Dr. Sharif El-Tobgui

Dr. Sharif El-Tobgui holds a BS in Arabic Language from Georgetown University, a Master’s and PhD in Islamic Studies from McGill University and currently serves as Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Director of the Arabic Language Program at Brandeis University.

He previously taught for five years at Harvard University as Preceptor of Arabic, and has also taught at the Middlebury College Summer Arabic Language School. Prof. El-Tobgui’s scholarly expertise lies in the field of Islamic thought, with a special concentration on theology, law and jurisprudence.

He is particularly interested in questions concerning the relationship between reason and revelation in the Islamic tradition, and has published on the manifestations of this tension in the fields of classical Islamic jurisprudence and Qur’anic exegesis. He has just completed his first monograph, a study of Ibn Taymiyya’s (d.728/1328 10-volume work, “Refutation of Contradiction Between Reason and Revelation”  (E.J. Brill, 2020).
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In addition to his expertise in Islamic thought, Prof. El-Tobgui has a deep love of language in general, and of Classical Arabic in particular, and has enjoyed for many years exploring the intricacies of Arabic grammar as well as classical literature and poetry with his students.