Oliver Scharbrodt is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham. His research covers the intellectual history of modern Islam, Sufism, Twelver Shiism and Muslim minorities in Europe. He is the author of Islam and the Baha’i Faith: A Comparative Study of Muhammad ‘Abduh and ‘Abdul-Baha ‘Abbas (London: Routledge, 2008) and co-authored Muslims in Ireland: Past and Present (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015). He is one of the editors of the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe (Leiden: Brill). Currently, he leads a project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), investigating the transformation of clerical authority in Twelver Shiism since the late 1950s. His forthcoming book on the 19th century Egyptian reformer Muhammad ‘Abduh illustrates his complex engagement with Islam’s diverse intellectual traditions in his reformist discourse.