Dr. Abdul Rahman Mustafa is a scholar of Islamic thought, law, and theology. He holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Georgetown University (with distinction), an M.St. in Modern History from the University of Oxford, and an LLB (First Class Hons.) from the London School of Economics, where he graduated among the top three students.
His research interests span law and religion with a focus on Islamic and comparative approaches, political theology, critical theory, gender and sexuality, and intellectual history. With over a decade of teaching experience across Georgetown, Edinburgh, Paderborn, and LUMS, his work brings classical Islamic scholarship into conversation with critical theory and other traditions to open new perspectives in global debates on ethics, law, and theology.
Dr. Mustafa is the author of On Taqlīd: Ibn al-Qayyim’s Critique of Authority in Islamic Law (Oxford University Press) and From God’s Nature to God’s Law: Theology, Law and Legal Theory in Islam (De Gruyter, 2025). His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in leading journals, including:
- “Innovation in Premodern Islam: Between Non-Religion, Irreligion and the Secular” (Journal of Islamic Studies, 2022).
- “Supernatural, Unnatural, Queer: Gratitude and Nature in Islamic Political Theology” (Political Theology, 2021).
- “Ritual and Rationality in Islam: A Case Study on Nail Polish” (Islamic Law and Society, 2019).
- “Ibn Taymiyyah & Wittgenstein on Language” (The Muslim World, 2018) – awarded most downloaded article.
He has also served as co-chair of the Theology and Religious Reflection Unit at the American Academy of Religion and continues to contribute actively to international scholarly dialogues.