Institute of Ismaili Studies

Faculty Member, Qur'anic Studies (Department of Academic Research and Publications)

About

Published in August 2011; now also available in North America)

Omar Alí-de-Unzaga (ed.), Fortresses of the Intellect: Ismaili and other Islamic Studies in Honour of Farhad Daftary (London and New York: I.B. Tauris in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2011); xvii+600pp.
ISBN: 978 1 84885 626 4 (VIEW "Books" LINK ON THE LEFT)

http://us.macmillan.com/fortressesoftheintellect/OmarAlideUnzaga

http://www.ibtauris.com/Books/Humanities/Religion%20%20beliefs/Islam/Fortresses%20of%20Intellect%20Ismaili%20and%20Other%20Islamic%20Studies%20in%20Honour%20of%20Farhad%20Daftary.aspx




I am interested in philosophical readings of the Qur'an and other scriptures, as well as mystical/esoteric interpretations, and more widely Shi'i and Isma'ili studies.

At the moment, I am doing research on the Epistles of the Pure Brethren (Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa'), more particularly on their use and interpretation of the Qur'an.

My job also involves coordinating the Qur'anic Studies Unit at the IIS:
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=110958&l=en
Where we produce the OUP/IIS QS Series: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/series/QuranicStudiesSeries/?view=usa

Other current projects (probably too many):
-Working on a book: A Philosophical Reading of the Qur'an: Scriptural Exegesis in the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa'
-Doing a critical edition and translation of the Epistle on Character Traits (al-Risala fi'l-akhlaq) of the Ikhwan al-Safa'.

I have the following publications:
-'The Brethren of Purity', The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, ed. Gerhard Bowering with Patricia Crone, Wadad Kadi, Devin J. Stewart, Muhammad Qasim Zaman, and Mahan Mirza. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, forthcoming= 2012), pp. 25-26.
-Ikhwān al-Ṣafā, in Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Volume 2  (900-1050), ed. David Thomas and Alex Mallett, with Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala, Johannes Pahlitzsch, Mark Swanson, Herman Teule, and John Tolan (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2010) (The History of Christian-Muslim Relations, 14), pp. 306-311.
-'Foreword' to An Anthology of Qur’anic Commentaries. Vol. 1: On the Nature of the Divine, ed. Feras Hamza and Sajjad Rizvi with Farhana Mayer (London: Oxford University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2008), p. xi.
-Review essay of Walid Saleh, The Classical Tafsīr Tradition: the Qurʾān Commentary of al-Thaʿlabī(d. 427/1035) (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2004), in Journal of Qur’anic Studies, no. 8, i (2006), pp. 119-125.
-'The Conversation Between Moses and God (munāğāt Mūsā) in the Epistles of the Pure Brethren (Rasāʾil Iḫwān al-Ṣafā')', in Al-Kitāb. La sacralité du texte dans le monde de l'Islam. Actes du Sympsium international tenu à Leuven et Louvain-la-Neuve du 29 mai au 1 juin 2002, ed. Daniel De Smet, Godefroy de Callataÿ and Jan M.F. van Reeth, Acta Orientalia Belgica. Subsidia III (2004), pp. 371-387.


Other encyclopaedia articles under way:
-Ikhwan al-Safa'
-Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi
-Abu'l-'Ala' al-Ma'arri

Forthcoming conference papers:
-Qur'anic Exegesis as Belles Lettres: the case of the Epistle of the Pure Brethren (Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa')
-The fragmentary character of citing scripture: the case of the Ikhwan al-Safa'


Past talks: See left menu