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On May 9th, twenty students in Damascus, Syria began an intensive nine-month programme, a collaborative endeavour between The Institute of Ismaili Studies and the local Ismaili community institutions. The Syrian Preparatory Programme was established for the purpose of developing human resource capacity in Syria. The programme is being conducted by the British Council, which is implementing a curriculum devised by the Department of Graduate Studies.

Rahim S. Rajan, an alumnus of The Institute of Ismaili Studies’ Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities, gave a detailed overview and demonstration of the Aluka initiative on 6th June to IIS faculty, staff and students.

The Institute’s Department of Graduate Studies welcomed its first cohort of students to the newly established Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP) this month. The STEP is a large-scale initiative involving The Institute of Ismaili Studies, the Institute of Education (IOE) at the University of London, and the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Boards (ITREBs) of five participating countries.

This new lecture series, entitled ‘Contemporary Islams & Muslims’ (CIM), launched on 18th October 2007 by The Institute of Ismaili Studies, will engage with a broad range of Muslim encounters with modernity. Leading scholars will speak to themes from human rights, pluralism and identity, to the arts, culture and spirituality.

A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: Ibn ‘Arabi’s al-Dawr al-a‘la (Hizb al-wiqaya): Study, translation, transliteration and Arabic text is the first of three publications by Dr. Suha Taji-Farouki reflecting her recent research supported by the Institute’s Department of Academic Research and Publications.

Mr. Ezzaldin Ibrahim, who graduated from the Syrian Preparatory Programme (SyPP) in January 2007, has been awarded a Chevening scholarship by the British Government. These scholarships, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, enable overseas students to undertake post-graduate study in the United Kingdom for a year.

Windsor Castle was the venue of an unusual conference entitled, ‘Sacred Voices’: Convergence and Contrast in the Music of the Abrahamic Faiths, which was co-sponsored by St George’s House, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, The Festival of Muslim Culture, The Jewish Music Institute (SOAS) and The Three Faiths Forum. The Conference, held on 30 January and 1 February, 2007, was attended by scholars and musicians from Europe, North America, North Africa and Asia.

In 2006, the IIS launched the Alumni Internship Programme, a new initiative aimed at creating professional development opportunities for IIS alumni. Internship positions were established within Imamat and Jamati institutions globally, in a range of disciplines including education, journalism, research, human resources and religious education.

Professor Carmela Baffioni presented a lecture on Prophecy, Imamat and Sapiential Rule in the Ikhwan al-Safa' at the Institute on February 23rd. As part of its programmatic endeavours, the Institute sponsors seminars, conferences and public lectures that examine various facets of Islamic studies and themes of relevance to contemporary Muslim societies.

The fifth lecture in the Shi‘i Studies Lecture Series was entitled The Zaydi Reception of Abu l-Husayn al-Basri and Ibn al-Malahimi: Husam al-Din ‘Abd Allah b. Zayd al-‘Ansi (d. 1268 CE) and his Kitab al-Mahajja al-bayda. It was delivered by Professor Sabine Schmidtke, Professor of Islamic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, in May 2010.

A Companion to Muslim Ethics, edited by Amyn B. Sajoo and published by I.B. Tauris in association with the IIS, is the most comprehensive English-language book available in this field. It is the second volume in the Muslim Heritage Series, aimed at presenting to the general public as well as to academics an accessible engagement with ideas and subjects of urgent interest to the contemporary Muslim world – including ‘East-West’ relations as they unfold after the events of September 11, 2001.

Since 1997, the IIS has been awarding doctoral scholarships to suitable candidates whose work is relevant to its research interests. The two recipients of this year’s scholarships are Zamira Dildorbekova and Shayesteh Ghofrani.