Sarah Cohen is a student in the Islamic Studies MA program at Columbia University. A poet whose work explores politics and nature, she holds a BA in Religion and Middle Eastern Studies from Bard College and took additional coursework at the Saifi Institute for Arabic Language in Beirut. Her primary research interests are in feminist studies, Sufi thought and practice, and sensory experience.
Alaa Qarooni is a Bahraini MA candidate for the Columbia/Aga Khan dual degree in Islamic Studies and Muslim Cultures. He first moved to the United States from Bahrain to pursue a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, but quickly found himself drawn to exploring the educational streamline taken by Arab youth in the gulf as they navigate the complicated dynamics of postcolonial, oil-rich Arab states, a streamline which he believes he himself is a product of. His interests deal with the disconnect between the hegemonic cultural imaginary of the state and the grim reality of youth on the ground. What do standard talking points like ‘economic development’ and ‘building for a knowledge economy’ mean when faced with a near future of economic recession and environmental catastrophe? How do youth conceptualize ‘the future’ when so-called modernization efforts are undertaken without their interests in mind? How does our understanding of Islam in the Middle East, as scholars, evolve when we consider the role of education and youth in constructing it, historically and contemporaneously? Alaa hopes to develop his expertise in order to attribute greater value to youth culture in academic discourse on Islam and the Middle East.
Read MoreForrest was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado and is now a MA candidate in Islamic Studies at Columbia. He graduated from Regis University in Denver, Colorado with a BA double majoring in History and Religious Studies. He has a lasting interest in activism for religious tolerance, spending all four years in his undergraduate program working as an organizer for interfaith programming on campus. Forrest’s primary research interests are in studying the dynamic relationship of politics and theology over time in communities existing under colonialism and neo-colonialism, specifically with regard to conceptions of mysticism and family law. Forrest hopes to pursue a PhD after this program, with a desire to pursue deeper understanding of intellectual currents in international Islamic communities.
Read MoreSaarah is a candidate for the Islamic Studies MA at Columbia University. Saarah completed her BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies at SOAS (University of London) where she focused on the legal and ethical understandings of adoption in the Muslim world today. She also completed her MA in Human Rights Law at SOAS, where her studies focused on critical legal theory and the limitations of the human rights regime. In between her degrees Saarah worked at Think Equal, an International NGO focused on early education to combat discriminatory practices. She was also involved in various voluntary work that included organizing campaigns to feed the homeless, and working with refugees and asylum seekers. Her (academic) interests include decolonization of systems and knowledge production, the intersection of Islamic ethics and law, and universal social justice. Upon completing her MA, Saarah hopes to continue with her academic pursuits alongside working with marginalized communities by addressing the unethical and discriminatory systems and policies in place today.
Read MoreGeorge comes to the dual degree program between Columbia and the Aga Khan Institute after having completed his juris Doctor at the St. John’s University School of Law. During his time at St. John’s, his coursework focused on private and public international law, cross border transactions, and national security. A portion of his scholarly writing requirement discussing the status of the international legal framework governing the Mekong River Basin was published in the first quarter 2020 edition of Benedict’s Maritime Bulletin. In addition to his academic work, George was a Teaching Assistant for the St. Johns’ Transnational Legal Practice Program, whose purpose is to instruct non-U.S. legal practitioners and students in the nuances of legal practice across borders. Before attending law school, George graduated with a B.A. in History with dual minors in French and Economics, with honors, from Fairleigh Dickinson University College at Florham. His undergraduate thesis explored the development and crystallization of Shari’ah commercial law, and how this process differed from the development of commercial law in Europe.
George's research interests relate to understanding political and diplomatic structures in the Persianate Islamic world, and how these affected the development of transboundary activities during the pre-modern period. He is also interested in understanding how historical patterns can serve as an analogy for modern economic development and integration.
Read MoreNicholas was an infantryman with the United States Army from 2011-2014. While abroad, Nicholas felt there was need for greater emphasis or discretion for regional customs, which has guided his academic and career ambitions since. Currently, Nicholas is pursuing a B.A. in Political Science, an M.A. in Islamic Studies, and studying Arabic . His academic interests include tribal dynamics in Afghanistan, modern Levantine history, Islamic law, state formation, and U.S.-Middle East relations. He plans to write a thesis about Kandahar's Pashtun tribes. Nicholas is currently studying Arabic in Jordan with the Boren Scholarship. After completing his graduate studies, he hopes to enter the United States Foreign Service.
Read MoreBorn in India on December 21, 1946, Syed Tasnim Raza immigrated to Pakistan, the day it was created as an independent state, on August 14, 1947. He attended King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan, graduating in December 1970. He came to America six months after graduating from medical school and trained in surgery and then cardiothoracic surgery from July 1971 to June 1979 at the State University New York at Buffalo and the Buffalo General Hospital. In April 2011, he joined the faculty in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, where I am an Associate Professor of Surgery and director of the CT Surgery Stepdown Unit.
In the last few years, he developed an interest in the history of medicine. He realized that from Hippocrates and Galen (130-216 CE), most historical accounts jump to the Renaissance, brushing off the centuries in-between as the medieval dark ages. But those centuries included the Islamic Golden Age where Greek medicine was not only practiced but also progressed. To learn more about that period and to learn what were the contributions of the Arab/Islamic physicians during the medieval period, Syed Tasnim Raza decided to join the Middle East Institute to pursue a Master’s degree in Islamic studies.
Read MoreZahabiya has completed a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Houston. In 2018, she spent time in Cairo studying Egyptian Arabic, where she immersed in the cultures and traditions that intrigue her most. This has led to her current research interests, which focus on a comparative analysis of gendered experiences through class, economic development, and religion analysis in Middle Eastern/South Asian communities. In her work, she explores previous anthropological scholarship and ethnographies to better understand behavioral patterns and the role of cultural relativism. Upon completing her master’s degree, she intends to work for an organization/firm in which she can apply her critical thinking and analytical skills.
Read MoreSumaiya Zama is an MA candidate for the Columbia and Aga Khan University dual degree in Islamic Studies and Muslim Cultures. She holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in Political Science with minors in Africana Studies and Human Rights. As the youngest board member of the Praxis Project, a support intermediary organization serving communities of color, Sumaiya has dedicated both her free time and professional work to improving the material conditions of her community. Her interests include reading Islamic texts as liberation theology and learning from scholars in the field so that she may further develop its theory and praxis. Her academic interests are sparked by her background in youth work, civil rights, and community organizing, through which she explores how Muslim Americans, particularly young Muslim women, deploy the Islamic tradition to respond to life under a surveillance state.
Read MoreToqa Badran, a native New Yorker of Egyptian heritage, is a candidate for the MA in Islamic Studies. Toqa completed her Bachelors degree here at Columbia with a double major in Political Science and Anthropology, and served as the college’s first Arab or female Muslim University Senator. Her academic and socio-political interests include linguistics, specifically with regards to languages within the Islamic world, revitalizing premodern world-views as methods of modern empowerment, and fighting for the freedom of occupied East Turkistan. She hopes to pursue a PhD after completing the MA program.
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