Islamic Studies Commons^™

A Gift For The Emperor DawāʾIr Al-ʿUlūm Wa-Jadāwil Al-Ruqūm, A Mediaeval Graphic Encyclopaedia Of The 19th Century, Juan Acevedo, Inês Bénard Da Costa

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

The recent discovery of a 19th-century Arabic manuscript in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, initiated a period of intense collaboration between the Museum and the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, culminating in the 2023–24 exhibition ‘Power of the Word V: Circles of Knowledge.’ The first part of this article describes the manuscript, while the second part looks at its contents, a striking visual encyclopaedia, mostly from Safavid sources, entitled Tuḥfat al-Khāqān: Dawāʾir al-ʿUlūm wa-Jadāwil al-Ruqūm (A Gift for the Emperor: Circles of Sciences and Tables of Numerals). Its sections range from cosmogony and alphanumeric cosmology to geography, geomancy and the …

From Doctrine To Practice: Shūrā-Centred Islamic Ethics For Sustainable Ecological Solutions, Fatima Dhanani, Cecilee Glaus Jones

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This paper examines how Islamic ethics, when translated into lived practice, generate both moral frameworks and scalable solutions to pressing ecological challenges. Focusing on shūrā, tawḥīd, khilāfa, and taʿaddudiyya, and drawing on case studies of Stewardship Canada and the Aga Khan University’s Carbon Management Tool, the authors show how Islamic values move beyond doctrinal abstraction to guide institutional decision-making, programme design, and community engagement. More than treating ethics as fixed theological propositions, they frame them as negotiated, context-sensitive processes that align with ecological resilience, distributive justice, and economic viability.

Grounded in shūrā …

Music, Poetry And Identity In Badakshan, Tajikistan: Singing And Sounding Community, Chorshanbe Goibnazarov

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

An illuminating account of Ismaili music, spiritual poetry and social change in Badakhshan.

In the riverine valleys of the Pamir Mountains of Tajik Badakhshan, a thriving millennium-old community of Nizari Ismaili Muslims created a unique spiritual culture in which the performance of music and poetry plays a central role. This book focuses on the central musical and poetic tradition of the Pamiri Ismailis, qasīda-khonī (also known as maddo), tracing its origins, evolution, delocalisation and relocation.

This book introduces readers to leading performers of qasīda-khonī and to the Ismaili gnosis that inspires its music and poetry.

• Based on six …

The Beautiful Game On A Muslim Pitch: How Football And Religion Are Shaping Identity And Society, Aaron W. Hughes, Leif Stenberg

Exploring Muslim Contexts

Examines how football and religion act together to shape both identity and society in Muslim contexts.

This book showcases how football and religion are becoming increasingly interlinked in Muslim contexts in order to interact with and influence both identity and society. The first part of the volume is devoted to issues of identity, showing how football aids in its construction, maintenance and subversion. The second part reveals the deep-rooted connections between football and political and religious establishments by demonstrating how these organisations frequently use the game to disseminate or propagate their larger messages.

Altogether, the contributors reveal how football has …

Being Muslim In European Football: Defining Spaces Of Muslimness, Leif Stenberg, Ridha Sheikh, Esen Kaya

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This paper explores the intersection of football and Islam, looking especially at European contexts, and with particular focus on the experiences of Muslim footballers in the UK. By examining the stories of UK Premier League player Cheikhou Kouyaté and amateur footballer Yasmin Abdullahi in London, the paper investigates how these individuals navigate their Muslim identities in the context of their sporting careers. The paper reflects on the broader cultural and societal implications of Muslimness in football, considering how both Muslims and non-Muslims contribute to defining Islamic spaces within the sport. The research also touches on the evolving perceptions of Islam …

A Discourse On Madina Fāzila, Virtuous State, In Muslim Thought: An Overview Of Jalāl-Al-Dīn Muḥammad Davānī’S Aḵlāq-E-Jalālī, Nazim Aman-Hunzai, Muhammad Nazir, Faizeh Zehra Mirza

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This study focuses on Jālāl-al-Dīn Muḥammad Davānī (1426–1502) as an illustrative figure in Muslim political thought, who offered a comprehensive perspective on the characteristics of an ideal Muslim state. Drawing on Davānī’s magnum opus, Akhlaq-e-Jalālī, the study explores his ethical framework for understanding the interrelationship between the individual, the state, and society. This work remained among the most influential writings on Muslim ethics, particularly in the Indian context, and continued to shape Muslim intellectual discourseand educational curricula well into the late 20th century. Its enduring presence highlights its intellectual relevance and its capacity to inspire ongoing debates on Muslim ethics.This …

Islamic Themes In Us Hip-Hop Culture, Anders Ackfeldt

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

Explores how Islam is produced in American hip-hop culture by both Muslims and non-Muslims

Islam has been a part of hip-hop culture since it sprang from New York’s street culture in the 1970s. Today hip-hop has evolved into a global artform with a diversity of Muslim Islamic discourses expressed. Using tools from the field of social semiotics, this book examines how Islamic themes feature in US hip-hop culture, maintaining a particular awareness that both Muslims as well as non-Muslims participate in their production.

Anders Ackfeldt analyses a collection of lyrics, sounds and images to show how Islamic themes are featured …

From Both Sides Now: Reflections On Recent Methodological Trends In The Study Of Islam, Aaron W. Hughes Prof

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

This is a set of critical reflections on the place and role of ‘theory and method’ within the context of the study of Islam, especially (but not solely) as carried out in the field of religious studies, over the course of roughly the last twenty years. The goal here is not to criticise, but instead to come at this issue of ‘theory and method’ in the study of Islam from a more mature perspective. At present in the field there is a diverse set of attempts to imagine ‘Islam’, not as a theological category that must be defended, but as …

(Dis)Locating Meaning: Toward A Hermeneutical Response In Education To Religiously Inspired Extremism, Farid Panjwani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

A key epistemological assumption in the ideologies of many of the groups termed extremist is that there is an unmediated access to a Divine Will. Driven by this assumption, and facilitated by several other factors, a range of coercive actions (including violence) to force others into submission to the perceived Will of God are seen as justified by some of these groups. A consideration of how religion is discussed in various contexts, from seminaries and schools to media and policy discourses, shows that this assumption about unmediated access to Divine Will is widely shared and that most children grow up …

Old, New Or Digital Philology: Working Towards An Amalgamated Work Frame, Walid Ghali

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

What Is Islamic Studies?: European And North American Approaches To A Contested Field, Leif Stenberg, Philip Wood

Books

Explores the vibrant, divided and evolving field of Islamic studies in Europe and North America
Covers topics ranging from gender and secularism to pop music and modern science

Discusses contemporary and historical approaches in Islamic Studies

Features contributions from leading scholars studying Islam and Muslims, including Shahzad Bashir, Hadi Enayat, Juliane Hammer, Aaron Hughes, Carool Kersten, Susanne Olsson and Jonas Otterbeck

Addresses the role of both Muslims and non-Muslims in the ongoing construction of Islam
The study of Islam and Muslims in Europe and North America has expanded greatly in recent decades, becoming a passionately debated and divided field. This …

Volume 9: What Is Islamic Studies?: European And North American Approaches To A Contested Field, Leif Stenberg, Philip Wood

Exploring Muslim Contexts

The study of Islam and Muslims in Europe and North America has expanded greatly in recent decades, becoming a passionately debated and divided field. This collection critically assesses the development of the field of Islamic Studies and its place in society. Featuring contributions from anthropologists, historians and scholars of religion, each chapter contains new empirical material and discusses approaches to the study of Islam, past and present.

Key Features

• Covers topics ranging from gender and secularism to pop music and modern science
• Discusses contemporary and historical approaches in Islamic Studies
• Features contributions from leading scholars studying Islam and Muslims, including …

The Objectives Of Islamic Law: The Promises And Challenges Of The Maqāṣid Al-SharīʿA, Walid Ghali

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Awakening Of Islamic Pop Music, Jonas Otterbeck

Books

No abstract provided.

مقامات الأولياء والصالحين في الواحات Saints And Sufi Shrines In An Egyptian Oasis (Dakhla), Walid Ghali

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Finding The Object Of Study: Islamic Studies In Practice, Jonas Otterbeck

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Efter Jobbet: En Inledande Diskussion Om Studiet Av Fritid, Leif Stenberg, Anders Ackfeldt

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

‘Abd Al-Raḥmān B. ‘Amr Al-AwzāʿĪ [Book Review], Walid Ghali

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Islamic And Middle East Area Studies Librarianship, Walid Ghali, Waseem Farooq, Paul Auchterlonie, Arnoud Vrolijk

Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series

The three papers collected here are based on a seminar on Islamic Studies Librarianship held on 31 January 2019 at the Aga Khan Library (AKL), in conjunction with the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC). Curators, area studies directors, and collection librarians, who are currently involved in this field, gathered to discuss common challenges and to identify strategic areas for collaboration.

On Taqlīd: Ibn Al Qayyim's Critique Of Authority In Islamic Law, Walid Ghali

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

The Intertwining Of History And Heritage In Islamic Contexts, Shahzad Bashir

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This chapter argues that Islamic history should be imagined as an ever-expanding web of overlapping and competing discourses about the past. Islam’s transhistorical presence is an illusion that is borne of the historiographical process. Clusters of evidence we can identify pertaining to Islam are traceable to moments with their own distinctive senses of past, present, and future. Consequently, what is to be regarded as Islamic heritage depends fundamentally on the frame within which it was produced. Moreover, scholarly appreciation of heritage is itself a value-laden enterprise that participates in the creation of Islamic meanings. I advocate that we pay utmost …

Uṣūl Al-Tafsīr: The Sciences And Methodology Of The Quran, Walid Ghali

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Islam Enligt Den Islamiska Staten - En Islamologisk Kommentar, Leif Stenberg

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction: A Legacy Of Raised Expectations, Leif Stenberg, Christa Salamandra

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Engaging The History Of Religion - From An Islamic Studies Perspective, Leif Stenberg, Susanne Olsson

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Ayatollah Khomeini’S Political Theory And Public Interest, Mohsen Kadivar

Governance Programme Papers

This article analyses the evolution of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s political theory over four major periods – Qom, Najaf, Paris and Tehran – demonstrating how his thought shifted from a semi‑democratic constitutional vision to the doctrine of al‑wilayat al‑mutlaqah lil‑faqih (the absolute guardianship of the jurist). In the Qom period, Khomeini endorsed a constitutional government supervised by jurists, distancing himself from the notion of direct clerical rule. His Najaf period marked a decisive turn toward a theocratic model, asserting that jurists possessed authority equivalent to that of the Prophet and Shi’ite Imams in public affairs. During the Paris period, Khomeini emphasised …

Islam På Svenska : Tidskriften Salaam Och Islams Globalisering, Jonas Otterbeck

Books

My PhD dissertation about Islamic discourse in Sweden. It resulted in a few English articles, see below (years around 2000).

Naqshbandiyya In Damascus: Strategies To Establish And Strengthen The Order In A Changing Society, Leif Stenberg

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

The Revealed Word And The Struggle For Authority: Interpretation And Use Of Islamic Terminology Among Algerian Islamists, Leif Stenberg

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr And Ziauddin_Sardar On Islam And Science: Marginalisation Or Modernization Of A Religious Tradition, Leif Stenberg

Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.