The Alwaleed Centre’s Interdisciplinary Seminar Series 2026/27

The Alwaleed Centre’s interdisciplinary research seminar series takes place during the academic year 2026/27 and aims to broaden knowledge production of contemporary Islam and the Globalised Muslim world through collaborative seminars with colleagues across the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS).

About the Seminar Series

The series brings together scholars, practitioners, and artists to critically engage with questions pertaining to the study of contemporary Islam and the globalised Muslim world from an interdisciplinary perspective. 

The vast majority of our seminars will be co-badged with colleagues in schools and research networks across CAHSS, including: The School of Divinity, The Edinburgh College of Art, the School of Social and Political Sciences, The School of History, Classics and Archaeology, The Middle East Research Group (MERG), and CRITIQUE.

Please join us for these important and timely conversations.

Students, staff, and members of the public are all welcome!

How to attend

All seminars are free to attend, but registration is required. 

You can register for each seminar via its respective events page.  

Visit our events page.

Events calendar

We regularly update the events calendar below, but you can stay up to date with the Alwaleed Centre’s activities by signing up to our mailing list below:

Join our mailing list.

Semester 1

Join us for a keynote lecture by Dr Rizwaan Sabir (Liverpool John Moores University) on bringing Critical Muslim Studies into Critical Studies on Terrorism. 

Critical Terrorism Studies has witnessed a growing engagement with decolonial and postcolonial perspectives over the past years that have challenged the continued Eurocentrism of the discipline and its dominant approaches. Despite these advances, the field continues to grapple with enduring forms of Eurocentrism in its conceptual frameworks, research agendas, and scholarly conversations. It is therefore time for CTS to consider a more radical re-orientation of the direction it has been taking since its foundation. Critical Muslim Studies has developed a rich body of scholarship that interrogates the racialisation of Muslim identities, the colonial and imperial structures shaping contemporary governance, and the epistemic conditions through which “Muslimness” is produced as a problem within global politics. 

More information and registration.


Join us on Wednesday 23 September for an event featuring the presentation of a new translation of “Pearls from the Diwan of Imam al-Haddad,” an introduction to the Yemini poet and scholar Imam al-Haddad's life and work and a recitation and explanation of some of his poetry.
 
Although Imam al-Haddad lived in Yemen over 300 years ago, his teachings continue to benefit people in diverse settings in different parts of the world. His poetry illuminates people's hearts in gatherings from California to Jakarta. Now a new English translation of the original Arabic gives us a window into the teachings of a great spiritual master. 
 

Please note, this event has been cancelled due to industrial action across the University of Edinburgh.

Join us on 5 October for a screening of “The Textile Generation”, a one-hour documentary directed by the Syrian-Bahraini filmmaker Haya Altamimi and co-produced by Dr Ann-Christin Zuntz (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Alessandro Columbu (University of Westminster), which brings to the screen the forgotten history of Syrian textile traders in Manchester. 

More information and registration.
 


This event presents the 'Britain Owes Palestine' initiative in conversation with Balfour University's legacy of dispossession in Palestine.

This is the first event in a two part programme which will discuss Britain’s legacy of imperial and settler colonial dispossession of Palestinians, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the multiple forms of UK complicity with the ongoing genocide. Each event requires separate registration. Details of the second event can be found here: The Gaza Tribunal

The event is sponsored by the University of Edinburgh Politics and International Relations Contemporary Middle East Series, Al Waleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, and Britain Owes Palestine, in collaboration with Global and Contemporary History of Palestine Hub at the Edinburgh Centre for Global History, CRITIQUE, Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought, and Sociology Seminar Series.

Date and time: Thursday 29 October, 14:30 - 16:30

Venue: Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre, Old College, Edinburgh.

For further information and registration CLICK HERE.


In this second of two events marking the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Professor Neve Gordon, and Dr. Shahd Hammouri will present their book, The Gaza Tribunal, and the public inquiry they oversaw in London in 2025 into Britain’s complicity in genocide. The authors will critically examine violations of international law in Gaza, challenge dominant narratives, and highlight demands for accountability and justice. The event will be chaired by Dr. Nora Jaber who teaches international human rights law at the Edinburgh University Law School and who will also act as discussant.

The event is sponsored by the University of Edinburgh Politics and International Relations Contemporary Middle East Series, Al Waleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, and Britain Owes Palestine, in collaboration with Global and Contemporary History of Palestine Hub at the Edinburgh Centre for Global History, CRITIQUE, Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought, and Sociology Seminar Series.

Date and time: Thursday 29 October, 18:00 - 20:00

Venue: Lecture Theatre 4, Appleton Tower, EH8 9LE.

For further information and registration CLICK HERE.


The Alwaleed Centre is delighted to be collaborating with the School of Divinity to host Dr Layli Uddin (Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University) for a special public seminar entitled '“Fakk Kul Nizam" (‘Destroy all Orders’): Maulana Bashani and Abolitionist Theology in South Asia.

Free to attend and no registration necessary. Just come along on the day.

Date: Tuesday 3 November 20226

Time: 16:10

Venue :Martin Hall, New College FIND VENUE.


In collaboration with Edinburgh University Press, the Alwaleed Centre is delighted to be welcoming Professor William Gallois (University of Exeter) to discuss his new book 'Illuminating the Shadow Œuvre of Mohammed Racim'. This is the first book in a new Edinburgh University Press Series 'Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Visual Cultures of the 20th and 21st Centuries'.

Date and Time: Thursday 26 November, 17:30 - 19:00

Venue: MAcLaren Stuart Room, Old College, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL.

Further information and registration to follow shortly.


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