Biography:
I am a historian by training, and I specialise in religious, social and legal transformation within modern Islam, especially in South Asia (the Indian subcontinent). Before joining Oxford in 2014, I was Research Fellow in the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, and Lecturer in Global History, University of Exeter.
Research Interests:
My research has addressed various themes. Much of my previous published research has focused upon Shi‘i Islam in South Asia, including themes such as Shi‘i clerical revivalism, religious writing and practice, martyrology, and Shi‘i politics. This research led to my monograph Shi‘a Islam in Colonial India (2012), edited volume The Shi‘a in Modern South Asia (2014), and other writings. I have also published several pieces on the social and cultural histories of ‘Muslim’ urban centres in north India, especially Lucknow and the region’s rural townships (qasbas).
More recently, I have been conducting several intertwined projects concerning the adjudication of Islamic family laws and community-level Muslim legal practice. First, I am conducting a major study of the role of Islamic clerics (‘ulama) as legal practitioners in South Asia, including their roles in issuing fatwas (edicts) and handling disputes through shari‘ah-based legal forums. Second, I am researching ‘Islamic feminist’ thought and Muslim women’s rights activism in South Asia and globally, on which I have published several articles. Third, I maintain comparative interests in the adjudication of family laws in Muslim minority contexts, including the UK. This has given rise to two recent edited compilations: Reformulating Matrimony: Muslim Marriage and Divorce in the Contemporary U.K. and Europe (2020) and Islamic Family Law in Europe and the Islamic World: Current Situation and Challenges (2020).
At Oxford, I teach broadly across both contemporary Islam and the study of world religions, including for several undergraduate papers and the MSt in the Study of Religions. I am also a member of the Faculty of History, and teach for the MSc in Modern South Asian Studies, which is based in the School of Global and Area Studies.
Research Centres & Projects:
In addition to my Faculty role, I am the coordinator of ‘Religion and the Frontier Challenges’, a postdoctoral research programme based at Pembroke College.
Publications & Research Outputs:
For a full publications list, click here
