About the Conference
This conference will convene scholars from around the world to explore the evolution of Shiʿi thought during the Safawid era—its formative developments, its theological and philosophical discourses, and its enduring impact. Together, we will examine literary, artistic, and intellectual productions that illuminate Shiʿi theology, cosmology, conceptions of ultimate reality, principles of divine guidance, devotional practices, and lived expressions of faith.
University of TorontoHistorical Studies, Mississauga
McGill UniversityInstitute of Islamic Studies
Shiʿa Research InstituteToronto, Canada
Conference Schedule
Thursday, May 28
Introduction to the "Shiʿism and the Safawids Conference"
Rula Jurdi Abisaab
McGill University, Montreal
Introduction to the "Shiʿa Research Institute"
Vinay Khetia
Shiʿa Research Institute, Toronto
Welcome Remarks from the Toronto School of Theology
Darren Dias
Toronto School of Theology, U of T
A Calendar for the Shiʿi Faithful: Astrology, Social Conduct, and Religious Authority in Muḥammad Bāqir Majlisī's Ikhtiyarāt
Gianni Izzo
Seldon Institute, Chicago
The Devotional Confessions of an Infallible Imam: A Study of Safawid Era Commentary
Vinay Khetia
Shiʿa Research Institute
The Inner Proof of Reason: Mullā Ṣadrā, Majlisī, and the Theology of Intellect in Safawid-Era Hadith Commentary
Seyed Amir Asghari
Indiana University
The Shia Theurgy of Mullā Ṣadrā
Syed A. H. Zaidi
Butler University
Shahrastānī and Mullā Ṣadrā's Commentaries on Sūrat al-Fātiḥa
Seddigheh Kardan
McGill University, Montreal
The Friday Prayer 'Debate' in the Later Safawid Period
Andrew J. Newman
University of Edinburgh
Shiʿism and Sufism in Safawid Iran: From Charismatic Authority to Clerical Orthodoxy
Reza Tabandeh
Brock University, St. Catharines
Safawid Jurist Strikes Back: ʿAlī Naqī Kamara'ī (d. 1650)'s Response to the Ottoman War Fatwa, 1630s
Yusuf Ünal
Utrecht University
Friday, May 29
The Word of Ḥaydar in the City of Ḥaydar: Niẓām al-Dīn Gīlānī, Safawid Thought, and the Deccan
Sajjad Rizvi
University of Exeter
Muḥammad Amīn Astarabādī's Akhbārī Kalām in the Shadow of a Twelver Shiʿi Empire: God's Attributes and the Creation of Human Actions
Rula Jurdi Abisaab
McGill University, Montreal
Qāḍī Kamāl al-Dīn al-Maybudī and the Dynamics of Heavenly Motions
Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan
University of Maryland
The Wondrous Anthropology of Qāḍī Saʿīd Qummī (d. ca. 1696)
Mohammad Amin Mansouri
Central Washington University
The Hadith of the Imams as Words of Wisdom (ḥikma): New Remarks on the Writings of Muḥsin Fayẓ Kāshānī
Mathieu Terrier
EPHE, Paris
Circulating Shiʿism: Manuscripts, Mobility, and Book Endowments in Safawid Era
Mahdieh Tavakol
Universität Hamburg
Scholarly Authority at the Dawn of the Safawid Period: Four Ijāzas of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Dawānī
Fateme Savadi
McGill University, Montreal
