I am interested in the study of medieval Islamic theology and law, especially in how medieval Muslim historians understood and depicted the development of theological and legal institutions between the death of Muḥammad in 632 CE and the late sixteenth century. I primarily focus on various forms of biography (tarjamah), which was one of the most important genres of medieval Muslim historiography. I also have a secondary interest in Islam in Indonesia, especially the stories of the Wali Songo, the nine saints of Javanese Islam that are popularly thought to be responsible for the Islamization of Java in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Research Interests: medieval Muslim biography, especially Tabaqat literature and the rhetorical methods used by authors to shape their histories of the development of religious-intellectual disciplines, especially Islamic law and theology.
Areas: Medieval Islamic theology and law; biography and Muslim historiography; Islam in Indonesia.
Subject Area(s): Religious Studies
Research Interests:
- Islamic studies, medieval Islamic legal history, Religious authority, and comparative religion
