Year 3 - Studies on Challenges and Prospects for the Hawza

The third year of the project focuses on the futures and prospects for the hawza. The hawza has survived the social, political and technological changes which have taken place within the Muslim world over the past century. The project sponsored in the final year examine the potential future developments of the hawza, and how the hawza’s past experience of adapting to change might contribute to its future survival. The sponsored Research Programmes in year three are listed below, and will form the basis for the third collected volume of the Project’s publications.

Opportunities for women’s religious training in contemporary Iran
Rutner, Maryam
A study of the development and dynamics of the women’s hawza in Shiraz, Iran, and its potential and future development. For more details, click here.



The future of Shia religious authority: the impact of modern technologies and the need for professionalisation
Husain, Jasim
An examination of how the marja’iyya has adopted modern technology, and the impact this will have for authority relations within the hawza. For more details, click here.



The Hawza between the free system (al-nizâm al-hurr) and modern teaching: projects for Najaf
Mervin, Sabrina
A project examining how the development of new teaching methods will affect the continuance of the “free system” within the hawza. For more details, click here.



The challenges of remaining independent with a view to emerging Mujtahids and Maraje
Mesbahi, Mohammad and Al-Hakim, Ali Hussain
An examination of the pressures on the principal authority figures within the hawza, the maraje. These include pressure from the Shi’i community, the availability of new information and the emergence of ley experts. For more details, click here.


Re-defining the relationship to the centres of Shia learning: local Usuli Hawzas in the Gulf and their role as domestic political actors
Matthiesen, Toby
A study of how the hawzas in the Gulf have, and how they potentially will, act as centres of local networks of power, and act as conduits for political action. For more details, click here.


The dawn of new Najaf: iMaraja, modernity and traditional leadership: opportunities and challenges
Damji, Bashir and Datoo, Alihusain
An examination of how technology both poses both a challenge and presents an opportunity for the marja’iyya. For more details, click here.


The globalization of religious authority as a challenge to the contemporary Hawza?
Robert Riggs
A study of how the increased global flow of information will affect the authority and status of the hawza within the Shi’i community. For more details, click here.


Changing views of Shi’i Islam: culture and learning in the seminaries of Iraq and Iran
Rasiah, Arun
The self-conception of the hawza’s educational mission will be studied in this project, examining how educational philosophy and the idea of a distinctive Shii Islam do and will feed through into changes within the hawza system. For more details, click here.