The Shiʿi Studies Network is excited to announce a new lecture series, Reflections on Shiʿi Studies. The series aims to act as a forum for scholars working on the academic study of Shiʿi Islam to reflect on the state and fate of the field. Over the past few decades, scholarship on Shiʿism has grown significantly, with major contributions reshaping our understanding of the history and development of Shiʿi Islam from its emergence until the present day. However, dominant analytical frameworks still often reflect reductive assumptions, shaped by sectarian or minority-status framings. This series brings together leading scholars to critically reflect on these dynamics, share insights from their respective areas of focus, and propose new methodological and conceptual approaches to move the field forward.
Join us for the next instalment of this ongoing lecture series where we will be joined by Ali Aghaei, Research Associate at the Institute of Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
The lecture will be held online over Zoom. To join, please register here and you will receive a link to join. You will need to register to attend the lecture. For those having difficulty registering with their institutional accounts, please use your personal email address to register instead. If you are still having difficulties, please get in touch.
Ali Aghaei
Research Associate
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Dr Ali Aghaei is a Research Associate at the Institute of Islamic Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin. He received his MA in Qurʾān and Ḥadīth Studies from Usūl ad-Dīn College, Qom (2002), and his PhD from Islamic Azad University, Tehran (2012). As a Research Associate at the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation in Tehran (2004-2013), he contributed to the writing and editing of numerous entries on Shiʿi figures and intellectual traditions for Dāneshnāmeh-ye Jahān-e Eslām (Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam). His research focuses on Qurʾānic manuscripts, ḥadīth studies, and digital approaches to Islamic textual traditions. He has held research positions in major international projects including Corpus Coranicum, Paleocoran, and Irankoran. Since May 2024, he has been advancing his research on the digital study of Shiʿi ḥadīth as part of the project “Islam and Digitality: Mediality, Materiality, Hermeneutics.” His work combines classical philological scholarship with computational analysis to explore the transmission, structure, and evolution of early Shiʿi ḥadīth literature.