Contemporary Islamic Studies

Dr Inna Rudolf (KCL) discusses her new book 'Iraq's Shi'a warriors: From battlefield to parliament', chaired by Professor Raihan Ismail (St Antony’s College). By examining the PMU's self-positioning as a pillar of Iraq's defence infrastructure, this book offers a critical perspective on the prospects for Security Sector Reform (SSR) and highlights the limitations of externally driven Disarmament,...

Professor Faisal Devji (Balliol College) discusses his new book 'Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam'. Chaired by Professor Raihan Ismail (St Antony’s College). About the Book: A compelling examination of the rise of Islam as a global historical actor. Until the nineteenth century, Islam was variously understood as a set of beliefs and practices. But after Muslims began to see their...

Mathias Ghyoot (Princeton University) discusses his new book 'Brothers Behind Bars'. Chaired by Professor Raihan Ismail (St Antony’s College). Over the course of three decades, between 1948 and 1975, more than 60,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were imprisoned in Egypt. What did these prison experiences mean for the social, intellectual, and organizational development of the Brotherhood? Wha...

Various guest speakers contribute closing presentations and thoughts, to formally close the 2-day international conference held at St Antony's College, University of Oxford.

Prof Dr Amal Ghazal provides summary thoughts of the entire 2-day workshop as part of the finale roundtable discussion.

Dr Rowena binti Abdul Razak contributed to Panel Two of Day Two of this 2-day workshop. This paper examines the maritime connections between Pahang and the Persian Gulf. Since Safavid times, visitors from Persia have been coming to the Malay Archipelago. These connections have taken the form of trade, linguistic exchange and also social integration. The Persianate world is currently under study to...

Dr Jorge Santos Alves contributed to Panel Two of Day Two of this 2-day workshop. Pahang was an important port for the operations and investments of overseas Chinese networks in Southeast Asia by the end of the 15th century. In the early decades of the 16th century, Pahang's significance grew even greater, as Chinese businessmen established commercial partnerships with Portuguese, Luso-Asians, and...

Dr Alessandro Di Meo contributed to Panel Two of Day Two of this 2-day workshop speaking on ‘The Connections between Pahang and The Kingdom of Italy in the Writings of Giovanni Battista Cerutti in a Global Perspective’. Giovanni Battista Cerruti, an Italian explorer, settled in 1882 in Singapore, where he set up a profitable business. He later traveled to Siam, the island of Java, and went to the...

Dr Ramón Vega Piniella from the National Library of Singapore presented during Panel 2 of Day 2 of the Pahang and the Sea workshop. This panel explores Pahang's Connections with the Persian Gulf and Europe. Dr Piniella examines Pahang's pivotal role within the shifting maritime networks of the early modern world, focusing on its strategic and symbolic place in Iberian expansion across the Malacca...

Dr Wai Weng Hew provides some comments on the Malaysia workshop Day 2 Panel 1. Dr Wai Weng Hew gave a commentary on the contributions from the first panel of the second day which included talks on 'Gold, Tin and Gambier: Chinese Migration and Pahang's Economic Development in the 19th Century' by Dr Rudolph Ng; 'Piecing together the early history of Pahang through Imperial Chinese scripture' by Mr...

Mr Amru Khalid Sazali contributed to Panel One of Day Two of this 2-day workshop. Please find the slides for this lecture here: https://media.podcasts.ox.ac.uk/sant/islamic_studies/2026-01-27-sant-cis-amru_khalid_sazali-SLIDES.pdf

A presentation within Panel 1 of Day 2 which looked at Pahang, China and The Spice Route. Despite Peninsular Malaysia’s significance in regional histories and its long exposure to external influences, the early history of its constituent states— particularly Pahang—remains understudied. Previous explorations into the prehistory of Pahang are dated and brief, often based on the lacking prehistoric...

Dr Federica Gigante is a historian of the material and intellectual exchanges between the Islamic world and Europe. She is particularly interested in how things people and ideas moved across the Mediterranean and were adopted and adapted in new cultural contexts. She specialises in Islamic art and Islamic scientific instruments and worked for several years as a museum curator. Federica provides in...

Dr Scott Abel contributed to Panel Two of Day One of this 2-day workshop. Scott's paper explores: The inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula during the mid-nineteenth century endured a fractured geopolitical environment where both great and minor powers sought to reap the benefits of the regions' abundant natural resources and commercial chokepoint between the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. Su...

As one of the curators of Muzium Pahang, this presentation contributed to Day 1 Panel 2. Pahang forms part of the Malay Archipelago – a region inhabited predominantly by a maritime community with a strong maritime identity. The establishment of a maritime museum in Pahang is imperative, as a state with a rich culture and history as well as identity that is deeply influenced by riverine and maritim...

Pahang is one of the Malay kingdoms involved in Malay maritime activity. The history of maritime activities related to Pahang was recorded in both local and foreign sources. Although the role of Pahang was significant, no in-depth study of its maritime activity with reference to Malay historiographies—including records of Johor, Aceh, Siak, and Terengganu—has been conducted. Therefore, this study...

The Chairman of the Perbadanan Muzium Negeri Pahang contributed to Panel 2 of Day 1 ‘Constructing Pahang’s Maritime History’. This paper examines the Pahang Maritime Museum as a site of soft power and nation branding, exploring how maritime heritage is mobilised to project identity, legitimacy, and modernity in contemporary Malaysia. Situated at the confluence of history, culture, and statecraft,...

Professor Dr Amal Ghazal gave a commentary on the contributions from the first panel of the first day. Day one included talks on ‘Early Interconnections in Maritime Southeast Asia’, by Dr Jennifer Gaynor; ‘World Unmaking and The Geographical Imaginery of Late Empire Between India and Arabia’, by Mr Itamar Toussia Cohen; ‘Pahang and the batu Aceh tombstone tradition’ by Dr Jessica Rahardjo; and ‘Be...

Sonia Latha contributed to Panel One of Day One of this 2-day workshop. This paper examines the complex and often overlooked relationship between Siam and Pahang, situating it within the broader context of Southeast Asian political negotiation and maritime exchange. While Siam's influence over Kelantan and Terengganu is well established through the tributary system administered from Nakhon Si Tham...

Dr Jennifer Gaynor contributed to Panel One of Day One of this 2-day workshop. Scholarship on maritime Asia allows us to discern a rough congruence between the emergence of early nautical polities in Southeast Asia and much earlier sea-crossing networks of nautical interaction. What are the implications of this apparent overlap for how we understand the emergence of those nautical polities and for...

Her Majesty Queen Azizah of Pahang, Malaysia opened this 2-day workshop ‘Pahang and the Sea, Maritime Networks and Connections between Southeast Asia and Beyond. The workshop brought together experts in the field from the US, UK, Europe and Malaysia who shared their knowledge and research, as we explored the fascinating maritime history of Pahang, Malaysia and its connections with the Islamic worl...

Dr Andrew March presents on Islam and the State, our final episode of the Trinity Term 2025 Oxford Islam and Justice programme, on Friday 20 June 2025. The Oxford Islam and Justice Programme aims to provide a grounding in the academic and debates about the relationship between Islamic views of justice and the modern political order. This is the fourth and final seminar of Trinity Term 2025, with a...

The Oxford Islam and Justice Programme aims to provide a grounding in the academic and debates about the relationship between Islamic views of justice and the modern political order. This is the third seminar of Trinity Term 2025, with associated short pre-readings, and is taught by leading academic in the field Dr Mohammed Allehbi. The theme for this week's lecture is Islamic Law beyond Fiqh (700...

The Oxford Islam and Justice Programme aims to provide a grounding in the academic and debates about the relationship between Islamic views of justice and the modern political order. This is the first seminar of Trinity Term 2025, with associated short pre-readings, and is taught by leading academic in the field Professor Mohammad Fadel. The theme for this week's lecture is Islam and Political Lib...

Yasmeen Eryani contributing to Session 3: Reverberations of Resistance, at a November 2024 Contemporary Islamic Studies Oxford / SEPAD, Lancaster University workshop: Transnational Islamic Movements: Global and Local Realities. Yasmeen Eryani speaking on “The Houthis: From Local Insurgents to a Regional Actor – Exploiting Global Solidarities”. Guest speaker contributing to the 1-day workshop: Tran...