Date: Sundays, June 7 – Mid August | Time: 10:30–11:45 AM (EDT)
Location: Online via Zoom
The Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) is pleased to announce that Muslims in Academia Association will launch its Summer Reading Circle on June 7, 2026, focused on “Knowledge Transmission & Education in Muslim Contexts.” The ten-week program will engage both classical and contemporary scholarship on Islamic education, reformist thought, critical consciousness, and educational change in Muslim-majority societies. Sessions will examine institutions and traditions such as madrasas, mosques, waqf networks, manuscripts, teacher-student transmission, and scholarly companionship. The series will feature guest lectures from scholars, including Dr. Sarfaroz Niyozov (OISE, University of Toronto), Usama Mirza (PhD candidate, University of Cambridge), and other scholars working on education, knowledge traditions, and intellectual history.
Muslims in Academia is a Canadian charity committed to advancing research and critical thought drawing on the rich intellectual traditions of Islamic history. The Reading Circle reflects Muslims in Academia Association’s broader commitment to fostering intellectual curiosity, research engagement, and meaningful discussion on education, knowledge production, and academic life. The Reading Circle is affiliated with and supported by the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Toronto, connecting participants with broader scholarly conversations in Islamic Studies and the history of education.
Dear IIS community, I’m thrilled and honoured to be taking on the role of Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies. Since being founded in 2013, the IIS has become a vibrant hub for Islamic Studies at UofT and beyond. I’m grateful to Professor Walid Saleh, the institute’s inaugural Director, and Professor Anver Emon, Director […]
July 2, 2026
Date: Sundays, June 7 – Mid August | Time: 10:30–11:45 AM (EDT)Location: Online via Zoom Register Here The Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) is pleased to announce that Muslims in Academia Association will launch its Summer Reading Circle on June 7, 2026, focused on “Knowledge Transmission & Education in Muslim Contexts.” The ten-week program will engage both classical and contemporary scholarship […]
June 9, 2026
The crusader zeal and its attendant polemic established critical precedents for the proliferation of Anti-Islamic tropes and narratives in the premodern period. Throughout the four crusades, these narratives settled in the European canon and the Christian collective ‘psyche’. The discourse produced in this period is foundational in that it ‘sets the stage’ for contextualizing the manifestation of Islamophobic rhetoric across the Latin West, Iberia, and the colonies of European empires.
May 15, 2026