Research Papers

The Ummatics Institute publishes original research papers on a range of ummatic issues for the benefit of scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike.

Our papers serve to developengage, and enhance, both scholarly and popular discourses on ummatic thought and practice by interrogating the various social, political, economic, religious, and historical questions most pertinent to the life and future of the Muslim Umma.

Hilafeti Kim İster?

Ovamir Anjum
February 21, 2024

خلافت کون چاہتا ہے؟

 and Ovamir Anjum
February 7, 2024

Apa itu Umatika?

Ovamir Anjum
January 23, 2024

امیٹکس کیا ہے؟

Ovamir Anjum
January 13, 2024

Ümmetiks nedir?

Ovamir Anjum
January 10, 2024

Late Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
December 26, 2023

Nationalism and Ummatic Solidarity: Reflections on a British memo (1917) from colonial East Africa

Alexander Thurston
November 14, 2023

Ḥanbalī Authorities on the Imamate

Massoud Vahedi
November 7, 2023

Early Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
August 14, 2023

On Ḥakimiyyah: Sovereignty of God and Communal Authority

Ali Harfouch
July 16, 2023

Shāfiʿī Jurists and Legal Theorists on the Imamate

Yousef Wahb
June 27, 2023

Secular Integration Models and Global Governance Schemes: Lessons for Ummatic Integration

Alexander Thurston
May 4, 2023

Siapa yang Menginginkan Khilafah?

Ovamir Anjum
April 11, 2023

من يريد الخلافة؟

Ovamir Anjum
April 10, 2023

What is Ummatics?

Ovamir Anjum
March 9, 2023

Inventing Generation M: The Umma and Neoliberalism

Ali Harfouch
February 19, 2023

Islam Beyond Borders: Building Ummatic Solidarity in the 21st Century

Sadek Hamid
January 25, 2023

Irredeemable Failure: The Modern Nation-State as a Nullifier of Ummatic Unity

Joseph Kaminski
December 14, 2022

The Roots of Regional Wars

Ibrahim Moiz
December 1, 2022

The Case Against ‘Islamism’

Asim Qureshi
October 22, 2022

Fostering an Ummatic Environmental Vision

Farhan Anshary
September 21, 2022

Whither the Umma? Hope in Times of Existential Crises

Muzaffar Iqbal
September 12, 2022

The Great Fitnah: Secular Power and Muslim Future(s)– Part 2

Ali Harfouch
September 12, 2022

Ummatic Solidarity in a Globalized World

Omar Suleiman
September 12, 2022

The Great Fitnah: Secular Power and Muslim Future(s) – Part 1

Ali Harfouch
September 12, 2022

Secular Neutrality and the Failed Political Experiment in Tunisia

Joseph Kaminski
September 12, 2022

The Indigenized War on Terror and Its Implications for the Muslim World

Ibrahim Moiz
September 12, 2022

Questioning the Caliphate

Uthman Badar
September 12, 2022

The “Constitution” of Medina: Translation, Commentary, and Meaning Today

Ovamir Anjum
September 12, 2022

Turning the Tide Back in Our Favor — Ummatics and the Need for Critical Muslim Engagement

Joseph Kaminski
September 12, 2022

Protecting the Vulnerable: Failures of the Liberal Order and the Potential for an Umma-Centered Global Imaginary

Hafsa Kanjwal
September 12, 2022

The United States, West Africa, and Islam: Connections, Romanticization, and Securitization

Alexander Thurston
September 12, 2022

Imagination and a Future Ummatic Nation

Sadek Hamid
September 12, 2022

Towards an Ummatic Economic Discourse

Aisha Hasan
September 12, 2022

The Specter of Digital Colonialism and the Ummatic Imperative

Mobeen Vaid
September 12, 2022

Is Deglobalization Real? And What Can We Do About It?

Ovamir Anjum
September 11, 2022

Who Wants the Caliphate?

Ovamir Anjum
September 10, 2022

The Case Against ‘Islamism’ (Summary)

Asim Qureshi
June 20, 2022

Our approach to political theory focuses on the Umma as a central conceptual space in the study of descriptive/empirical questions in political science as well as prescriptive/normative questions in political philosophy.

Ummatic political theory covers broad issues pertaining to siyasa shar’iyyaiqamat al-din, and the nature of the Quranic mission, as well as human rights, questions of collective existence and action, and more. All of this is undertaken with and through an engagement of relevant scholarship from the Islamic and human sciences.

Do Not Remove

  • Political theory of the caliphate and its institutions
  • Classical Islamic political theory (major thinkers, models, development, genealogy, critiques), with a particular focus on the theoretical aspects of the siyasa shar’iyya and ahkam sultaniyya literature
  • Modern Islamic political theory (major thinkers, movements, models, development, genealogy, critiques), with a particular emphasis on their engagements with contemporary problems
  • Analysis and critical evaluation of governance practices in historical caliphates
  • Analysis and critical evaluation of authoritarianism, dysfunction, and disunity in the post-colonial and contemporary Muslim world
  • Analysis and critical evaluation of liberal political theory and its foundational concepts (freedom, democracy, secularism)
  • Consideration and critique of non-liberal theories (including communitarian, agonistic, Christian, Marxist, feminist, and decolonial theories)

On Ḥakimiyyah: Sovereignty of God and Communal Authority

Ali Harfouch
July 16, 2023

Inventing Generation M: The Umma and Neoliberalism

Ali Harfouch
February 19, 2023

Irredeemable Failure: The Modern Nation-State as a Nullifier of Ummatic Unity

Joseph Kaminski
December 14, 2022

The Great Fitnah: Secular Power and Muslim Future(s)– Part 2

Ali Harfouch
September 12, 2022

The Great Fitnah: Secular Power and Muslim Future(s) – Part 1

Ali Harfouch
September 12, 2022

Secular Neutrality and the Failed Political Experiment in Tunisia

Joseph Kaminski
September 12, 2022

Our approach to geopolitics and international relations surveys the geographic, diplomatic, legal, and organizational factors which influence the relationship between contemporary Muslim polities and various international actors.

The ummatic study of geopolitics and international relations is also a study of the Muslim Umma from a global perspective. It serves as a crucible for new and inventive ways of thinking about these disciplines with the ummatic discourse at its core.

  • How the Muslim world can navigate the current era of power transition and vacuum
  • What trends in global politics geopolitical thinkers must know in order to address the immediate challenges facing Muslim societies
  • How Muslims can promote and build forums to create a new generation of scholars that look beyond nationalism and think ummaticly about international politics
  • How to revive the classical siyar literature to theorize about contemporary international relations
  • What material and conceptual challenges Muslim societies face that hinder ummatic unity and how they can be addressed

Nationalism and Ummatic Solidarity: Reflections on a British memo (1917) from colonial East Africa

Alexander Thurston
November 14, 2023

Secular Integration Models and Global Governance Schemes: Lessons for Ummatic Integration

Alexander Thurston
May 4, 2023

Irredeemable Failure: The Modern Nation-State as a Nullifier of Ummatic Unity

Joseph Kaminski
December 14, 2022

The Roots of Regional Wars

Ibrahim Moiz
December 1, 2022

The Case Against ‘Islamism’

Asim Qureshi
October 22, 2022

The Indigenized War on Terror and Its Implications for the Muslim World

Ibrahim Moiz
September 12, 2022

Protecting the Vulnerable: Failures of the Liberal Order and the Potential for an Umma-Centered Global Imaginary

Hafsa Kanjwal
September 12, 2022

The United States, West Africa, and Islam: Connections, Romanticization, and Securitization

Alexander Thurston
September 12, 2022

Is Deglobalization Real? And What Can We Do About It?

Ovamir Anjum
September 11, 2022

The Case Against ‘Islamism’ (Summary)

Asim Qureshi
June 20, 2022

Our study of society and civilization connects theory to practice in exploring the numerous opportunities and obstacles for unity across Muslim regions.

This discipline focuses on the ways ummatic solidarity can and already does animate Muslim life, as well as how the Umma is theorized, conceptualized, and informs Muslims’ lived experiences. In addition, concepts and strategies for societal transformation are considered through engagements with classical and contemporary Islamic thinkers who have deliberated on patterns of historic, cultural, and social change, as well as modern social theories, concepts, and disciplines such as future studies, cultural studies, and systems thinking. Our goal is to provide multi-dimensional and multi-layered micro, meso, and macro meta-analyses of the issues affecting Muslim societies in majority and minority contexts.

Accordion Content
  • What the global social, cultural, and civilizational trends Muslim thinkers and change makers need to be aware of
  • What the immediate and long term social challenges facing individual Muslim states are
  • What we can learn from influential non-Muslim thinkers and social movements in the recent past and present
  • How we can build, sustain, and promote networks that nurture new generations of Muslim scholars, activists, entrepreneurs, and influencers that think in an ummatic way
  • What the most impactful ways of working collectively are for addressing the social and civilisational challenges that we face in our separate countries, as an Umma, and as human beings

Hilafeti Kim İster?

Ovamir Anjum
February 21, 2024

خلافت کون چاہتا ہے؟

 and Ovamir Anjum
February 7, 2024

Nationalism and Ummatic Solidarity: Reflections on a British memo (1917) from colonial East Africa

Alexander Thurston
November 14, 2023

Siapa yang Menginginkan Khilafah?

Ovamir Anjum
April 11, 2023

من يريد الخلافة؟

Ovamir Anjum
April 10, 2023

Islam Beyond Borders: Building Ummatic Solidarity in the 21st Century

Sadek Hamid
January 25, 2023

The Case Against ‘Islamism’

Asim Qureshi
October 22, 2022

Fostering an Ummatic Environmental Vision

Farhan Anshary
September 21, 2022

Whither the Umma? Hope in Times of Existential Crises

Muzaffar Iqbal
September 12, 2022

Ummatic Solidarity in a Globalized World

Omar Suleiman
September 12, 2022

Turning the Tide Back in Our Favor — Ummatics and the Need for Critical Muslim Engagement

Joseph Kaminski
September 12, 2022

Imagination and a Future Ummatic Nation

Sadek Hamid
September 12, 2022

The Specter of Digital Colonialism and the Ummatic Imperative

Mobeen Vaid
September 12, 2022

Is Deglobalization Real? And What Can We Do About It?

Ovamir Anjum
September 11, 2022

Who Wants the Caliphate?

Ovamir Anjum
September 10, 2022

The Case Against ‘Islamism’ (Summary)

Asim Qureshi
June 20, 2022

The study of Islamic Norms tackles questions and problems pertaining to the discourses of Islamic tradition by situating them within the Qur’an and Prophetic model.

This area covers a number of issues pertaining to usul al-fiqh, usul al-din, and fiqh with attention given to those components that are relevant to ummatic thought and practice. This is undertaken with and through an engagement primarily of traditional Islamic scholarship, as well as of worthy contributions from Islamic and religious studies from the academy.

The Ummatics Institute is committed to the Islamic normative tradition, grounded in the Qur’an and Prophetic model. It is thus focused on the study and discourse of Islamic norms. These sharia norms circumscribe and orient the social and political aspirations and actions of the Umma.

While some of these norms are clear, foundational matters of consensus, many more are subject to difference and scholarly reflection, debate, and discourse. It is this latter that we seek to facilitate and further.

Accordion Content
  • Delineating and elaborating on the sharia foundations of ummatics

    What is the line between definite (qat’i) and preponderant (dhanni) norms, how is it determined, and what is the methodological scope of valid difference in the latter?

    Discussions of sharia norms in terms of specific relevant areas such as political, economic, and social models and transformations

    What is the role of shar’i maqasid and modern realities in the determination of applicable shar’i norms in relevant areas?

Late Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
December 26, 2023

Nationalism and Ummatic Solidarity: Reflections on a British memo (1917) from colonial East Africa

Alexander Thurston
November 14, 2023

Early Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
August 14, 2023

Shāfiʿī Jurists and Legal Theorists on the Imamate

Yousef Wahb
June 27, 2023

Questioning the Caliphate

Uthman Badar
September 12, 2022

The “Constitution” of Medina: Translation, Commentary, and Meaning Today

Ovamir Anjum
September 12, 2022

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