Adjunct Professor Mahjabeen Dhala

Mahjabeen Dhala

Adjunct Professor

Part-Time Faculty
Socials

Biography

Mahjabeen Dhala studies women's contributions to Islamic doctrine, practice, and devotional piety.  She is a presidential scholar and a PhD candidate in the Department of Sacred Texts and Their Interpretation at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Her dissertation looks at the seventh-century Sermon of Fatima to trace early Shia activist voices, especially those of women. In her capacity as a religious speaker and a spiritual guide, she has traveled widely, thus gaining a unique insight into the concerns of Muslim women both in the global North and the South.

Expertise

  • Islamic Studies
  • Women in/and Islam
  • Islamic history and law
  • Qur'an and Hadith Studies

Research Areas

  • Theology and Practice
  • Women's Studies in Religion

Education

  • Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, PhD Cand, 2020
  • Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, MA in Islamic Studies, 2017

Prior Experience

  • Newhall Fellow in Women's Studies in Religion, ABSW Berkeley
  • Adjunct Professor in Islamic Studies, CDSP Berkeley
  • Student Coordinator, Center for Islamic Studies at The GTU, Berkeley

Awards & Distinctions

  • Arthur Vining Davis Award for Interreligious research, 2019

  • GTU Presidential Scholarship

Selected Publications

  • "The Rib: resurrecting Skeletons, re-creating Eve,” in Beyond Words: Art Inspired by Sacred Texts. Berkeley: Center for the Arts and Religion, 2019.

  • “Five Foundational Women in the Qur’an: Rereading their Stories from a Shia Female Perspective,” in Berkeley Journal of Religion and Theology, Vol. 5, no. 2, (2019) © 2019 by the Graduate Theological Union.