Contemporary Reformist Responses to Traditional Shi'a Discourses

Dr. Ali Akbar is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia where he received his PhD in Islamic Studies. He is an expert in the fields of Islamic Studies with a focus on contemporary Islamic thought and Middle Eastern politics as well as Iranian politics with a focus on Iran’s foreign policy in the Middle East and beyond. He is co-author of Iran’s Soft Power in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Edinburgh University Press, 2023) as well as lead author of Contemporary Approaches to the Qur’an and Its Interpretation in Iran (Routledge, 2020) and sole author of Contemporary Perspectives on Revelation and Qur’anic Hermeneutics (Edinburgh University Press, 2020). In addition to these books, Dr. Akbar has published extensively in top-tier journals including Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, British Journal of Middle East Studies, Iranian Studies, Mediterranean Politics, Third Word Quarterly and Political Theology.

The book is very well written and is based on a wide spectrum of primary and secondary sources. It fills in an important gap in scholarship on contemporary traditionalist seminary-based Shi’i thought.

• Introduction: Topic, Methodology and Background1. Shīʿīsm: History and Beliefs2. Theoretical Framework: Call for Islamic Law Reform3. The Purity of Non-Muslims: Questioning Traditional Shīʿa Rulings4. Rulings of Apostasy: Questioning Traditional Shīʿa Rulings5. Women’s Rights in Contemporary Shīʿa Thought6. Political Debates in Shīʿīsm: A Focus on the Theory of Velāyat-e FaqīhConclusion: Shīʿīsm in the Modern WorldBibliographyIndex