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 Co-editor in chiefHasan 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.
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James Edmonds
Co-Editor in chiefJames Edmonds is completing a PhD in the anthropology of religion at Arizona State University. He is an editor for #AsiaNow, a blog for the Association of Asian Studies, Inside Indonesia, as well as a HASTAC Scholar. James has published in #AsiaNow, The Jakarta Post, Reading Religion, and Religion and Culture. His dissertation investigates the figure and phenomena surrounding an immensely popular performer, Habib Syech bin Abdul Qodir Assegaf. His interests in this project and more broadly include performance, experimental ethnography, contemporary Islam in Indonesia, Lived Islam, sensory anthropology, and material religion. |
Dr. Joseph Kaminski
MANAGING Section Editor
Joseph J. Kaminski received his PhD in Political Science from Purdue University in 2014. He is originally from the United States (Northwest Indiana) and has been an Assistant Professor at the International University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina since September 2014. His research interests lie at the intersection of Political Theory and Comparative Politics/IR with a regional focus on the Muslim world. His first book was published in 2017 in Khaled Abou El Fadl’s series with Palgrave titled: The Contemporary Islamic Governed State: A Reconceptualization. His other works have appeared in the Islamophobia Studies Journal, Intellectual Discourse, and Marmara Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilimler Dergisi, among other places. He also has published a couple book chapters (Routledge and E-International Relations) and currently has 2 more forthcoming book chapters in M. E. Tok and L. A. Pal (Eds.), Global Governance: Muslim Perspectives, Contributions and Challenges (New York: Palgrave), which are expected to be in available in early to mid-2018. Hobbies include improving his Arabic and Farsi, traveling, American sports, and very spicy Indian and Pakistani foods. |