al-Sidrah: A Publication of the Ahl al-Bayt Islamic Seminary

In a Friday Sermon at Baitul Ilm on February 19, 2016 Sayyid Sulayman Hassan expanded on last week's reflections on the use of fear and hope in Qurʾānic discourse in relation to human nature (fiṭrah).

In a Friday Sermon at Baitul Ilm on February 12, 2016 Sayyid Sulayman Hassan reflected on the use of fear and hope in Qurʾānic discourse in relation to human nature (fiṭrah).

In accordance with the Imāmī Shīʿī interpretation of Islam, the Prophet Muḥammad (ṣ) was succeeded by divinely appointed successors from among his progeny, the Imāms of the Ahl al-Bayt. These Imāms guided the Muslim community by infallibly preserving and disseminating the teachings of Islam. During the 9th century C.E., however, the Twelfth Shīʿī Imām (a) went into a state of absence. Azhar Sheraze sat down with Sayyid Sulayman Hassan to discuss some of the intellectual ramifications of this absence, and the requirements and limits of scholarship in relation to Imāmic knowledge. Interview Questions Authored by Naveed Ganjani and Azhar Sheraze. Multimedia Directed by Huda Abdul-Razzak Winter 2014

We live in a time when warfare is conducted with a level of violence unprecedented in human history. Cluster bombs are commonplace, and mass executions are so visible, they virtually disappear. In such circumstances, how can Muslims understand and live by a religion that calls to higher ideals, even as much of the Muslim world is being torn apart by violence in which their co-religionists are either perpetrators or victims of such atrocities? In this interview, Sayyid Sulayman Hassan Abidi discusses some of the main issues addressed in Sayyid Ali al-Sistani’s 2014 letter to the Iraqi forces battling ISIS. The issues range from what role warfare and violence have in Islam, to how one can derive and stay true to Islamic values and virtues during these conflicts. Sayyid Sulayman Hasan provides insight into these questions and more, gleaning from both the verses of the Qur’an and the lives and words of the Ahl al-Bayt. Autumn 2015

Trenton Carl interviews Shaykh Vinay Khetia about his his Ph.D thesis work at McMaster University on Devotional Theology - the duʿāʾ and ziyārāt of the Ahl al-Bayt. In this interview, he introduces his educational background before elaborating on his research. Of particular interest is his explanation of the history and focus of scholastic commentaries on Shīʿī devotional literature. He explains that this process perhaps started in the 13th century with Sayyid ibn Ṭāwūs, expanded in the Safavid era, and has continued through to the contemporary period. He also provides the names of contemporary ʿulamaʾ who have written on the duʿāʾ of the Imāms, and the academic scholars and ʿulamaʾ that he is working with to complete his thesis. Spring 2015