On May 20th, Dr. Atif Suhail Siddiqui, a research fellow at Yale University, met with Shaykh Amin to consult on the topic of his research fellowship: the theological and philosophical contributions of the founder of Dār al-ʿUlūm Deoband: Imam Mawlānā Muḥammad Qāsim al-Nānawtawī (after whom Darul Qasim is named). Dr. Atif Siddiqui is the founder and president of the Deoband Institute of Islamic Thought (DIIT) and the author of Life and Thoughts of Ḥujjat al-Islām Imām Muḥammad Qāsim Al-Nānawtawī, Founder of Darul Uloom Deoband. His interest in the discursive theology and polemical discourse of Imam Qāsim al-Nānawtawī, and perhaps most importantly his critical intellectual engagement with modernity, has led Dr. Siddiqui to a study of Imam Qāsim’s highly challenging and technical theological works. Shaykh Amin agreed to begin a series of conversations on Imam Qāsim’s philosophy with Dr. Siddiqui to facilitate his research in the field and to help introduce the world to the “neo-kalām” of the intellectual giants of the Indian subcontinent, amongst whom Imam Qāsim al-Nānawtawī deserves special praise.
