 

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 to the BRAIS Administrator stating that you require a formal letter of invitation for obtaining a visa. The BRAIS administrator email address is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Q: Once the conference is over, do 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: Will BRAIS be publishing abstracts, either on paper or online?

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

 

Q: How many abstracts am I allowed to submit for BRAIS 2018?

A: You are allowed to submit up to two abstracts. Due to constraints of space and time, no more than one of these can be accepted for presentation, the choice of which is at the discretion of the organisers. N.B. the abstract deadline has passed and abstracts are no longer being accepted for the 2019 conference.

 

Q: Do you accept abstracts from undergraduate students as part of the BRAIS programme?

A: No.

 

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

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: 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: Do I need to send a written version of my paper to the conference committee in advance of the conference?

A: No. The abstract you sent is all that we require.

 

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.

 

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

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

 

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

A: You will have been notified of this already via email.  Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you haven't.

If you have any further questions which have not been answered above, please contact the BRAIS Administrator, Nadin Akta: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

BRAIS 2019

 

The Sixth Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies

15 - 16 April 2019

(Arrival and Registration from 14 April)

University of Nottingham

 

THIS CALL FOR PAPERS IS NOW CLOSED.

ABSTRACTS SUBMITTED AFTER THE DEADLINE MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED.

 

Call for panels and papers

Following BRAIS’s successful conferences in Edinburgh (2014), London (2015 and 2016), Chester (2017) and Exeter (2018), the organisers invite proposals for whole panels or individual papers for the Sixth Annual Conference of BRAIS. Islamic Studies is broadly understood to include all disciplinary approaches to the study of Islam and Muslim societies (majority and minority), modern and premodern.

 

Plenary sessions at the conference

The conference committee is very pleased to announce that plenary lectures at the conference will be delivered by Maribel Fierro (CSIC, Madrid) on ‘Rulers as Authors in the Medieval Islamic West’; Khaled Fahmy (University of Cambridge) on ‘Implementing Shari'a in Modern Egypt: A Medical Perspective’, and Alison Scott-Baumann (SOAS, London) and the 'Re/presenting Islam on Campus' team.

 

How to submit you panel/paper proposal

For panels, a 200-word outline of the theme of the panel, together with 200-word abstracts of each paper and the details of each presenter, should be submitted using the form which is available HERE. Please save the document as follows: "Surname of panel chair_first name of panel chair_panel". Example: "Smith_John_panel".

For individual papers, a 200-word abstract of the paper should be submitted using the form which is available HERE. Please save the document as follows: "Your surname_your first name_paper". Example: "Smith_John_paper".

All panel and paper submissions must be in English. Submissions in languages other than English will not be considered.

All completed forms should be sent by email attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by midnight (GMT) on Sunday 6 January 2019. You will receive an auto-email notification confirming the receipt of your form.

Please do not email the BRAIS account asking for confirmation of its receipt unless you have not received the automatic notification email before the closing deadline. Any submission received after the deadline will not normally be considered for presentation.

All panel and individual paper proposals will be reviewed by two members of the BRAIS Conference Committee. We will contact you at the end of January 2019 to inform you as to whether your panel/paper has been accepted.

A number of fee waivers will be available for UK-based PhD students whose papers are accepted for the BRAIS 2019 conference. Fee waivers will include delegate fee plus all catering and accommodation costs. More details to be announced later this year.

Apart from the fee waivers for UK-based PhD students noted just above, we regret that we cannot offer any kind of financial assistance to scholars whose papers have been accepted for the BRAIS 2019 conference.

If you have any questions, please contact the Conference Committee on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

 

Travel to/from Nottingham

Nottingham is easily accessible by train from London St Pancras (2 hours) or via East Midlands Airport (approximately 20 minutes’ drive from campus) and Birmingham airport (1 hour drive).

 

More Articles ...

  1. BRAIS Conference Bursaries
  2. BRAIS 2018 Programme with Abstracts
  3. BRAIS 2017: Provisional Programme
  4. BRAIS 2017 FAQs
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