Dr Riyaz Timol

Research Associate in British Muslim Studies

Email:: timolr1@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone:: +44 (0)29 2087 4884
Location:: 5.49B, Adeilad John Percival , Rhodfa Colum, Caerdydd, CF10 3EU

I work as a Research Associate at Cardiff University’s Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, where I earlier completed my Ph.D. as part of the prestigious Jameel Scholarship Programme. 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. My current work seeks to map the way contemporary accounts of Islamic revival intersect with secularisation theory in Europe. I teach courses on religion, theology and qualitative research methods, have supervised numerous undergraduate Islamic Studies dissertations and help deliver the innovative online course Muslims in Britain: Changes and Challenges.

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:

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)

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.

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. 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/
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, pp. 119-133.

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.

Undergraduate teaching

Introduction to the Study of Religion
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
History and Development of Muslim Communities in Britain
I am currently supervising two Ph.D. students and two MA students

Other

Muslims in Britain: Changes and Challenges

Conference Papers

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.

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

People