This is to announce the Tobunken Seminar featuring Professor Sajjad Rizvi of the University of Exeter. The event is open to the public and no registration is required. (K. Morimoto)

Lecture Title: The Making of a Marjaʿ: Sistani and Shii Religious Authority in the Contemporary Age

Speaker： Dr. Sajjad Rizvi (Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual History and Islamic Studies, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter)

Date and Venue: May 17 (Thu), 18:30-20:00, Room 304, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tobunken), University of Tokyo (東京大学東洋文化研究所；Hongo Campus).

Abstract:
Anyone interested in the question of contemporary Islamic religious authority in the world today will be familiar with the person of Ayatollah Sistani, the leading Shii religious authority in the world with an extensive network of offices. In this lecture, I shall examine the phenomenon of the modern institution of Shii religious authority considering how Sistani came to hold the pre-eminent position that he does today, and juxtapose his model of authority to previous ones associated with Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran and Ayatollah Baqir al-Sadr in Iraq.

*The event is open to the public and no registration is required. Contact person: Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp).

**This event is co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Research Group: Studies on Muslim Discourses Surrounding the Prophet’s Family) and Organization for Islamic Area Studies, Waseda University.