AMI Faculty
Dr Haidar Hobballah
Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies & Research Lead for Hadith and History
Biography
Dr Haidar Hobballah completed his introductory and intermediate levels of hawza studies in 1995 at the age of 22 and went on to undertake advanced studies with Sayyid Mahmud al-Hashimi al-Shahroudi. In 2004, Dr Hobballah graduated with a master’s degree in Quranic and Hadith Studies from the college of Usul al-Din. Thereafter, he received another masters in Islamic Law from al-Mustafa International University in 2016. He received his PhD in Comparative Religions and Christian Theology from the University of Religions and Denominations in 2020. Amongst his notable teachers are Sayyid Mahmud al-Hashimi al-Shahroudi, Shaykh Hussain al-Najati, Shaykh Baqir al-Irawani, Shaykh Wahid al-Khurasani, and Shaykh Abdullah Jawadi Amuli.
As well as his hawza studies, Dr Hobballah worked as the editor in chief of various academic journals such as al-Minhāj al-Bayrūtiyya, Nuṣūṣ Muʿāṣira, and al-Ijtihād wa-l-Tajdīd. He was previously a member of the editorial board of the journal of Fiqh Ahl al-Bayt al-Takhaṣṣuṣiyya. He has authored two dozen books and numerous articles in the fields of jurisprudence, legal theory, theology, philosophy, and Quranic and hadith studies. Dr Hobballah taught intermediate level classes in the hawza for more than 15 years and began teaching advanced classes (baḥth khārij) in 2005 at the Hawza of Qom in jurisprudence, legal theory, hadith, and the study of narrators. In addition to his teaching and publications, he has also supervised many masters and doctoral theses in the seminary of Qom, al-Mustafa University, the University of Religions and Denominations, and the College of Usul al-Din.
Taught at Al-Mahdi Institute:
- Hawza Programme: Lecturer in Qur'an and Hadith Studies, Al-Mahdi Institute
- Post-graduate Diploma in Islamic Studies (PGDip): Qurʾānic and Ḥadīth Studies (ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān wa al-Ḥadīth): 14 lessons
- Islam & Self-development Programme (ISDP): Introductory Courses in Qurʾānic and Ḥadīth Studies (ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān wa al-Ḥadīth): 10 lessons
Advanced Seminary Lessons (Baḥth al-Khārij):
Uṣūl al-Fiqh
- The Authority of Ḥadīth: 98 lessons
- The Scope of the Authority of Ḥadīth: 144 lessons
- The Comprehensiveness of the Sharī‘ah: 113 lessons
- The Jurisprudence of Maṣlaḥah (Public Interest): 85 lessons
- Maqāṣid-based Ijtihād (Purpose-Oriented Jurisprudence): 175 lessons
- The Theory of Abrogation in Islamic Thought (Naẓariyyat al-Naskh fī al-Fikr al-Islāmī): 125 lessons
Fiqh
- Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil: 109 lessons
- Contemporary Jurisprudential Studies: 229 lessons
- Studies in the Jurisprudence of Religious Minorities: 94 lessons
- The Jurisprudence of Food and Drink: 118 lessons
- The Jurisprudence of War and Peace in the Sharī‘ah: 140 lessons
Theological Studies:
- The Theory of Infallibility (Baḥth Naẓariyyat al-ʿIṣmah): 84 lessons
- Advanced Study in the Science of Narrators (ʿIlm al-Rijāl)
253 lessons
The Intellectual Sciences
- Explanation of “The Logical Foundations of Induction الأسس المنطقية للاستقراء” by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr: 57 lessons
- Explanation of “The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realismاصول الفلسفة والمذهب الواقعي ” by ʿAllāmah al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī: 170 lessons
- Explanation of the Theory of Knowledge in (Falsafatunāفلسفتنا ) by Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr: 11 lessons
- Explanation of “The New Method in Teaching Philosophy المنهج الحجديد في تعليم الفلسفة ” by Muḥammad Taqī Miṣbāḥ Yazdī: 127 lessons
- Studies in Modern Kalām- علم الكلام الجديد (Theology): 48 lessons
The Transmitted Sciences العلوم النقلية
- Lessons on Orientalists and Ḥadīth Studies: 32 lessons
- Lessons on Fabrication and Falsehood in Ḥadīth: 21 lessons
- Lessons on the History of Tradition-Based Exegesis among Muslims: 16 lessons
- Lessons on the Sources of Imāmī Ḥadīth: 12 lessons
- Studies on the General Principles of Qurʾānic Jurisprudence: 18 lessons
- Exegesis of the Noble Qurʾān (Explanation of the Short Sūrahs): 98 lessons
- Lessons on the Verbal and Conceptual Revelation of the Qurʾān: 18 lessons
In Fiqh and Uṣūl
- Explanation of al-Ṣadr’s “الحلقة الثالثة في الاصول”: 268 lessons
- Explanation of al-Khurāsānī’s “Kifāyat al-Uṣūl”: 308 lessons
- Explanation of the Section on Options (al-Khiyārāt) from “al-Makāsib”: 153 lessons
- Lessons on the Philosophy of Fiqh: 13 lessons
- Lessons on the Sunni Schools of Fiqh, their Doctrines, and Historical Development: 14 lessons
The History of the Sciences
- The History of the Science of Narrators (ʿIlm al-Rijāl) among the Shīʿah: 21 lessons
- The History of ʿIlm al-Rijāl among the Sunnis: 9 lessons
- The History of the Science of Uṣūl al-Fiqh in Shīʿī Thought: 25 lessons
- The History of the Science of Uṣūl al-Fiqh in Sunni Thought: 21 lessons
- Introductory Lessons on the History of Christian Theology: 41 lessons
Miscellaneous
- Methods of Study and Ijtihād-Based Teaching: 15 lessons
- Methods of Authorship and Writing: 17 lessons
- Various Lectures in Islamic Thought: 203 lectures
- al-Taʿlīqah ʿalā Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn (Commentary on Minhāj al-Ṣāliḥīn) (4 Volumes)
- al-Lughah al-Qurʾāniyyah Bayna al-ʿUrfiyyah wa-l-Mā Fawqa al-ʿUrfiyyah wa Fikrat Buṭūn al-Qurʾān (The Language of the Qur'an between Conventional and Supra-Conventional Usage, and the Concept of the Inner Layers of the Qur'an)
- Istifhāmāt wa-Istiftāʾāt maʿa al-Marjiʿ al-Dīnī al-ʿAllāmah al-Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh (1990–1995) (Questions and Requests for Religious Rulings with the Eminent Religious Authority, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh (1990–1995))
- Islamic Political Jurisprudence in Light of the Theory of the Objectives of Sharia (𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢c𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐠𝐞) (𝐀𝐥-𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 in Baghdad, 2025)
- Al-Taʿaddudiyya al-dīniyya: naẓra fī al-madhhab al-blūrālī (Religious Pluralism: Observations on the Pluralist) (Beirut: Markaz al-Ghadīr li-l-Dirāsāt al-Islāmiyya, 2001)
- ʿIlm al-kalām al-muʿāṣir: qirāʾa tārīkhiyya manhajiyya (Contemporary Theology: A Systematic Historical View) (Qom: al-Markaz al-ʿĀlimī li-l-ʿUlūm al-Islāmiyya, 2003)
- Buḥūth fī al-fiqh al-zirāʿī: taqrīr baḥth al-marjʿa al-dīnī al-Sayyid Maḥmūd al-Hāshimī al-Shāhrūdī (Research on Agricultural Jurisprudence: Transcripts from the Lessons of al-Sayyid Maḥmūd al-Hāshimī al-Shāhrūdī) (Qom: Muʾassasat Dāʾirat Maʿārif Fiqh al-Islāmī, 2005)
- Naẓariyyat al-sunna fī al-fikr al-Imāmī al-Shīʿī: al-takawwun wa al-ṣayrūra (The Concept of Sunnah in Imami Shiʿi Thought: Formation and Development) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2006)
- Masʾalat al-manhaj fī al-fikr al-dīnī: waqafāt wa mulāḥaẓāt (The Issue of Methodology in Religious Thought: Observations) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2007)
- Buḥūth fī fiqh al-ḥajj (Research into the Jurisprudence of Hajj) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2010)
- Ḥujjiyyat al-sunna fī al-fikr al-Islāmī: qirāʾa wa taqwīm (Probative Value of the Sunnah in Islamic Thought – A Reading and Valuation) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2011)
- Fiqh al-amr b-l-maʿrūf wa al-nahī ʿan al-munkar (Jurisprudence of Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2011)
- Dirāsāt fī al-fiqh al-Islāmī al-muʿāṣir (Studies in Contemporary Islamic jurisprudence (5 vol.) (n.p. Dār al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Muʿāṣir, 2011)
- Durūs tamhīdiyya fī tārīkh ʿilm al-rijāl ʿind al-Imāmiyya (Introductory Lessons on the History of ‘Ilm al-Rijal in the Imamiyyah School) (transcribed by Ahmed bin Abd al-Jabbar al-Sumain) (n.p. Dār al-Fiqh al-Islāmī al-Muʿāṣir, 2012)
- Iḍāʾāt fī al-fikr wa al-dīn wa al-ijtimāʿ (Illuminations in Thought, Religion and Society) (5 vol.) (Beirut: Markaz al-Buḥūth al-Muʿāṣira, 2013-2014)
- Ḥiwārāt wa liqāʾāt fī al-fikr al-dīnī al-muʿāṣir (Dialogues in Contemporary Religious Thought) (Beirut: Markaz al-Buḥūth al-Muʿāṣira, 2014)
- Al-Madkhal ilā mawsūʿat al-ḥadīth al-nabawī ʿind al-Imāmiyya: Dirāsa fī ḥadiīth al-Imāmī (Introduction to Prophetic Hadith as per the Imamiyyah: An Imami Shiʿi Hadith Study) (Beirut: Markaz al-Buḥūth al-Muʿāṣira, 2014)
- Risāla salām al-madhhabī (A Message of Sectarian Peace) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2015)
- Ḥujjiyyat al-ḥadīth (The Probative Force of Hadith) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2016)
- Al-Ḥadīth al-sharīf: ḥudūd al-marjaʿiyya wa dawāʾir al-iḥtijāj (Hadith: The Limits of Referability and the Extent of Authority) (2 vols.) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2017)
- Manṭiq al-naqd al-sanadī: buḥūth fī qawāʿid al-rijāl wa al-jarḥ wa-al-taʾdīl (The Logic of Critiquing Chains – Discussions on Principles of al-Rijāl, al-Jarḥ and al-Taʿdīl (3 vols.) (Beiurt: al-Intishārāt al-ʿArabī, 2017)
- Shumūl al-sharīʿa, buḥūth fī madiyyāt al-marjaʿiyya al-qānūniyya bayn al-ʿaql wa al-waḥy (Comprehensiveness of the Shari’ah – Discussions on Extents of Legal Reference Between Intellect and Revelation) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2018)
- Fiqh al-maṣlaḥa: madkhalān li-naẓariyyat al-maqāṣid wa ijtihād al-mabādiʾ wa al-ghāyāt (The Jurisprudence of Public Interest: An Introduction to Theory of Maqāṣid and Juristic Derivations based on Principles and Purposes) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2019)
- Qawāʿid fiqh al-ʿalāqa maʿa al-ākhar al-dīnī, dirāsa fī ḍawʿ al-naṣṣ al-Islāmī wa al-Masīḥī (Jurisprudential Maxims for Relationships with Other Religions: A Study in Light of Islamic and Christian Texts) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2020)
- Fiqh al-aṭʿima wa al-ashriba (The Jurisprudence of Consumables and Drinks) (3 vols.) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2020)
- Al-Ijtihād al-maqāṣidī wa al-manāṭī: al-masārāt wa-al-uṣūl wa al-ʿawāʾiq wa al-taʾthīrāt (Maqāṣidī and manāṭī ijtihād: Paths, Principles, Barriers, and Effects) (2 vols.) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2020)
- Madkhalun ilā al-waḥy wa bashariyyat al-lafẓ al-Qurʾānī (An Introduction to Revelation and the Humanity of the Qurʾānic Language) (Beirut: Dār Rawāfid, 2021)
- Fiqh al-ḥarb wa al-salām fī al-sharīʿa al-Islāmīya (The Jurisprudence of War and Peace in Islamic Sharīʿa( (3 vols.)
Invited Lectures and Academic Seminars
- ‘Shi‘a–Christian Debates in the Early Centuries: The Debates of Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha as a Case Study’
Annual Summer School, Centre for Muslim–Christian Studies, Oxford, United Kingdom.
15 August 2025. - ‘The Specification of the Qur’an by a Single Report: A Comparative Study of Islamic Usuli Schools’
Weekly Academic Seminar, Research Department, Mofid University, in collaboration with the Centre for Qur’anic Studies, Online (Iran).
1 June 2025. - ‘Ethical Ijtihad in Deriving Sharia: Analysing Theories on the Relationship Between Religious Texts and Moral Reason’
Research Seminar, Omani Cultural Club, Muscat, Oman.
23 February 2025. - ‘The Authority of Sharia: Attempting to Rethink the Role of Sharia in the Modern Age’
Public Lecture, Omani Cultural Club, Muscat, Oman.
5 May 2024.
Conference Papers
- ‘Shi‘i Ijtihād Methodologies in Contemporary Issues’
Islamic Jurisprudence and Contemporary Ethics Conference, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
7–8 July 2025. - ‘Sadd al-Dharā’i (Blocking the Means) in the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence: A Comparative Study between Sunni and Shi‘i Legal Theory’
Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
30 June–1 July 2025. - ‘Avicennian Philosophy in Contemporary Imami Religious Seminaries and Institutes’
International Conference Avicenna, Avicennism, and Later Philosophical Traditions, jointly organised by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the German Oriental Research Center (Beirut), Munich, Germany.
15–17 November 2024. - ‘The Theory of Qiyas among the Imamis and Its Transformations from the 4th to the 7th Century AH’
Second International Conference Jurisprudential Schools in the Classical Era: History and Society, organised by Namā Institute for Studies and Research (Morocco) and the University of Münster (Germany), Online.
29–30 May 2024. - ‘The Hadith Criticism Movement among Twelver Shi‘i Scholars in the Twentieth Century: The Case of Sayyed Abu al-Fadl al-Burqa’i’
Annual Conference of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS), University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
20–21 May 2024. - ‘Circumstances of the Emergence of Imāmī Jurisprudence in the Second Century Hijrī’ Early Islamic Jurisprudence and the Question of Origin Conference, jointly organised by the University of Münster (Germany) and the Namā Centre (Morocco), Online.15 December 2023.
- The transmission of hadith from Kufa to Qom in the second and third centuries. Paper presented at the International Conference, Compiling a Tradition: The History and Development of the Early Imāmī Hadith Corpora, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 12–13 February 2024.
- The Athari tafsir in Imami thought, history, structure, and epistemological and methodological issues. Paper presented at the International Conference: Diverse approaches to Quranic exegesis: historical trends, and contemporary trajectories. Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 14-15 April 2025.
- The Theory of Specificity (Naẓariyyat al-Takhṣī) in Islamic legal theory, examining specification of the Qur'an by solitary narrations. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Contemporary Fiqhī Issues Workshop, Language and Meaning in Islamic Legal Theory, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 4–5 July 2024.
- A Critical Examination of the Rational Foundations of the Theory of Blocking the Means in Islamic Legal Theory – Paper presented at the 13th Annual Contemporary Fiqhī Issues Conference, Reason and Rationality in Islamic Legal Theories and Law, Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 17–18 July 2025.
- Head of the Department of Qur'anic and Hadith Studies, Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI).
- Associate Lecturer at the University of Birmingham.
- Member of the International Centre for Collective Ijtihad (ICCI).
- Member of the International Advisory Board of Metafizika, a multilingual academic journal specialising in philosophical studies, published in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan.
Recent Contributions
Explore the latest contributions to Islamic thought by Dr Haidar Hobballah.
