Academic Articles
Historical representations of a Fatimid Imam-caliph: Exploring al-Maqrizi’s and Idris’ writings on al-Mu‘izz Li Din AllahThis is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Alifba: Studi Arabo-Islamici e Mediterranei, Vol XXII - the published proceedings of the International Conference on the Fatimids and the Mediterranean held at the University of Palermo, Italy in December 2008. More
Governing Diverse Communities: A Medieval Muslim Illustration
This is an edited version of an article which first appeared on 8th March 2011 in The Perspective, an article-based website providing a forum for the discussion of critical issues in the world of politics, culture and the arts. More
Al-Suyuti on the Merits of Imam ‘Ali
Loving Compassion in Islam and Buddhism: Rahma and Karuna
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Religions: A Scholarly Journal. No.1, 2010, pp.43-56. Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue. More
Divine Law / Divine Command: The Ground of Ethics in the Western Tradition-Muslim Perspectives
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol. 23, No. 1 in Feb. 2010 by SAGE Publications Ltd. The article was prepared from a plenary address presented to the Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics at Westcott House, Cambridge, in September 2009. More
Mathematics vs. Physics: Ibn al-Haytham’s Geometrical Conception of Space and the Refutation of Aristotle’s Physical Definition of Place
This article was specially written for The Institute of Ismaili Studies website in 2009. More
Shahrastani’s ‘Mafatih al-asrar’ Introduction
This article was specially written for The Institute of Ismaili Studies website in 2009. More
A Destructive Vacuum: The Marginalisation of Local Knowledge and the Reassertion of Local Identities
This is an edited version of a chapter that first appeared in Multiple Modernities in Muslim Societies, pp. 123-126, 2009. More
Beyond Polemics and Pluralism: The Universal Message of the Qur’an
This is an edited version of a paper delivered at the Conference: Al-Azhar and the West, Bridges of Dialogue, Cairo, 5 January 2009. More
Cyclical Time and Sacred History in Medieval Ismaili Thought
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, eds. K. D’Hulster and J. Van Steenbergen, Uitgeverij Peeters en Department Oosterse Studies Leuven- Paris- Dudley, MA 2008, Vol. 171, pp.151-158. More
Toward A Post-Secular Modernity
This essay draws upon the author’s introduction in Muslim Modernities: Expressions of the Civil Imagination, ed. Amyn B. Sajoo, London, 2008. More
The Ismailis and their Role in the History of Medieval Syria and the Near East
This is an edited version of an article which was originally published in Syria Medieval Citadels Between East and West, ed. Stefano Bianca (Geneva: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2007), pp. 37-50 More
Religious Traditions and Early Ismaili History in South Asia: Some Historical Perspectives on Satpanthi Literature and the Ginans
This is an edited version of an article that originally appears in Tazim R. Kassam and Françoise Mallison (editors), Ginans:Texts and Contexts: Essays on Ismaili Hymns from South Asia in honour of Zawahir Moir, Matrix (New Delhi), 2007, pp. 149-168. More
The Dilemma of Islam as School Knowledge in Muslim Education
This is an electronic version of an article that was originally published in Asia Pacific Journal of Education (2007), vol. 27 no.1, March 2007, pp. 11-25. Copyright Informa; Asia Pacific Journal of Education is available online at http://www.informaworld.com/ More
Optics
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, p. 578-579, ed. Josef W. Meri, Routledge (New York-London, 2006). More
‘Ali ibn Abi Talib
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, p. 36-37, ed. Josef W. Meri, Routledge (New York-London, 2006). More
Plato, Platonism, and Neo-platonism
This article was originally published in Medieval Islamic Civilization, An Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, p. 614-616, ed. Josef W. Meri, Routledge (New York-London, 2006). More
Brethren of Purity
This is an edited version of an article which was originally published in Medieval Islamic Civilization, an Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 118-119, ed. Josef W. Meri, Routledge (New York-London, 2006) More
The Mediator as a Humanising Agent: Some Critical Questions for ADR Today
A keynote address presented to the Dutch Association of Family Law Advocates and Family Law Mediators, Annual Congress in St. Michielsgestel, Holland, on 6th April 2006. More
What is Shi‘a Islam?
This article was originally published in Voices of Islam, Volume 1: Voices of Tradition, pp. 217-244, Ed. Vincent J.Cornell published by Praeger in 2006. More
Muslim Literatures in South Asia
The article was modified by the author in 2006 from a version originally published in The Muslim Almanac (Gale Research, Inc.Detroit, MI: 1996), p.355-364, ed. A. Nanji. More
Agreed Syllabi and Un-agreed Values: Religious Education and Missed Opportunities for Fostering Social Cohesion
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in the British Journal of Educational Studies, ISSN 0007-1005, September 2005, pp. 376-393 More
The Days of Creation in the Thought of Nasir Khusraw
This is an edited version of an article originally published in Nasir Khusraw: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Khujand, 2005, Publishing House “Noshir”, pp.74-83. More
Why Study Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century? (Introduction)
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century, eds. Suha Taji-Faroukhi and Basheer M. Nafi (2004), I. B. Tauris, pp. 1-27
MoreThe ‘Islamic’ in Islamic Education: Assessing the Discourse
This is an edited version of an article which was originally published in Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teacher College, Columbia University, Vol. 7(1), online at: columbia.edu/cice/Archives. More
The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Isma‘ili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in the Journal of the American Oriental Society 123.2 (2003), pp. 351-370 More
Muslim Saints and Hindu Rulers: The Development of Sufi and Ismaili Mysticism in the Non-Muslim States of India
Published in 2003 and 1981 with the Literature & Publication Department of His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismailia Association for the United Kingdom; and in 1980 His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismailia Association for Kenya. More
The Metaphysics of Interfaith Dialogue: A Qur’anic Perspective
Presented at “Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East” Conference, October 18-20, 2001, University of South Carolina, USA. More
The Ethics of the Public Square: A Preliminary Muslim Critique
This is an edited version of an article which was originally published in polylog: Forum for Intercultural Philosophy, Issue 3 (2001), online at: http://them.polylog.org/3/asa-en.htm More
Present-Day Islam Between its Tradition and Globalisation
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Farhad Daftary (ed.) Intellectual Traditions in Islam, London: I. B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2000, pp. 179-221. More
Religious Pluralism in Egypt: The Ahl al-kitab in Early Fatimid Times
Based on a paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America on November 19, 2001. More
Sectarian and National Movements in Iran, Khurasan and Transoxania During Umayyad and Early 'Abbasid Times
In History of Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. IV, part One, ed. M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth. Paris: UNESCO Publishing, pp. 41-60. More
The Ismaili daʿwa Outside the Fatimid dawla
Printed in Marianne Barrucand (ed.) L'Egypte Fatimide: Son Art et Son Histoire, Paris: Presses de l'Universite de Paris-Sorbonne, pp. 29 - 43. More
Ismaili Studies: Medieval Antecedents and Modern Developments
2000. More
Representing Islam: A Critique of Language and Reality”
presented at “Perspectives in Islamic Studies” Conference, August 22-24, 1998, The Institute of Ismaili Studies. More
Sayyida Hurra: The Isma‘ili Sulayhid Queen of Yemen
Originally published in Gavin R. G. Hambly (ed.) Women in the Medieval Islamic World: Power, Patronage and Piety; reprinted in The New Middle Ages 6, New York: St .Martin’s Press, 1998, pp. 117-130; reprinted with corrections, 1999. More
The Ismailis in History
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Ismaili Contributions to Islamic Culture, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Imperial Iranian, Academy of Philosophy, Tehran, 1977), pp. 227-265. More
The Sacred Music of Islam: Sama‘ in the Persian Sufi tradition
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in the British Journal of Enthomusicology, Vol. 6, British Forum for Ethnomusicology, 1997, pp 1-33. More
Muslim, Jews and Christians - Relations and Interactions
This article was originally published in The Muslim Almanac (Gale Research Inc, Detroit, MI: 1996), p.423-429, ed. A. Nanji. More
The Ethical Tradition in Islam
This article was originally published in the Muslim Almanac (Gale Research Inc, Detroit, MI: 1996), p.205-211, ed. A. Nanji. More
Towards New Horizons in Islamic Studies
An edited version of “Publications from the Institute of Ismaili Studies: Towards New Horizons in Islamic Studies,” originally published in The Ismaili United Kingdom, July 1996, Supplement 3. More
“Diversity in Islam: Communities of Interpretation”
An edited version of an article originally published in The Muslim Almanac (Gale Research Inc, Detroit, MI: 1996), pp.161-173, ed. A. Nanji. More
Muslim Philosophy and the Sciences
Originally published in The Muslim Almanac (Gale Research Inc, Detroit, MI: 1996), p. 189 - 204, ed. A. Nanji; reprinted with corrections. More
Islam and Modernity: Intellectual Horizons
The Muslim Almanac: The Reference Work on History, Faith and Culture, and Peoples of Islam. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995, pp. 453-457. More
Fatimid-Buyid Diplomacy During the Reign of Al-‘Aziz billah (365/975-386/996)*
Journal of Islamic Studies 3:1 (1992), pp. 57-71. More
Transcendence and Distinction: Metaphoric Process in Isma‘ili Muslim Thought
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in God and Creation: An Ecumenical Symposium edited by David B. Burrell and Bernard McGinn, University of Notre Dame, 1990, pp 304-315. More
Creation in Time in Islamic Thought with Special Reference to Al-Ghazali
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in God and Creation: An Ecumenical Symposium edited by David B. Burrell and Bernard McGinn, University of Notre Dame, 1990, pp 246-265. More
Between Metaphor and Context: The Nature of the Fatimid Ismaili Discourse on Justice and Injustice
Arabica Tome XXXVIII, 1990, pp. 234-239. More
The Initial Destination of the Fatimid caliphate: The Yemen or The Maghrib?
British Society of Middle Eastern Studies Bulletin 1, 13, 1986, pp. 15-26. More
Nasir al-Din Tusi’s Ethics: Between Philosophy, Shi‘ism and Sufism
This is an edited version of an essay which first appeared in Ethics in Islam in 1985 edited by Richard G. Hovannisian (Undena Publications). More
Aspects of Ismaili Theology: The Prophetic Chain and the God Beyond Being
Fatimid Art, Precursor or Culmination
This is an edited version of an article that was originally published in Ismaili Contributions to Islamic Culture, eds. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1977), Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, pp: 207-224. More
The Sources of Ismaili Law
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies 35 No.1, University of Chicago Press, 1976, pp 29-40.
MoreThe Ismaili Vocabulary of Creation
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Studia Islamica No 40, pp. 75-85 in 1974. It is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
More