C.V.

EDUCATION

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario 2010-present

PhD, Department and Centre for the Study of Religion

Centre for Jewish Studies

Concentration: Islamic and Jewish Philosophies of Religion, Political and Religious Philosophy.

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario 2008-2010

Master of Arts (M.A.), Religious Studies.

Major Area: Western Religious Thought. Minor Area: Early Christianity.

Thesis: “Ibn Rushd, Leo Strauss, and the Demands of the City.”

Supervisor: Dr. Dana Hollander.

Institute for the Teaching of Arabic to Foreigners, Damascus, Syria 2006-2008

Certificate of Matriculation.

Areas of Study: Classical Arabic language and literature, Qur’anic Arabic.

Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana 2002-2006

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Double Major: Philosophy, Sociology/Anthropology.College Honors, Departmental Honors in Sociology/Anthropology.

PUBLICATIONS

Forthcoming (2017): Review Essay: “The History of the Present: Scholarship on Syrian-Turkish

relations.” Mediterranean Politics.

2016. Review Essay: “Whose Freedom? Engaging The Politics of Religious Freedom”. Middle East

Law and Governance 8 (2016) 1-14.

2015. “Between the Messianic Era and the Text: Historicism and Exegetical Materialism in

Maimonides,” Journal of Idealistic Studies. Special volume, Leo Strauss and the Philosophy of

History. Ed. Jeffrey Bernstein.

2013. “Raping a Nation: Sexual Violence in the Syrian Crisis.” Footnote1. http://footnote1.com/rapinga-

nation-sexual-violence-in-syria/

2013. Thematic introduction to ‘Islamic Law,’ in Oxford Islamic Studies Online (OISO).

2012. Review, Amira Mittermaier’s Dreams that Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination

(2010), in Arc: Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University.

2012. Summaries of the national constitutions of Libya, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Saudi

Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen, in Oxford Islamic Studies Online (OISO).

2011. Review of Long Commentary on the De anima of Aristotle, by Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Trans. R.

C. Taylor and T-A. Druart. Yale University Press, 2009. In Symposia.

2009. “A Student Study Guide.”World Religions Today (Canadian Ed.). Oxford University Press.

TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (Student Evaluations Available on Request)!

2015. Lecturer, University of Toronto, RLG404: Senior Capstone Seminar.

2015. Lecturer, University of Toronto. CJS390: Jewish Thinkers, Muslim Lands.

2014. Lecturer, University of Toronto. RLG388: Islam and Law.

2010-2016. Teaching Assistant, University of Toronto. Course(s): Religion and Politics, Intro to

Judaism, Intro to Islam. World Religions, Religion and Film, Islamic Religious Traditions, Introduction

to Qur’an, Introduction to Christianity, Introduction to Religion.

2011-2012. Research Assistant to Dr. Mohammad Fadel. University of Toronto.

2009-2010. Research Assistant to Dr. Dana Hollander. McMaster University.

2008-2010. Teaching Assistant. McMaster University. Course(s): Approaches to the Study of Religion,

Science Religion and Philosophy, Introduction to Islam, Judaism and the Jewish People in the 20th

Century.

CONFERENCE PAPERS

2015. “Imagining the Truth: What Medieval Rhetoric Can Tell Us About Contemporary Political

Speech.” 11th Annual Conference in Political Science and International Relations in Memory of

Yitzhak Rabin, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (December 8-10, 2015)

2014. “The Philosophical Source of alFarabi’s Ethical Politics: Mimetic Imagination in the Ideal City.”

Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference, Villanova University. (October 24-25, 2014)

2014. “Two Tales of Eden: Maimonides on the Law and Psychology of the Fall.” Schwarz-Reisman

Graduate Conference in Jewish Studies.” University of Toronto, Centre for Jewish Studies.

2014. Symposium, Department and Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto. “Between

the Perfect and Pragmatic: On Imagination in alFarabi’s Ideal City.” Waleed Saleh, respondant.

2013. “Crossroads of the Imaginative and the Material in a Muslim Context: A Discussion of Amira

Mittermaier’s Dreams That Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination.” AAR Eastern

International Region Meeting, Toronto, Canada.

2013. “Religions Where Law Matters: Divine Law and Ethics in Judaism and Islam.” International

Conference on the Contemporary Philosophy of Religion, Centre for Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran..

(Presented in absentia)

2011. “Why Would I Tell Them? Secrecy, Friendship, and Responsibility in Damascus.” 1st

Postgraduate Conference. Centre for Syrian Studies, School of International Relations, University of St.

Andrews, Scotland.

May 2010. “Unexpected Bedfellows: Maimonides and Ibn Rushd on Reading Holy Texts,” 2010

Congress of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion Annual Meeting. Concordia University,

Montreal.

2010. “Leo Strauss, Ibn Rushd, and the Qur’an as Esoteric Text”, at “The Absent Center” Graduate

Conference on Contemporary Issues in Political Theology. University of Texas, Department of

Government.

2009. “Bridging Reason and Revelation: A Critique of Strauss’ Scholarship in Philosophy and Law”, at

the “Building Bridges” Graduate Philosophy Conference. Southern Illinois University Carbondale,

Philosophy Department.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Area Editor, Symposium (the journal of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy). 2015.

Executive Editor, University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought. 2012-2014.

Assistant Editor, University of Toronto Journal of Jewish Thought. 2010-2012.

Student Representative of the Gradate Student Association of Religion Studies to the Canada

Corporation for Religious Studies (CCSR). 2009-2010.

Research Intern, Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI). Concentration: Law

and the development of national identity. Jerusalem. 2005.

EMPLOYMENT AND SERVICE

2016. Member, National Language Service Core (NLSC), USA.

2016. Interpreter for the European Asylum Support Organization (EASO) asylum admissibility

interviews for Syrian asylum claimants at the Moria Refugee Camp, Lesvos Island, Greece.

2015-present. Volunteer translator and interpreter for COSTI Immigrant Services and Access Alliance

Health Care, working with Canadian government-sponsored refugees from Syria.

2016. Certificate of completion, Introduction to Interpreter Ethics for Bilingual Volunteers (COSTI

Immigrant Services).

2013-present. Volunteer translator and liaison for privately sponsored refugees from the Middle East.

2012. Panelist, Engaging the World Speaker Series. Topic: Help or Hindrance? How Sacred Texts

Speak to Current Social Justice Issues. Sponsored by Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto,

Scarborough Missions Interfaith Department, and the Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Toronto.

2010. Lecture for University of Toronto Qu(e)erying Religion (community group): “Queer Judaism(s)”

SELECTED GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2015-2016. Naim S. Mahlab Graduate Fellowship in Jewish-Muslim Relations.

2015. University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies Mobility Grant at Bodleian Libraries, Oxford.

2014-2015. Naim S. Mahlab Graduate Fellowship in Jewish-Muslim Relations.

2013-2014. Molly Spitzer Award, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto

2012-2013. Arts and Sciences Scholarship for the Study of Less Commonly Taught Languages for

Research Purposes (FAS LCTL) for the study of Syriac and Aramaic in Lebanon.

2010-2012. Tikvah Fund Graduate Fellowship, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto.

LANGUAGES

English - Native fluency

Classical Arabic - Full Professional Fluency

Syrian Colloquial Arabic - Full Professional Fluency

Judeo-Arabic - Advanced (Reading only)

French - Advanced (Reading), Intermediate (Spoken and Written)

Hebrew - Intermediate (Reading)

German - Intermediate (Reading)