Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative - LUSSI

03/03/2026

Registration is now open! Please apply!

Graduate School of Islamic Humanities: Approaches to the Study of Islam

To be held in Leiden, Netherlands.
13-17 July 2026

Open to all PhD candidates in Islamic studies and early career scholars.

26/02/2026

📣 Call for Papers!

The Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History (LUCITH) will host a two-day conference on the topic of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq

The Sage of Medina: The Thought, Life, and Teachings of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq.

📍Leiden University, Netherlands
📆: 2-3 December 2026
Abstract deadline: 15 April 2026

The Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History (LUCITH) will host a two-day conference on the topic of Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq

15/11/2025

Latest Leiden Arabic Humanities Blog article by Ali Moughania on Etiquette of Learning by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

Why The Etiquettes of Learners (Ādāb al-Mutaʿallimīn) matters so much, and what’s next? November 15, 2025 • 19 min read Previous academic studies have shown that the distance and separation we often assume between civilizations (e.g., Eastern and Western, Christian and Islamic) are actually ...

14/01/2025

Conference Announcement
Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History - LUCITH
Leiden University Shii Studies Initiative - LUSSI

Dear Colleagues,

The Leiden University Centre for Islamic Thought and History and the Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative will host a two-day international conference on Shiʿi Studies: New Directions and Perspectives on 24 and 25 February 2025, to be held at Leiden.

For a detailed programme and speakers, please see the link below.

Two Day International Conference on Shiʿi Studies hosted by Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative, in cooperation with the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and sponsored by The Shiʿa Research Institute and the Jaffer Center for Muslim World Studies. Program…

16/02/2024

Book launch with the author of the new and groundbreaking translation and edition of the Nahj al-Balagha, by Professor Tahera Qutbuddin (Oxford). Join us at Leiden University on 24 April at 5.00 pm. Details in comments.

13/04/2021

Join us tomorrow at 7.00 CET (6.00 GMT):

Dr Jamel Velji (Claremont McKenna)

“Making Scared Time: Apocalyptic Narratives and the Early Fatimids

Click on Zoom link below to join the meeting.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2021/04/lussi-seminar-apocalypticism-and-eschatology-in-early-islam-with-jamel-velji

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15/03/2021

This Wednesday 7.00 pm Leiden time (2.00 pm EST):

The Sufyānī: Shiʿi and Sunni Perspectives on Justice during the end-times Battles.

Zoom details in the link.

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 605 445 2266 Passcode: GiM008 It gives us great pleasure to announce Professor David Rice for our LUSSI seminar. David Cook is professor of religion at Rice University specializing in Islam. He did his undergraduate degrees at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem,…

24/02/2021

Our new series Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Early Islam starts 17 March 2021. Our first speaker, David Cook, will deliver a talk on: “The Sufyānī: Shiʿi and Sunni Perspectives on Justice during the end-times Battles”. Zoom details will be posted soon.

It gives us great pleasure to announce Professor David Rice for our LUSSI seminar. David Cook is professor of religion at Rice University specializing in Islam. He did his undergraduate degrees at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago…

14/01/2021

Save the date! List of speakers for our next lecture series on Apocalypticism and Eschatology in Early Islam.

More details will be posted on the LUSSI website and social media pages nearer the time.

11/01/2021

Join us this Thursday for the last of the LUSSI Autumn Seminars with Adam Bursi who will speak on Medicine/Magic of the Imams: Traditions of Healing among Early and Medieval Shīʿa

Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6054452266?pwd=NWUxS1dnaUpaRFJEbVpyKzB3MGFXQT09 Meeting ID: 605 445 2266 Passcode: GiM008 It gives us great to pleasure to announce the 2020/21 LUSSI Lecture Series in Shiʿi Studies on the theme Ancient Knowledge in Medieval Islam: Esotericism,…

06/01/2021

*Call For Papers - Islam and Evolution*

The Leiden University Shi’i Studies Initiative (LUSSI) is hosting a two-day online conference on Islam and Evolution on the 5th and 6th of July, 2021.

For consideration of your proposal, please send a 300-word abstract in English to [email protected] along with your full name, current association, and rank by April 15, 2021. Decisions will be announced a week later. The language of the conference will be in English.

If you have any questions, please email Arnold Yasin Mol at [email protected] or Shoaib Ahmed Malik at [email protected].

You can find more details in the attached PDF.