Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies Research Seminar Series: Yi-Chia Chang and Tom Lea

About the event

This IMES Research Seminar consists of two separate presentations by two PhD candidates.

Yi-Chia Chang (IMES) – Intellectual Boundaries in Medieval North Africa: How Was the Tafsīr of Yaḥyā b. Sallām al-Baṣrī (d. 200/815) Transmitted to the Ibāḍīs?

While it is accepted that the ‘base text’ of the Ibāḍī Tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis) attributed to Hūd b. Muḥakkim al-Hawwārī (late 3rd–early 4th/9th–10th century?) is the Tafsīr of Yaḥyā b. Sallām al-Baṣrī al-Qayrawānī, a proto-Sunnī scholar respected by the North African Mālikīs, it has been unclear how the Ibāḍīs in North Africa received this work and transformed it into an Ibāḍī commentary.

This talk aims to revisit the available evidence and argues that incorporating different kinds of sources produced by both Mālikīs and Ibāḍīs such as manuscript transmission records, scribal notes, historical sources, and a comparison of different recensions (riwāyāt) to reconstruct the transmission. This approach also challenges the traditional dating of the obscure author Hūd b. Muḥakkim, suggesting a more precise and likely later range for his life. The newly suggested dating also situates his Tafsīr into the framework of the nascent Ibāḍī ‘recluses’ (ḥalqa al-ʿazzāba) pedagogical system.

Furthermore, the historiographical reconstruction shows that the intellectual boundaries between different sectarian groups, cities, and regimes in 3rd–4th/9th–10th-century North Africa were not as solid as one might imagine, suggesting that scholarly exchange and learning across different creeds were possibly transcended by tribal networks.

About the speaker

Yi-Chia Chang is a PhD student in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he also completed his MSc (2024). Prior to his postgraduate studies, he received his BA in Arabic from National Chengchi University, Taiwan (2023). His research interests mainly focus on Islamic intellectual history, with a concentration on the history of Ibāḍism and Khārijism in both North Africa and the Middle East from the medieval to the early modern period. Other interests include the Qurʾān and Qurʾānic commentary, ḥadīth studies, and Arabic manuscript culture. 

Tom Lea (SPS) – Between Mecca and the Markets: Saudi Arabia, Islam and the Politics of Global Legitimacy

As Saudi Arabia seeks to reposition itself as a global hub of investment, tourism and cultural innovation, its Islamic history and identity present both opportunities and challenges. This presentation explores how, in the era of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi state has navigated the dual pressures of religious authenticity and global marketability, tracing the ways in which Islam has been variously foregrounded, marginalised and reconfigured in pursuit of international status and legitimacy.

Drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonial approaches to International Relations, this talk considers how Saudi narratives of Islam engage and interact with wider international discourses of religion, modernity and power

About the seminar series

The IMES Research Seminar for this first semester of 2026/27 will showcase some of the latest research across the broad field of Islamic and Middle East Studies, both within the department and beyond, setting it within the context of IMES as it moves towards its 50th year.

How to attend

Events are free and everyone is welcome. No booking is required. If you wish to join online, you can email a colleague in IMES for joining information.

All talks are followed by a small reception.

Are you interested in studying with us?

We are the only university in Scotland to offer courses in the Muslim world's three main languages, placing Arabic, Persian and Turkish in the context of history, literature, culture, religion and politics, past and present.

Choose from a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including PhD programmes.