Call for Papers

Date: May 5-7, 2022

Venue: University of Lausanne & University of Geneva, Lausanne, Switzerland

Abstract Submission Deadline: June 25, 2021

The objective of this conference is to take stock of these esoteric uses of the Qur’an and to examine how they relate to each other and to non-esoteric traditions and methods, to set them in the broader context of Muslim uses and interpretations of the Qur’an.

We invite proposals for conference papers in the following areas:

a) the status and role of the Qur’an in intellectual esoterism, be it exegetical, theological, or juridical;

b) the hermeneutic of taʾwīl (methods, sources, ijtihād) mobilised by Sufi and Shiite authors in order to comment on certain Qur’anic verses and, from there, the establishment and legitimation of their doctrines, be they of a theological nature (e.g. al-tawḥīd) or juridical (e.g. the status of women);

c) the social status of religious figures who are authorized to comment on the Qur’anic text and their role in the perpetuation or renewal of anterior spiritual or legal traditions;

d) the correlation between the development of the science of taʾwīl and the intellectual milieu of the authors concerned.

More information on: h-net.org