Historic Shia Chair Celebrated at Inauguration Banquet

The first academic chair dedicated to Shia Studies in North America had its formal debut earlier this year at an inauguration banquet at Hartford Seminary.

The first academic chair dedicated to Shia Studies in North America had its formal debut earlier this year at an inauguration banquet at Hartford Seminary.

The Imam Ali Chair for the Study of Shia Islam and Dialogue among Islamic Legal School was established to provide a voice in the academy for Shia Islam, as well as to encourage dialogue among the diverse Islamic legal schools. Master of Ceremonies Dr. Timur Yuskaev described the evening as an “important occasion when it comes to the history of Muslims in the United States.

President Heidi Hadsell began the evening program by saying, “The dedication of a new chair is always a special joy.”

She described the conception of the chair and the campaign to fund it, pointing to Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, who recently retired from teaching at Hartford Seminary, as the motivating force behind it.

“Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub had the dream of a Shia chair at Hartford Seminary,” she said. He helped the school to see the importance of contributing to intra-Muslim dialogue in addition to its efforts in interreligious and other intra-religious work.

Speakers throughout the evening emphasized the chair’s unique nature and the ways in which it supports Hartford Seminary’s mission to explore differences while deepening faith, as well as its long history of scholarship in Christian-Muslim relations.