Highlighting Research at Cambridge Muslim College
The Insights blog showcases research activities, past and present, taking place at Cambridge Muslim College. From details of events, to book explainers and original essays, it focuses on sharing the range of research happening at the College. It also allows members of our Faculty, alongside UK and international academics, to communicate key ideas from their work in an accessible and engaging format.
How Do You Read Fatāwā? A Sixteenth-Century Epistle on the Role of Ḥanafī Rule Formulation
In this seminar, Dr Talal Al-Azem (Cambridge Muslim College Academic Director) outlined the trajectory on the madhhab-law tradition after the Islamic empire’s rule shifted from Damascus and Cairo [...]
Afghanistan Dispossessed: Women, Culture and the Taliban
Afghanistan, a country which despite being often associated with conflict, oppression, and turmoil, abounds with a rich cultural tradition in arts, crafts, and music. From oral poetry and songs [...]
Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ: Life, Theology and Qur’anic Hermeneutics
In this seminar, Dr Ramon Harvey (Cambridge Muslim College Lecturer and Programme Lead, Research) explored the life of the significant early Ḥanafī jurist and exegete Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ (d. [...]
The Sharīʿa as Mercy and Grace
O People, a teaching from your Lord has come to you, a healing for what is in [your] hearts, and guidance and mercy for the believers. Say to [...]
Sound and Islam in Singapore: Ethnomusicological Approaches to Islam
In this seminar, Lutfi Bin Othman (Cambridge University, PhD Candidate), explores Singapore’s sound landscapes with special reference to the Sufi practices of remembrance (dhikr). Bin Othman examines the multifaceted [...]
Sufis and Sharīʿa: The Forgotten School of Mercy
Throughout the centuries, Muslim scholars have endeavoured to shape and implement the legal foundation of Islam, the sharīʿa. Many of these scholars were renowned theologians who sought to identify [...]
A Tale of Two Ṭarīqas: The Iraqi and Khurasani Shāfiʿī Communities
In this seminar, Dr Mariam Sheibani (Cambridge Muslim College Associate Academic Director and Head of Research) analyses the historical, theological, and legal developments of the Shāfiʿī school in [...]
Does Ontological Contingency Entail Epistemological Contingency?
In this seminar, Dr Najah Nadi (Cambridge Muslim College Lecturer) addresses the compatibility of Sunni occasionalism with classical foundationalism within Muslim theological traditions. She explores this question within [...]
BBC Moral Maze: Why does God allow natural disasters to happen?
Following the tragic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February 2023, in which tens of thousands of people died and many more were left injured or homeless, BBC [...]
Science and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge in Britain
In December 2022, two of Cambridge Muslim College’s BA in Islamic Studies students, Mohammed Imran Khan and Hamzah Zahid, participated in the ‘Science and the Transmission of Islamic [...]
Islamic Philosophy and Theology in Contemporary Engagement
Cambridge Muslim College's lecturers and research fellows presented their latest research at The American Society of Islamic Philosophy and Theology’s fourth annual conference, held on December 2 - 4, [...]
