Syed Talha Ahsan

Talha Ahsan currently researches the role of Ḥanbalite scholars in formulations of Caliphal authority and challenges to it.

 His doctoral thesis, supervised by Professor Hugh Kennedy, is titled “They are the Egg Men”: The Ḥanbalite community and the Caliphate from al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā (d. 458/ 1066), the judge, until al-Wazīr Ibn Hubayraḧ, the statesman (d. 560/ 1165), al-Sayyid ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, the saint (d. 561/ 1166) and al-Shaykh Ibn al-Jawzī, the schoolman (d. 597/ 1201), through a reading of Ibn Rajab’s (d. 795/ 1393) biographical dictionary Dhayl Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābilaḧ as an “alternative history”. This project uses Ibn Rajab’s extensive biographical dictionary as a lens to explore the complex interplay between scholastic authority and political legitimacy in the medieval Islamic world. He is expected to complete his viva in March 2026.

Talha has a long-standing academic relationship with SOAS, where he previously earned an MA in History with a Distinction (2018). His MA dissertation focused on the Khārijite leader and poet Qaṭarī b. al-Fujāʾaḧ, a project that involved extensive use of numismatic evidence and the translation of his poetic corpus. The results of this work corrected and added new details to the standard written primary sources on the man’s life, his followers, and even their taxation of local populations. He completed his undergraduate studies at SOAS with a First-Class BA (Hons.) in Arabic (2004), including study at the University of Damascus and private tuition in classical poetry, grammar, and rhetoric. This robust background in philology and history provides the foundation for his current interdisciplinary research.

Beyond his doctoral research, Talha is known as the founder, host, and producer of the Abbasid History Podcast (available on Spotify and other platforms), a platform recommended by the New Arab Magazine and included in several university reading lists. He has presented his research at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds and the Agha Khan University in London. A published poet and Koestler Prize winner, Talha also has professional experience as a highly-rated private Arabic tutor and a freelance translator, including poetry work for Amnesty International. He is a member of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS) and the International Quranic Studies Association (IQSA), demonstrating his commitment to academic engagement and outreach.

NB  the underlining of letters represent transliteration

His broader interests are in the intellectual history of Islamic(ate) realms, world literature, and improving public perceptions of the medieval past.

Abbasid History Podcast