Connecting Ideas, Institutions, and Futures
Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Islamic Civilization
An interdisciplinary research center exploring institutions, governance and collective capacity across Muslim societies.
CIRIC — Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Islamic Civilization is an interdisciplinary research initiative dedicated to understanding, strengthening and developing institutional capacity across Muslim societies.
CIRIC begins from a central observation: many of the challenges facing contemporary Muslim societies cannot be explained solely by a lack of resources, talent or ideas. They also reflect deeper issues of institutional trust, collective coordination, governance and the capacity to translate sound normative principles into credible, operational and sustainable institutions.
CIRIC seeks to address this gap by bringing together foundational research, applied institutional analysis and practical initiatives. Its work explores the relationship between ideas, norms, institutions and collective outcomes across fields including political economy, governance, public policy.
CIRIC aims to contribute to the understanding of Muslim societies by developing rigorous, interdisciplinary research and forward-looking initiatives.
In that regard, the Center seeks to act as a bridge between fields that are often separated: Islamic sciences, social sciences, public policy, political economy, finance, technology, entrepreneurship and institutional actors.
The Center is structured around three complementary pillars that operate together: foundational research provides the vision and the method, applied analysis identifies concrete problems, and the practical pillar develops solutions.
This pillar seeks to develop the theoretical foundations of the project. It focuses on norms, institutions, Islamic political thought, Islamic political economy, fiqh, mu'amalat, Muslim institutional history and models of governance. Its purpose is to produce robust conceptual frameworks capable of illuminating contemporary challenges without being limited to a purely descriptive approach.
This pillar focuses on concrete institutional objects: Islamic finance, Zakat, Waqf, Shariah governance, public policy, development, economic institutions, institutional trust, MENA and Sub-saharan Africa actors and governance dynamics in Muslim countries. It produces policy briefs, mappings, reports, analytical notes, comparative studies and recommendations.
This pillar is designed to transform certain diagnoses into concrete projects. Its objective is to generate practical solutions based on the problems identified through research.
CIRIC's first publications introduce the Center's theoretical framework and apply it to key contemporary issues in Islamic political economy and institutional development.
The OECD released its PISA 2025 results on September 8 – and some of the trajectories across Muslim-majority countries are…
Why Islamic banking keeps mimicking debt despite its risk-sharing principles, and how to fix it.
Why normative foundations and sustained growth have not consistently translated into credible institutional ecosystems
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Announcement
Topic and guest to be confirmed
CIRIC organize seminars, public discussions, academic events, policy dialogues and institutional meetings related to Islamic political economy, governance and institutional development.
JW Marriott Grosvenor House, London
The 5th AlBaraka Summit in London - “Ethics in Action: Rebuilding Foundations and Advancing the Global Impact of the Islamic Economy”
CIRIC seeks to engage with academic institutions, think tanks, Islamic finance bodies, zakat and waqf institutions, international organizations, policy actors and civil society initiatives.
For general inquiries, research collaboration, partnership opportunities, media requests or event invitations, you may contact CIRIC through the form below. We welcome serious inquiries from researchers, institutions, practitioners, students, journalists and organizations interested in CIRIC's work.
