KONDO, Yohei

Research Associate, Ph.D.

Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
3-11-1 Asahi-cho, Fuchu-shi,
Tokyo, 183-8534, Japan

Email: yohei.kondo[at]tufs.ac.jp

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Research interests: History of Religion, Islamic Studies, Ibadism

Towards a Better Understanding of Ibadi Islam

I obtained my PhD in Islamic Studies in 2013 from the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo, Japan; my dissertation involved an analysis of the conceptions of association (walāya) and disassociation (barā’a) in Ibadism, an Islamic sect surviving presently in Oman, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, and Africa’s eastern coast. This analysis also shed light on the nature of Ibadi community, including their understanding and practice of conversion and commitment, their worldview and their responses to deviation by Ibadi adherents. My most recent article concerning this study, written in English, is ‘Ibadi Discussions on Conversion and Commitment,’ The Muslim World 105(2), 2015: pp. 224-235.
One of my current research interests is the formation and development of Ibadi jurisprudence from the eighth to the twelfth century AD, with special focus on Ibadi law concerning marriage and divorce. I am conducting my study using Ibadi manuscripts preserved in North Africa and the Sultanate of Oman, as well as published works. I spent two years in the Sultanate of Oman as an attaché of the Japanese Embassy in Muscat; I was then assigned the position of Project Assistant Professor in the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which I held from April 2012 to March 2015. In April 2015, I have begun to work as a research associate of the Japan Center for Middle Eastern Studies (JaCMES), a satellite office of the ILCAA located in Beirut. Beirut is a fascinating destination for scholars involved with the Middle East, and I am looking forward to this opportunity to further my research interests in Islamic Studies in general and Ibadi law in particular.

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