
Dr Riyaz Timol
Research Associate in British Muslim Studies
Ysgol Hanes, Archaeoleg a Chrefydd
- timolr1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 4884
- 5.49B, Adeilad John Percival , Rhodfa Colum, Caerdydd, CF10 3EU
Trosolwg
I work as a Research Associate at Cardiff University’s Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK. My research interests include ethnographic methodology, intergenerational transmission of Islam in Britain and the relationship of Islam with modernity. My disciplinary approach is within the sociology of religion with particular reference to the theoretical contributions of Peter L. Berger. I teach the MA module 'History and Development of Muslim Communities in Britain', supervise several postgraduate students and help deliver the innovative online course Muslims in Britain: Changes and Challenges. I am the Principal Investigator of a major three-year project examining the lived experiences of British Imams and the co-editor of a special issue of the international journal Religions exploring 'Leadership, Authority and Representation in British Muslim Communities'.
Ph.D. thesis:
- Spiritual Wayfarers in a Secular Age: The Tablighi Jama’at in Modern Britain (shortlisted for the 2018 BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World)
Public writing:
- What does the Covid-19 debate about mosque closures tell us about religious authority in British Islam? - (published on the Journal of British Muslim Studies - 20 April, 2020)
- Tea, chillies and takeaway: what food choices reveal about British Muslim identity - (published on The Conversation - 1 April, 2019)
- The Apostates: When Muslims Leave Islam by Simon Cottee - (book review published on thebookslamist - 18 January, 2018)
- Sociology, Faith and Islam: Some Reflections on the Legacy of Peter L. Berger (1929-2017) - (published on The Sociological Review blog - 10 July, 2017)
- Six Points for a Successful PhD - (published on the Islam-UK Centre blog - 4 July, 2017)
- Obituary: Hafiz Patel (1926-2016) - (published On Religion - 28 February, 2016)
Media appearances:
- BBC Radio Wales All Things Considered: Prayer and Brexit
- BBC Radio 4 Last Word: Sheikh Yusuf Motala
Conference organiser:
- INSIDE OUT: Reflexivity and Methodology in Research with British Muslims (September 2014)
- Leadership, Authority and Representation in British Muslim Communities (January 2019)
Public speaking:
- ‘Spiritual Wayfarers in a Secular Age: The Tablighi Jama’at in Modern Britain’ public lecture delivered at the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University, February 2017.
- 'Steadfastness in God's Way: Frameworks of Religious Practice in the Lives of Contemporary Tablighis and Franciscans' public lecture delivered at Oxford Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, October 2019.
Cyhoeddiadau
2020
- Timol, R. 2020. Ethno-religious socialisation, national culture and the social construction of British Muslim identity. Contemporary Islam (10.1007/s11562-020-00454-7)
- Gilliat-Ray, S. and Timol, R. 2020. Introduction: leadership, authority and representation in British Muslim communities. Religions 11(11), article number: 559. (10.3390/rel11110559)
- Timol, R. 2020. Mosque closures and religious authority in the British Muslim community amidst COVID-19. [Online]. www.britishmuslimstudies.com: Journal of British Muslim Studies. Available at: https://www.britishmuslimstudies.com/post/mosque-closures-and-religious-authority-in-the-british-muslim-community-amidst-covid-19
2019
- TImol, R. 2019. Structures of organisation and loci of authority in a glocal Islamic movement: the Tablighi Jama’at in Britain. Religions 10(10), article number: 573. (10.3390/rel10100573)
- Timol, R. 2019. Young British Muslims: Between rhetoric and realities, by Sadek Hamid (ed.)[Book Review]. Muslim World Book Review 39(2), pp. 55-58.
2018
- Timol, R. 2018. Islamic revivalism and Europe's secular 'sacred canopy': Exploring the debunking capacity of public religion. In: Hjelm, T. ed. Peter L. Berger and the Sociology of Religion: 50 Years after The Sacred Canopy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 119-133.
- Timol, R. 2018. Islamic revivalism and Europe's secular 'sacred canopy': exploring the debunking capacity of public religion. In: Hjelm, T. ed. Peter L. Berger and the Sociology of Religion: 50 Years after The Sacred Canopy. Bloomsbury Academic
- Timol, R. 2018. The Apostates: When Muslims leave Islam by Simon Cottee [Book Review]. [Online]. thebookslamist: WordPress. Available at: http://thebookslamist.com/2018/01/16/apostates-muslims-leave-islam/
2017
- Timol, R. 2017. REVIEW - Norton Anthology, Islam. JBASR 18, pp. 51-53. (10.18792/jbasr.v18i1.4)
- Timol, R. 2017. Spiritual wayfarers in a secular age: the Tablighi Jama'at in modern Britain. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2016
- Timol, R. 2016. Loyal enemies: British converts to Islam, 1850- 1950 by Jamie Gilham [Book Review]. Journal of Islamic Studies 27(3), pp. 410-413. (10.1093/jis/etw023)
- Timol, R. 2016. The many altars of modernity: Toward a paradigm for religion in a pluralist age [Book Review]. Journal of Contemporary Religion 31(1), pp. 130-131. (10.1080/13537903.2016.1109882)
2015
- Timol, R. 2015. Religious travel and Tablighī Jamā‘at: modalities of expansion in Britain and beyond. In: Suleiman, Y. ed. Muslims in the UK and Europe. I. Cambridge: Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, pp. 194-206.
- Timol, R. 2015. Islam, youth, and modernity in the Gambia: The Tablighi Jama'at by Marloes Janson [Book Review]. Muslim World Book Review 35(3), pp. 28-32.
2014
- Timol, R. 2014. Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Ali Nadwi: His life & works. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 25(4), pp. 538-540. (10.1080/09596410.2014.926600)
- Timol, R. 2014. Missionary impositions: Conversion, resistance and other challenges to objectivity in religious ethnography [Book Review]. Culture and Religion 15(4), pp. 494-496. (10.1080/14755610.2014.972089)
2013
- Timol, R. 2013. Commentary on the Eleventh Contentions, by Abdal Hakim Murad [Book Review]. Muslim World Book Review 34(1), pp. 28-30.
Addysgu
Undergraduate teaching
- Introduction to the Study of Religion
- Islam in the Contemporary World
- Islamic Studies Dissertation Tutor
- I have supervised undergraduate dissertations on a broad range of topics including Islamic philosophy and mysticism, Middle Eastern religio-political movements, South Asian culture and diaspora, Islamophobia, religion and media, Islamic art and culture, Sunni and Shia theology, Sufism, Islamic feminism and gendered sartorial practices.
Postgraduate teaching
- Theory & Method in Qualitative Research with British Muslims
- Skills and Methods for Postgraduate Study
- History and Development of Muslim Communities in Britain
- Supervision of Ph.D. and MA student dissertations.
Other
Understanding British Imams
Imams are the largest group of Muslim religious professionals in Britain who work principally within mosques leading prayers, delivering sermons and providing guidance to their congregations. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that this role is being expanded to encompass pastoral care, chaplaincy, charity work or wider community projects such as inter-faith activity or civic events. Further, the pressures of a post-9/11 and 7/7 socio-political climate, in which counter-terrorism measures become increasingly conflated with integration issues, have foregrounded the imam as a figure that may guide his flock in either constructive or destructive ways. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, the British imam has only rarely been the subject of in-depth ethnographic research. Generously funded by the Jameel Research Programme, this project aims to fill this lacuna by conducting the most detailed and rigorous study ever undertaken of British imams; and communicating the results, and interest in Muslim religious leadership in the West more generally, to many beneficiaries. The project will transform our understanding of British imams and create a lasting reference point for future research on Muslim religious professionals.
For more details, please visit the project website.
Conference Papers
- July 2019. 'Communicating Islam to Muslims: Adhaan, Da’wa and the Machinery of Plausibility Structure Generation', BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Annual Conference, Cardiff University.
- April 2019. 'Something Old, Something New: The Changing World of British Imams', British Association for Islamic Studies Annual Conference, University of Nottingham.
- April 2019. 'Structure and Agency in an Academic Sub-Discipline: British Muslim Studies Between Durkheim and Weber', Muslims in Britain Research Network Conference, Cardiff University.
- July 2018: 'Peter L. Berger and a Sociology for Contemporary Islam?', BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Annual Conference, University of Strathclyde.
- April 2018: 'Social transformation through self-reformation: sacralising the secular ‘in the Path of Allah’', British Association for Islamic Studies Annual Conference, University of Exeter.
- April 2017: ‘Islamic Revival and Europe’s Secular ‘Sacred Canopy’’ British Association for Islamic Studies Annual Conference, University of Chester.
- July 2016: ‘A Theory of Intra-Religious Conversion for Contemporary Islam,’ BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Annual Conference 2016, Lancaster University.
- April 2016: ‘Black Beards, White Beards and 40 Shades of Grey: Intergenerational Transmission in the British Tablighi Jama'at,’ British Association for Islamic Studies Annual Conference, Senate House, University of London.
- July 2015: ‘Islamic Revival, Secular Britain: The Case of the Tablighi Jama’at,’ The British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion 40th Anniversary Conference, Kingston University, London.
- April 2015: ‘To Sufi or not Sufi? Exploring the Spiritual Praxis of the Tablighi Jama’at,’ British Association for Islamic Studies Annual Conference, Senate House, University of London.
- September 2014: ‘Walking the Ethnographic Tightrope: Fieldwork with the Tablighi Jama'at in Modern Britain,’ 'INSIDE OUT: Reflexivity and Methodology in Research with British Muslims' conference organised by the Islam-UK Centre in conjunction with the Muslims in Britain Research Network, Cardiff University.
- September 2014: ‘Roundtable Discussion: Interrogating integrity? Insider and outsider social research with faith based groups,’ British Association for the Study of Religion (BASR) Annual Conference, Open University, Milton Keynes.
- May 2014: ‘Religious Travel and the Tablighī Jamā‘at: Modalities of Expansion in Britain and Beyond,’ Muslims in the UK and Europe Symposium, Cambridge University.
- April 2014: ‘Religious Travel and British Muslim Identities: Researcher Reflexivity, Preaching and Tablighi Jama’at Activists,’ British Association for Islamic Studies Inaugural Conference, Edinburgh University.
- September 2013: ‘Exploring the Cultural Boundaries of the Tablighi Jama’at: Real or Imaginary?,’ School of History, Archaeology and Religion Post-Graduate Symposium, Cardiff University.
- September 2013: ‘Tablighi Jama’at in the Diaspora: Exploring Modalities of Expansion,’ European Association for the Study of Religions Conference, Liverpool Hope University.
Supervision
I am currently co-supervising two Ph.D.s:
- Fatou Sambe - Converts and the Next Generation of British Muslims
- Moamer Khalayleh - Qur'anic-Ash'arite Perspectives on New Atheism
I am interested in supervising Ph.D. students in the areas of:
- Movements of Islamic revival in Britain
- British Muslim identity
- Intergenerational transmission in British Islam
- Conversion and apostasy in contemporary Islam
- Experiences and training of British imams