Hartford Seminary students, faculty and dozens of community members gathered at Hartford Seminary on Thursday, April 28th for a panel discussion on The Formative Period of Shi’i Thought.

This event was the second, in a series of three, discussions and lectures from the office of the Imam Ali Chair for Shi’a Studies and Dialogue Among Islamic Legal Schools. Opening remarks from chair Dr. Ammar Nakhjavani were followed by presentations from Mohammad Sagha, a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago and Prof. Tehseen Thaver, Assistant Professor of Religion at Bard College.

Mohammad Sagha presented a paper focused on looking at revolution, eschatology, and penitence in the period after martyrdom of Imam Hussayn.

Prof. Thaver discussed ambiguous versus clear writings in texts such as the Qur’an, and responses to said writings; she also led a discussion on the central question of grammar or language versus logic as the fundamental source of knowledge in exegesis of these texts.