Book Talk: Dr. Ali Altaf Mian on Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty
The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, N1C 4DN
Wednesday 25th November 2026 5:00PM
Please join us for a book event on Dr. Ali Altaf Mian’s Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026) on 25th November at 5 pm at the Atrium Common Room, Aga Khan Centre, King’s Cross. This will be a hybrid event and can be streamed online via Zoom.
This book works through multiple genres of the Islamic tradition to address the following questions: How is the practice of religious rituals already a political act and a movement of justice? What do bodies share between themselves as they learn and convey rituals and genres? Is this mode of teaching and transmission akin to a form of love called transference? How does transference ease identification with ethical exemplars? Do transference and identification make it easier to manage the self and modulate the spirit? What are the political implications of ethical struggle and spiritual sovereignty?
Mian brings together Sufism and psychoanalysis to highlight the translational possibilities and impasses between ritualization and secularization. This talk will highlight the concept and practice of love (‘ishq and mahabbat) in the Sufi tradition and how the tension between affect and reason is modulated in spiritual relationships to traverse what is called in psychoanalysis “the fundamental fantasy.” Mian suggests that what is practiced in Sufi traversals of fantasy is a humble practice of sovereignty, involving both seekers’ personal struggles (mujāhada) and spiritual guides’ training and tutelage (tarbiyya).
This event will be moderated by Dr. Najam Abbas and Dr. Zehra Kazmi from the South Asian Studies Unit. Copies of Dr. Mian's books will be available for purchase at £20.
Event breakdown:
5-5.15 pm Welcome and Introduction
5.15-5.55 pm Talk by Dr. Ali Altaf Mian
5.55-6.30 pm Q&A and concluding remarks
Speaker bio
Ali Altaf Mian is the Izzat Hasan Sheikh Fellow in Islamic Studies and assistant professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He is the author of Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026) and the forthcoming Muslims in South Asia (Edinburgh University Press, 2029) and the editor of The Bruce B. Lawrence Reader: Islam beyond Borders (Duke University Press, 2021). His research and teaching interests include Islam in South Asia, religion and critical theory, psychoanalysis and mysticism, gender and sexuality in religious traditions, Islam and contemporary art, and philosophical discourses on violence and displacement.
Discussants
Dr. Najam Abbas is a Research Associate and Editor at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. He is member of the editorial team for the 16-volume Encyclopaedia Islamica brought in partnership with Brill since 2008. For his complete bio, click here.
Dr. Zehra Kazmi is a Research Associate in South Asian Studies at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. She researches literary and cultural memory among South Asian Muslims and the diaspora in the late 19th and 20th centuries. For her complete bio, click here.
This book works through multiple genres of the Islamic tradition to address the following questions: How is the practice of religious rituals already a political act and a movement of justice? What do bodies share between themselves as they learn and convey rituals and genres? Is this mode of teaching and transmission akin to a form of love called transference? How does transference ease identification with ethical exemplars? Do transference and identification make it easier to manage the self and modulate the spirit? What are the political implications of ethical struggle and spiritual sovereignty?
Mian brings together Sufism and psychoanalysis to highlight the translational possibilities and impasses between ritualization and secularization. This talk will highlight the concept and practice of love (‘ishq and mahabbat) in the Sufi tradition and how the tension between affect and reason is modulated in spiritual relationships to traverse what is called in psychoanalysis “the fundamental fantasy.” Mian suggests that what is practiced in Sufi traversals of fantasy is a humble practice of sovereignty, involving both seekers’ personal struggles (mujāhada) and spiritual guides’ training and tutelage (tarbiyya).
This event will be moderated by Dr. Najam Abbas and Dr. Zehra Kazmi from the South Asian Studies Unit. Copies of Dr. Mian's books will be available for purchase at £20.
Event breakdown:
5-5.15 pm Welcome and Introduction
5.15-5.55 pm Talk by Dr. Ali Altaf Mian
5.55-6.30 pm Q&A and concluding remarks
Speaker bio
Ali Altaf Mian is the Izzat Hasan Sheikh Fellow in Islamic Studies and assistant professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. He is the author of Islamic Ethics and Spiritual Sovereignty: Genres of Tradition in Muslim South Asia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2026) and the forthcoming Muslims in South Asia (Edinburgh University Press, 2029) and the editor of The Bruce B. Lawrence Reader: Islam beyond Borders (Duke University Press, 2021). His research and teaching interests include Islam in South Asia, religion and critical theory, psychoanalysis and mysticism, gender and sexuality in religious traditions, Islam and contemporary art, and philosophical discourses on violence and displacement.
Discussants
Dr. Najam Abbas is a Research Associate and Editor at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. He is member of the editorial team for the 16-volume Encyclopaedia Islamica brought in partnership with Brill since 2008. For his complete bio, click here.
Dr. Zehra Kazmi is a Research Associate in South Asian Studies at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. She researches literary and cultural memory among South Asian Muslims and the diaspora in the late 19th and 20th centuries. For her complete bio, click here.
Event Details
Starts at 5:00PM
