Overview Research Our team

Our research

One of the most important aims of the Shiʿi Studies Unit is to enhance our understanding of the plurality of traditions within Shiʿi Islam in both its historical and contemporary contexts also elucidating their common grounds based on a comprehensive multidisciplinary and civilisational approach. We strive to achieve academic excellence also by collaborating with key institutions, eminent as well as emerging scholars to enhance the status of Shiʿi studies within the wider fields of Islamic studies, religious studies and humanities at large. Our broad vision of Shiʿi Islam leads us to the study of its three major branches (Twelver, Ismaili and Zaydi), as well as that of groups and communities (Sufis, Druzes, Ḥurūfiyya and Nuṣayriyya) that had historical, theological and doctrinal relationships with them.

Research priority areas

  • The study of Shiʿi Islam: the state of the field, issues of methodology and recent developments
  • The study of the origins and early development of the various Shiʿi communities (and associate communities who are theologically or historically linked to the Shia, such as the Druzes and the Sufis) as well as an examination of the status of Shiʿi communities in the contemporary world
  • The analysis of the status and use of the Qur’an and its interpretations in Shiʿi Islam
  • The study of the formation and development of religious law in Shiʿi Islam and its relationship with the civil law of the land and local customs
  • The study of the intellectual traditions and spirituality in Shiʿi Islam (theology, philosophy, mysticism and ethics) as well as the examination of the Shiʿi communities’ contributions to the arts, architecture and literature
  • The study of religious authority and the nature of religious institutions in Shiʿi Islam and their role and application in the contemporary life of Shiʿi communities
  • The examination of the formation and development of rites and rituals among various Shiʿi communities, including historical developments and contemporary applications.

Our activities