Who We Are
The Aqliyyat Research Institute is a nonprofit institution dedicated to producing and freely distributing original scholarship in the Islamic rational sciences: kalam, manṭiq, and falsafah. The Institute exists for a specific purpose: to serve seminary students, teachers, and academic researchers who work in these disciplines and need serious, rigorous scholarship that is also genuinely accessible. Its scope is deliberately narrow. The Institute does not cover Islamic studies broadly, nor does it commission work in fields adjacent to its focus.
Research is distributed freely through its open-access platform and through seminary curricula and academic conferences. The Institute also publishes select titles in print to sustain its research program. Contributors to the Institute are building a body of scholarship available to anyone who needs it.
Our Disciplines
The rational and argumentative tradition of Islamic theology which is concerned with the justification of theological claims, the nature of divine attributes, and the doctrinal disputes that shaped the tradition. The Institute does not limit itself to analyzing the classical discussions of the tradition. It engages kalam as a live intellectual discipline that must address its contemporary interlocutors.
The tradition of logic and its investigations as developed and transmitted through the Islamic intellectual heritage, covering syllogistic theory, definitions, the organization of the sciences, and the commentary tradition on foundational texts. The Institute engages manṭiq as a discipline with its own technical vocabulary and internal debates, and as a tool that informs its work in kalam.
Falsafah, in its broadest sense, is the pursuit of Truth through rational inquiry. As pursuing Truth is one of the fundamental goals of the Institute, it does not restrict falsafah to the Avicennan tradition or any single school. The classical Islamic philosophical discussions (its metaphysics, its account of the soul, its cosmology, its epistemology, its treatment of the relationship between reason and revelation) are where the Institute begins. The pursuit does not stop there. The Institute brings that tradition into engagement with contemporary philosophical questions, where it has more to contribute than is usually recognized.
Who We Work With
The Institute's primary contributor pool is seminary-trained scholars with demonstrated competency in classical Arabic. These are scholars who have studied the primary texts of the tradition (often through years of structured seminary education) and who can engage those texts directly, without reliance on translations or summaries. Academic researchers with the relevant training and language competencies may also be considered.
The Institute commissions work; it does not accept unsolicited manuscripts for review. All scholarship the Institute publishes originates from a commissioned brief issued by the Director, following a formal pitch and acceptance process. Scholars who wish to contribute propose projects through the process described in Section Seven of this document.
Articles
Articles are the primary unit of output at the Institute. An article is a discrete scholarly contribution in one of the Institute's three disciplines. It is a piece of writing that does one thing well and does it completely. The Institute does not commission think pieces or position papers. It commissions scholarship.
Articles are classified along two axes: length and research difficulty. These two variables together determine the scope of a project and what it demands of the contributor.
3.1 Length
The Institute works in three length categories. Length is measured in final published word count. Page counts below are approximate.
- —Short (7–15 pages): A focused contribution on a discrete question or topic. Short does not mean simple: a well-executed short article is precise and complete. Nothing is left dangling; nothing is padded.
- —Medium (15–25 pages): An argument or exposition that requires more room to develop—more sources to engage, more steps to work through, or more context to establish before the main contribution can land.
- —Long (25–50 pages): A sustained scholarly treatment. A long article is not a short article stretched out; it is a piece whose argument or subject matter genuinely requires that space. Articles exceeding 50 pages are scoped and commissioned as book-length projects.
3.2 Research Difficulty
Difficulty reflects the demands a specific project places on the contributor. It is not a general assessment of a scholar's expertise. The same scholar might contribute at different difficulty levels depending on what the project requires. Three levels are defined.
The piece organizes, explains, and, where necessary, brings a topic into accessible English. A minor argument is permitted, but the piece is not structured around one; its purpose is expository. Research labor is modest. The argumentative chain is short: a question moves to an answer without requiring a sequence of intermediate steps. The standard here is not that the material is easy, but that the primary contribution is accessibility.
The piece is built around a genuine argument. The contributor takes a position and defends it, adjudicating between competing views where they exist or making a case from primary sources where they do not. This requires engaging the existing literature, identifying what it gets right and what it misses, and working through a multi-step chain of reasoning before reaching a conclusion. Research labor is substantial.
The piece addresses a question that is understudied or an angle of inquiry that is genuinely novel. The contributor is not building on a well-developed literature but establishing the terms of discussion largely from primary sources. The argument is original and cannot be derived from synthesizing what others have said because what others have said is insufficient. Research labor is intensive, and the argumentative chain is long.
The difficulty level is determined by the Director when the brief is issued. It is not self-assigned by the contributor. Scholars may raise questions about classification before accepting an assignment; they may not contest it after the fact.
Book-Length Projects
Four project types fall under the category of book-length work. Each has its own production model, scholarly requirements, and milestone structure. Book-length projects are significant engagements; they require sustained effort over months or years, weekly meetings with the Director, and formal accountability at each stage of the work. Scholars considering a book-length project should understand what that entails before pitching.
A sustained commentary on an existing classical or modern text. The sharḥ is the traditional form of scholarly engagement in the Islamic intellectual heritage: the commentator works through the base text systematically, explaining, expanding, and where necessary adjudicating between interpretations. A sharḥ commissioned by the Institute may be in English or Arabic and will be anchored to a specific text identified in the brief.
- ◈Length — typically 300–500 pages
- ◈Duration — one to two years
- ◈Languages — English or Arabic
An original pedagogical text (matn) in Arabic or English, designed for use in seminary curricula. The textbook is a compact, structured presentation of a body of material, written to be studied, memorized, and taught. The Institute commissions two kinds: the contextualizing textbook, which reframes existing classical material for the modern context, and the gap-filling textbook, which addresses an absence in the curriculum where no adequate existing text serves the need. The latter demands more original constructive work.
- ◈Length — under 100 pages
- ◈Language — English and Arabic
A classical Arabic (or Urdu) text rendered into English with a scholarly introduction, footnotes or endnotes, and a critical apparatus where relevant. A critical translation is not a functional rendering; it is a scholarly act that requires justification. Not all texts need to be translated; a pitch for a critical translation must make the case that this one does. The introduction must situate the text (its author, its genre, its position in the literature, its reception), and the translation itself must be both accurate and readable. The translation labor alone runs at two to three hours per page of Arabic source text.
- ◈Length — determined by source text
- ◈Apparatus — introduction, notes, critical apparatus
- ◈Source — classical Arabic or Urdu text
An original book-length scholarly argument. A monograph begins where article-length work ends (approximately 50 pages) and has no upper limit; length is determined by what the argument requires. The monograph may draw on and synthesize existing scholarship (Moderate) or may break new ground, engaging primary sources across multiple languages and intervening in live academic debates (Advanced).
- ◈Length — 50+ pages; no upper bound
- ◈Difficulty — Moderate or Advanced
- ◈Models — researcher-writer or writing-only
Scholarly Standards
The Institute holds its work to standards that are simple to state and demanding to meet: precision, rigor, and accessibility. These are not three separate values in tension with each other. They are one standard. Work that is precise and rigorous but inaccessible has failed its audience. Work that is accessible but imprecise has failed the subject matter.
5.1 Precision
Precision means using terms correctly and consistently. The disciplines we work in have a technical vocabulary developed over centuries, and that vocabulary carries meaning. Contributors are expected to know it, use it accurately, and explain it when their audience requires explanation. This extends to the Arabic. Primary sources are not to be quoted selectively, translated carelessly, or cited at second hand when direct engagement is possible. The classical texts must be read and engaged on their own terms.
5.2 Rigor
Rigor means that arguments are actually made. Where a piece takes a position, that position must be defended. Where it adjudicates between views, the adjudication must be substantiated. Where it translates a text, the translation choices must be defensible. Assertions without argument, conclusions without premises, and interpretations without evidence are not tolerated regardless of how authoritative the contributor's background may be. Rigor also means that the existing literature is engaged honestly. A contributor who ignores scholarship that complicates their argument, or who cites only sources that support their conclusion, has not produced rigorous work. The standard is the same whether a project is at Simple, Moderate, or Advanced difficulty: the contribution must be warranted by what the piece actually demonstrates.
5.3 Accessibility
Accessibility does not mean simplification. It means that the work is written for a real reader—one of the three audiences the Institute serves—and that the prose serves the reader rather than performing erudition. Jargon that is necessary should be used and explained. Jargon that is unnecessary should be cut. Sentence structure should aid comprehension and not impede it. The test is whether a qualified reader in the target audience can follow the argument from beginning to end without being lost. For work aimed at seminary students in particular, accessibility is a fundamental. The tradition did not produce its great pedagogical texts by writing down to students; it produced them by writing with precision about difficult things in language those students could actually learn from.
Production Models
The Institute uses two production models. Understanding which model applies to a given project is important for understanding what a contributor's responsibilities are.
6.1 Researcher-Writer Model
One contributor conducts all research and produces the manuscript. They receive a Research Assignment Brief from the Director, produce a Research Dossier documenting their findings, and then write the article or book from their own dossier. The contributor bears full responsibility for the intellectual product: research, argument, structure, and prose. This is the standard model for most of what the Institute commissions. All book-length project types except the monograph use it exclusively.
6.2 Writing-Only Model
The research has already been completed. A Research Dossier exists and has been approved by the Director. The contributor receives a Writing Assignment Brief together with the completed dossier and is responsible for producing the article or manuscript from it. This model is available for articles and for monographs.
The writing-only model does not reduce the scholarly responsibility of the writer. The dossier is a resource, not a script. The writer may adopt, engage critically with, or set aside the researcher's assessments, but may not ignore them without reason. Where the writer departs significantly from the dossier's analysis, this must be noted in the submission cover note. The writer bears full responsibility for the argument, structure, and prose of the final manuscript.
How to Pitch
All projects begin with a formal pitch submitted to the Director. A pitch is a proposal: a case for why a particular project is worth commissioning and how it fits the Institute's mission and current priorities. Pitches are evaluated against the Institute's research calendar and resources; a rejected pitch does not reflect a judgment on the proposer's scholarly standing and may be reconsidered at a later date. The Institute provides a standard pitch template. Scholars should request the template before submitting. Pitches submitted without using the template will be returned without evaluation.
7.1 What a Strong Pitch Contains
- —A precise project description. Not a vague area of interest but a specific project: name the texts, figures, concepts, or debates the work will engage. A pitch that cannot state its topic precisely is not ready to be submitted.
- —A clear central argument or scholarly case. For articles and monographs: the argument the project intends to make. For critical translations: the scholarly case for why this text merits translation and what contribution the translation makes. For sharḥ and textbook projects: the pedagogical and scholarly justification for the work.
- —An honest account of the state of the field. What has been written on this topic? What is missing? Why does this project need to exist? A pitch that ignores existing scholarship, or that misrepresents it, will not be accepted.
- —A credible account of the proposer's capacity. Identify the primary and secondary sources the project requires. Confirm that you have access to them. State the languages the project demands and confirm your competency in them.
- —A realistic timeline. Book-length projects require weekly meetings with the Director; the proposed timeline must be compatible with that commitment. Timelines are reviewed and adjusted before the agreement is signed.
7.2 What Happens After a Pitch Is Accepted
An accepted pitch does not initiate work. It initiates the commissioning process. The Director will issue a formal brief (either a Research Assignment Brief or a Writing Assignment Brief, depending on the production model) that specifies the project scope, the applicable standards, the milestone schedule, and the compensation structure. Work begins only after the brief has been issued and the contributor has formally accepted it.
Compensation rates, difficulty classifications, and project tiers are determined by the Director at the time of commissioning. They are not negotiated at the pitch stage. The pitch template includes a compensation reference section for the proposer's information; it is provided so that scholars can make informed decisions, not as a basis for negotiation.
What to Expect from Us
The Institute's obligations to its contributors are as real as its expectations of them. Scholars who work with us should know what they can expect at each stage of the process.
- —A clear brief: Every commissioned project begins with a formal brief issued by the Director. The brief specifies the project in enough detail for the contributor to know exactly what is expected—scope, standards, milestone schedule, and compensation. Vague commissions are not how we work.
- —Engagement throughout: For book-length projects, the Director meets with contributors weekly. For articles, the Director is available to discuss questions that arise during the research or writing phase and will periodically check-in. Contributors are not left to work in isolation and then judged on the result.
- —Honest feedback: The Director will tell contributors when work does not meet the Institute's standards. Revision requests are part of the process and not an exceptional circumstance. The goal is a final manuscript the Institute is proud to publish, and contributors should share that goal.
- —Transparency about rates: The compensation reference in the pitch template is accurate. Rates reflect the Institute's capacity in its founding phase and will be reviewed and adjusted upward as the Institute grows. Rate changes do not apply retroactively to projects already under agreement, and contributors will be notified of changes before new projects are commissioned at revised rates.
- —A kill fee where applicable: If the Institute terminates a commissioned project after the contributor has begun work, a kill fee applies as specified in the contributor's agreement. The Institute does not abandon projects capriciously, but contributors are protected if it does.
8.1 Independent Contractor Status
All contributors are engaged as independent contractors unless otherwise specified in a separate agreement. Contributors are responsible for their own tax obligations. Payments of $600 or more in a calendar year are reported on IRS Form 1099-NEC. A completed W-9 is required before any payment is issued. All compensation is in US dollars.
Contact
Scholars who wish to propose a project should request the pitch template before preparing a submission. Initial inquiries may be sent to the Director directly. Please include a brief description of your scholarly background and the general area of the project you have in mind. The Director will respond to confirm whether the proposed area falls within the Institute's current priorities and, if so, provide the pitch template. The Institute does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Submissions sent without a prior commission will not be reviewed.
Direct all inquiries and pitch requests to the Director at director@aqliyyat.com. For general information about the Institute and its published scholarship, visit aqliyyat.com.