Introduction
I am an Assistant Professor in the Study of Religion. I am also serving as the director of the minor program in the Study of Religion for three years until 2027.
My scholarly interests primarily lie in the Islamic Intellectual History of the Formative and early Classical periods. I connect various underlying threads, such as historiography, the transmission of knowledge, the oral and the written, manuscripts, text and meaning, and the ways and forms of religious truth-making. These threads came together in my doctoral work, where I specialized in the contextual study of early Tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis).
As for the Modern period, I am interested in the intersection of Qurʾānic interpretation and the themes of conflict, peacebuilding, and ecology through the lenses of Reform, Decoloniality, and Liberation Theology.
Selected Qualifications
Ph.D. Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Edinburgh, 2022
Thesis:
“The Tafsīr of Sufyān al-Thawrī (d. 161/778): A study of its provenance, sources, methods, and topics”
Principal supervisor: Andreas Görke, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of Edinburgh
External examiner: Nicolai Sinai, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Oxford
Master of Theological Studies, Divinity School, Harvard University, 2009
Focus: Islamic Studies
International MA in Peace, Conflict, and Development Studies, Universitat Jaume I (Spain) and University of Innsbruck (Austria), 2007
Thesis:
“Religion and Peacebuilding: Paradigms of peace, nonviolence, and the use of force in Islam”
Thesis advisor: Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Prof. of Peace, Human Rights, and Cultural Relations, American University
Research Interests
Transmission of knowledge in early Muslim societies
Tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis)
Ḥadīth (reports about the Prophet)
a. Religion, conflict, and peacebuilding
c. Liberation theology
Undergraduate courses
Current courses that I offer in a two-year cycle
SS-101: Islamic Studies (core course)
REL-235: Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
REL-362/HIST-337: Qurʾān and its Interpreters: Between Text and Context
REL-363: Jihād: Religion and Warfare in the Islamicate Context
Future courses that I am planning to offer
REL-2XX: The Sacred Nature: Religion and Ecology
REL-2XX: Theologies of Liberation: Justice in World Religions
REL-3XX: The Prophetic Word: The Origins, Development, and Function of Ḥadīth
REL-3XX: Qurʾān in the Modern: Interpreting an Ancient Text
Past courses that I do not offer any more
HIST 235: Jihād: A Social, Political, and Theological History
HIST 236: Classical Sufism
Academic and other links
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7038-1257
Academia.edu: https://edinburgh.academia.edu/AurangzebHaneef
Academic blog: https://totbatot.wordpress.com/
Photography: @AurangzebH