This workshop forms a key milestone in an ongoing research effort funded by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF), which seeks to develop a comparative and multidisciplinary scoping study of water justice across three major river basins of the Muslim world: the Indus, the Nile, and the Euphrates–Tigris (Mesopotamian) basins. The workshop is conceived as a collaborative and exploratory forum, and there is no strict requirement for completed papers, though such contributions are warmly welcomed.

Its core objectives are to take stock of existing knowledge on the three river basins; to identify critical themes and research questions for future comparative work; to highlight cross‑cutting, multidisciplinary threads linking political economy, history, technology, and ethics; to map available data resources, both historical and contemporary, that could support systematic analysis of variation within and across basins; and to help shape the intellectual agenda and partnerships for a larger, long‑term research programme.

The programme will feature thematic sessions on the political economy of water and inequality; the historical evolution of river basins from the early Islamic periods to the modern era; and the role of technology and infrastructure, past and emerging, in mediating human–water relations. The Workshop warmly welcomes scholars from across disciplines—including economics, history, anthropology, political science, geography, hydrology, engineering, theology, systems analysis and data science—as well as those working on comparative cases beyond the Muslim world where relevant.