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Fellows' Profiles
Dr Afifi Al-Akiti
is KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in
Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford,
as well as College Lecturer in World Religions at Worcester College.
Dr Al-Akiti completed his DPhil in Medieval Arabic Thought 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.
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 of 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.
Dr Thomas Dahnhardt
was educated at the University of Venice (Italy) in Modern
Oriental Languages (Hindi and Urdu), focusing in his MA dissertation
on the translation and comment of an early 19th century text on
Sufi doctrine and methodology. Whilst at SOAS he moved into comparative
religious studies, writing his doctoral thesis on the spiritual
and social cross-cultural link between orthodox Muslim Sufi authorities
and Hindi initiates.
Dr Dahnhardt's current research interest centres on Hindu-Muslim
relations on the Indian subcontinent, with special emphasis on the
investigation of common grounds in the field of cosmological and
metaphysical doctrine and its related methodologies of spiritual
advancement.
Dr Adeel Malik obtained
his DPhil in economics from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar
in 2004. As part of his doctoral research, Dr Malik investigated
the causes and consequences of economic fluctuations in developing
countries. Before joining the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies,
Dr Malik held several policy and research appointments.
Dr Malik's previous research affiliations include: the Center for
International Development at Harvard University (Visiting Research
Fellow, Summer 2001), The World Bank (Research Assistant, Summer
2000), Said Business School, Oxford University (Research Assistant,
2003-04) and Department of Economics, Oxford University (2004-5).
He has also been a Stipendiary Lecturer in Economics at Merton College,
Oxford (2002-03). Dr Malik is a development macroeconomist by training
and conducts empirical research on issues of growth, fluctuations
and political economy.
Dr Basil Mustafa,
MSc (Leeds); PhD (Loughborough); M.Ed (Oxon) is Nelson Mandela Fellow
in Educational Studies and Kellogg College Tutor at the Department
for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. He is also Bursar
at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr Mustafa has been closely
involved with a range of activities concerned with the educational
needs of ethnic minority groups and with interfaith dialogue.
Dr Mustafa is an active member of the Abrahamic Faith Group convened
by the Bishop of Oxford and has organized training workshops for
RE teachers in state schools.
Dr Professsor Francis
Robinson , CBE, MA, PhD (Cantab), FRHistSoc., FRAS, FRSA,
was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Prize
Fellow 1969-73. Since 1973 he has been at Royal Holloway, University
of London, where in 1990 he became Professor of the History of South
Asia. From 1997 to 2004 he was Vice-Principal and then Senior Vice-Principal.
He has been much involved in promoting scholarship in relation to
Asia; in 1997-2000 and 2003-06 he was President of the Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Professor Robinson's research interests focus on religious change
in the Muslim world since 1800 in particular and on the history
of the Muslims of South Asia in general. Amongst his publications
are: Separatism among Indian Muslims: The Politics of the United
Provinces' Muslims (1974); 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); Islam, South Asia and the West (2007); The Mughals
(2007); ed., Islam in the Age of Western Domination: New Cambridge
History of Islam V (2008, forthcoming).
Professor Mohammad Talib,
PhD (Jamia Millia University), Fellow in Anthropology of Muslim
Societies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Institute of Social
and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford. Professor Talib
has conducted fieldwork among Muslim communities in India with particular
reference to cultural and religious practices.
Professor Talib has written research papers on Islamic seminaries
and Sufi monasteries. He is a member of the Board of Directors of
the Centre for Education and Communication and has initiated a project
on pedagogy and sociology, which promotes greater understanding
among students of the dynamics of sociological fieldwork.
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