Source: Mirage News

Ibadism is a theological sect within Islam that stands alongside the more widely practiced Shi’a and Sunni traditions. But it isn’t nearly as well known in North America – a blind spot a recent conference at the University of Toronto sought to rectify.

The conference, titled “Ibadism and the Study of Islam: A View from the Edge,” brought together a diverse range of global scholars to discuss historical and contemporary topics in Ibadism, from the preservation and study of ancient manuscripts to questions of ethics, language, community-building, religious and legal traditions and more.

It was the first time the annual conference has been hosted in Canada.

“Thinking from the edges allowed us to examine the presumptions that animate most studies of Islam and Muslims today,” says Professor Anver Emon, a scholar of Islamic legal history appointed to the Faculty of Law and the department of history who is also the director of the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Institute of Islamic Studies.

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