Adam Ramadhan is a PhD candidate at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies working on the social and intellectual history of early Shiʿism as part of the ERC Starting Grant funded project, Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shiʿi Community 700-900 CE.

More information about Adam Ramadhan

Fields of interest

Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islamic Legal Studies, Shiism, Sectarianism

Research

Broadly, Adam works on the social and intellectual history of Shiʿism. His PhD research focuses on the social and institutional networks of the Shiʿi Imamate in an attempt to examine the role such networks had on forming the ‘image’ of the Imam in the face of competing actors for authority, both across and within communal affiliations. In particular, he focuses on the period of the eighth and ninth Imams, ʿAlī al-Riḍā (d. 203/818) and Muḥammad al-Jawād (d. 220/835). 

Aside from his primary work on the history of early Shiʿism, Adam maintains an interest in Islamic legal studies, specifically in the Imāmī Shiʿi tradition, and has several publications in progress stemming from his previous research. 

Curriculum Vitae

Adam Ramadhan is a PhD candidate at the Leiden Institute for Area Studies working on the social and intellectual history of early Shiʿism as part of the ERC Starting Grant funded project, Embodied Imamate: Mapping the Development of the Early Shiʿi Community 700-900 CE (ImBod). Adam first read for a BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Leeds, graduating with first-class honours and several prizes. He then spent several years undertaking traditional seminary (ḥawza) studies at Al-Mahdi Institute where he was exposed to the deep and critical method of reading classical Arabic texts across a range of disciplines. Adam went on to complete an MSt in Islamic Studies and History at the University of Oxford where he wrote a thesis on the intersection of legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) and tradition (ḥadīth) criticism in Imāmī Shiʿi thought. Prior to joining Leiden University and the ImBod project, Adam worked as the Head Librarian of a specialist Islamic Studies library and in academic administration. Adam is also the Coordinator of the British Association for Islamic Studies Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.