Presenters

Dr Carool Kersten

Dr Carool Kersten is currently a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Kings College, London. His key research areas include the intellectual history of the contemporary Muslim world, and the history of Islam in Southeast Asia. He speaks fluent Arabic, Bahsa, English and is native Dutch.

He is a member of Association of Southeast Asian Studies and Society of Contemporary Thought and the Islamicate World and has written and contributed to many books and articles on the subject. Some recent publications are: ‘Indonesia’s New Muslim Intellectuals’ Religion Compass; ‘Cambodia’s Muslim King: Khmer and Dutch Sources on the Conversion of King Reameathipadei I, 1642–1658′, in Islam in Southeast Asia.

Dr M Fareed El-Shayyal

Son of Egypt’s leading Historian on Salahudinm the late Gamal el-Din Elshayyal whose students included Prof. Bernard Lewis. Dr Fareed obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1986 and has taught at Universities of Toronto, Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud, Edinburgh, Salford, Birmingham, Westminster and Alexandria.

Dr Elshayyal has been a member of the advisory board of SOAS Centre for Islamic Studies, consultant to Al-Furqan, Foundation for Islamic Heritage, London, and HBO in the USA, member of UMO Education Council in UK and Ireland and The European College for Human Sciences. He has been Examiner for Ministry of Defence School of Languages, Arabic Diploma, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and external examiner and assessor to more universities in UK and Saudi Arabia. Recently he was Senior Lecturer in Islamic History and Islamic Sources and Head of Islamic Studies at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education.

Some of Dr El Shayyal’s work includes: Tarikh al-Duwal wal-Muluk, from Ibn Al-Furat, Volume 2, Edited with an introduction and extensive study of the work and the author. Dar Al-Wafa’, Cairo, 1997. ‘”Abbas Al-‘Aqqad, & his Journey from Scepticism to Faith”, Islamic Quarterly, 46:4, Dec. 02. “Ibn al-Furat, an Egyptian Historian from the 15th century”, Islamic Quarterly, 47:2, June 2003. “Relations between Nur al-Din and Salah al-Din as portrayed in Ibn al Athir’s al Kamil fi al Tarikh, IQ, 48: 3, Sep. 2004. Currently Dr Elshayyal teaches Arabic and Islamic Studies at both Kings College and SOAS, London..

Professor Francis Robinson CBE

Professor Francis Robinson CBE, is one of the world’s leading experts and historians on Islam in South Asia. Based at the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College London, where he has served as Senior Vice-Principal, he is currently Professor of South Asian History at the college as well as a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and a visiting professor at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford.

He has been heavily involved in promoting scholarship in relation to Asia and was President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Professor Robinson’s research interests focus on religious change in the Muslim world, particularly in the context of the history of Muslims of South Asia. Amongst his publications are: Atlas of the Muslim World since 1500 (1982); Islam and Muslim History in South Asia (2000); The ‘Ulama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia (2001); The Mughals (2007); Islam, South Asia & the West (2007). Professor Robinson is also the editor of The Islamic World in the Age of Western Domination: A New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 5 (2008).

Professor Edmund Herzig

Professor Edmund Herzig holds the Soudavar Chair in Persian Studies at the University of Oxford. He received his BA in Russian and Persian from the University of Cambridge and his DPhil in Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford. His thesis was entitled ‘The Armenian Merchants of New Julfa, Isfahan: A Study in Pre-Modern Asian Trade’

Dr Herzig’s principal research interests are the contemporary history of Iran (currently focusing on the political and international history of the Islamic Republic, and on the relationship between history and national identity in modern Iran); Safavid history; the history of Armenia and the Armenians with special interest in the Armenians of Iran.

His selected publications are The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity, with M. Kurkchiyan (2005); ‘Regionalism, Iran and Central Asia’ in International Affairs (2004); ‘Venice and the Julfa Armenian Merchants’ in B. L. Zekiyan and A. Ferrari eds Gli Armeni e Venezia. Dagli Sceriman a Mechitar: il momento culminante di una consuetudine millenaria (2004); The New Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (1999); ‘The Rise of the Julfa Merchants in the Late Sixteenth Century’ in C. Melville ed. Safavid Persia: The History and Politics of an Islamic Society (1996).

Hafiz Abdullah Muhammad [Quran Study Group]

Hafiz Abdullah Muhammad studied in an Islamic School and also memorized the Quran by heart at the age of 19. He has an MA in Islamic Studies (Distinction) from SOAS and also recently completed an intensive post-graduate course at the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He is a qualified teacher of Religious Education and a Lawyer specializing in Employment law. He has done extensive researches on the Quran, published over a dozen articles and is the author of “The Best of Times in Islam” (IPCI, 2002). He spends most of his spare time delivering various Quran courses for the Quran Study Group and various course providers. This Ramadan’s Qur’an Course is his 4th consecutive ‘Journey Through the Quran’ Course.

Professor Abdul Ali Hamid [Muslim College London]

Professor Abdul Ali Hamid started his education with Islamic and Arabic Studies (Alim & Fadil courses) in India and later went on to complete his MA in Islamic Studies from the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Egypt, an MA in Arabic Studies from the American University in Cairo and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Ahmedu Bello University in Nigeria. Dr Abdul Ali Hamid is currently acting as the Principal of the Muslim College in London and has been a Professor there since 1988. He has been the Director of the Research Unit at Al-Darus Salafiyyah in Mumbai (India) and a Professor at Birkbeck College. He has also contributed to editing and publishing various works, including a translation of ‘Moral Teachings of Islam’.

Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi [Oxford]

Shaykh Dr Muhammad Akram Nadwi studied and taught Shari’a at the Nadwatul ‘Ulama (India). A Muhaddith specialising in ‘Ilm al-Rijal (the study of the narrators of Hadith), Shaykh Akram has ijaza (licenses) from various mashayakh, including Abul Hasan Ali Al-Nadwi, Abdul-Fattah Abu Ghuddah and Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He has authored and translated many titles on Fiqh, Qur’an and Hadith including his monumental 40 volume work on Al-Muhaddithaat – The Lives of Female Scholars of Hadith. Shaykh Akram is a research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford University.

Professor Muhammad A S Abdel Haleem [SOAS]

Professor Abdel-Haleem was born in Sharqiyya, Egypt and is a Hafiz of the Qur’an. He has as a BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Cairo University and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He has been teaching Arabic at Cambridge and London universities since 1966, including courses in advanced translation and the Qur’an. He one of the leading experts in the study of the Qur’an and some of his publications include, “Understanding the Qur’an: A Study of Themes and Style”, “Keys to Qur’anic Exegesis”, “Grammatical Shift for Rhetorical Purposes: Iltifât and Related Features in the Qur’an”, “Qur’anic Orthography”, and “English Translations of the Qur’an: The Making of an Image”.

Shaykh Abdal Haqq Bewley- Translator, The Noble Qur’an

Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley is the translator of ‘The Noble Qur’an – A New Rendering of its Meaning in English’. This he did, together with his wife Aisha Bewley who are reknowned for the translation of Muwatta Imam Malik, Shifa of Qadi Iyad, Tafsir Al-Jalalayn and Tafsir Al-Qurtubi into English.

Shaykha Aisha Bewley- Translator, The Noble Qur’an

Shaykha Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley is one today’s most prolific translators of classical Arabic works into English. Aisha Bewley not only understands Arabic but is also aware of the significance and context of the teachings and history of Islam. Her knowledge is born of experience and direct transmission, not merely academic theory and learning by rote. For more than twenty-five years she has been concerned with making the contents of many classical works in Arabic more accessible to English-speaking readers for the first time, including Al-Muwatta’ of Imam Malik and Ash-Shifá of Qádi ‘Iyad.

Professor Richard Eaton

Professor Richard Eaton is one of the world’s leading historianson Islam in the Indian subcontinent. He has authored and publishedmany articles and books, including "India’s Islamic Traditions,711-1750″ and "Islamic History as Global History". However, hismost celebrated book, "The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier,1204-1760″ is the one for which he has won many awards around theworld. He regularly contributes to major US media documentariesproviding ‘intellectual content’ and sits on several professionalcommittees and organisational boards. Currently he teaches andresearches at University of Arizona in the Department of History.

Muhammad Mojlum Khan

Muhammad Mojlum Khan is an award-winning writer, literary critic andresearch scholar, he has published more than 100 essays and articlesworldwide. He is the author of several books and research papers includingthe widely acclaimed The Muslim 100: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievementsof the Most Influential Muslims in History (2008, reprinted 2009, 2010)and The Muslim Heritage of Bengal. Hailed as having ìfilled a gap inmodern Islamic authorshipî, The Publishers Weekly also considered TheMuslim 100 to be of ìimmeasurable valueÖwith innovative insightsî andrecommended the book to all the public libraries in the United States.He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, a Memberof English PEN, and a Founding Director of the Bengal Muslim ResearchInstitute UK (BMRI).

Sheikh Abu Aliyah

Sheikh Abu Aliyah is the Director of the Ibn Jawziyyah Institute, and has undertaken his Islamic studies with a number of scholars including Sheikh Abdullah Al-Farsi, Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al-Luwayhiq, and Sheikh Haytham al-Haddad. He has taught and lectured on Islam for two decades, and serves as an imam at a mosque in East London, as well as undertaking pastoral work in the community.

Fazlun Khalid

Shaykh Muhammed Afifi Al-Akiti

Dato’ Dr Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti BA (Queen’s), MA (Oxon), MSt (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), MSIEPM – also known as Shaykh Afifi[1][2] – is KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies,[3] and Islamic Centre Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford,[4] and is a Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. He is the first ever Malay to be appointed to such a position in this world famous University.[5] He has received widespread media recognition across the globe.[6] Dr al-Akiti completed his DPhil in Medieval Arabic Philosophy from Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar in 2008. His thesis identifies and systematically considers for the first time a group of philosophical writings, called the Madnun corpus, attributed to Islam’s greatest theologian, al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) – his discoveries are based on a painstaking survey of nearly 50 medieval Arabic manuscripts. Besides acquainting scholars with this remarkable new body of source material, his three-volume study presents a critical edition of the most advanced and technical work of this corpus, the manual on metaphysics and natural philosophy called the Major Madnun.[7][8] Dr al-Akiti, who comes from Malaysia, is trained as a theologian and philologist in both the Islamic and Western traditions: educated originally at the feet of the ulema of the Muslim world, he subsequently received a First Class degree in Scholastic Philosophy and History of Science from the Queen’s University Belfast, where he was awarded various scholarships to read for his Masters and Doctoral degrees at Oxford. His areas of expertise are Islamic theology, philosophy and science.[9] In 2010, Dr al-Akiti was appointed Privy Councillor to the State of Perak, Malaysia, by the Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah.[10][11] Dr al-Akiti is listed in The 500 Most Influential Muslims for 2010.[12][13][14] In 2009, along with Professor Muhammad Abdel Haleem and the IIIT, Dr al-Akiti was shortlisted for the Annual UK Muslim Awards, in one of its 15 coveted Awards for Excellence, the Allama Iqbal Award for Creativity in Islamic Thought.[15] In 2011, Dato’ Dr Afifi Al-Akiti was conferred the title Darjah Paduka Mahkota Perak which carries the title “Dato'”.[15]

Dr Amira K. Bennison

Dr. Bennison is currently a Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Arabic & Persian Studies, Cambridge University. Her research interests include Islamic cultural history and historical globalisation and has published widely on the subject in particular ways in which different regimes and dynasties in North Africa and Islamic Spain legitimised themselves. One of her recent books, ‘The Great Caliphs: the golden age of the Abbasid empire’ was runner-up in the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award in 2009. Dr. Bennison has appeared in several TV programmes about the history of the Middle East and North Africa including ‘Europe’s Lost Civilisation'; ‘The Thirties in Colour’ and ‘Islamic Science’. She is also a regular contributor to Radio 4′s ‘In Our Time’ with Melvyn Bragg.

Dr Ilker Evrim Binbas

Dr Ilker Evrim Binbas graduated in History from Turkey and then completed his PHd at the University of Chicago. Currently he is a lecturer in the Department of History at Royal Holloway College of the University of London. His main interests include Timurid and Ottoman historiography and is currently working on an intellectual biography of the Timurid historian Sharaf al-Din ëAli Yazdi, who was the most influential biographer of Tamerlane.

Shaykh Atabek Shukurov Nasafi

Shaykh Atabek Shukurov Nasafi began his religious studies in his native Uzbekistan at the tender age of ten under local scholars such as Shaykh Sayyid Karim Namangany and Sheikh Muhammad Jaan, under whose guidance he began to memorise the Qur’an. He completed his studies at the age of 21 in various subjects, including Arabic Language, Tajwid, Hadith, Fiqh and Tafsir at Madrasa Abul Qasim and Jamia Islamia in Samarqand. In 1998 he moved to Damascus (Syria) for higher studies where he enrolled on a 4 year al-Ijaza al-Alimiyya programme at the Takhassus Institute which is affiliated to al-Azhar University, Egypt. Whilst continuing his studies at the institute he also focused on intensive private lessons with Shaykh Muhammad Adnan Darwish and covered Fath Bab al-‘Inaya and the Muwatta’ of Imam Malik. He has also studied Shudhur al-Dhahab, Sharh Qatr an-Nada, Tuhfat al-Murid and Mukhtasar Sahih al-Bukhari with Shaykh Rushdi al-Qalam. He graduated in 2003 having spent the final year at al-Azhar and was given certification by the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy.

Dr Abu Yaasir Stefanos Kefokeris

Dr Kefokeris is Greek and after many years of studying various religions and lifestyles he accepted Islam in 1992. A polyglot, majored Political Science and Phd in “Islamic Heritage in Europe” from the University of Cologne. He has travelled extensively across the world, and is a Director of a travel agency called StudyTours Ltd. He has keen interest in the development of Islam and Muslims in Greece, and has beem lecturing for the last 15 years through an organisation called Greekmuslims and will be holding a major conference in Athens in May, hightling the Islamic Heritage of Greece.

Ustadah Sehija Dedovic

Ustadah Sehija Dedovic is a founder and director of Centre for Education and ResearchÑNahla? established 12 years ago. Today ÑNahla? is one of the biggest and very well organised NGOs in BiH. She has a degree in Islamic theology and is a Master’s degree candidate at International University of Sarajevo. She also Studied Islamic Studies in Jordan with traditional Islamic Scholars.

Dr Dûevada Auöko

Dr Dûevada Auöko is a senior researcher at the (IUS) International University of Sarajevo where she teaches International Relations in particular EU and Balkan states and her expertiseis on the issue of loyalty: “Bosnian Muslims in post-Ottoman times and stability in South-eastern Europe. She has contributed to many conferences such as the recent “The Future of Faith in the era of Globalization and Ottoman legacy and Balkan Muslim Communities today” in Sarajevo. And has written many publications relating to the subject. A polyglot speaking German, Bosnian French, Italian, Spanish and Arabic.

Ustadah Dermna Seta

Ustadah Dermna Seta, completed her MA in Religious Studies, at the University of Sarajevo and currently works at the Nahla Centre in Bonsia.

Professor Yahya M. Michot

Professor Yahya M. Michot is one of the world’s leading experts on Ibn Taymiyyah. He was director of the Centre for Arabic Philosophy at University of Louvain in Belgium where he has delivered courses in Arabic, History of Arabic Philosophy, History of Muslim Peoples and Institutions of Islam, and Commentary on Arabic Philosophical Texts. His main field of research is the History of Muslim Thought with special reference to Avicenna (Ibn Sina), his predecessors and his impact on Sunni thought and Ibn Taymiyyah. Professors Michot’s interests also encompass the history of Muslim thought during the Mamlūk and Ilkhān periods, as well as modern Islamic movements.

He has published numerous books and articles about Islamic classical thought, Muslim societies, including several volumes on Ibn Sina and Ibn Taymiyyah. Some of these articles include “La destine´e de l’homme selon Avicenne” (1986), “IBN SI^NA^. Lettre au vizir Abu^ Sa’d” (Arabic edition & translation, 2000), “AVICENNE. Re´futation de l’astrologie” (Arabic edition & translation, 2006) “Ibn Taymiyya: Muslims under non-Muslim Rule” (2006), “Ahmad al-Aqhisa^ri^: Against Smoking. An Ottoman Manifesto” (Arabic edition & translation, 2010), “Musulmans en Europe” (2002), and the chapter “Revelation” in the “Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology” (2008). He has served as a consultant to various universities, and has been a Fellow at the Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and a Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University. He serves as member of various international scholarly societies and is founder and director of the collection ‘Sagesses Musulmanes’. Professor Michot held the position of president of the Conseil Supérieur des Musulmans de Belgique between 1995 and 1998. Currently is Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Macdonald Center, Hartford Seminary, USA.

Professor Peter Adamson

Peter Adamson is Professor of Ancient & Medieval Philosophy at the King’s College London. His areas of interest include late ancient philosophy, especially Neoplatonism and Arabic and Medieval philosophy. He has published many papers on a wide range of figures in Greek and Arabic philosophy, including Aristotle, Plotinus, al-Farabi and other members of the Baghdad School, Avicenna and Averroes. However he has concentrated especially on the output of the translation circle of al-Kindi, who is usually credited with being the first philosopher in the Islamic tradition. This research includes a book, “The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the “Theology of Aristotle” (London: Duckworth, 2002) and a volume entitled “Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Kindi” (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). He is also a co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, co-edited with Richard Taylor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), and Philosophy, Science and Exegesis in Greek, Arabic and Latin Commentaries (London: Institute for Classical Studies in 2004). He has edited three books for the Warburg Institute, the most recent of which (“In the Age of Averroes”) will appear soon.

Professor Adamson is a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 4′s ‘In Our Time’ with Melvin Bragg, and other radio broadcasts.

Professor Adamson is currently at work on a monograph on the 10th century CE doctor and philosopher al-Razi. He also runs a three-year project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, on Natural Philosophy in the Islamic World.

Professor Hugh N Kennedy

Esteemed Historian Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD (Cantab.) is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972. Among his research topics is the History of the Islamic Middle East, Islamic Archaeology and Muslim Spain. He is contributed significantly to the subject through various journals, media and publications. Some of his celebrated works include: “The Early Abbasid Caliphate; a Political History”, “The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates”, “History of al-Tabari”, “Muslim Spain and Portugal: a political history of al–Andalus”, “Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates”, “When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty”, “The Great Arab Conquests. How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In” and many more titles.

Professor Jonathan A.C. Brown (University of Washington, USA)

Professor Jonathan AC Brown was raised as an Anglican and converted to Islam in 1997. He received his BA in History from Georgetown University in 2000 and his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2006. Dr. Brown has studied and conducted research in Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia, India and Iran, and he is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His book publications include The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon (Brill, 2007), Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009) and Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011). He has published articles in the fields of Hadith, Islamic law, Sufism, Arabic lexical theory and Pre-Islamic poetry and is the editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islamic Law.

Some of the articles he has written include: "How We Know early Hadith Critics Did Matn Criticism and Why It’s So Hard to Find," Islamic Law and Society 15(2008): 143-84. "New Data on the Delateralization of Dad and its Merger with Za’ in Classical Arabic: Contributions from Old South Arabian and the Earliest Islamic Texts on D / Z Minimal Pairs," Journal of Semitic Studies 52, no.2 (2007): 335-368. "The Last Days of al-Ghazzali and the Tripartite Division of Sufi World: Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s Letter to the Seljuq Vizier and Commentary." The Muslim World 96, no. 1 (2006): 89-113. "Criticism of the Proto-Hadith Canon: al-Daraqutni’s Adjustment of al-Bukhari and Muslim’s Sahihs." Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies 15/1 (2004): 1-37. Social Context of Pre-Islamic Poetry: Poetic Imagery and Social Reality in the Mu’allaqat." Arab Studies Quarterly 25/3 (2003): 29-50.

Dr. Brown’s current research interests include the history of forgery and historical criticism in Islamic civilization, comparison with the Western tradition; and modern conflicts between Late Sunni Traditionalism and Salafism in Islamic thought.

Professor Antony Black (University of Dundee)

Professor Antony Black is Emeritus Professor in the History of Political Thought at the University of Dundee, where has taught since 1963 until his retirement in 2000, covering most aspects of political theory from Plato to contemporary international relations and social philosophy. His has researched and published on wide range of topics from medieval ecclesiastical theories to contemporary political philosophy.

Some of articles include: ‘Classical Islam and Medieval Europe: a Comparison of Political Philosophies and Cultures’, Political Studies, 41 (1993), 58-69 ‘Christianity and Republicanism from St. Cyprian to Rousseau’, American Political Science Review, 91 (1997), 647-56 ‘Communal Democracy and its History’, Political Studies, 45 (1997), 5-20 ‘St Thomas Aquinas: the State and Morality’ in Political Thought from Plato to NATO , ed. by Brian Redhead (London: Ariel/BBC, 1984), pp. 61-72.

Some of his books include:

The West and Islam: Religion and Political Thought in World History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). Church, State and Community: Historical and Comparative Perspective (Ashgate Variorum, 2003). Political Thought in Europe, 1250-1450 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)

His most celebrated work is a complete history of Islamic political thought titled “The History of Islamic Political Thought from the Prophet to the Present, 2nd edn (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011)”.

Professor Jonathan Lipman (Mount Holyoke College, USA)

Internationally acclaimed academic, Professor Jonathan Lipman is the Felicia Gressitt Bock Professor of Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, USA. Speaking fluent Mandarin, Arabic and many other East Asian languages, his expertise & research covers all of East Asia with a specialization in the study of “Islam and Muslims in China”. Having travelled all over China and East Asia, he insists on evidence as an essential component of historical argument combining familiarity with the historical context (the “big picture”) with intensive study of individual human beings – memoirs, autobiographies, letters, stories.

He has published dozens of articles, book chapters, papers, and reviews on ethnicity, religion, and difference in Chinese history. He is the author the acclamied book “Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998)”, which many in the west claim lays the foundation for future studies of Chinese Muslims.

His current projects include the biography of Yusuf Ma Zhu, a Chinese Muslim scholar and gentryman of the 17th century. He currently teaches at Mount Holyoke College, and lives in South Hadley with his wife, Ann Pemberton, manager of the town’s farmer’s market and an activist in the local agriculture movement.