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Academic History

• PhD Candidate – Religious Studies -McMaster University ( 2012-ongoing)
• M.A. History and Philosophy of Religion – Concordia University ( 2009-2012 )
• Hawza (Traditional Seminary Studies) & Directed Research in Classical and contemporary Arabic-Islamic texts (2006- ongoing)
• B.A.- University of Toronto (2002-2008)
  Double Major: Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and Religion
  Minor: History
• The Islamic College for Advanced Study (ICAS) and Hawza Illmiyya of London, -(2005-2006)

Peer Reviewed Papers published and forthcoming ( selection):

• “The Night Journey and Ascension of Muhammad in Tafsir al-Tabari” al-Bayan Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies 10:1 (June, 2012), 39-63.
• Review: Gabriel Said Reynolds, The Qur’an and Its Biblical Subtext. In al-Bayan Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies 10:2 (June, 2013).
• “Guardians of the Islamic marriage contract and the search for Agency in Twelver Shī‘ī Jurisprudence” in Ifta and Fatwa in the Muslim World and the West ed. Zulfiqar Shah. Herndon: International Institute of Islamic Thought (in press, forthcoming, fall 2015).
• “Fatima as a Motif of Contention in Islamic Historiography” in Shiite Doctrines Abbas Ahmadvand. London: I.B. Tauris (forthcoming).
• “Fatima as a Motif of Contention and Suffering in Shiite Sources” in Shiite Doctrines Abbas Ahmadvand. London: I.B. Tauris (forthcoming).

Languages

• English ( mother tongue)
• Arabic (classical-read and write)
• Persian (intermediate reading)
• French

Research Interests:

• Qur’anic hermeneutics and exegesis
• Islamic historiography
• Devotional literature: Islamic liturgical texts; Christian-Muslim approaches to prayer
• Islamic Law: demonstrative jurisprudence; Comparative Sunnite-Shi’ite Jurisprudence

Conference Presentations and Guest Lecture(s):

• Paper presentations:
• “Twelver Shī‘ism and Guardians of the Marriage Contract” presented at The American Academy of Religion (AAR) Eastern Regional Meeting, Syracuse University (April, 2011).
• “Guardians of the Marriage Contract in Contemporary Imāmī Law at the Summer Scholars Institute symposium (with fellowship) entitled: Contemporary Approaches to the Qur’an and Sunna, at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), Washington D.C. (Summer, 2011).
• “The Development and Evolutionary Authority (wilāya) of the Jurist in Twelver Shi‘ism” for Islamic Civilizations 105: Culture and Society in Contemporary Iran, Harvard University (Fall, 2012).
• “UnderstandingISIS in Iraq and Syria” presented at Wycliffe College, The University of Toronto. Colloquium, Sacred Swords: Religion and Conflict in the 21st Century. (Summer, 2014).
• “Interfaith Marriage in Twelver Shi’ī Law: The Search for Legal Intent” presented at al-Mahdi Institute, Colloquium on Contemporary Approaches to Islamic Jurisprudence (March 2015).
• “Du‘ā Kumayl: A Study of Shi’ī Devotional Literature” presented at The American Academy of Religion (AAR) Eastern Regional Meeting, McGill University (April 2015).

Awards

• International Institute of Islamic Thought ( IIIT) Summer Scholar’s Grant (June, 2011)
• McMaster Graduate Scholarship ( 2012-2016)
• Ontario Graduate Fellowship (2014-2015).

Current and Previous Employment

• Graduate Teaching Fellow/Instructor: Intro to Islam ( REL 2Q03, Winter term-2016)
  Teaching Assistantships:
• Modern Islam- RELI319 (Jan 2011-May 2011), Concordia University
• Introduction to Islam, McMaster University (Fall, 2012)
• Islamic Mysticism, McMaster University (Winter, 2012)
• Introduction to Islam, McMaster University ( Fall, 2013)
• Death and Dying: Western Perspectives, McMaster University ( Winter, 2014)
• Introduction to The Hebrew Bible, McMaster University ( Fall 2014)

Research Projects (Selection):

• Master’s. dissertation: “Fāṭima as a Motif of Suffering and Contention in Islamic Thought”- Completed, Fall 2012
• Doctoral dissertation: Devotional Literature and Practice in Twelver Shī‘īsm: Towards the Study of Shī‘ī Liturgical Theology (in progress, etc- 2017)
• Critical and Annotated Arabic-English Translation of al–Fuṣūl al-‘ashra fī al-ghaybah (10 aspects regarding the occultation) by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Nu‘mān (Shaykh al-Mufīd- d.1022 C.E.) ( in progress)

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