Al-Mahdi Institute

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Al-Mahdi Institute Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI) provides an open platform for critical Muslim scholarship.

AMI provides a platform for open and critical scholarship that addresses contemporary concerns of Muslims around the globe. Through our educational programmes and research activities, we provide an open platform for critical, innovative, and thought-provoking Muslim scholarship that bridges the gap between traditional Muslim seminaries and contemporary academia.

Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri, Research Lead for Muslims, Societies and Cultures at AMI, presented a paper entitled “Precarious...
19/10/2026

Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri, Research Lead for Muslims, Societies and Cultures at AMI, presented a paper entitled “Precarious Belonging: Shīʿa Diasporas and the Strains of European Pluralism” at the international conference Muslims of Europe: Rethinking Belonging and Pluralism in Sarajevo (9–10 October 2026), as part of a panel on Negotiating Muslim Belonging in Britain.

Drawing on his ongoing research with British Shīʿa communities, he explored why Shīʿa Muslims remain under-studied in the sociology of Muslims in Europe, the enduring pull of shrine cities and religious centres in Iraq and Iran, and the idea of “cultural defensiveness”: how communal and religious boundaries harden under social, political and geopolitical pressure.

The conference was convened in association with the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sarajevo, and the Center for Advanced Studies (CNS).

Read the full write-up: ami.is/tajri-sarajevo

New publication from AMI's Dr. Haidar Hoballah 📖We are pleased to announce the release of Volume Four of al-Taʿlīqa ʿalā...
15/10/2026

New publication from AMI's Dr. Haidar Hoballah 📖

We are pleased to announce the release of Volume Four of al-Taʿlīqa ʿalā Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn, Dr Haidar Hobballah's evidence-based critical assessment of the legal rulings in Sayyid Abū al-Qāsim al-Khūʾī's manual and of the arguments and evidence advanced in support of them.

Spanning 500 pages, this volume is devoted primarily to the jurisprudence of fasting (ṣawm) and spiritual retreat (iʿtikāf). It examines the sighting of the new moon and the methods by which the beginnings of lunar months may be established, investigates whether Ramaḍān should be understood as exclusively lunar, solar, or as combining the two, and offers a critical reassessment of many acts traditionally regarded as invalidating the fast. Considerable attention is given to Laylat al-Qadr, surveying dozens of devotional practices performed during the Nights of Qadr and investigating their scriptural and legal foundations.

Published by Dār al-Maḥajja al-Bayḍāʾ, Beirut.

🔗 Find out more: ami.is/hh-minhaj4

📣 NEW PUBLICATION We are delighted to announce the publication of Regulative Verses of the Qur’an: From Historical Trend...
05/10/2026

📣 NEW PUBLICATION

We are delighted to announce the publication of Regulative Verses of the Qur’an: From Historical Trends to Contemporary Trajectories — the first volume in the AMI–Brill series, published by Brill.

Edited by Karen Bauer, Seyed Mohammad Ghari S. Fatemi, Robert Gleave and Devin J. Stewart, the volume asks why the Qur’an contains legal verses and how scholars have interpreted them across the centuries, including the often overlooked genre of aḥkām al-Qur’ān. Its 18 chapters trace how jurists in the Sunni, Shia and Ibadi traditions have debated the meaning, scope and application of those verses.

🔓 Three chapters are free to read on our website, including contributions from Professor Seyed Mohammad Ghari S. Fatemi and Shaykh Arif Abdul Hussain.

🔗 Read them and purchase the full volume: ami.is/Regulative-Verses

29/09/2026

🎙️ New episode of Thinking Islam

God, Jinns & Aliens: Islam & Science with Dr Shoaib Malik

What do we mean by science, what have Muslims made of it, and where does it run out? Dr Shoaib Ahmed Malik joins us on the scientific miracles of the Qurʾān, prophetic medicine and pseudoscience, the arguments for God’s existence, the realm of the jinn, and whether intelligent life beyond Earth unsettles the idea of human superiority.

Watch in full: ami.is/ti19

On 1–2 June, AMI's Islamic Mysticism and Spirituality research area convened an international conference examining one o...
30/07/2026

On 1–2 June, AMI's Islamic Mysticism and Spirituality research area convened an international conference examining one of Islamic thought's most contested questions: can unveiling, inspiration, and experiential knowledge stand alongside — or even above — rational and textual modes of understanding?

Convened by Dr Zoheir Esmail, the conference brought together philosophers, theologians, and historians to explore everything from the scriptural roots of mystical experience in Shīʿī ḥadīth, to the Akbarian systematisation of kashf, to what happens when claims to divine knowledge are exploited by charismatic leaders seeking unaccountable authority.

Missed the conference? You can now read the full abstracts and listen to podcast recordings of every presentation.

🔗 Read more or listen to the presentations: ami.is/ims-conf

28/07/2026

How did Shia communities take root in Britain and why has their history been so difficult to recover? 🤔

In this episode of Thinking Islam, Muhammed Reza Tajri is joined by researcher Dr Jaffer A. Mirza to explore the history and development of Shia Muslim communities in Britain from the 1950s to the 1980s. Drawing on oral history and fieldwork across nine British cities, Jaffer moves beyond sectarianism, diaspora, and institutional history to show how migrants built spaces of worship, negotiated ethnic and theological differences, and formed local modes of belonging through ritual.

From Muharram gatherings and public processions, to the foundational yet often unrecorded role of women in establishing Shia life across Britain, the conversation uncovers a history that has been left out of the record for far too long.

▶️ Watch the full podcast: ami.is/ti17

🎧 Or listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & more: ami.is/ti17-audio

How can an Imamate defined by presence and public authority be occupied by an Imam who is hidden? 🤔At our recent researc...
16/07/2026

How can an Imamate defined by presence and public authority be occupied by an Imam who is hidden? 🤔

At our recent research seminar, Dr Hashem Morvarid (Trinity University) tackled this tension head-on, critically reviewing four major responses in the tradition before advancing his own original proposal, grounded in the Qurʾān's treatment of moral evil in Q 2:30–33. He argues that the hidden Imam's role is to serve as God's moral reason for preserving humankind in existence — a function that, unlike leadership or religious instruction, doesn't require public presence.

🔗 Read more, watch or listen to the seminar: ami.is/seminar-morvarid

⏰ Tomorrow! Don't miss our research seminar with Dr Syed Ali Hur Kamoonpuri exploring "The Tug of War between Classical ...
14/07/2026

⏰ Tomorrow! Don't miss our research seminar with Dr Syed Ali Hur Kamoonpuri exploring "The Tug of War between Classical and Later Imāmī Creed and its Impact on Contemporary ʿIlm al-Rijāl."

Should classical Rijāl still judge later Imāmī doctrine — or has it become the other way around? Dr Kamoonpuri examines this tension through select case studies of contested narrators, exploring how competing theological commitments shape competing Rijālī methodologies in contemporary scholarship.

🗓 Wednesday, 15th July 2026 at 3pm to 4:30pm (BST)

📍 In person at AMI or Online (no registration needed for in-person attendance)

💻 Find out more or register now: ami.is/hh-seminar

This Arbaʿeen, join us at AMI as Dr Syed Ali Hur Kamoonpuri delivers a five-part lecture series exploring the "Manifesta...
13/07/2026

This Arbaʿeen, join us at AMI as Dr Syed Ali Hur Kamoonpuri delivers a five-part lecture series exploring the "Manifestations of Qurʾānic Beauty in Karbala and its Aftermath through the eyes of Sayyidah Zaynab (as)". The series will explore Karbala through a Qurʾānic and intellectual lens, from the philosophy of remembering the righteous, to the meaning of true beauty in the face of tragedy, to the dangers of mistaking majority opinion for truth, and worldly power for divine approval.

The common thread running through this series is the continuing relevance of Karbala in addressing the intellectual, spiritual, and communal challenges facing Muslims today.

📅 Evening Programmes: 31st July – 3rd August 2026 from 7:30pm (BST)

🕐 Arbaeen Day Programme: Tuesday, 4th August from 1:30pm (BST)

📍 Join us at AMI or stream live at: ami.is/arbaeen-live

Is gelatine derived from non-ḥalāl sources permissible in Islam? 🤔 Gelatine is everywhere — jelly, marshmallows, yoghurt...
07/07/2026

Is gelatine derived from non-ḥalāl sources permissible in Islam? 🤔

Gelatine is everywhere — jelly, marshmallows, yoghurt, gummy sweets, even medicine capsules. But most commercial gelatine is derived from pigs or animals not slaughtered Islamically, raising a real question for Muslim consumers.

The debate centres on a single legal concept: istiḥāla — whether the transformation process changes a substance's ruling entirely. Scholars are genuinely split. Some hold that industrial processing changes gelatine's legal identity completely, making it permissible even from non-ḥalāl sources. Others hold that its core composition remains unchanged, so the original prohibition still applies.

🔗 Read the full statement with detailed justifications by the International Centre for Collective Ijtihad at: ami.is/icci-gelatine

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