CIMS Convention 2021

After persisting continuing its valuable activities online, during the Covid pandemic, the CIMS board was honoured to once again host an in-person event, coinciding with its 5th anniversary.

On the 2nd and 3rd of October, scholars representing the different denominations and schools within the Muslim community, congregated at Al-Mahdi Institute for the first two-day convention held by CIMS.

The convention, which consisted of various panels over the two days, had three primary aims:

1. The first was to critically review the valuable work CIMS has carried out since its inception in 2015. As well as giving the opportunity to celebrate the progress in understanding made through the CIMS activities, revisiting and elucidating on some of the salient views and discussions over that duration, presented the chance review unsolved issues.

2. The second objective was to consolidate the ties and relationships within the existing network, as well as consolidate that body with the introduction of new members.

3. The third goal was to expand the fruitful work of CIMS, to go beyond discussing issues of contention between Sunni and Shia Muslims. The colourful diversity of the Muslim community can often be reduced to representation from the mainstream ideas from the two main denominations. Furthermore, limiting the work of CISM to discourses on contentions issues would not allow the unified handling of shared challenges.

On Saturday, 2nd October, the much-anticipated event began with Dr. Mohammad Khalid and Dr. Ali Reza Bhojani reiterating the aims and achievements of CIMS as a whole, as well as the aforementioned objectives of this convention. At this juncture, homage was paid to the Late Prof. Ataullah Siddiqui (1954-2020), who was an ardent and active supporter of the CIMS platform since its inception.