Christopher Clohessy promoting his new books

Professor Christopher Clohessy spent a week in London and Cambridge, participating in three conferences to promote his two new books, the 2nd edition of Fâṭima, Daughter of Muḥammad, and the new biography of Muḥammad’s granddaughter, Half of My Heart. The Narratives of Zaynab, Daughter of ‘Alî. Both books were published in December 2018 by Gorgias Press. The three events were sponsored by the Hikma Foundation, the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, the Hyderi Islamic Centre in London and the Husaini Islamic Centre (KSIMC) in London. On Friday 1st March, Prof. Clohessy, Sheikh Nur Mohammed (Birmingham) and Sayyid Ammar Nakhshawani addressed an audience gathered at the Shî’î Hyderi Centre in south London on an evening devoted to remembering Fâṭima al-Zahrâ’. On Saturday 2nd March a second function was held at the KCISM in Stanmore, north London, where the audience was addressed by Sayyid Nakhshawani and Prof. Clohessy on aspects of Fâṭima’s life. The conference was followed by the recording of a forty-minute podcast, with a discussion on Shî’î-Catholic relations between Prof. Clohessy and Ahmed Gokal of Ahl al-Bayt TV. On Monday 4th March, a final conference was hosted by the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, with a panel comprising Prof. Clohessy (problems of methodology, historiography and textual reliance in writing about Fâṭima), Prof. Sajjad Rizvi of the University of Exeter (Fâṭima in mystical traditions) and Sheikh Mohammad al-Hilli (textual problems dealing with the marriage of ‘Alî and Fâṭima). The conference was also addressed by Roohi Hasan (Senior Producer working at ITN for ITV’s National News programs) and Safia Tharoo, a London-based barrister, and concluded with a launch of the two books in the library of the Institute. The afternoon also included a meeting between Prof. Clohessy, Sayyid Ammar Nakhshawani and Very Rev. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury (2003-2013) and now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. The three conferences ended with an official dinner at King’s College, Cambridge, hosted by the Dean of King’s College, Rev. Stephen Cherry, the Hikma Foundation and the Woolf Institute.