In this episode of The Maydan Podcast, Robert Zayd KiaNouri-Zigmund, Project Associate at The Maydan, speaks with Dr. Farah El-Sharif, to discuss her life and Palestinian heritage, her research on West African Sufism and resistance movements, and the challenges facing the Muslim ummah today. They discuss the significance of Jerusalem and the abandonment of the Palestinian cause by Arab and Muslim nations, the life and legacy of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse, and the emergence of “quietist Sufism.” Farah also discusses the topic of her dissertation, which focused on the “Rimah” of Shaykh Umar Futi Tal. This wide-ranging conversation also covers anti-colonial resistance in light of the narrative of Karbala and the legacy of the Prophet in Islamic theology.
Dr. Farah El-Sharif is an educator, writer and scholar of Islamic intellectual history. She hails from the land of “the fig and the olive, Mt. Sinai and this sacred land.” She earned her PhD in Islamic Studies from Harvard University’s Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. She holds two masters degrees in Islamic Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and Harvard, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She has studied with scholars in Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Jordan and the US. Dr. El-Sharif served as the Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University. She taught at Harvard, Stanford, Lighthouse Masjid, MCC East Bay and Iman Center. Her Substack (https://sermonsatcourt.substack.com/), which centers themes of Islam and the quest for justice has been widely recognized by respected platforms such as the Chris Hedges Report.
Robert Zayd KiaNouri-Zigmund serves as a Project Associate for the AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies and The Maydan. An emerging scholar of Islamic Studies, he graduated from Swarthmore College in 2022 and recently completed his M.A. In Islamic Studies and Shi’ism from George Washington University in 2024. His Masters’ thesis, Path to the Wellspring, explores the religious and historical development of the Ja’fari school of law in Iran and its contemporary implications.
He specializes in Islamic law, ethics, theology, Shi’ism and human rights. His recent publication, God’s Shadow on Earth appears in Critical Muslim Issue 52.