The Hawzah Between Heritage and Modernity- MIT Sessions

Upon the invitation of the Ahlul Bayt Society (Zekr) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Sayyid Kashmiri delivered a lecture on Friday, November 21, 2025, addressing the role of contemporary issues in religious studies, scholarly research, and juristic opinions issued by leading Shia jurists within the Hawzah (seminary). He highlighted the seminary’s ongoing engagement with emerging developments — most recently, the challenges and questions posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

After an introduction outlining the distinguished features of Shia jurisprudence (particularly its methodological framework of ijtihad and its dynamic capacity for continuous scholarly development through the science of Usul al-Fiqh), Sayyid Kashmiri emphasized that it is only natural for the Hawzah to remain current, innovative, and intellectually prepared for new developments, as historical evidence has consistently shown.

He clarified that renewal in the Hawzah does not mean abandoning tradition nor embracing every new idea uncritically. Rather, modernization in the Hawzah means adhering to foundational religious principles while engaging with contemporary realities, analyzing new circumstances, and presenting practical solutions grounded in the Qur’an, authentic hadith, sound reasoning, and universally recognized intellectual norms.

Sayyid Kashmiri then presented real and contemporary examples from the works of prominent scholars such as Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Sayyid al-Sistani, Shaykh al-Fayyadh, Sayyid Musa Shubairi Zanjani, and others. These examples covered wide-ranging contemporary subjects, including cryptocurrency, banking regulations, accepting the DNA testing and fingerprint identification, women serving as judges, the social contract between governments and citizens, among other emergent issues.

The lecture was well received by the attendees, leading to an extensive Q&A session that touched on multiple fields and concerns. The program concluded with remarks of appreciation and gratitude to I.M.A.M. and Sayyid Kashmiri for their cooperation and continuous support throughout the year and on numerous occasions.