Mahima Khan
Email: mahima.khan@qmul.ac.uk
PhD project
Pedagogy and Ethics (Adab) in Medieval Islamic Higher Educational Institutions (Madrasas), 1000-1400 CE
My research explores the role of adab in medieval Islamic higher education, particularly within the context of the madrasa. It examines a corpus of pedagogical texts dating from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries to trace how educational and ethical theories evolved from pre-madrasa intellectual traditions into the institutional practices of the madrasa age.
The project is a study of the ethical components of higher educational institutions (madrasas) in the late medieval Middle East, with a particular focus on Baghdad, Cairo, and Damascus. Through a corpus of medieval pedagogical texts authored in these regions, the research investigates the role of adab - encompassing ethics, moral cultivation, character formation, and philosophical ethics more broadly, as a core component of medieval Islamic pedagogy.
These pedagogical texts are analysed alongside a range of complementary primary sources, including samāʿ certificates, ijāza certificates (authorisations for the transmission of texts), ʿadāla certificates (patents of probity), madrasa endowment deeds (waqfiyyāt), and biographical dictionaries. The study compares the pre-madrasa period (c. 900–1000 CE) in Baghdad with the age of the madrasa from c. 1100 CE, coinciding with the proliferation of madrasas in Cairo and Damascus, through to c. 1400 CE.
By applying an ethical lens to these pedagogical texts and situating them within their broader documentary context, the project offers a fruitful perspective on the social history of education and the development of the medieval madrasa as an institution.
Supervisors
Professor Yossef Rapoport, Queen Mary University of London
Professor John Sabapathy, UCL
Dr Anna Chrysostomides, Queen Mary University of London
Funding
LAHP (London Arts and Humanities Partnership)
Research Interests
My primary research interests lie in the social history of medieval Islamic societies, with a particular focus on education, pedagogy, and ethics. I am especially interested in the history of philosophical concepts, particularly ethical thought, and the ways in which philosophical ethics intersected with medieval Islamic ideals of moral cultivation and self-formation. Beyond these areas, I also have a strong interest in the history of Palestine from antiquity to the present day, as well as the histories of medieval Bengal, particularly within their broader social, intellectual, and cultural contexts.
Academic Background
I received my BA (Hons) in History with Religious Studies from the University of Hertfordshire (2019–2022). During my undergraduate studies, I completed two dissertations. My major dissertation in History examined Britain's role in the Palestine–Israel conflict between 1917 and 1948, while my minor dissertation in Religious Studies explored hope as a virtue, investigating philosophical and Islamic debates over whether hope promotes human flourishing or instead functions as a vice by detaching individuals from present reality.
I then completed an MA in History, specialising in Medieval Islamic History, at Queen Mary University of London (2022–2023). My master's dissertation, entitled 'Knowledge is Prescribed for All': A Critique of Moral Education in Seljuk and Mamluk Madrasas through a Comparative Study of the Application of Abbasid-Era Educational Theories to Later Institutions, examined the relationship between classical Islamic educational thought and its implementation within the Seljuk and Mamluk madrasa systems.
In 2024, I began a PhD in Islamic History at Queen Mary University of London. My doctoral project builds upon the themes developed throughout my undergraduate and master's studies, bringing together my long-standing interests in Islamic intellectual history, education, and ethics while expanding the research undertaken in my MA dissertation.