Call for paper for our upcoming conference 'The Institutional Embedding of Shiʿi Imams: Kinship, Caliphs, Courts and Companions (700-900)' embodiedimamate.hcommons.org/2026/04/25/c...
embodiedimamate.hcommons.org
Embodied Imamate
@embodiedimamate.bsky.social
Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shiʿi Community 700-900 CE, ERC Horizon STG project, 2024-2028 PI: Edmund Hayes, Leiden University https://embodiedimamate.hcommons.org/
Call for paper for our upcoming conference 'The Institutional Embedding of Shiʿi Imams: Kinship, Caliphs, Courts and Companions (700-900)' embodiedimamate.hcommons.org/2026/04/25/c...
embodiedimamate.hcommons.org
Our first team meeting of the new year saw us stick to our aim of spending a month on each of the Twelve Imams. We're beginning with the sixth Imam, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765).
Throughout 2026, our team will be focusing on one of the twelve Imāmī Imams each month, starting with the sixth Imam, Jaʿfar b. Muḥammad al-Ṣādiq. We’ll use this as an opportunity to produce bibliographies, read material related to each Imam, and talk to scholars who have worked on them.
Let us know if you have an idea for a paper as part of the two panels Leone Pecorini Goodall are convening at BRAIS.
Are you attending the 2026 BRAIS conference in London? If so, Embodied Imamate team members Leone Pecorini Goodall and Adam Ramadhan are convening two panels dedicated to the history of early Islam which they are inviting expressions of interest for. The details of each panel are below.
Are you attending the 2026 BRAIS conference in London? If so, Embodied Imamate team members Leone Pecorini Goodall and Adam Ramadhan are convening two panels dedicated to the history of early Islam which they are inviting expressions of interest for. The details of each panel are below.
A reminder that the first lecture in the Reflections on Shiʿi Studies lecture series will take place on Monday 4 November.* For further details and the link to register, see the following link: www.shiistudies.net/events/abdul... *Please note the corrected times on the poster and link.
I am pleased to announce the call for papers for a workshop Edmund Hayes and I are organising as part of the Embodied Imamate project: "The Social Dynamics of Communal Affiliation in Early Islam," to be held between 11–12 June 2026 at Leiden University. www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
Check out the call for papers for our next workshop!
I am pleased to announce the call for papers for a workshop Edmund Hayes and I are organising as part of the Embodied Imamate project: "The Social Dynamics of Communal Affiliation in Early Islam," to be held between 11–12 June 2026 at Leiden University. www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...
We are delighted to announce the autumn program of our online lecture series Material Culture, Art, and Architecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿism. The series brings together scholars of early Shīʿism with specialists in Islamic material culture, art, architecture, and archaeology.
It's been a while in the making, but I'm delighted to announce the launch of the the Shii Studies Network which I am running with my colleague Fatima Zaraket. Follow us for updates on the exciting events and initiatives we have coming up.
We are so excited to announce the launch of the Shii Studies Network, a space for PhD students researching Shiism to forge personal and professional connections, share their research with and learn from each other, and push the field forward.
We are so excited to announce the launch of the Shii Studies Network, a space for PhD students researching Shiism to forge personal and professional connections, share their research with and learn from each other, and push the field forward.
On June 4, our workshop Motherhood and Unfreedom took place at the Allard Pierson Museum, 8 powerful papers, 20+ participants, and rich discussions from poetry to concubines to afterlife slavery. Grateful to @socmedimedit.bsky.social, Juynboll Foundation & our museum partners!
Our team will be presenting over two panels: Session 120: Embodied Imamate I: Bodies of Knowledge, featuring Aila Santi and Zahra Azhar from our project and Simon O'Meara (SOAS) and George Warner (Institute of Ismaili Studies)
Just over two weeks until the International Medieval Congress (@imc-leeds.bsky.social) in Leeds where we are sponsoring a number of panels! We will be having a reception on Tuesday 8 July between 13:00 and 14:00 in the Little Woodhouse Room of University House. Come by and say hello!
Are you attending the International Medieval Congress in Leeds (@imc-leeds.bsky.social) next month? We've compiled a handy list of all the panels addressing key themes in the medieval Islamic world including the panels we are sponsoring. www.middleeastmedievalists.com/mem-at-the-i...
MEM at the International Medieval Congress
middleeastmedievalists.com
Just over two weeks until the International Medieval Congress (@imc-leeds.bsky.social) in Leeds where we are sponsoring a number of panels! We will be having a reception on Tuesday 8 July between 13:00 and 14:00 in the Little Woodhouse Room of University House. Come by and say hello!
Ed Hayes, the PI of our project is the guest blogger of the Islamic Law Blog of the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard University (@shariasource.bsky.social) this month. islamiclaw.blog/2025/06/05/w... Check out the instalments of his series of posts on the early Imāmī Shīʿī Legal System.
Welcome to our June Guest Blogger: Edmund Hayes
Edmund Hayes is a University Lecturer in the History of Islam at Leiden University. His research focus is the social history of early Shīʿa Islam, especially in its Imāmī and Twelver strands, givin…
islamiclaw.blog
We have two panels at this year's International Medieval Congress: 120 and 220. Let us know who will be around!
The second edition of the #IMC2025 Programme is now able to view on our website!!!!!!🎉 😊 😄 Click here: www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2025/pro... to see what is happening this July! It's all starting to feel very real now!😁 #MedievalSky #Skystorians
The Board of Directors of Middle East Medievalists (MEM) is pleased to request submissions for its biennial prize for best book on the medieval Middle East (ca. 500-1500 CE). The prize will be awarded at the 2025 annual meeting. Books published between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2025 are eligible.
CfP: "New Approaches to Khārijite History" (Hamburg, 16-17 Oct 25)! Delighted to announce this workshop, which aims to re-assess 7th-10th-century Khārijite revolt as a historical rather than doctrinal/confessional phenomenon! Abstracts due 15/04; details here: www.aai.uni-hamburg.de/voror/forsch...
New Approaches to Khārijite History
aai.uni-hamburg.de
We're thrilled to announce our lecture series: Material Culture, Art, and Architecture of Pre-Safavid Shīʿīsm, starting on March 28 2025. Join distinguished scholars as they reveal how materiality, art, architecture, and space speak volumes about the identity of pre-Safavid Shīʿī community.
If you are in Leiden this Spring come along to the Middle East Studies Lectures featuring the PI of the @embodiedimamate.bsky.social ERC project! Full schedule below: www.staff.universiteitleiden.nl/events/serie...
Middle East Studies Lectures - Leiden University
The Middle East Studies Lectures are organized throughout the academic year.
staff.universiteitleiden.nl
Yesterday wrapped up an amazing two-day workshop, “Policing the Prayer in Sectarian Islam: Spaces, Temporalities, Coercion (7th–15th Centuries),” which three of our team members participated in.
The Embodied Imamate team spent a very enjoyable couple of days in Hamburg with the @rebellionuhh.bsky.social team for a workshop on 'Zaydī' networks organised by Natalie Kontny-Wendt.
We are honored to welcome @nhaider.bsky.social as the keynote speaker for this workshop. The @embodiedimamate.bsky.social team will be well-represented in it. Can’t wait to hear @aramadhan.bsky.social on prayer leadership in the Early Imami Community!
I am thrilled to announce the workshop “Policing the Prayer in Sectarian Islam: Spaces, Temporalities, Coercion (7th–15th centuries”, taking place in Naples on February 27–28, 2025, which I am co-organizing with Enki Baptiste and @athinap.bsky.social
In case you missed this: our open-access volume on rebellion in the early Islamic period is now out with @edinburghup.bsky.social! It transcends traditional boundaries within and between (the) field(s) by studying Muslim and non-Muslim, Shiʿi, Kharijite, Ibadi, and Sunni contention!
Thrilled to announce publication of our multi-author volume, "Between Rebels and Rulers in the Early Islamicate World", with @edinburghup.bsky.social in open access: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-between...! 14 exciting case studies and one conceptual introduction - happy browsing! 👇
The IMBOD team will be making their way to @imc-leeds.bsky.social in July with two exciting panels on Monday 7th (panel 1 is from 11:15-12:45). Excited to catch up with colleagues and discuss the project! @mideastmedieval.bsky.social
Congratulations to our postdoctoral researcher @lpecos.bsky.social for this co-authored piece!
New article alert! We invite you to explore a text composed in the northern reaches of the Caliphate in 744: the Armenian martyrology of Vahan of Gołtʻn. This article includes a translation and intro that analyzes the text’s construction of the Umayyad world and Armenian experiences within it
We were honoured to have Sayed Hossein al-Qazwini visit us in Leiden today to discuss our project, early Islamic history, Imāmī biographical works, and khums amongst much more.
Interested in early Shi‘ism, conflict, and community making? Join us tomorrow for a talk by Ed Hayes (Leiden), PI of @embodiedimamate.bsky.social, on "Legitimate Punishments in Early Islam"! Tues, 14 Jan, 4:00 pm CET on Zoom. Register by emailing score.aai@uni-hamburg.de!
Exciting talk alert! Next Tues, 14 Jan, 4:00 pm CET on Zoom: Ed Hayes, PI of @embodiedimamate.bsky.social, on "Legitimate Punishments in Early Islam: Execution, Exile, Excommunication (with Special Attention to the Imami Shiʿa)". To register, simply email score.aai@uni-hamburg.de.👇