Islamic Studies

The academic study of Islam extends from late antiquity to the present and across the full sweep of the Islamic world, combining historical, text-critical, ethnographic, philosophical, legal, and art historical methods to place Islamic traditions and Muslim lives in religious, cultural, and political context. Current faculty expertise includes early Islam, Qur’anic studies, hadith literature, Ismaili Shi’ism, South Asian Shi’ism, and anthropology of Islam. Students in the field work on Islam in various world regions, from Canada to West Africa to South Asia. 

Our program in Islamic Studies benefits from its close collaboration with U of T’s Institute of Islamic Studies and Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. Students are expected to pursue advanced study of languages relevant to their research, and U of T offers regular courses in Arabic, Persian, Swahili, Turkish (modern and Ottoman), Urdu, and other languages of the Islamic world. 

group of people icon    With research interests in Islamic Studies