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.

Towards Ummatic Frames for Political Analysis

Aisha Hasan
October 2, 2024

Criminalizing the Caliphate: Transforming Remembrance into Resistance

Ilham Ibrahim
September 2, 2024

Contention One: Ummatic Exceptionalism and the Prospect of Double Humiliation

Ovamir Anjum
July 17, 2024

Why Ummatics: A Series of Contentions

Ovamir Anjum
June 12, 2024

Mālikī Authorities on the Imamate

Dr. Shadee Elmasry
May 27, 2024

Hilafeti Kim İster?

Ovamir Anjum
February 21, 2024

Late Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
December 26, 2023

Ḥanbalī Authorities on the Imamate

Massoud Vahedi
November 7, 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

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

Alexander Thurston
May 4, 2023

What is Ummatics?

Ovamir Anjum
March 9, 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 “Constitution” of Medina: Translation, Commentary, and Meaning Today

Ovamir Anjum
September 12, 2022

Who Wants the Caliphate?

Ovamir Anjum
September 10, 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)

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

Joseph Kaminski
December 14, 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

Towards Ummatic Frames for Political Analysis

Aisha Hasan
October 2, 2024

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

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

Criminalizing the Caliphate: Transforming Remembrance into Resistance

Ilham Ibrahim
September 2, 2024

Hilafeti Kim İster?

Ovamir Anjum
February 21, 2024

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

Sadek Hamid
January 25, 2023

Who Wants the Caliphate?

Ovamir Anjum
September 10, 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?

Contention One: Ummatic Exceptionalism and the Prospect of Double Humiliation

Ovamir Anjum
July 17, 2024

Why Ummatics: A Series of Contentions

Ovamir Anjum
June 12, 2024

Late Ḥanafī Authorities on the Imamate

Asim Ayub
December 26, 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

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

Ovamir Anjum
September 12, 2022

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