Abstracts

Prof. Aisha Yusuf al-Mannai got her Ph.D from al-Azhar University in Aqīdah and Philosophy. She has published several books and articles on Aqīdah, tasawwuf and religions. She was previously Dean, College of Shariah and Islamic Studies, Qatar University and then Dean, College of Islamic Studies at HBKU. Dr. Aisha is the recipient of several awards, including the Medal of Honor for Arts and Sciences from the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Community Service Award from the United Arab Emirates, the first GCC Excellence Award, which she received from His Highness, the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Henry Davison Award from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Switzerland. She is also a member of the Arab Parliament and heads several national and international organizations.

Prof. Recep Şentürk holds a PhD from Columbia University’s Department of Sociology, and specializes in Civilization Studies, Sociology, and Islamic Studies with a focus on social networks, human rights, and modernization in the Muslim world. Previously he was Rector, Ibn Khaldun University and continues to head the International Ibn Khaldun Society and has a seat on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals. Among his books are, Narrative Social Structure: Hadith Transmission Network 610-1505; Open Civilization: Towards a Multi- Civilizational Society and World; and Ibn Khaldun: Contemporary Readings; Dr. Şentürk’s work has been translated to Arabic, Japanese, and Spanish.

The Transformative Power of Sīrah and Civilization

This paper explores the transformative power of Sīrah at the individual, social and global levels in world history and argues that Sīrah has the same potential today to transform our lives and our world. The life of Rasulullah (SAW) was the most transformative event in the history of the world. It gave rise to a new world civilization which we today call Islamic civilization. Most other religions were born into a major civilization. Islam however, being born in the civilizational vacuum of the desert of Arabia, gave rise to a completely new and fundamentally different civilization. Yet the prerequisite for building a new civilization was to change the hearts and minds of the individuals who would form a new community that would embody the values of the new civilization and work with passion to spread it. Sīrah has the same transformative power today. I propose that we should adopt the self-transformative method in Sīrah education rather than looking at it as an historical subject alone. The transformative perspective to Sīrah will strengthen the common moral and civilizational ground in the Muslim community and help revive the Islamic civilization. Reviving the Sīrah in such a manner at the individual and social levels is the prerequisite for reviving Islamic civilization. This is what I call the “rooted revival” (al-tajdīd al-mu’aṣṣal).

Personality of Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) in the eyes of the non-Muslims

This is my research on the personality of the Holy Prophet Mohammad, a personality that has been slandered by non-Muslims of all kinds; starting from what one of the Quraysh polytheists said, “May his hands perish”: “Curse you! Is that why you brought us together?” The paper will then explore the Jewish pattern of distortion and the fact that they knew the Prophet (PBUH) as they knew their children and move on to the Christian pattern of distortion, emanating from Christian monasteries and churches in the West, after 1143 AD from the Monastery of Cluny in particular, in what I call ‘the sacred lie’. This involved distorting the meaning of the Holy Qur’an and deliberately misreading and distorting the Sīrah of the Prophet (PBUH). Finally, the paper will address the material being produced in the modern period and this includes all forms of disfiguration of the Prophet’s personality at the hands of writers, artists and cartoonists; It will not however, ignore the many fair-minded Christians and Jews, orientalists, writers, poets and historians and their works.
The paper will attempt to present a historical vision of examples of abuse and deceit, which were perpetrated by the Prophet’s enemies, referring to the institutional and personal abusive attitudes of our time, and the Muslim nation's negative reactions towards them, relying on documentation, attribution, and visual presentation from accurate references.

Dr. Abdul Hamid holds a PhD in Hadith and its Sciences from the College of Islamic Sciences, University of Baghdad. He taught at the University of Baghdad, College of Islamic Sciences, and then at the College of Education at Ibb University - Nadira. In 2013, he moved to Turkey, where he taught at the Faculty of Theology at Istanbul University. He published his book Selections from the Texts of Hadith Books and has a number of articles in the field of Hadith.

Authority of the Prophet’s Sīrah and its legislative significance

Since the era of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, Muslims have been concerned with transmitting what they see and hear from the Prophet (peace be upon him), because he is the example in all their affairs, and because he is the one sent by God to guide them in matters of religion and the world. This included his words, actions, attributes, reports and his tacit approval.
In the beginning the Sīrah was intertwined with sayings and actions, but then some sciences became independent and as a result Sīrah works arose. These were called (al-Siyar wa’l-Maghāzī) and from them derived the Shamā’il, the Khaṣā’iṣ and the Dalā’il.
On the other hand, a number of scholars were interested in collecting narrations related to the jurisprudential (legislative) chapters. Some of them included these chapters with the chapters on aqīdah and morals (these works were called Jawāmiʻ), and while others focused on narrations related to legal rulings and these were called (Sunan), Ḥadith scholars have derived many jurisprudential chapters from these narrations, and these narrations were the basis for the jurists in the branching of jurisprudential deductions.
Despite the independence of these sciences and compilations, and the attainment of a kind of specialization in the books (al-Sīra), other hadith books (such as the Jawāmiʻ, Sunan, and Muṣannafāt), we find that they included narrations related to the Sīrah, and the overlap between the chapters cannot be completely separated. The question thus begs itself: What is the difference between these different genres, and where do they meet?
After necessary introductions, our paper will attempt to establish the conceptual framework of these terms, and to indicate the points of convergence and disagreement, especially in the approach to accepting and criticizing these narrations, and to clarify the status of the biography and its authoritativeness in general. The paper will also try to recognize the importance of these narrations in the Sīrah and their impact on jurisprudential deductions in legislative issues. The Prophet’s Sīrah, is part of the sources of legislation, and all of that is within the framework of the reflection of these narrations on people’s lives in a way that results in nurturing human civilization.

Dr. Asiye graduated with a bachelors and a masters from Mimar Sinan University, in Traditional Turkish Arts Illumination. In 2020, she completed the Proficiency in Art (doctorate) program at the same university and department and has been teaching at the Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University. She established mim-art art studio İstanbul –Ankara/Turkey and participated in several architectural projects and exhibitions in Turkey and abroad.

THE ORIGINS AND FUTURE OF HİLYE-İ ŞERİF TRADITION IN TURKISH-ISLAMIC ART

The Hilya tradition defines the physical characteristics, behaviors in the text, which portrays the Prophet as a literary work. The literary poetry hilya, written by Hakanî Mehmet in 1598-1599, was written in classical form by Hafız Osman in the 17th century. Due to the quality and quantity of art, artwork needs to have large, sheltered spaces. The form of Hilya is two-dimensional in the text part as the design that decorates the meaning and the text. The third dimension, invisible, can be said to be the artistic contribution of the calligrapher and illumination artist. Calligraphy confirms the meaning while manuscript illumination is also the work of sanctifying the meaning. Some of the new designs that carry the tradition to the future are in the form of different geometric designs. On the other hand, there are also designs made using Latin letters. It is understood that the tradition of Hilye-i Şerif will develop and continue in future generations. In this sense, the tradition of Hil-ye-i Şerif, together with the Naat and other works of art and literature, is one of the areas of prosperity and where Turkish-Islamic culture is based. Three Hilye-i Şerif made by me have been chosen to describe the restoration and repair. Only the rectangular inner part of Hilye-i Şerif is original with its classical form; the calligraphy is written by Hafız Osman. With the restoration, the background surface where the line is located was cleaned and paper repairs were made. The hilye signed "Es Seyyid İzzet Mustafa" and the hilye signed "ez'af ül küttab Mahmud Müştehir Cellaleddin" were also repaired and illuminated.

Since his doctorate on German Ḥadīth Studies in 2016, Dr Bilal has focused on Muslim contribution to the study of Religion, Islamization of knowledge, Muslim culture and civilization. He was head of the Department of Comparative Religion at IIUI for three years. For the past years, he has focused on Medieval Islamic culture and its thought and presented papers at the Medievalist congresses in the United Kingdom.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) as the Benefactor of Humanity: Goethe’s view

The way in which Islam is viewed in the west often goes beyond a geographical bifurcation and turns into a cultural, racial and political quagmire. Its implications have caused many conflicts between the east and the west over the centuries. While cultures and races around the world are visibly distinct, Islam considers them as means of recognition and introduction, not of stature. This principle, given by Quran and the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) explicitly, is the solution to the west-east quagmires and its ensuing conflicts. It is of import that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (d. 1832), recognized by many as the greatest German literary figure, also stands as a proponent of this Islamic tradition. Goethe’s apparent obsession with the Prophet led him to translate Voltaire’s Mahomet as well as some parts of the Quran into German language. He authored “Mohammad’s Song” as a part of a larger literary representation of the life and mission of the Prophet (PBUH) which he was unable to complete. While translating Voltaire, he had felt the negativity common to writings about the Prophet (PBUH) in his times and made it his life-long project to clear it through his “Mohammad Project.” He came so close to the east while doing so, that the west-east dichotomy almost vanished in his works. The present paper is not an indulgence into Goethe’s literary aspects nor a translation of his “Mohammad Project”, but highlights his indulgence in the Prophet (PBUH) and the latter’s message of universal brotherhood. It tries to demarcate Goethe’s worldview through his exposé of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his vision for a peaceful world.

Prof. Dheen Mohamed is a Professor of Comparative Religion at CIS. He was previously a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Qatar University. He has also taught at the International Islamic University in Pakistan, where he was the Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Head of the Department of Comparative Religion. He is Sri Lankan-born, where he did his initial Islamic studies before enrolling at Al-Azhar University in Cairo and earning his bachelor's and master's degrees, followed by his doctorate in comparative religion.

The Prophetic model and social justice

Contemporary man is in need of the Muhammadan model after the failure of the political and economic systems that tried to achieve social justice and were unable to achieve it because of inherent problems in their systemic and philosophical structure. As for the Muhammadan model, it differs from all of these models in several respects, of which we will mention two only; a) it is based on revelation and b) it has a strong moral basis. As for its being based on revelation, we know that the fluctuations of human life constantly require new theories and renewed means of living; this means that a person with his limited awareness cannot predict the future of human behavior in any of the most important fields of life. However, the model that is based on revelation is a model that comes from the Lord of the Universe, who Himself says, “Did He who created, not know? and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware” i.e. Who is aware of His creation’s needs now and in future. The success of this model has been experienced and verified by past societies when people were committed believers. There is no reason why it should not succeed again. Therefore, returning to the Muhammadan model is the only means for the success of contemporary man and for achieving social justice. This paper will attempt to highlight the most important elements of this model.

Mr. KIMURA is pursuing his PhD at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo, Japan in the field of Islamic Studies; He specializes in Sunni Uṣūl al-Fiqh of the Shafiʻi school of thought particularly in the Mamluk period. He is Assistant professor-to-be at Centre for Middle Eastern Studies.

The history and role of Sira literature in Far East: The Case of Japan

Besides the translations of classical Sira works, we have several original Sira books written by Japanese Muslims and scholars. In my talk, I draw the short history of Sira works in Japan after modernization. As for the translations of classical Sira works, the history of those shows the transition of interests of Prophet Mohammad and his early community. On the other hand, original Sira books written by Japanese converts/thinkers tell us what kind of personalities/characters have been needed to be extracted and focused on in different ages. The need of new Sira shows the need of contemporary society when/where that new Sira has been written. Through the history of Sira works in Japan, I will show what the Japanese have been seeking in Islam and the footsteps of Mohammad (PBUH).

Hatice Kubra Uyan was born in May 1995. While doing high school, she started taking tezhib (illumination) lessons from Asiye Kafalier Donmez at Klasik Turk Sanatlari Vakfi in 2010. In 2013 she started studying at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University. There, she double majored in Islamic Studies and Traditional Turkish Arts. In 2018 she graduated from Traditional Turkish Arts where she specialized on Tezhib with Dr. Mustafa Celebi. After that in 2021 she completed her master’s degree in Islamic History and Arts from Marmara University and is now pursuing a doctorate program in Traditional Turkish Arts at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University.

Al-Amânât Al-Muqaddasah: Sacred Trusts of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his Companions in the Topkapi Palace

The sacred trusts are belongings of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his Companions which have been preserved until today with great love and care. They carry great spiritual significance for all Muslims around the world. The best forms of art have been used to preserve them up until today. In particular, the Ottomans, after they received the khilāfah and the Sacred Trusts from the Abbasids in the beginning of the sixteenth century, preserved them with utmost care and veneration. This paper will highlight the importance of the Sacred Trusts for Muslims; their history and, in particular, how the Ottoman rulers acquired and venerated them. The paper will shed light on the Sacred Trusts presently displayed in the Topkapi Palace Sacred Trusts Chamber from the perspective of traditional ornamental arts with the inclusion of the relevant visuals and the examination of the decorations on them. The paper will conclude by arguing that Islamic arts have been used in the preservation of the Sacred Trusts and the neat care in their decoration testify to the great love and respect for Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and his Companions across ages by Muslim rulers, artists and the general public.

Hisham Nourin has been associated with Qatar Foundation for the past 10 years. He has been a change agent driving strategic excellence and transformation through reviewing and scaling high impact projects that support the Foundation’s contribution to Qatar’s National Vision. Hisham has more than 20 years experience in over 4 continents leading business enhancement initiatives and projects that carried a major strategic impact. Hisham holds a Bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering from Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris. His professional interests focus on strategy development and implementation, strategic project, review of business operating model, and social impact.

Sīrah in the Digital Age

The Sirah of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH has been of critical importance for getting Muslims and non-Muslims to better understand his life. Given the centrality of the role of the Prophet PBUH to Muslims, research has shown that the documentation of the Sirah has understandably needed to evolve to be disseminated according to the relevant modes of communication pertaining to the time and place. During his lifetime and in the years following his passing his Sirah was preserved through the oral tradition of poetry and storytelling, then through manuscripts, and with the introduction of the printing press developing into books, and most recently with modern technology moving into the digital space. The aim of the paper is to explore how in contemporary times, digital tools and technology have been used to transmit the Sirah. Online research was carried out to identify the different projects and initiatives that were attempted or implemented to carry out a digital transformation and digitize the Sirah. The findings suggest that transformations of this content into the digital space either took the form of reincarnating old content into new formats, such as poems being recorded in audiovisual format or books into eBooks. There are also new innovations that have been adopted to retell and engage with the Sirah using augmented reality, virtual reality, interactive maps, and different technology applications. As forms of communication continue to evolve, new and innovative ways of producing the Sirah will develop and it will remain as an area and a body of knowledge that is of great relevance and interest.

Prof. Ibrahim Zain is a Professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion at the College of Islamic Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (Doha, Qatar). His various academic postings include Dean of the Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS) and Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He writes extensively on the history of religions and reform of Islamic education and has authored over 50 publications, including several books, in English and Arabic. His latest publication is on the study of the Covenants of Prophet Muḥammad peace be upon him.

Approaches to the Charter of Madīna

It is a cliché to state the Madinan Charter is one of the most important political documents of the Prophet’s era, and it had a central role in the drafting of subsequent political documents during the time of the Rightly guided caliphate and beyond and therefore it must be studied within the framework of Islamic political documents. This research aims to look at the different texts that preserved for us this document and the political values that it contained and the historical circumstances that produced it, and all of this confirms an important meaning in the way of looking at it from an academic point of view so that it does not isolate it from the rest of the documents of the Prophet’s era and the time of the Rightly Guided Caliphs. This leads us to consider the Charter as ‘part of a whole’, without relying on one specific angle or trying to interpret it without considering the other texts represented in the covenants of the Prophet (PBUH) and the treaties of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after him; nor will we be led to exaggerate the difference of interpretation between the meaning of ‘a nation with (maʻ) Muslims’ and ‘a nation of (min) Muslims’, or try to confuse the tribes of Khazraj and those of their Jewish allies all of which have done injustice to this document. The paper will look at the Charter as a political document that expressed the religious connotations that Islam introduced and that were reflected in the political action of managing the state in the Prophetic and early caliphate eras. This research will then in addition to tracing the various narrations of the Charter, also demonstrate the scientific method of looking at it as a pivotal part of the documents of the Prophet and his caliphs after him and attempt to provide an explanation for it and the political values that it contained in that political and ideological context whose features were manifested in the statement of the Noble Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Dr. Khalid Al Thani received two doctorate degrees in modern history from Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan and the other in Islamic Studies from Mohammed al-Khamis University in Rabat in 2022. He has published a number of books and research, the most important of which are Al-Ḥuliyy Al-Dānī fī Sīrat al-Shaykh ʻAlī Āl Thānī and Athar al-Dīn fī Ḥayāt al-Shaykh al-Mu’assis Shaykh Jāsim bin Muḥammad and several other works under print.

Efforts of the State of Qatar in the service of the Prophet's biography

The Sīrah of the Prophet (PBUH) is the pinnacle of human perfection, and the greatest and most comprehensive true story. This paper will will highlight the endeavors of the State of Qatar in serving the Sīrah of the Prophet (PBUH) It will employ the inductive method in enumerating these efforts with examples and indicating what types of contributions have been made to disseminate the fragrant Sīrah of the Prophet through Friday sermons, lessons, printing of books, research, periodicals, and publishing websites and webpages related to the Holy Prophet’s Sīrah. This also includes establishing specialized centers, holding seminars, competitions, audio-visual programs, and inclusion of the Prophet’s Sīrah in the curricula of elementary and higher education, The paper concludes with the diversity of the efforts of the State of Qatar in disseminating various aspects of the Sīrah of the Prophet, and its great impact locally and globally, as well as the personal interest of its rulers in it, and recommends the creation of a special database in this regard augmenting it academic theses, and restoring the vital role that was assigned to the Research Centre for Sunnah and the Prophet’s Sīrah. Finally, it recommends the addition of academic material in the school curriculum related to Sīrah of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him.

Dr. Mabrouk Zayd al-Khayr obtained his Ph.D in Quranic Rhetoric from the University of Algiers. He worked as Director of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the state of Laghouat and held several other positions. He is the author of a number of books and articles, including: al-Alfiyyah al-Fiqhiyyah, Divān Tranīm al-Wafā, al-Ḥullah al-Sundusiyyah ʻala Nahj al-Burdah Al-Raḍiyyah fī madḥ Khayr al-Bariyyah and Tashṭīr al-Burdah li Muḥammad al-Akhḍar al-Sā’iḥī, Sharḥ wa Taʻlīq.

Personality of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the eyes of believers

There is no doubt that the Prophet (PBUH), the Chosen One, is the one who was sent to complete the final message to guide mankind to the straight path of God with the guidance of his Lord. He was thus the goal of completion and the culmination of the conclusion who fulfilled his mission in accordance with what God said in the Qur’ān, “O Prophet, we have sent you as a witness, a give of glad tidings, and a warner (al-Aḥzāb: 45). It was through him that all concepts were corrected, conditions were regularized, relationships organized and definitions of exchange, cooperation and relations to ensure coexistence, peace and harmony set. The Arabs and non-Arabs testified to his greatness, sumptuous compilations were written about his Sīrah, and great books from Muslims and opponents affirm his highness, spirituality, and transcendence. In this work, we will address the following points: Elements of perfection in the personality of the Prophet (PBUH) throughout history, the Prophet (PBUH) in the revealed books and the opinions of fair-minded Orientalists, the impact of the Prophetic personality on dialogue and human coexistence and the necessity of proceeding in a manner to correctly utilize the Sīrah of the Prophet (PBUH) to rectify our present and build the future. This will be followed by results, recommendations and a conclusion.

Prof. Hermansen teaches courses in Islamic Studies and the academic study of religion. She received her Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago.Prof. Hermansen has authored numerous academic books and articles on classical and contemporary Islam thought, Sufism, women and gender in Islam, Muslims in South Asia and Muslims in America. In the course of her research and language training, she has lived in Egypt, Jordan, India, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. Her works include Religious Diversity at School: Educating for New Pluralistic Contexts (2021), The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (2013), as well as translations of Shah Wali Allah’s Ḥujjat Allāh al-Bālighah.

Muhammad Hamidullah (1908-2002): A 20th century Muslim scholar of sirah

The introduction will frame key ideas such as civilization, historicity, and the situatedness of contemporary responses to sacred biography, in this case the sīra. In considering some of the many works of Muhammad Hamidullah that treat aspects of the sīra, one may therefore consider his historical situation and how it guided and shaped his presentation of the Prophet’s career, while keeping in mind the intent of the present conference, of highlighting and applying lessons from the sīra to the needs of our own challenging time. In his survey work Muhammad Rasulullah(s) Hamidullah states that one of his aims is to “throw light on certain subjects that interest our contemporaries more but on which classical biographers have not cared to lay more emphasis.” This certainly indicates his explicit concern with highlighting lessons from the sīra that could address the global challenges and pressing concerns of the 20th century. In this paper, a detailed examination of his diverse works on prophetic biography has permitted us to analyze how Dr. Hamidullah accomplished his writings on sīra by rigorously drawing on classical Islamic sources in a manner responsive to currents in Muslim thought of his times while demonstrating implicit and explicit critique of trends in contemporary western Orientalism.

Prof. Azzam holds a doctorate in literature, specializes in Islamic thought, and is the author of several books on Sufi thought. He was the editor-in-chief of a number of academic journals, such as Awārif, Al-Ishāra and Al-Murīd. Among his most important works al-Muṣṭalaḥ al-Sūfī min al-Tabayyun ila al-Tibyān, Al-Ṣūfī Aḥmād ibn ʻAjībah: Min Tajrubat al-Kitāba ila kitabat al-Tajrubah, From the Experience of Writing to the Writing of Experience; Qāmūs al-Muṣṭalaḥ al-Ṣūfī lada al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī's; Mukhtaṣar Kitāb al-Shifā by Qāḍī ʻIyāḍ. He also participated in the preparation of Muʻjam al-Muṣṭalaḥāt al-Ṣūfiyyah.

Sīrah Studies in Early and Modern Periods

If the first Muslim historians - after the conditions of the Islamic state had stabilized – were able to obviate the delay in recording the events and conquests that took place in the life of the Messenger peace be upon him, for fear of losing them as their early generations were preoccupied with laying the foundations of stability, the modern times have brought challenges from others that have threatened their very existence and identity. The biggest of these challenges have been the movements of Western colonialism and the accompanying and subsequent attempts to obliterate the entity of Muslims. Even if these colonial movements have retreated from Muslim lands, their ideas have succeeded in usurping the minds of the later generations of Muslims, weakening both their faith and their zeal to follow their predecessors. This led some scholars to embark on a movement of resistance to this intellectual invasion in order to restore the foundations of the Islamic identity by calling toward returning to the best model represented in the person of the Holy Prophet peace be upon him and searching in his Sīrah and for the elements that would restore features of this compromised Muslim identity. The last third of the nineteenth century witnessed the starting point of modern Sīrah writing at the hands of scholars like Shaykh Rifaʻah al-Tahtawi and Shaykh Ahmad Zainyi Dahlan and others; these writings more or less followed the method of their predecessors. Another group of modern researchers introduced newer ways of looking at the Sīrah, generally falling under the title of ‘critical readings’ based either on their personal diligence, or through the influence of other writers. This is in addition to the writings issued by the various ideological tendencies and sectarian currents. In view of the absence of a comprehensive and detailed code of contemporary writings on the Prophet’s Sīrah, this paper will put together a preliminary classification of examples of writings, each of which represents one type of writing, without elaborating on its methods, contents and principles.

Dr. Mohammad al-Majali obtained a PhD in Qur’anic Sciences from the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh and currently holds the position of Vice Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. He has several books and researches to his credit. His important works include Al-Wajīz fī ʻUlūm al-Kitāb al-ʻAzīz and Al-Rasm al-ʻThmānī wa ʻilāqatuhu bi’l-Qirā’āt al-Qur’āniyyah, His research interests focus on the fields of Quranic interpretation, Sciences of the Qur’an, Qirā’āt, Oriental studies, the Prophet’s Sīrah and Islamic thought.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in the Qur’ān

This paper deals with the Sīrah of our Holy Prophet in the Holy Qur’an. There is no doubt that the Qur’an is replete with instances which capture the Sīrah of the Prophet. A third of the Qur’ān relates to ancient narrations, a large part of it relates to faith while some details the various legislations and provides moral lessons, and the Prophet’s biography occupies an important place in all this. The name of the Prophet Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, was mentioned explicitly in five places in the Qur’an, and he was addressed directly as the Prophet or the Messenger, and there are instances where he is addressed implicitly, and there are accounts of the occasions for revelations which confirm many aspects of his Sīrah in the Qur’an. The Holy Qur’an affirms the comprehensiveness of life and the Prophet’s Sīrah encompasses all such aspects of life; thus, his Sīrah does not only relate to military conquests as many today would have us believe, rather it extends to social, missionary, economic, ethical, educational and political aspects as well. This research will thus focus on highlighting aspects of the Sīrah of the Prophet (PBUH), through the Qur’an, as it is our good example, and how it can be harnessed to be our torch of guidance in all affairs of life. The research has specific objectives, and its importance stems from its topic, and the statement of the comprehensiveness of the Prophet's personality in the Qur'ān.

Dr. Nadzrah received her PhD in Quran and Sunnah Studies from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). She taught courses related to various Quranic Sciences, Prophetic History, Revelation as Source of Knowledge and few other supervision-based courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She also helped found the Al-Burhan Journal of Quran and Sunnah Studies, IIUM. In terms of research, her area of interest involved relevantisation of Islamic studies with social sciences. Currently her projects and research grants entail themes on women and the Quran, funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE). Apart from research works, she set her interest in a community-based project entitled “The Wisdom Seekers”, a module development project focusing on teaching Quran wisdoms to Secondary School Children (2019-2020).

The Ṣaḥābah’s (Companions) perception of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

This paper attempts to highlight the perception of the Companions (ṣaḥābah) (RA) towards Prophet Mohammad (SAW) by assessing the former’s views and opinions of the latter gathered from relevant traditions extended by the Companions themselves on the characteristics, attributes and personality of the Prophet (SAW) as well as the prophetic history (sīrah) as the main reservoir for reminiscing the life of the Prophet. The study also probes into the Shamā’il Muḥammadiyyah by al-Tirmidhī to assist the analysis of the textual statements previously gathered from both the ḥadīth and the prophetic sīrah. This paper will also touch upon how these authentic perceptions of the Companions trickled down to later generations and were developed in various Muslim societies in a variety of ways. The paper will conclude that the Companions’ perception of the Prophet (SAW) has indeed shaped to a large extent a new definition of human life and the overall future understanding of the Muslim ummah.

Prof. Dr. Najeeba Arif is a creative writer, critic and researcher of Urdu. Her major field of specialization is Archival Research. She has discovered, edited and published about a dozen manuscripts of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. She also founded the first Indexation Agency for the Urdu Research Journals at International Islamic University, Islamabad and has been the editor of renowned research journals of Pakistan. Some of her works in the field of Criticism are of pioneer nature, including her research on the South Asian Muslims’ Image of the West as described in the travelogs of colonial period, Impact of 9/11 on Pakistani Urdu Fiction and the Impact of Colonialism on Sirah literature in Urdu.

Aspects of Sīrah in Urdu Verse by Hindu Poets

Urdu, the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent, has produced a remarkable collection of Sīrah writings in prose and poetry. This great collection includes devotional poetry composed by Muslim as well as non-Muslim poets. The present researcher discusses the specific aspects of the life and personality of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) as depicted, praised and adored by the Hindu poets of the subcontinent during the colonial period. It also highlights the socio-cultural milieu of the Indian Muslim civilization that nurtured an ambience of co-existence and tolerance in general and despite the growing political divide between the Hindus and Muslims, the intelligentsia of both nations exhibited mutual respect and acceptance. As a result, there was a great number of Hindu poets who composed devotional poetry about the holy prophet Hazrat Mohammad PBUH. They not only recognized the greatness of the holy Prophet but also expressed their intense love and devotion to him. This paper is focused on the factors and aspects of Sīrah that inspired the Hindu poets and motivated them to acknowledge the significance of the Sīrah.

Prof. Wright received his PhD in African History from Northwestern University, his MA in Arabic Studies/Middle East History from the American University in Cairo, and his BA in History from Stanford University. His research focuses on Islamic intellectual history in North and West Africa from the fifteenth century to the present, with book publications including Realizing Islam: The Tijaniyya in North Africa and the Eighteenth-Century Muslim World (2020), Jihad of the Pen: the Sufi Literature of West Africa (co-authored with Rudolph Ware and Amir Syed) (2018), and Living Knowledge in West African Islam: the Sufi Community of Ibrahim Niasse (2015). He is currently working on a new translation and analysis of the Timbuktu chronicles. Prof. Wright teaches classes on Islamic intellectual history, Sufism, and African and Middle East History.

The Importance of the Muhammadan Example in Spiritual Training (tarbiya)

The renowned Shādhilī Shaykh Aḥmad Zarrūq (d. 1493, Misrata, Libya) famously wrote that the “conventional” Sufi training (tarbiya) of disciples should no longer be practiced, and that Sufi aspirants should rather rely only on the Qurʾān and the Sunnah to attain spiritual purification. This paper returns to this statement from Zarrūq’s Taʾsīs al-qawāʻid, in dialogue with later famous Sufi writings from North and West Africa, such as Kitāb al-ibrīz relating the teachings of Sīdī ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dabbāgh (d. 1719, Fes), Jawāhir al-maʿānī relating the teachings of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Tijānī (d. 1815, Fes), and Kāshif al-ilbās of the Senegalese Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse (d. 1975). This intertextual research suggests that Zarrūq and later Sufis relied upon the behavioral ideal (Sunnah) of the Prophet, derived from the Prophetic biography (sīra), as a transformative potentiality both transcendently available to all Muslims and embodied in paradigmatic exemplars among the Muslim scholars.

Dr. Muhammad Modassir Ali earned his PhD in Comparative Religion from the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI). Having worked as a researcher at the Islamic Research Institute and then faculty member in the Department of Comparative religions for some years where he taught courses on world religions, particularly Christianity and Indian religions, he moved to Qatar University in 2011, where he was Associate Dean for Student Affairs until 2014. In 2015, he joined the Muhammad Bin Hamad Al Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization (CMCC) at CIS, HBKU. He was selected twice for the Fulbright Scholar Program; in 2003 at the University of Santa Barbara and in 2008 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His areas of interest include Catholicism and Hindu-Muslim relations and Muslim Thought in the Indian Subcontinent.