Alexander Hainy-Khaleeli

About me:

Alexander Khaleeli is an AHRC SWWDTP-funded PhD researcher at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. His research focuses on the religious history of Iran in the 14th and 15th centuries, particularly the development of Twelver Shi’ism as a minority faith before its adoption by the Safavid Dynasty as their imperial creed.

Prior to commencing his doctoral studies, Alexander was a visiting lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Roehampton, and a translator of Arabic and Persian texts. He has produced work for the International Committee of the Red Cross, the National Museum of Qatar, and the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. His translation of a 13th-century Arabic text on pedagogy, The Desire of the Aspirant, has been published by ICAS Press, and his multi-volume translation of a 16th-century Persian commentary on the Qur’an, The Rarefied Exegesis, is due to be published in late 2020.

Research Unit:
Centre for the Study of Islam
Research Project:

The association of Iran with Twelver Shi’ism is typically dated to 1501, when the newly-established Safavid dynasty adopted it as their imperial creed and set about promoting it in their realm with the help of émigré Twelver clerics from Lebanon. Current scholarship embraces the narrative that there was an absence of Twelver ulama in Iran in the centuries leading up to this date, magnifying the role of the Safavids in establishing the faith, while marginalising the significance of its pre-existing forms. However, the state of Twelver Shi’ism in Iran prior to the Safavids has not been adequately studied.

The present research addresses this gap by analysing the development of Twelver religious literature in Persian before 1501, with particular focus on a collection of sermons that was produced by a preacher in mid-14th-century Khurasan. This, it is hoped, will reveal previously hidden influences on the faith’s development under the Safavids, add to our understanding of 14th-15th century Iran’s social and religious atmosphere, and to open new avenues for research through the identification of previously unknown sources and figures within Twelver scholarly networks in Iran during this period.

Research Supervisory team:

Prof. Robert Gleave (IAIS, Exeter)

Prof. Carolyn Muessig (Bristol)

Research Wider Research Interests:

Iranian History, Persian Literature, Twelver Shi'ism, Islamic Intellectual History, Social History of Religion

Education:

January 2019 January 9999

University of Exeter

Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies

Research PhD

January 2008 January 2010

Middlesex University

MA Islamic Studies (Distinction)

January 2007 January 2008

University of Damascus

Institute of Languages

Certificate in Classical Arabic (Upper Advanced)

January 2004 January 2007

Middlesex University

BA (Hons) Islamic Studies (1st)