Ta’seel Commons (Ta'seel meaning: “contextualization, to “give an asl (root) to”) is an online platform dedicated to the (re)invigoration of Islamic thought in a (post)modern world. Ta’seel Commons is an online space created for disseminating information on contemporary ‘Islams’ place in the modern world. In creating this space, we seek to impact discourses on and about Islam in the West and in the East, cutting across national and sectarian lines.
For nearly two decades the digital sphere has been revolutionizing all sectors – from travel to lodging, from knowledge production to knowledge consumption. The dissemination of knowledge and of ideas is happening at a faster rate than ever before in history. In fact, many people are predicting the radical reconfiguration of the brick and mortar university as a result of online learning in the form of MOOCs (massive open online courses). Utilizing the tools and advances of the digital revolution, Ta’seel Commons provides high quality content aimed at a mainstream audience, but occupying the important and under-utilized space between the (purely) academic and the (purely) journalistic.
Ta’seel Commons provides articles written by scholars of Islam covering the broad range of topics from Theology to Philosophy, from Sociology to Anthropology, from History to Politics, from Sharia to Ethics. Ta’seel Commons tackles issues that are current and ongoing, historic and philosophical, sociological and metaphysical, grounded in an approach attuned to western critical sensibilities and the broader principles of the Islamic tradition.
For nearly two decades the digital sphere has been revolutionizing all sectors – from travel to lodging, from knowledge production to knowledge consumption. The dissemination of knowledge and of ideas is happening at a faster rate than ever before in history. In fact, many people are predicting the radical reconfiguration of the brick and mortar university as a result of online learning in the form of MOOCs (massive open online courses). Utilizing the tools and advances of the digital revolution, Ta’seel Commons provides high quality content aimed at a mainstream audience, but occupying the important and under-utilized space between the (purely) academic and the (purely) journalistic.
Ta’seel Commons provides articles written by scholars of Islam covering the broad range of topics from Theology to Philosophy, from Sociology to Anthropology, from History to Politics, from Sharia to Ethics. Ta’seel Commons tackles issues that are current and ongoing, historic and philosophical, sociological and metaphysical, grounded in an approach attuned to western critical sensibilities and the broader principles of the Islamic tradition.
Meet Our Team
Dr. Hasan Azad
founder and editor in chief
Hasan Azad holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from Columbia University. His work examines—among other things—the multifarious ways media-political narratives construct Muslimness as an object of fundamental Otherness. His online publications include lengthy interviews with Talal Asad, Wael Hallaq, and Tariq Ramadan. He has extensive experience as an author and editor of online academic articles. Hasan has written for AlJazeera, Allegra Lab, The Huffington Post, The Islamic Monthly, Jadaliyya, Religion Dispatches, and Sacred Matters. The topics of his articles range from Islamic Philosophy to Islam and Animal Ethics, from Islamic Politics to Post-colonial Muslim Subjects, from Digital Islam to Islam and Artificial Intelligence. His article “Reconstructing the Muslim Self: Muhammad Iqbal, Khudi, and the Modern Self” is published in the Islamophobia Studies Journal (Fall, 2014), and his entry “Sexuality” is published in the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, 2nd edition.
Dr. Saad Ismail
Associate editor
Saad Ismail is an MBBS doctor under Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka, India. A medic by training, he is also interested in broader theoretical issues around the anthropology and philosophy of healthcare. His paper entitled “Big Pharma in Clinical Trials: A Critical Appraisal” was presented at the first “International Conference on Bioethics in the Health Sciences” organized in India in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics, University of Haifa, Israel. He has participated in various academic conferences and workshops in the humanities, where he has presented papers such as “Ethics, Theory and the Meaning of Life: Some Aristotelian Explorations '' given at the Department of Philosophy, Kolhan University, Jharkhand. Saad also writes for the student magazine The Companion, where he has served as a member of the editorial board for several years. His blogs are a personal and academic take on faith and philosophy in the modern world. He is the founder and member of Kalaburagi Book Club, a creative open space in the city that hosts discussions on popular and classic literature in English as well as spanning the local languages of Kannada, Hindi and Urdu. He is also the host of a podcast that explores the paradoxes of being a modern Indian Muslim.