Mahboob Hussain Al-Azhari

Profile

PhD in Jewish Anecdotes in Qur’anic Exegesis with particular focus on controversial narratives regarding Biblical prophets mentioned in Sunni, Shia and Mu’tazila Exegesis.Overview
Academic Background
BA (Hons) Islamic Theology - University of Al-Azhar, Cairo (1997 - 2000)
BSc (Hons) Computing & Information Systems – University of Bradford (2001 – 2005)
MA (Research) - University of Leeds (2007 - 2009)
Commenced PhD study within AIMES (Arabic, Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies) Department in October 2013.

Thesis Title – Jewish Anecdotes in Qur’anic Exegesis.

My current research is an extension of my MRES here at Leeds, but focuses more particularly on controversial narratives regarding the religious figures recognised in both the Biblical and Islamic lore as prophets. The fact that there is a definite connection between the religious texts and certain similarities has led me to focus on those narratives that exist in both texts. Without doubt narratives have always been a part of religious texts and have focused on many things, amongst them prophets, who have been portrayed significantly differently in the Abrahamic texts. The Quran is very comprehensive in terms of the details in these narratives, whereas its Biblical counterparts are more detailed. As a result, some Muslim exegetes have resorted to the Biblical texts to supplement the detail and there has been a variant level of appropriation and non-appropriation. My aim is to focus on a possible theory of appropriation/non-appropriation, whether this was uniform amongst the different Muslim denominations, or whether there was a degree of difference. The aim is to better understand the relationship between the ancient texts and supplementary exegetical texts.

Research Interests
Qur’anic Exegesis, particularly Judeo/Christian narratives, comparative prophetology, Hadith studies.

Research Supervisor
Dr Mustapha Sheikh (Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies - AIMES)
Teaching Commitments

Public Engagement
Public speaking and lectures.