Al-Mahdi Institute is delighted to celebrate the academic achievements of three of its Graduates and Students: Arek Miernik, Munzela Raza, and Mohammed Hadawi, who have embarked on doctoral research this year.
Arek Miernik (AMI Graduate) – Exploring Convert-Led Shi‘i Communities in the West
Since graduating from AMI in 2010, Arek Miernik has played a significant role in advancing Islamic thought and scholarship in Poland. His contributions include translating major Shīʿī works such as Nahj al-Balāgha and Al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya into Polish, an achievement that has made core Islamic texts accessible to new audiences.
Arek completed his MA in Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham in 2023 and currently serves as the editor of The Muslim Annual, a Polish Islamic academic journal. His commitment to interfaith engagement and community-based education has further enriched Islamic discourse in Central Europe.
In 2025, Arek commenced his PhD at the Centre for Islamic and West Asian Studies (CIWAS), Royal Holloway, University of London. His research focuses on:
The emergence of convert-led Shi‘i communities in Europe and North America and how these communities navigate between global Shi‘i networks and Western sociocultural, intellectual, and political contexts.
Dr Munzela Raza (AMI Graduate) – Reassessing Female Purity Laws in Shīʿī Jurisprudence
A former medical doctor turned Islamic scholar, Dr Munzela Raza embodies an interdisciplinary excellence that spans healthcare, theology, and legal theory. After completing a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience (2006) and MBChB (2009) at the University of Manchester, she practised medicine for several years before pursuing Islamic Studies full-time.
Munzela enrolled in AMI’s four-year Hawza Programme in 2017 and completed it with merit in 2021. She then earned her MA in Islamic Studies from the University of Birmingham in 2023, where her dissertation examined ʿAllāma Ḥillī’s Ghāyat al-Wuṣūl, focusing on the concept of ijtihād.
She currently serves as a Research Assistant at Al-Mahdi Institute.
In October 2025, Munzela began her PhD in Islamic Studies at Lancaster University, with a research project titled:
Negotiating Purity: A Critical Study of Istihāda (Inter-Menstrual Bleeding) in Shīʿī Jurisprudence
Her research aims to:
- Trace the historical development of istihāda as a distinct legal category in Shīʿī law
- Conduct comparative analyses across Sunnī jurisprudence and Judeo-Christian purity traditions
- Examine how modern Shīʿī jurists interpret these rulings in light of contemporary medical knowledge
Mohammed Hadawi (AMI Student) – Anticolonial Thought in Najaf’s Seminary Tradition
Mohammed Hadawi, an AMI student, has also progressed to doctoral studies this year. He is now a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Islamic and West Asian Studies (CIWAS), Royal Holloway, University of London, within the Department of Politics and International Relations.
Mohammed’s research interests include:
- Anticolonial and resistance politics
- Decolonial theory
- The intersections of religious thought and sociopolitical movements
His PhD examines:
The development of anticolonial thought among leading clerics of the Najaf seminary, a topic that bridges political theory, Shīʿī intellectual history, and the lived realities of colonial and postcolonial societies.
This study contributes to a growing scholarly discourse on the political role of religious institutions and the global legacy of decolonial movements.
We congratulate all three and wish them every success in their doctoral journeys.
