On 9–10 July 2026, the Hadith and History research area at Al-Mahdi Institute held its Second Hadith and History Conference, entitled “Esoteric Currents and Intellectual Tensions: The Ghulāt in Formative Shiism.” The conference brought together an international group of scholars from leading universities and research institutions across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Egypt, and other countries to examine one of the most complex and historically contested subjects in early Islamic intellectual history.
The conference opened with welcoming remarks by Dr Haidar Hobballah, who emphasised that the concept of ghuluww has long occupied a sensitive place within Islamic theological discourse and has often served as a polemical category employed by competing religious groups. He stressed that the conference was intended neither to defend nor to condemn the phenomenon, but rather to provide a rigorous academic platform through which its historical development, intellectual foundations, and diverse manifestations could be examined from multiple scholarly perspectives.
The first panel explored the conceptual foundations of ghuluww. Dr Syed Ali Hur Kamoonpuri proposed a Qur’an-based framework for defining religious exaggeration within Twelver Shiʿism, while Shakh Arif Abdul Hussain examined methodological inconsistencies in the treatment of ghuluww-related traditions within Imāmī literature. Tabriz Gasimov offered a fresh reading of the term ghulāt, arguing that early usage may have been connected less to doctrinal excess than to the disclosure of esoteric teachings and the violation of confidential religious knowledge.
The second panel examined the formation of sectarian identity and accusations of heresy. Dr Iqbal Akhtar analysed the figure of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sabaʾ and the role it played in shaping later narratives concerning early Shiʿi heterodoxy, while Ammaar Muslim highlighted the importance of literary analysis of polemical anecdotes preserved in early Imāmī biographical sources as a neglected avenue for reconstructing the beliefs and intellectual world of the early ghulāt.
The third panel focused on esotericism and religious authority. Dr Mohammad Khalil Tarraf investigated esoteric Qur’anic interpretation through the case of Jābir ibn Yazīd al-Juʿfī, while Abdullah Ansar and Mohammad Al Mosawi explored the development of docetic conceptions of the Imām within early ghulāt literature and their wider theological significance. Dr Seyed Amir Asghari concluded the session with an examination of the relationship between accusations of ghuluww, juridical authority, and Shiʿi–Sufi metaphysics during the Mamluk period.
The final panel of the first day broadened the discussion by examining the reception of ghulāt ideas in later intellectual traditions. Dr Mushegh Asatryan analysed the polemical and cultural world reflected in Kitāb al-Ṣirāṭ, while Dr Ayşe Uzun traced the evolution of the concept of ghulāt within the Sunni tafsīr tradition from the classical period to contemporary Qur’anic exegesis.
The second day opened with a panel devoted to the legacy of ghulāt thought in later Shiʿi intellectual history. Dr Mohsen Kadivar examined the influence of the Mufawwiḍa on the development of Imāmī theology, Dr Wissam H. Halawi investigated the Druze tradition within the wider context of formative Shiʿism, and Dr Mohamed Enab presented an innovative study of Yemeni Islamic architecture as material evidence for the symbolic and intellectual expression of Shiʿi esotericism.
The conference concluded with a final panel dedicated to the relationship between ghulāt traditions and the formation of Imāmī hadith. Dr Peyman Ünügür Tekin employed computational and thematic analysis to examine the transmission of traditions associated with narrators identified as ghulāt in al-Kāfī. Dr Hossein Barati and Sobhan Ranjbarzadeh concluded the academic programme with a study of the role of Jesus in ghulāt thought and the ways in which early Shiʿi theologians responded to Christological motifs within esoteric currents.
Throughout the two days, the conference generated lively and constructive discussion among participants from a wide range of academic disciplines and methodological backgrounds. By bringing together historical, theological, textual, philosophical, archaeological, and digital approaches, the conference demonstrated both the richness and the complexity of the study of ghuluww in formative Shiʿism. It also highlighted the importance of approaching contested religious concepts through critical historical inquiry and interdisciplinary scholarship.
In his closing remarks, Dr Haidar Hobballah thanked all participants for their scholarly contributions and emphasised that the conference formed part of Al-Mahdi Institute’s continuing commitment to advancing rigorous research in Hadith and early Islamic intellectual history. The papers presented at the conference are expected to form the basis of a future edited academic volume.
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