The Institute of Ismaili Studies

25/09/2026

Three IIS scholars joined a panel at Utrecht University on intellect, authority, and esoteric interpretation, discussing topics from the teachings of Nasir-i Khusraw and Rumi to Ismaili women pursuing education in Iran today.

Daryoush Mohammad Poor and Rahim Gholami co-chaired a panel on intellect and interpretation in Islam. In the same panel, Maryam Rezaee from IIS also shared her research on Ismaili women in Iran who have faced barriers to university education. Together the papers traced the long tradition of patronage of knowledge within the Ismaili community.

Read more on the IIS website.

24/09/2026

Where did the legal writings of al-Qāḍī al-Nu'mān actually come from?

In this IHTLS lecture, now on YouTube, Dr Kumail Rajani, Imam Sajjad Chair in Shi'i Studies at the University of Exeter, traces the sources behind al-Nu'mān's legal texts, from his early Kitab al-Idah through to the Da'a'im al-Islam. He argues that the Da'a'im drew on material already recorded elsewhere, proposing a cross-regional method that compares hadith cited independently by scholars from different traditions, tracing how source material moved from Medina and Kufa to Ifriqiya via Yemen and Egypt.

Watch the full lecture on the IIS YouTube Channel: www.iis.ac.uk/multimedia/foundations-of-fatimid-law-recording/

23/09/2026

In this episode of Voices of IIS, Dr Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, co-head of the Department of Education at IIS and GPISH alumna, traces that path from a village garden in Tajikistan to a research and teaching career in London. She reflects on why Shi'i studies long sat on the margins of the field, how IIS built the Shi'i Heritage Series across the whole tradition rather than around one grouping, and what she hopes her students carry into the world.

Listen to the full conversation via the link in bio.

22/09/2026

What role does sound play in shaping religious life and communal belonging? How do practices such as vocal recitation, lament, and devotional poetry cultivate relationships among participants, as well as with the divine and unseen?

This book talk by Dr Williamson Fa introduces Sonic Relations: Devotion and Community in Turkey’s Eastern Borderlands hosted by the IIS. This hybrid event will explore how sound shapes religious life and communal belonging among Twelver Shi‘i Muslims in Turkey and across connected regions.

Join us on 29 September at 17:00 BST in person or online: www.iis.ac.uk/events/sonic-relations-book-talk/

21/09/2026

Just one month remains to apply for the new three year structure of the Secondary Teacher Education Programme, beginning September 2027.

STEP prepares aspiring educators to teach across Religious Education Centres worldwide, combining study, classroom placements and teaching experience in a single pathway. Graduates receive an MA in Muslim Societies and Civilisations, awarded by SOAS, University of London.

Applications close 12 noon BST on 21 October 2026. Find out more and apply: www.iis.ac.uk/study/graduate-studies/step/

15/09/2026

The STEP C-18 cohort travelled to Cordoba, Madinat al-Zahra, and Granada. Students reflect on pluralism, beauty, and what it means to learn about historical events in the places where they occured.

Read more about their journey to Andalusia on the IIS website: www.iis.ac.uk/news/2026/september/step-c18-field-trip-andalusia

Image credit: Nausheen Hossein

STEP student teachers travelled to Andalusia to explore the Islamic heritage of Cordoba, Granada and Madinat al-Zahra. Read their reflections on al-Andalus.

12/09/2026

A taxi driver in Cairo once pointed Hidoyatullo Shozodamamadov toward Khan al-Khalili, the city's famous bazaar, calling it unmissable. What he didn't know was that centuries ago, this same ground held the tombs of the Fatimid Imam-caliphs, destroyed to build the market itself, their remains cast onto a nearby rubbish mound.

That mound would later become al-Azhar Park, one of Cairo's most loved green spaces, transformed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

In this piece, Hidoyatullo, a GPISH alumnus, traces the story through the medieval historian al-Maqrizi and his own visit to the city, reflecting on how a place can be destroyed and, centuries later, made new again.

Read the piece: www.iis.ac.uk/news/2026/september/from-fatimid-cemetery-to-al-azhar-park/

12/09/2026

Dr Fayaz Alibhai and Dr Wafi Momin connect preservation to a holistic vision of quality of life, drawing on speeches by His late Highness Aga Khan IV.

11/09/2026

𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘮 𝘐𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘑𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥: 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 by Dr Mohammad Rasekh, Senior Research Associate at IIS, examines the core principles of Sunni and Shi'i inheritance jurisprudence.

Exploring issues from women's inheritance rights to the position of children and grandchildren, the book sets these rules against the realities of today's nuclear family and considers why reform may be needed.

Free to read online via open access, or available in paperback and ebook.
www.iis.ac.uk/publications-listing/muslim-inheritance-jurisprudence-revisited/

10/09/2026

This hybrid lecture explores the social history and cultural life of the Ismaili Tajiks in Xinjiang. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and oral histories, Dr Amier Saidula examines how ritual practice, storytelling and vernacular knowledge sustain religious heritage and collective identity amid historical change.

Part of the Islamic History and Thought Lecture Series. Register to attend in person or online: www.iis.ac.uk/events/ismailis-of-china-history-culture-and-tradition/

Image: Ismaili Tajik men gathered around ritual fire in Xinjiang