Headshot of Dr.Kamal Gasimov

Dr. Kamal Gasimov

Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies
  • Profile

    Kamal Gasimov earned his Ph.D. in Middle East Studies and an M.A. in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also holds an M.A. in Persian Language and Literature from Baku State University. Kamal has previously taught at Swarthmore College, the University of Michigan, and the University of Fribourg. At the University of Richmond, he teaches courses on Arabic language, culture, and literature.

    His articles have been published or are forthcoming in the Journal of Islamic Studies, Central Asian Affairs, and Arabica: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. He has also published book chapters in edited volumes such as Religion and Soft Power in the South Caucasus (Routledge, 2017) and Tasawwuf and Traditionalism (Brill, forthcoming in 2025). Kamal has made several translations of books on Islamic law and contemporary legal thought from Arabic and English into Russian and Azerbaijani.

    Currently, Kamal is working on transforming his dissertation project, titled Crafting Legal and Ethical Revival in the Sufi Lodge: ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha‘rani (d. 1565) and his Circle, into a book. His project explores how Sufi networks utilize mystical epistemology to establish legal pluralism, resolve centuries-old contradictions in religious law, and legitimize global policies of the Empire in early modern Egypt under Ottoman rule. His teaching and research interests include Arabic language pedagogy (TAFL), intellectual and social history of Islam, Mamluk and Ottoman studies, Sufism, Islamic legal history, the bureaucratization of religion, and religious movements in the post-Soviet space, as well as contemporary Arab/Islamic thought. Some of his publications can be accessed here. 

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    • Presentations

      Selected Presentations

      “Debates on the Epistemological Value of Divine Inspiration (Ilhām/Kashf) in Premodern Islamic Thought,” The American Society of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Islamic Philosophy Conference, Harvard University (2024) 

      “The Anthropology of Defilement from the Sufi Lodge,” The Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, [The SSME Best Paper Prize] (2024)

      “Jihad in Ukraine?”: Debates on Muslims’ Involvement in Russo-Ukrainian Conflict within Contemporary Islamic Legal and Theological Discussions, Annual Conference of the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University (2023)

      “Worldviews in Conflict: The Head of the Sufi Lodge against ‘the Scholars of Formalities’,” Traditionalism and Tasawwuf International Seminar, University of Kentucky (2023)

      “Transcending Adam’s Fall, Speaking Primordial Language, and Theorizing Islamic Ritual in Early Modern Cairo,” the Great Lakes Adiban Society,” 7th Annual Workshop, Western Michigan University (2023)

      “The Ethics of “Positive Thinking” as a Spiritual Exercise and Theological Method in the Sixteenth-Century Sufism,” Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics (2023)

      “Adam’s Fall as An Origin of Social Order: ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Sha‘rānī (d. 973/1565) on Genealogy of Islamic Law, Human Deficiency, and Salvation,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting (2022)

      “Contestation of Religious Authority among Salafi Networks in Azerbaijan”, Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (2022)

      “Sufis and Islamic Law: ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Sha‘rānī’s Interdisciplinary Approach,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting (Virtual Conference; 2020)

      “Bureaucratization and Engineering of Islam in Azerbaijan’, Association for the Study of Nationalities, Columbia University (2019)

  • Publications
    Journal Articles

    “Muslim Saints Contested: Ibn Taymiyya’s Critique of Al-Qushayrī’s Risāla”, Journal of Islamic Studies, 34/2 (2022): 153-211.

    “Bureaucratization of Islam in Azerbaijan: State as a Principal Regulator and Interpreter of Religion”, Central Asian Affairs, 7/2 (2020): 1-37.

    “Ijtihad in the Light of the Goals of Shari‘a: Jasser Auda’s Ethical and Legal Theory”, Islamology, 8/2 (2018): 9-28 [in Russian]

    “Examining Salafism in Azerbaijan: Transnational Connections and Local Context”, in: Ansgar Jödicke (ed.), Religion and Soft Power in the South Caucasus (London: Routledge, 2017): 105-127.

    “Driss Hani’s Criticism of the Theory of the Objectives of Islamic Law (maqasid al-shari‘a)”, Al-Kalima, 106 (2020): 129-161 [in Arabic]

    “A Discord in the Camp of Jihadists: Ideological Struggle between al-Qaeda and the “Islamic State” organization,” Security Index, 3:114 (2015): 61-82 – [in Russian]

    “Weapons of Mass Destruction in Muslim Fatwas,” Security Index, Nos. 3-4 (108-109), 20 (2014).

    Book Chapters

    “Multimodal Salafi Engagement with Digital Media in Azerbaijan,” New Voices from Central Asia: Political, Economic, and Societal Challenges and Opportunities, ed. Marlene Laruelle (Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Central Asia Program, 2018); also published as a research paper:  “Multimodal Salafi Engagement with Digital Media in Azerbaijan”, Central Asia Fellows Papers, (Washington, DC: The George Washington University/Elliott School of International Affairs, 2017): 1-23.

    “Examining Salafism in Azerbaijan: Transnational Connections and Local Context”, in: Ansgar Jödicke (ed.), Religion and Soft Power in the South Caucasus (London: Routledge, 2017): 105-127.

    Additional Publications

    Research Report

    “The Role of OIC in Settling the Nagorno–Karabakh Conflict”, The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, (Abu Dhabi: 2016) – [in Arabic]

    Translations

    Jasser Auda, Maqasid al-Shariah (Philosophy of Islamic Law): A Beginner’s Guide (London: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2008) [Ауда, Джассер, «Цели шариата: пособие для начинающих» ( Издательский дом Марджани, Москва, 2014] (translation from English into Russian)

    AbdulHamid Ahmad Abu Sulayman, Renewal of the Contemporary Islamic Discourse. Constants and Variables: Criminal Law as a Case Study (Washington, DC: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2008). [Абд альХамид Абу Сулайман. Реформа современной исламской мысли на примере системы уголовного права. «Идрак», Баку, 2010] (translation from Arabic into Russian)