Seyed Mohammad Fatemi – Al-Mahdi Institute

AMI Faculty

Professor Seyed Mohammad Fatemi

Professor of Comparative Human Rights and Islamic Studies & Research Lead for Islamic Legal Studies

Research Interests:

Contact:

fatemim@almahdi.edu

Biography

Professor Seyed Mohammad Ghari S. Fatemi is Professor of Comparative Human Rights Law and Islamic Legal Theories at Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI). He also teaches at the University of Birmingham (UK) and Mofid University in Qom, Iran. Between 1981 and 1994, he studied in the Ḥawza ʿIlmiyya of Qom, completing advanced training in legal theory and jurisprudence under eminent scholars including Ayatollah Husayn Ali Montazeri, Sayyid Muhammad Ruhani, Javad Tabrizi, and Sayyid Ahmad Madadi, with whom he also studied rijāl. He further studied Islamic philosophy with Ayatollah Abdallah Javadi Amuli. Alongside his seminary education, he pursued formal legal studies, earning an LLB (1984) and LLM (1991) in Public Law from the University of Tehran (Qom campus), followed by a PhD in Law at the University of Manchester in 1999.

Professor Fatemi has published widely on human rights, Islamic law, and legal theory. His books include An Introduction to Human Rights in the Contemporary World: Concepts, Foundations, and Sources and Human Rights in the Contemporary World: Analytical Essays on Rights and Freedoms. He is currently preparing a third volume on Islam and human rights.

Since 1995, he has served as Senior Lecturer in Islamic Legal Theory at AMI and, since 2022, as Research Lead for Islamic Legal Studies. He is a full member of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Iranian National Academy of Sciences and an associate member of the Department of Biomedical Ethics at the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences. He also holds professorships in Comparative Law and Islamic Hermeneutics at Mofid University (Qom), the University of Birmingham, and Shahid Beheshti University (Tehran), and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter. Over his career, he has supervised numerous postgraduate students in human rights, Islamic law, and legal theory.

Professor Fatemi has also played an active role in international academic engagement. He organised the First International Conference on Human Rights and Dialogue of Civilisations (Mofid University, 2001), as well as international conferences on Birth, Marriage, and Death (2003 & 2005) in collaboration with UNESCO, Shahid Beheshti University, the University of Birmingham, and AMI. He participated as a human rights expert in the Iranian–EU Human Rights Round Tables (Tehran 2001; Brussels 2002) and has presented at numerous international conferences on Islamic studies, human rights, and bioethics.

Teaching

Professor, Al-Mahdi Institute — Comparative Human Rights Law and Islamic Legal Theories
Lecturer, University of Birmingham (UK) — Islamic Legal Studies
Professor, Mofid University (Qom) — Comparative Law and Islamic Hermeneutics
Professor, Shahid Beheshti University (Tehran) — Comparative Law and Human Rights
Visiting Professor, University of Exeter — Islamic Studies and Human Rights

Publications

Books

“An Introduction to Human Rights in the Contemporary World, Concepts, Foundations and the Sources”, published by UNESCO Chair for Human Rights, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, first edition 2004, second edition 2009, third edition 2011 by SDIL, fifth edition 2018 by Negahe Mu`sir.
Human Rights in the Contemporary World, Analytical Essays on Rights and freedoms, SDIL, Tehran, 2009, fourth edition 2018 by Negahe Mu`sir.
Regulative Verses of the Quran: From Historical Trends to Contemporary Trajectories, edited by Ghari Seyed Fatemi & Devin J. Stewart, Karen Bauer, and Robert Gleave, will be published in 2025.

Articles and Chapters

The Imāmī Reception of the Qur’an’s Regulative Verses (āyāt al-aḥkām), will be published in 2025 edited by Ghari Seyed Fatemi & Devin J. Stewart, Karen Bauer, Robert Gleave: Regulative Verses of the Quran: From Historical Trends to Contemporary Trajectories
On Applicability of Scriptural Injunctions to the Metaverse, Ghari Seyed Fatemi, Hashim Bata & Rizwan Virk, will be published in 2025
DNA Constructed Knowledge: A Critical Assessment of the UK Legal System and Fiqhī Principle of Qā֫ ida al-Firāsh, Ghari Seyed Fatemi, Imranali Panjwani & Munzela Raza, will be published in 2025
A Purposive (Maqāsidī) Approach to Islamic Marriage: Re-assessment of Sūra Rūm, verse 21, Ghari Seyed Fatemi, Munzela Raza, Ahmad Kaouri, and Abbas Ramji in ed. Katherine Lemons and Laurens de Rooij, Islam and the Institution of Marriage: Legal and Sociological Approaches, AMI press, 2023.
The Later Wittgenstein and Law, (jointly with Praham Mehram), Legal Research Quarterly, N0 80, 2018.
Human Rights as the Yardstick of Legitimacy, Anthology of Articles in Honor of the Pr. S. Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, The Academy of Science of IR of Iran, 2017.
An Adliyya Approach to Maqasidi Theory and its Human Rights Implications, Legal Research Quarterly, N0 75, 2016.
Autonomy and Right to Die with Dignity, A Comparison of Kantian Ethics and Shiite Teachings, Islam and Christian Muslim Relations, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, UK (Birmingham and Georgetown Universities), Volume 18, Number 3, July 2007.
Autonomy and Equal Right to Divorce with Specific Reference to Shi`i Fiqh and the Iranian Legal System, Islam and Christian Muslim Relations, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, UK (Birmingham and Georgetown Universities), Volume 17, Number 3, July 2006.
“Egg and Embryo Implantation: a Comparative Study of Shiite Teachings and Kantian Ethics”, Islam and Christian Muslim Relations, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, UK (Birmingham and Georgetown Universities), Volume 16, Number 3, July 2005.
“Who is a Refugee? Comparison of a Misconstrued Concept in International Human Rights”, Shi`i Fiqh and the Iranian Legal system, The International Journal of Human Rights, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, UK, volume 9, number 2, June 2005.
“Expanding the Scope and Limiting the Restrictions: Freedom of Expression in the Contemporary Human Rights, Revue de Recherche Juridique, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, No, 41, 2005
“Shi`i Fiqh and Universal Human Rights, the Need for Reformation of Ijtihad, Positivistic Textualism v. Moral Contextualism”, A Paper Presented in International Conference on Theoretical Foundations of Human Rights 2003, Tehran, Published by Mufid University, 2005.
“Right to Self-Determination and the Issue of Monitoring Elections”, Modarres Quarterely, Tarbiat Modaress University, Tehran, Iran, No3, 2004.
“Human Rights Treaties, Different Atmosphere”, Law Review, The International Borough for Legal Service, Tehran, Iran, Volume, 28, 2003.
“Scope of Rights, Universalism v. Absolutism”, Nameh Mufid, Mufid University, Qom, Iran, No 33, 2003.
– “Moral Foundations of Contemporary Human Rights”, Revue de Recherche Juridique, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, No, 35-36, 2002
“Nationality or Citizenship, a Normative Appraisal of International law, Shiite Fiqh and the Iranian Legal System”, A Paper Presented in International Conference on Human Rights and Dialogue of Civilizations 2001, Tehran, Published by Mufid University, 2002.
“Key Concepts in Contemporary Human Rights, a Conceptual Analysis”, Revue de Recherche Juridique, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, No, 33-34, 2001.
“Concealed Consent in Assisted Reproduction Technology, Moral and Human Rights Analysis”, Medical Journal of Reproduction & Infertility, Volume 1- No4 – Autumn 2000 – Issue 4.
“Rights to Life, Moral and Human Rights Analysis”, Revue de Recherche Juridique, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, No, 29, 2000.
“Rights of Refugees: a Comparative studies, International human Rights and Shiite Fiqh”, Nameh Mufid, Mufid University, Qom, Iran, No 1, 1994.
“Marriage of Children, a Comparative Studies, International Human Rights, Shi`i Fiqh, and the Iranian Legal System”, Nameh Mufid, Mufid University, Qom, Iran, No 2, 1995.
“Political Crime, a Comparative Conceptual Analysis, International Human Rights and Shiite Fiqh”, Paper Presented in a Conference on Human Rights and Political Offenders, Tehran Iran.