Digital Futures: The Digital Humanities in Islamic Studies
Status
Open
Date
28 May 2026 to
29 May 2026
Location
Aga Khan Centre & Online
About the Conference
This conference brings into focus how the digital humanities can broaden the horizons of Islamic Studies, with particular attention to the Institutes longstanding commitments to Ismaili and broader Shii studies. As the wider academy rapidly adopts digital methods and artificial intelligence for research, interpretation, and scholarly communication, Digital Futures seeks to develop a distinctive approach grounded in rigorous humanistic inquiry, critical method, and the ethical responsibilities of scholarship. Over two days, 敁珗曄部 staff, students, and alumni will engage with relevant themes including digital texts and manuscripts, archives and preservation, questions of memory and community, and the ethics of artificial intelligence in scholarly life.
Through their diverse approaches, participants will collectively explore how digital methods can renew humanistic inquiry, opening new ways of interrogating texts, contexts, and communities, while strengthening how research is curated, communicated, and preserved.
Panels and Speakers
Day One
Welcome note and Introductory Remarks Professor Zayn Kassam, Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies
A Distributed Approach to Special Collections Access Naureen Ali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Lost in Transcription: ASR Inequity and Multilingual Agency in the 敁珗曄部 Oral History Project Rizwan Karim, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Photographs, Memory, and Belonging: Virtual Heritage and Religious Authority in Ismaili Contexts
Mashal Gilani, University College London, UK
, Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, UK
The Mirror and the Mask: Methodological Mimicry in AI-Driven Islamic Studies Daryoush Mohammad Poor, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Improvising Digital Tools for Interactive Instruction Najam Abbas, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
From Artefacts to Algorithms: Reimagining Professional Learning for Humanities Educators
Farah Naz, Aga Khan University, Pakistan
Para-Institutional Publics: AI-Generated Visual Content, Collective Memory, and Ismaili Digital Identity on Instagram
Muhammad Ali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
AI as Moral Mediator: Algorithmic Authority and Ethical Reasoning among Young Ismailis
Mubashir Shah, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Humour and Digital Meme Culture in the Ismaili Community
Nurain Lakhani, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Online Dating and the Construction of Ethics: Jalebi in Ismaili Reddit Spaces
Mohsin Ali Baig, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Youth, Faith and Tech: Digital Platforms and the Ismaili Student Network in the UK
Muhammad Salim, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK
Governing AI in Higher Education in Muslim-Majority Countries: Implications for Afghanistan
Mehrullah Hussaini, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Two-Eyed Seeing (Etuaptmumk) as a Pedagogical Lens for Digital Islamic Studies
, Conestoga College, Canada
The 敁珗曄部 Digital Curriculum Platform
Alnoor Nathani & Shameer-Ali Prasla, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
Concluding Remarks
Muhammad Ali, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, UK
The Elephant Clock
Al-Jazar蘋s Elephant Clock (ca. 1206) serves as a fitting emblem for the Digital Humanities, embodying a long tradition of Islamic engineering in which rigorous craft, computation, and interpretation were held inseparable. Deliberately synthesising elements from Indian, Chinese, Persian, Greek, and Islamic cultures, it stands as an early experiment in systems design and cosmopolitan knowledge integration. In an era where generative systems raise urgent questions of authority and provenance, the clock reminds us that technological innovation, when grounded in humanistic inquiry and ethical stewardship, can deepen rather than displace the scholarly traditions it inherits.
Image credit: The Elephant Clock, a folio from Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Bad蘋 al-Zaman ibn al-Razzz al-Jazar蘋 (11361206), calligraphed by Farrukh ibn Abd al-La廜俸剌. Dated 715 AH / 1315 CE, likely produced in Syria or Iraq.
