Join us on Sunday, September 24th, at 2pm EST for an informative discussion with Dr. Aun Hasan Ali, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, in the Department of Religious Studies, at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The topic of discussion will be his latest book, ‘The School of Hillah and the Formation of Twelver Shi‘i Islamic Tradition‘, which provides the first extensive overview of the contribution of Shiʿī scholars who belonged to the school of Ḥillah (a city in Southern Iraq). This city and the scholars who hailed from there went on to become some of the most prolific producers of knowledge who had a lasting impact on the formation of Twelver Shīʿism.
Hosted by Dr. Vinay Khetia, this instalment in our series ‘The Insight Interviews’, promises to be an engaging conversation.
Dr. Aun Hasan Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at CU Boulder. He received his PhD from McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies. His research centers on Islamic intellectual history and he is the author of two forthcoming books:
- The School of Hillah and the Emergence of Twelver Shiism: Social Networks and the Concept of Tradition
- Why Hadith Matter: The Evidentiary Value of Hadith in Imami Law (7th/13th to 11th/17th Centuries) (co-authored with Hassan Ansari).
His recent publications include:
- “The Canonization of Nahj al-Balaghah between Hillah and Najaf: al-Sistani and the Iconic Authority of the Maraji”
- “The Rational Turn in Imamism Revisited”
- “Some Notes on the History of the Categorization of Imami Hadith”
In addition to intellectual history, Ali maintains an interest in Urdu and Persian literature. Occasionally, he publishes short commentaries on the website Qirtas-o-Qalam.
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