Promoting Academic Exchange

Guest Seminars Oxford

In June 2025, Tareq Baconi (Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network) and Professor Jeroen Gunning (King’s College London) spoke on Hamas unpacked: history and politics of a movement.

In June 2025, Dr Mohammed Allehbi (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) presented a seminar on Islamic Law Beyond Fiqh. This seminar is part of the Islam and Justice seminar series co-convened by Jacob Williams (DPIR). An edited recording of the presentation will be available shortly with the kind permission of the speaker at Contemporary Islamic Studies | University of Oxford Podcasts.

In May 2025, Dr Haroon Bashir (Markfield Institute of Higher Education) presents his book Slavery, Abolition and Islam: Debating Freedom in the Islamic Tradition.

Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford (CISO) co-convened a 1-day workshop, Transnational Islamic Movements: Global and Local Realities on 29 November 2024. This was organised in collaboration with Lancaster University, Project SEPAD. Edited recordings of some of the presentations are available through our Contemporary Islamic Studies podcast series; and a selection of photos taken during the workshop with the kind permission of those involved.

In the forefront, Professor Maryam Alemzadeh. Then from left to right Dr Susann Kassem, Dr •Somdeep Sen and Dr Inna Rudolf

In November 2024, Sajad Jiyad, Century International fellow and director of the Shia Politics Working Group was visiting guest speaker, presenting on God’s Man in Iraq: The Life and Leadership of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.

In July 2024, Professor Malika Zeghal, Harvard University presented her book The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa, an innovative analysis that traces the continuity of the state’s custodianship of Islam.

Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford (CISO) co-convened with the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, a weekly guest lecture series on Islamic Ethics: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives with guest speakers from across the UK and further afield.

Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford (CISO) has brought together over 20 academics from institutions in Oxford, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to explore contemporary challenges to inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue in South East Asia, with specific emphasis on cross-cultural perspectives. Key collaborators were St Antony’s College Asian Studies Centre; Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies; and Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies (SOASCIS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Our College Warden opened this 2-day international workshop which includes an evening public event on Closing Myanmar’s Pandora’s Box: Resolving the Buddhist-Muslim Conflict.

Guest Seminars Beyond Oxford

In April 2025 Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford (CISO) co-organised a workshop in partnership with Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Peking University, Fudan University, and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. The workshop examined the current state of Islamic Studies and research on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Participants included a delegation of 10 academics from the University of Oxford.

Workshop participants, Doha April 2025

In October 2024, Professor Raihan Ismail was invited guest speaker to The Markfield Institute, speaking on Rethinking Salafism: Transnational Networks of Salafi ‘Ulama in Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In April 2024, Professor Raihan Ismail spoke with Carolyn Beeler, from The World radio programme on Saudi Arabia’s conservative clerics have a new relationship with the government under Mohammed bin Salman.

Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford (CISO) has provided liaison support for Oxford academics working with the College of Islamic Studies, Doha, part of Hamad bin Khalifa University. Fellows from the Middle East Centre of St Antony’s College together with representatives from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford and the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies have participated in 2 seminar workshops hosted by the CIS in Doha on the themes: