The 2003 recipient of the IIS’ Dissertation Writing Scholarship, Dr Mir-Kasimov obtained his doctorate from the , Paris. His thesis was devoted to the reconstruction of the doctrinal views of the Hurufis, one of the messianic movements strongly influenced by Shi‘i ideas which emerged in Iran in the 14th century CE.
After defending his doctoral dissertation, Dr. Mir-Kasimov continued as a post-doctoral fellow, first at the in Nantes, France, and then at the in Berlin, Germany, with the grant of the . His postdoctoral project focused on the doctrinal aspects of the groups belonging to the Shi’i messianic tradition.
Dr Mir-Kasimov is currently working on a book on the original Hurufi doctrines and their place among the currents of Muslim thought. He plans to focus his further research on the Shi’i and crypto-Shi’i intellectual circles of the 14th-15th centuries, their possible connections with the doctrinal legacy of early Shi’ism and their influence on later messianic groups and movements.
The Institute’s Department of Academic Research and Publications (DARP) aims to advance civilisation-based and interdisciplinary approaches and avoids narrow sectarian perspectives in all its research. The primary objective of the Institute’s research activities is to establish itself as an important centre of Islamic studies in general and Shi’i and Ismaili studies in particular.