Dr. Tajul Islam

Dr. Tajul Islam is a Lectuer in Islamic Studies at the Univeristy of Leeds. He holds a BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Leeds and a PhD in Islamic Theology from the University of Exeter. He is recognized as a theologian, having pursued studies in traditional madrasahs/ulama across the Muslim world, including Mauritania, Egypt, and Pakistan. He holds licenses (ijazahs) from various channels such as dars-i-nizami – mahadir shinquit, al-azhar, sham, sudan, among others.
 
Since 2009, he has been a member of Arabic, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Leeds, concurrently holding a visiting position at the University of the Punjab in Lahore.
 
His work blends critical methodologies with traditional Islamic textual hermeneutics, emphasizing Islamic sensibilities and Muslim subjectivity. As a co-founder of Critical Muslim Studies at Leeds, he utilizes CMS as a framework in both teaching and research, contributing to the decolonization of higher education. His teaching approach is characterized by inclusivity and sensitivity to issues such as Islamophobia, antisemitism, and racism in knowledge production.
 
His research outputs include a forthcoming monograph titled “On Muslim Unity (Theological Minimalism),” a co-authored article on Hanafi fiqh and British Muslims’ perspectives on cultured meat, as well as an article on Qur’anic phonetics. He has also contributed to studies in Judeo-Islamic, biblical, and kalam studies.
 
In terms of publications, he has co-authored a forthcoming book titled “A Dictionary of Arabic Idioms and Expressions” with El Mustapha Lahlali, to be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2023. Additionally, his doctoral thesis, titled “Scholastic Traditional Minimalism: A Critical Analysis of Intra-Sunni Sectarian Polemics,” was completed at the University of Exeter in 2015.