Approaches to the Qur’an in Contemporary Iran
Approaches to the Qur’an in Contemporary Iran
September 2013
The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
2–4 September 2013
Description
This colloquium seeks to examine the plurality of approaches to the Qur’an in contemporary Iran. By bringing together specialists in early modern and contemporary Iran from various disciplines, ranging from the social sciences to Qur’anic studies, the colloquium draws as comprehensive as possible a picture of the various approaches to the Qur’an that have been adopted in Iran over the past 150 years. It spans the second half of the nineteenth century, when the intellectual drive that would breed the constitutional uprising was at its height, and the first decade of the twenty-first century, the period in which Iran has become one of the key arenas of religious, intellectual, political and social debate.
The Qur’an is a central reference for various levels of public discourse in Iran. As the founding scripture of Islam, it inevitably influences the expression of all aspects of Muslim life – religious, cultural and social. Its interpretation, in the form of tafsir as well as in other non-codified fashions, informs each denomination’s religious practice, establishes the boundaries of religious identity and shapes the character of each individual’s relationship with the divine and with society.
In a country such as Iran, where the majority of the population adheres to the Twelver school of Shi‘i Islam, the relationship between the Qur’an and culture is charged with peculiarities that have not yet been discussed, analysed and investigated comprehensively by specialists. Within Iranian society, the Qur’an’s script has been creatively used in the arts, its meaning has been employed by rival factions in political discourse, its depths have been explored by the mystics of every persuasion and its symbols have never ceased to permeate and influence, by devotion or by reaction, almost every kind of literary expression in the Persian language.
From the much debated and highly sensitive question of tahrif to the revival of Qur’anic studies in post-revolutionary Iran, Qur’anic concerns are at the forefront of contemporary life in Iran. There, the scripture is widely revered, and it has been extensively read, interpreted and translated. Its deployment has been varied: the Qur’an has been diversely used as a source of inspiration, carried as a banner, employed instrumentally by politicians, turned into a manifesto for the oppressed, and even criticised and dismissed.
Monday, 2 September 2013
9:00 Welcome
Alessandro Cancian, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Morning Session: The Qur’an and Iranian Society: Education, Media and Literature
9:15–10:30 Panel One
Chair: Alessandro Cancian, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Methods of Qur’an Instruction in Today’s Iran
Mohammad Mesbahi, The Islamic College, London
The Religious Inspiration of the Saqqakhana Artistic School in 1960s Iran: A Spiritual Pop Art?
Alice Bombardier, Centre d’Analyse et d’Intervention Sociologiques–l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (CADIS–EHESS), Paris
Break 10:30–10:45
10-45–12:20 Panel Two
Chair: Denis Hermann, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Qunut with Rumi: The Neighbourliness of Prayer and Poetry in Iran
Niloofar Haeri, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Husayn Muhyi’l-Din Illahi Qumshaʾi’s In the Company of the Qurʾan
Leonard Lewisohn, University of Exeter
Lunch 12:20–13:30
Afternoon Session: Schools and Approaches in Qur’anic Exegesis
13:30–15:00 Panel Three
Chair: Leonard Lewisohn, University of Exeter
Rational-Analytical Tafsir in Modern Iran: A Comparison Between al-Mizan of ʿAllama Tabatabaʾi and the Tasnim of Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli
Seyfeddin Kara, Durham University
Striving beyond the Balance (al-mizan): The Exegetical Uses of the Qur’an in the Tabatabaʾi tariqa
Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter
Break 15:00–15:15
15:15–17:30 Panel Four
Chair: Rainer Brunner, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Should Husbands Discipline their Wives? Contemporary and Classical Iranian Interpretations of Q. 4:34
Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Ayatullah Bujnurdi and the New Jurisprudence
Liyakat Takim, McMaster University, Canada
Towards a New School of Qur’an Interpretation: The Maktab-i tafkik in Contemporary Iran
Seyyed Mohammad Hadi Gerami, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Morning Session: The Qur’an and Modern Iranian Intellectuals: Trends in Exegesis and Political Thought
9:00–10:30 Panel Five
Chair: Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
The Qur’an and the Political Discourse of the ʿUlamaʾ during the Constitutional Movement in Iran
Denis Hermann, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
From the Human Reading of Religion to the Prophetic Reading of the World: Muhammad Mujtahid Shabistari’s Hermeneutic Turn
Mirjam Künkler, Princeton University
Chair: Daryoush Mohammad Poor, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
The Soroushian Theory of Revelation: An Epistemological Assessment
Yaser Mirdamadi, University of Edinburgh
Qur’anic Sanction and Sovereignty in Contemporary Iran
Neguin Yavari, The New School For Social Research, New York
Break 10:30–10:45
10:45–12:15 Panel Six
Chair: Karen Bauer, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
From the Human Reading of Religion to the Prophetic Reading of the World: Muhammad Mujtahid Shabistari’s Hermeneutic Turn
Mirjam Künkler, Princeton University
The Qur’an and the Political Discourse of the ʿUlamaʾ during the Constitutional Movement in Iran
Denis Hermann, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
Lunch 12:15–13:15
Afternoon Session: Textual Issues and Alternative Approaches
13:15–14:45 Panel Seven
Chair: Todd Lawson, University of Toronto
Modern Shi‘i Authors on the Question of the Authenticity of the Text of the Qur’an (Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries)
Rainer Brunner, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris
‘And they thought, as you thought, that God will by no means send anyone again’ (Q. 72:7): A Re-Conception of the Islamic Doctrine of Finality
Omid Ghaemmaghami, American University of Cairo
Break 14:45–15:00
15:00–16:30 Panel Eight
Chair: Sajjad Rizvi, University of Exeter
Speaking the Secrets of Sanctity in the Tafsir of Safi ʿAli Shah
Nicholas Boylston, Georgetown University
Sufism, Exegesis and Society in Early Modern Iran: Sultan ʿAli Shah’s Bayan al-saʿada and the Status of Sufi Qur’anic Exegesis
Alessandro Cancian, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Break 16:30-16:45
16:45–18:15 Panel Nine
Chair: Mushegh Asatriyan, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
Joycean Modernism in a Nineteenth-Century Iranian Qur’an Commentary: The Bab’s Tafsir Surat Yusuf
Todd Lawson, University of Toronto
Defending the Qur’an in Qajar Iran: Husayn ʿAli Shah and his Refutation of Henry Martyn
Reza Tabandeh, University of Exeter
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Morning Session: The Qur’an, the Arts and Popular Piety
9:00–10:30 Panel Ten
Chair: Omar Ali-de-Unzaga, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
The Divine Word on the Screen: Religious Epics in Iranian Cinema
Nacim Pak-Shiraz, University of Edinburgh
The Qur’an and Female Calligraphers in Iran
Anna Vanzan, University of Milan
Break 10:30–10:45
10:45–12:15 Panel Eleven
Chair: Alessandro Cancian, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London
‘I leave behind me two great things, the Book of God and my family’. Comprehending the Qur’an within the Realm of the Ahl al-Bayt in Iranian Shi‘i Lived Religion
Ingvild Flaskerud, University of Oslo
The Qur’an as an Aesthetic Model in Music: The Case of Twentieth-Century Iran
Giovanni De Zorzi, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
13:15–14:15 General Discussion
Qur'anic Studies Today
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (AIBL)
