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Mansur Ali  PhD, FHEA

Dr Mansur Ali

PhD, FHEA

Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies

School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Email
AliMM1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 76297
Campuses
John Percival Building, Room 5.08, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

Overview

Research interests

I have two main research interests: Hadith Studies and Practical Theology. By Practical Theology, I mean making sense of the world we live in through the lens of Islamic theology (Ilm al-Kalam). How can Muslims have a meaningful religious experience in a predominantly secular society? What psychological impact has modernity has had on the lives of Muslims in the West? An offshoot of this is to look at religious leadership (chaplains, imams) in the British Muslim community. Furthermore, using tools developed in Ilm al-Kalam as well as Usul al-Fiqh, I research modern issues such as Islamic bio-medical ethics with a particular focus currently on Islam and organ donation.

I am willing to supervise any PhD theses on: Hadith, Muslim chaplaincy, Islamic leadership, Islamic bio-medical ethics.

Research projects

'The Medieval Future of Sleep: Trialling lessons from the past for enhancing sleep, reducing disease, and improving mental health in post-Covid Wales,’ with Dr Megan Leitch. Funded by the Welsh Crucible Seedcorn funding scheme. 

'Understanding British Religious Professionals' Perception of the Organ Donation Process' Principle Investigator, with Co-Investigator Dr Mohammed Azim Ahmed. Funded by the Centre for Islamic Medicine.

“Our Bodies Belong to God: The Human Transplantation Act 2013 and Cardiff Muslims’ response to it.” Cardiff University Engagement and Impact funding.

Muslim Chaplaincy Project (AHRC/ESRC)

Conference papers

June 2023: ‘What was Adam taught?’ Pre and Post-Darwinian Perspectives on Islamic Theological Anthropology, University of Nottingham. 

 

June 2022: ‘E-Nikah in Hanafi fiqh.’ Spirituality and Resiliency, Islam in Cyberspace, and Muslim Popular Culture conference, Western University of Sydney.

 

June 2022: ‘E-Majlis in Hanafi fiqh’ BRAIS conference, Edinburgh University. 

 

2021: Online: 'E-Majlis: Nikah, Tarawih and Hadith audition during Covid-19 lockdown' in Islamic Responses to COVID-19: Authority and Religiosity in #Muslim Communities and Digital Worlds. University of Wales Trinity St David. Online.

2021: Online: Neuroscience, Moral Responsibility, and Sin. Society of Christian Ethics. January 2021.

2020: Online: Between and Betwixed: Islam brain-death and organ donation. University of Winchester Theology Lecture series. November 2020.

2020: Online: Linking Social Justice and Brain Injuries Through Theology, International Neuroethics Society. October 2020.

2019: Our bodies belong to God, So what?: Organ donation and bodily property, British Association of Islamic Studies, University of Nottingham

2018: Understanding organ transplantation fatwas, International conference on organ transplantation in Islam, Western Sydeny University, Sydney, Australia.

2017: Pediatric organ donation and Islamic ethics, Great Ormond Street Hospital chaplaincy department

2016: ‘Praying With, Praying For and Praying on Patients: Towards a Muslim Practical Theology in Chaplaincy’, 1st International Congress on Spiritual care and counselling, Istanbul University, Turkey. (April 2016)

2015: ‘How do we know the Prophet said it? Hadith commentary as polemic in post-colonial India: a study of al-Uthmani’s I’la al-Sunan’, British Association of Islamic Studies Second Annual Conference, University of London, Senate House, April 2015

2014: ‘British Imams in Chaplaincy: Working at the interface of ‘public’ and ‘private’’, Imams in Western Europe Conference, LUISS and JCU, Rome, November 2014

2014: ‘More than bosom friends: British Muslims and milk banks’ , British Association of Islamic Studies Inaugural Conference, May 2014

Public-facing Publications

2016: The Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence by Ash-Shashi (Usul Ash-Shashi), translation and commentary by Mansur Ali, (London: Turath Publishing, 2016)

2015: Review: Refuting ISIS: A Rebuttal of Its Religious and Ideological Foundations, by Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, (Sacred Knowledge press, 2015), £6.95, 2015, http://muslimview.co.uk/culture/review-refuting-isis-a-rebuttal-of-its-religious-and-ideological-foundations/

2014: Al-Arba'in of Ahmad Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani - Forty Hadiths from Forty Companions Through Forty Shuyukh, edited and annotated by Mansur Ali, (London: Turath Publishing, 2014)

2014: Qawa'id Fi Ulum al-Hadith (Principles of Hadith), edited and annotated by Mansur Ali and Shamsudduha, (London: Turath Publishing, 2014)

2012: ‘They Are Your Garments And You Are Theirs: Marital Relation and the Metaphor of the Garment Reflections on surat –al-Baqara 2:187’ 2012, http://mansys.blogspot.co.uk/

Impact Activities

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Articles

Book sections

Books

Conferences

Monographs

Research

Current Research:

  • Medical fatwas
  • Organ transplantation and Islam
  • Islamic Bioethics

Teaching

I teach mainly in the field of Islam and ethics, and British Muslim Studies. I teach in all the undergraduate years as well as on the MA Islam in Contemporary Britain.

Current PhD students

  1. Laiqah Osman (Muslim Women in Britain and the authority of online Islamic content). Jameel scholarship funded.
  2. Afsan Redwan (Interpreting the Qur'an in English: hermeneutical approaches in muhammad asad, yusuf ali and abdul majid darybadi’s works)
  3. Fatima Khan (Muslims in Britain and Disabilities: An Exploration of Visual Impairment Experiences, Attitudes and Cultural influences Amongst British South Asian Muslims). Jameel scholarship funded.
  4. Andreas Tzortzis (Is the Qur'an Scientific: An Assessment of 'ijāz al-'ilmī and the multiplicity of readings approach).
  5. Feyza Goren (Hadith in al-Sarakhsi's al-Mabsut).
  6. Sheam Khan (The Perils of Receiving Revelation in Your Mother Tongue: A Critical Study of the Translator's Ideological Influence on the Message of the Qur'an).

Previous Phd students 

  1. Dr Riyaz Timol: 2012-2016 
  2. Dr Haroon Sidat: 2015-2018
  3. Dr Ayesha Khan: 2016-2020
  4. Dr Momamer Abu Khaleylah: 2018-2023. 
  5. Dr Arwa AbaHussain: 2019-2024

Biography

Maulana Dr Mansur Ali is a traditionally trained Muslim scholar, imam, author and educator. His Islamic learning spans three worlds of scholarship (South Asian Dars e Nizami, Azhari and Western academia). Traditionally trained in Darul Uloom Birmingham, Darul Uloom Bury, and Al-Azhar University Cairo, he read for postgraduate studies (MA and PhD) at the University of Manchester writing a PhD thesis on the Sunan of Imam al-Tirmidhi.

His teaching career equally oscillates between traditional Islamic seminary and Western academia. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Cardiff University, where he teaches on Islam and ethics. Having supervised five doctoral students to completion, he is currently supervising six PhD students. Furthermore, he has taught traditional Islamic texts such as Mishkat, Hidaya, Sharh al-Aqaid al-Nasafiyya, Nur al-Anwar and Nuzhat al-Nazar. 

He is interested in Hadith studies, Islamic legal theory, fiqh al-fataawa, Muslim chaplaincy, and Islam and bioethics. Currently he is researching various aspects of organ transplantation and Islam.

He is a Council member of the British Board of Scholars and Imam (BBSI), a member of the British Association of Islamic Studies (BRAIS), a member of the advisory board at Cambridge Muslim College, a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a khatib at the Dar ul Isra Mosque in Cardiff.

Education and qualifications

2014: Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching and Learning (PCUTL), Cardiff University.

2005-2009 PhD Middle Eastern Studies (Islamic), "Al-Tirmidhi and the Role of the Isnad in His Sunan", University of Manchester, supervised by Dr Ronald P. Buckley. Funded by Manchester University 'Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award'.

2004-2005 MA Middle Eastern Studies (Islamic), "The Methodology of Western Scholars in the Study of Hadith Literature", University of Manchester, supervised by Dr Andreas Christmann.

2002-2004 BA Islamic Theology, Al-Azhar University, Cairo Egypt.

1990-2000 Advanced Certificate in Classical Islamic and Arabic Studies. Darul Uloom Al-Arabiyya Al-Islamiyya Bury, UK.

Career overview

2021 - Present: Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies 

2015- 2021: Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Cardiff University

2012-2015: Post-doctoral Jameel fellow in Islamic Studies, Cardiff University

2011- 2012: Post-doctoral fellow, Cambridge Muslim College

2010 – 2011: Research associate, Cardiff University

2007-2010: Muslim chaplain, Ashworth High Security Hospital, Liverpool

2005-2008: Graduate teaching fellow, University of Manchester.

Other academic activities

Reviewer for a number of academic journals

Honours and awards

BISCA 2015 (British Imams and Scholars Contribution Award) for best contribution in teaching and research. 2015 (http://www.biscaawards.org/bisca-2015-awardees-2/)

Professional memberships

  • Fellow             Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA)

  • Member           Sociology of Religion workgroup (SOCREL)

  • Member           British Association of Islamic Studies (BRAIS)

  • Member           Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN)

Committees and reviewing

  • 2020- Present: Director of Postgraduate Taught Studies - SHARE.
  • 2015- 2017: Religious and Theological Studies, years 2 and 3 Senior tutor
  • 2012- 2017: School of History, Archaeology and Religion Equality and Diversity Committee

External Committees

  • 2015: Leeds University External examiner for Arabic and Islamic Studies (Life Long Learning Centre)

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

1. Islam and organ transplantation

2. Islam and bioethics

3. Muslim chaplaincy

4. Hadith studies

5. Usul al-Fiqh and ilm al-kalam

7. Qur'an and tafsir studies

8. Contemporary fatwas

Current supervision

Laiqah Osman

Laiqah Osman

Research student

Afsan Redwan

Afsan Redwan

Research student

Feyza Goren

Feyza Goren

Research student

Andreas Tzortzis

Andreas Tzortzis

Research student

Sheam Khan

Sheam Khan

Research student

Past projects

  1. Dr Riyaz Timol: 2012-2016. Spiritual Wayfarers in a Secular Age: The Tablighi Jama'at in Modern Britain. 
  2. Dr Haroon Sidat: 2015-2018. Formation and Training of British Muslim Religious Leadership: An Ethnography of a Dar al-Uloom in Britain. 
  3. Dr Ayesha Khan: 2016-2020. Sufisticated: Exploring Contemporary Sufism Amongst Young British Muslims. 
  4. Dr Momamer Abu Khalayleh: 2018-2023. Engaging Contemporary Atheism Through the Conceptual Tools of Ash'ari Theology.  
  5. Dr Arwa AbaHussain:  2019-2024. The Hermeneutics of Renewal in Khaled Abou El Fadl’s Writings.