This international summer school, organised by The Centre for Interreligious Studies based at the Almo Collegio Borromeo, Pavia, brought together prominent scholars dealing with the theological, historical, as well as interfaith elements of Prophetology (the study and nature of prophets). Organised around an Abrahamic focus, the tenor of the weeklong gathering drew upon scriptural, philological as well as philosophical references in deciphering commonalities and discord in the nature and influence of prophetic history. The international scholarly collaboration took place at the foremost Villa Vigoni, an institute set up for building European as well as international intellectual and cultural cooperation. Alongside the invited academics, were graduate students as well as post-docs, selected for their expertise and areas of research interest in theological and religious studies.
The Chair of Islamic Doctrine (ChID) also had a delegation including Dr. Mujadad Zaman presenting a lecture and workshop. His lecture, entitled ‘Muhammad as Man: Impressions of Masculinity in Islamic Prophetology’, dealt with themes of prophetology within traditional theological discussions from classical Islamic sources. Drawing on intellectual history, Dr. Zaman suggested how the notion of the ‘prophet’ was used as an interface for polemical discussions within mediaeval Christian dialogue and led to continued tropes which appear to the modern day, dealing with the historical personality of Muhammad. His emphasis on gender and masculinity specifically spoke to a contribution towards a dialogue with contemporary New Testament as well as Old Testament studies which have begun to deal with the nature and discourse around maleness within the historical prophets of the Abrahamic traditions. This paper was a contribution towards a dialogue within this literature with specific reference to Muhammad as an important source of theological reflection on the nature of maleness in prophetic history. Following this, Dr. Zaman led a workshop on the prominent text of the 13th century scholar and pedagogist, Al-Zarnūjī, emphasising education as a means for the imitation and emulation of the character of the Prophet Muhammad.
Mr. Abdullah Rıdvan Gökbel, another participant of the ChID, presented his paper entitled “Ottoman Contributions to Prophetological Discussions: Ibn Kemal's Treatise on the Superiority of Muḥammad”. Goekbel focused on the sixteenth-century Ottoman Shaykhulislam Ibn Kemal’s (d. 1534) treatise Risāla fī afḍaliyyat Muḥammad ʿalayhi l-salām (“Treatise on the Superiority of Muḥammad, Peace Be Upon Him”) and elaborated on its audience and reception. This paper was a valuable contribution to demonstrate the prophetological debates between Ibn Kemal and Molla Kabız (d. 1527) as an example of the reflections of the Hubmesihi (Chupmessahi) movement in different traditions of the period.
An edited volume is intended from the proceedings of the conference.
