Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence in Islamic Thought (LIVIT)
Welcome to the website for this three-year project exploring the justification of violence in Islamic thought from the earliest time until now. The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council under the Global Uncertainties Programme.
Between 2010 and 2013, the project team will be researching the history and development of justifications for violence in the Islamic intellectual tradition. When and how have Muslim thinkers justified violent acts? When did they refuse to justify them? How have these justifications changed over time and what influence do these historical arguments have on the ideology of Islamic movements in the modern period? These and other questions for the focus of the project, and more information is available here.
Image: Ali killing an enemy with the ”dhul-faqar” sword. Khaveranname, Iran, 882AH. Tehran.
Latest LIVIT News:
"Modern Salafism: Doctrine, Politics, Jihad" workshop report, now available here.
Third LIVIT conference dates announced: 3rd-4th September 2012. The conference title is "Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence in Classical Islamic Thought". A list of papers is available here.
The LIVIT project convenes "Modern Salafism: Doctrine, Politics, Jihad", a one day seminar was held on 25th April 2012, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. A full programme is available here.
Istvan Kristo-Nagy publishes two new studies: "Quelles étaient les raisons de la première inquisition en Islam? L’importance de la zandaqa dans l’histoire des religions et de la pensée" (details here) and "Who shall educate whom? The official and the sincere version of Ibn al-Muqaffa'’s theory on intellectual hierarchy, and the role of the elite in the formative period of Islam".
