The first academic chair in North America dedicated to Shia studies has been established at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.
The Imam Ali Chair for the Study of Shia Islam and Dialogue Among Islamic Legal School provides a voice in the academy for Shia Islam and encourages dialogue among the diverse Islamic legal schools, including Shia and Sunni. Scholars, students and friends from around the world came to Hartford Seminary on January 22, 2016, to mark the chair’s inauguration.
President Heidi Hadsell said the chair would contribute to dialogue among Muslims and was a perfect fit for Hartford Seminary’s interreligious and intra-religious environment, as well as a natural extension of the Seminary’s long history of scholarship in Christian-Muslim relations.
"In a school that takes so seriously its more than a century of commitment to the study of Islam, he helped us understand that our study of Islam is not complete without the serious and sustained inclusion of Shia Islam,” she said.
Dr. Timur Yuskaev, Associate Professor of Contemporary Islam, described the inauguration of the chair as an "important occasion when it comes to the history of Muslims in the United States” and "another step in the American tradition of Muslim unity.”
Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, recently retired from his position as a faculty associate at Hartford Seminary said, “The reason for the chair is not to create a rival program for the study of Sunni Islam, which encompasses about 85 percent of Muslims. It is to include the voice of Shia Islam at an institution that has such a special history and role in Christian-Muslim relations.”
"What we need most is Muslim unity,” he said, pointing out that "unity” is not the same as "uniformity.” "And hopefully, this chair will serve that purpose.”
Dr. Sayed Ammar Nakshawani , a prominent Shia scholar named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in 2015, has been named as the chair’s first occupant.
Dr. Nakshawani is known worldwide as a British Iraqi Islamic historian, lecturer and author.