Srinagar

A three Day workshop titled “Research Methodology in Social Sciences and Humanities” culminated today on Thursday at the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora.

The workshop was organised by the Department of Islamic Studies and Department of Arabic Language and Literature from Oct 10-12.

Professors and academicians from across Jammu and Kashmir and mainland India graced the occasion with their presence.

Speaking at the key note address Prof AR Kidwai threw light on the “English Translations of the Quran in the 21st Century”. Prof Kidwai talked about the pressing need to establish indigenous institutions, publishing houses, and easy access to manuscripts in the research institutes.

Dr Obaidullah Fahad, Director Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University spoke on “Recent Trends in Islamic Research: Some Methodological Issues” and highlighted the role of approaching and framing the research on Islamic epistemological framework.

Prof HN Rafiabadi, Head Dept of Religious Studies, Central University of Kashmir emphasized the peculiarities and foundations of original research and the need for creating an Islamic research methodology. He argued and suggested to lend a helping hand to further the projects like Islamization of Knowledge and International Institute of Islamic Thought.

Prof Sanaullah Nadvi, Dept of Arabic, AMU, Aligarh discussed the modern linguistic approaches in the field of theories of language and contextualized them in the larger trajectory of research in humanities and languages.

Prof Habibullah Khan, Department of Arabic, JMI, Delhi discussed the concept of translation in Arabic context and different types of translation.

Prof Ishtiaq Danish, Dept of Islamic Studies, Jamia Hamdard, Delhi contextualized the contours of modernity and the question posed by Enlightenment on the Islamic methodology. He emphasized the uniqueness of methodological of authenticity used in Hadith sciences (science of asma al-rijal) to develop a comprehensive methodology of studying Islamic history. The session concluded with some important questions and lively interaction.

Prof Jonathan Brown, Georgetown University, USA spoke on “Challenges to Hadith Methodology in Contemporary times” and discussed the challenges posed by western episteme and the rising tide of Orientalism. He focused on developing a new “hermeneutical space” to challenge the western methodological discrepancies vis-à-vis research in Islamic studies.

On the concluding day, Prof AR Bhat, Head Dept of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir delivered his lecture on “Academic Writing” and introduced the participants to different contours of academic writing.

The workshop concluded with the valedictory session. This session started with the comments by the experts and the need for organizing such workshops was unanimously impressed upon by all the speakers. The experts also suggested for establishing the specialized centers, like in western universities for furthering qualitative research in different fields of knowledge. The participants also talked about the usefulness of such events and how such programs can hone the research acumen not only among researchers and teachers but the students of the varsity as well.

The Registrar of IUST, Prof Riyaz Rufai appreciated and congratulated both the departments for organizing such workshop. Dr Arif Qazi, Head Dept of Arabic presented the vote of thanks to experts, participants, organizing committee, technical staff, research scholars, and all those who helped in making this event successful.

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