Maria



curriculum vitae

MARIA MASSI DAKAKE

Associate Professor

Department of Religious Studies

George Mason University

4400 University Drive, MS 3F1

Fairfax, VA 22030

(703) 993-3582

mdakakem@gmu.edu

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Near Eastern Studies. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 2000.

M.A., Near Eastern Studies. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1998.

B.A., Government, summa cum laude. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1990.

Institute for Humanities and Cultural Research, Tehran, Iran, 1996-1997.

The American University in Cairo, 1992.

Oxford University, The Queens’ College, 1988-1989.

POSITIONS HELD

Associate Professor of Religious Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 2006–present

Chair, Department of Religious Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 2013-2017

Co-Director, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 2015-2016

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, 2000–2006.

Adjunct Professor, Department of History

The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, 1999–2000.

Preceptor, Department of Near Eastern Studies

Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1995.

Cataloguing Assistant: Rare Books and Special Collections.

Firestone Library, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1994 and 1995.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

2015 The Study Qur’an, general editor and co-author, with S.H. Nasr (editor-in-chief), C.

Dagli, J. Lumbard, M. Rustom. HarperOne, 2015.

2007 The Charismatic Community: Shi`ite Identity in Early Islam, State University of New York Press, 2007. (Paperback released 2008).

Articles

2019 “Qur’anic Terminology, Translation, and the Islamic Conception of Religion” in

Religion. July 2019.

2018 “Teaching Islam at a State University: Facilitating and Embracing Critical

Conversations” in The Muslim World, April 2018.

2017 “Rules of Engagement: The Qur’an and the Etiquette of Interreligious Dialogue” in

Renovatio, December 2017.

2013 “A Response to Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s Erasmus Lecture” in First Things,

December 2013.

2013 “A Good Word is as a Good Tree: An Islamic Response to the Interfaith Challenges

of Vatican II” in Modern Theology, October 2013.

2013 “Sacred Land in Qur’an and Hadith and its Symbolic and Eschatological

Significance.” Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, v. 10, no. 1, 2011.

2011 “Hierarchies of Knowing in Mulla Sadra’s Commentary on the Usul al-Kafi,”

Journal of Islamic Philosophy, vol. 6, 2011.

2007 “‘Guest of the Inmost Heart’: Conceptions of the Divine Beloved among Early Sufi

Women.” Journal of Comparative Islamic Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2007.

2007 “The Heritage of Female Spirituality and the Traditionalist Perspective.” Sacred

Web, Spring 2007.

2006 “Hiding in Plain Sight: The Doctrinal and Practical Significance of Secrecy in Shi`ite

Islam.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, v. 74, no. 2, June 2006.

2004 “The Soul as Barzakh: Trans-substantial Motion and Mulla’s Sadra’s Theory of

Human Becoming,” The Muslim World, vol. 94, no. 1, January 2004.

2002 “Walking upon the Path of God Like Men?: Women and the Feminine in the Islamic

Mystical Tradition,” in Sophia: A Journal of Traditional Studies, v. 8, no. 2, 2002.

(republished in): Sufism: Love and Wisdom (eds. Roger Gaetani and Jean-Louis

Michon), Bloomington: World Wisdom Press: 2006.

2001 “Muslim Women: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity,” Matrix, vol. 10, Fall 2001.

Book Chapters

2020 “Women as Moral Exemplars in Twelver Shiism” in The Oxford Handbook of Islam

and Women (ed. Asma Afsaruddin), Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

2020 “Ta’wil in the Qur’an and the Islamic Exegetical Tradition: The Past and the Future of the Qur’an” in J. Marion and C. Jacobs-Vandegeer (eds.), The Enigma of Divine Revelation: Between Phenomenology and Comparative Theology, Springer.

2019 “Exploring the Possibilities and the Limitations of Interreligious Theology: A

Response to Perry Schmidt Leukel,” in New Paths for Interreligious Theology (eds. Paul Knitter and Alan Race), October 2019.

2017 “To be Khalifah: The Human Vocation in Relation to Nature and Community” in Human Action within Divine Creation, Georgetown University Press, 2017.

2016 “Conceptions of a Spiritual Elect in Shiite and Sufi Thought: Early Sources and Connections” in Esotérisme shi’ite, ses racines et ses prolongements (ed. M. Ali Amir-Moezzi), Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, Belgium, September 2016.

2015 “Quranic Ethics, Human Rights, and Society,” in The Study Quran (S.H. Nasr, C. Dagli, M.M. Dakake J.E. Lumbard, M. Rustom), HarperOne, 2015.

2015 “Stations of the Gnostics: A translation of a treatise by Ghiyath al-Din Dashtaki.” An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia (eds. M. Aminrazavi and S.H. Nasr), Institute of Ismaili Studies, I.B. Tauris, 2015.

2014 “Where Waters Meet: A Conversation with Maria Dakake,” in Michael Birkel (ed.), The Qur’an in Conversation, Baylor University Press, August 2014.

2014 “The Lights of Inspiration: A translation from the commentary of `Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji.” An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia (eds. M. Aminrazavi and S.H. Nasr), Institute of Ismaili Studies, I.B. Tauris, 2014.

2013 “Writing and Resistance: The Transmission of Knowledge in Early Shi`ism” in

The Study of Shi`i Islam: History Theology, and Law (eds. F. Daftary and G. Miskinzoda), I.B. Tauris, 2013.

2010 “Theological Parallels and Metaphysical Meeting Points: Christ, Adam, and the

Word in Christianity and Islam” in Muslim and Christian Understanding (eds. Waleed El-Ansary and David Linnan) Palgrave, 2010.

2009 “Human Conjecture and Divine Argument: Faith and Truth in the Qur’anic Story of

Abraham” in Crisis, Call and Leadership (eds. Peter Ochs and Stacy Johnson), Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009.

2001 “The Origin of Man in Pre-Eternity and His Origination in Time: Mulla Sadra and Imami Shi`ite Tradition” in Islam-West Philosophical Dialogue: Papers Presented at the World Congress on Mulla Sadra, Tehran, 2001, pp. 147-166.

Encyclopedia Entries

2016 “Sunni-Shi`i Relations” in Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Macmillan Reference, March 2016.

2014 “Hermeneutics and Allegorical Interpretation (Ta’wil)” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Philosophy, Science, and Technology (ed. Ibrahim Kalin), Oxford University Press, 2014.

2008 “Religion” in Encyclopedia of the Modern World, (ed. Peter Stearns), Oxford University Press, 2008.

2008 “Jaber b. Yazid al-Jo`fi” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ahmad Ashraf, Columbia University Press, 2008.

2006 “The Battle of Siffin” in The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an, ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Brill, 2006.

2004 “Hojjat” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ahmad Ashraf, Columbia University Press, 2004.

2002 “Ghadir Khomm in Shi`ite Literature.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, ed. Ahmad Ashraf,

New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Book Reviews

2015 “A Feminist Qur’an?: Review of Hidayatullah, Feminist Edges of the Qur’an” in

First Things, November 2015.

2013 “Islam’s Origins: A review of In the Shadow of Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire by Tom Holland (Doubleday, 2012), published in First Things, 2013.

2004 Roman Catholics and Shi`i Muslims: Prayer, Passion and Politics, James A. Bill and John Alden Williams (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002). Reviewed in Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2004.

Work under contract:

Routledge Companion to the Qur’an

An edited volume comprising over 40 articles by leading scholars in the field of Qur’anic studies, representing the current state of academic research on the historical origins of the Qur’an, its thematic and stylistic structure, traditional and modern commentaries on the text, and contemporary debates about its interpretation and application. Under contract with Routledge Press (forthcoming 2020).

Toward an Islamic Theory of Religion and Religious Diversity

A monograph project on the concept of religion and religious community in Islamic thought and history, with a focus on the relationship between religion conceived of as a universal reality, and as embodied in a diversity of religious communities. (under contract with Oneworld), submission date: April 2019.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

“The Relationship between Prophecy and Sanctity: The Significance of Non-Prophetic Figures in the Qur’an” at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 25, 2019.

“Maryam as Paradigmatic Saint” at the American Academy of Religion, Denver, November 19, 2018.

“Rethinking Shi`i Epistemology: Mulla Sadra’s Commentary on the Usul al-kafi” at the conference The Renaissance of Shi`i Islam in the 15-17th Centuries: Facets of Thought and Practice at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, October 3-5, 2018.

“Ascending to the Divine, Transforming the Human: Prayer in Islamic Tradition” at Shin Buddhism, Christianity, Islam: Conversations in Comparative Theology Conference, Meunster, Germany, July 13, 2017.

“Myth and History in Islam” at Shin Buddhism, Christianity, Islam: Conversations in Comparative Theology Conference, Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan, Feb. 16-17, 2017.

“Ummah, Millah, and Din: Qur’anic Terminology and the Islamic Concept of Religion” at Translation and Religion Conference, University of Edinburgh, September 1-3, 2016.

“Islam and Environmental Sustainability” at the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis, MN, June 7, 2016.

“The Religious ‘Other’ in the Quran” at the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Minneapolis, MN, June 8, 2016

“Female Spirituality in Islam” at Intellectuality and Spirituality in Islam Conference, George Washington University, May 21-22, 2016.

“The Past and the Future of the Qur’an” at Future of Qur’anic Studies Conference, The Holy Cross College, April 9-10, 2016.

“To Be Khalifah: The Human Vocation in Relation to Nature and Community” at the Building Bridges Seminar, Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar, May 3-6, 2015.

“Linear, Cyclical, and Circular Conceptions of Time in the Qur’an” at Contemplating the Qur’an (Tadabbur al-Qur’an) Conference, Howard Divinity School, April 20-21, 2015.

“Mary: Pious Woman, Saint or Prophet in the Writing of Ibn `Arabi” presented at Ibn `Arabi Society Conference, Berkeley, CA, Nov. 15, 2014.

“The Moral Authority of Self and Community in the Qur’an” at North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies Conference, Columbia University, New York, Sept. 20, 2014.

“Seeing the Signs: An Islamic Reading of the Gospel of John” at the Symposium on the Gospel of John, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, Jan. 7-10, 2013.

“The Original Soul and the ‘Womb’ of Kinship: The Feminine and the Universal in Qur’an 4:1” at International Qur’anic Studies Association Meeting, Baltimore, Nov. 22-25, 2013.

“The Cave at the Centre: Surat al-Kahf and the Qur’anic Conception of Prophethood” at The Qur’an: Text, Society, and Culture, London University, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Nov. 6-9, 2013.

“Tafsir and Ta’wil: Searching for Meaning and Certainty in the Qur’an” at “Contemplating the Qur’an Conference,” Howard Divinity School, March 25-26, 2013.

“A God Who Gives Without Reckoning: A Reading of Qur’an 3:35-47,” at American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 18-20, 2012.

“‘Knowing Things as They Really Are’: Knowledge and Spiritual Hierarchy in Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and Mullā Ṣadrā” at Biennial Meeting of International Society for Iranian Studies, Istanbul, Turkey, August 1-5, 2012.

“Qur’an and Commentary,” Scriptural Reasoning in the University Conference, Cambridge University, July 16-18, 2012.

“The Qur’anic View of the Self: Moral Reflexivity and Judgment in the Qur’an” at AAR/SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Nov. 19-21, 2011.

“Knowledge, Hierarchy, and Self-Transformation: the Shi`ite Epistemology of Mullā Ṣadrā” at The Study of Shi`ite Islam in North America Conference, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT, Oct. 8, 2011.

“Writing and Resistance in Early Shi`ism” at AAR Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2010

“New Developments in Tafsir Studies,” at New Approaches to Qur’anic Exegesis Conference, GMU, Oct. 23-24 2010.

“The Written Transmission of Knowledge in Early Shi`ite Thought” at The Study of Shi`i Islam: The State of the Field Conference, Institute for Ismaili Studies, London, September 20-22, 2010.

“Judging Others, Judging Self in Qur’an 24:1-28” at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, Nov. 7-10, 2009.

“`Ali b. Abi Talib and Divine Authority (Walayah)” at the Imam `Ali Conference, Hartford, CT, October 17, 2009.

“Prophecy and Saintly Inspiration in Islam” at the Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Conference, Villanova University, Radnor, PA, Oct. 10-12, 2008.

“The Haram at Mecca and the Universal Conception of Sacred Land in the Qur’an” presented at the AAR Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA, Nov. 17-20, 2007.

“Sacred Land in the Qur’an and Hadith: Symbolic and Eschatological Significance.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, November 18-21, 2006.

“The Heritage of Female Spirituality and the Traditionalist Perspective.” Sacred Web Conference, Edmonton, Canada, September 23-24, 2006.

“Wives, Mothers and Daughters: Sufism in a Family Context.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November 20-23, 2005.

“Teaching the Qur’an in Mixed Religious Company.” Asheville Summer Institute: Conference on Teaching Islam in the Undergraduate Curriculum, Asheville, NC, June 2-4, 2005.

“Intimacy and Union in Female Sufi Discourse.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, San Antonio, November 19-22, 2004.

“Rarer than Red Sulfur: Women and the Early Shi`ite Movement.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 22-25, 2003.

“The Guest of My Inmost Heart: Images of Divine Love in Female Sufi Poetry.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 22-25, 2003.

“The Soul as Barzakh: Substantial Motion and Mulla’s Sadra’s Theory of Human Becoming.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Toronto, November 23-26, 2002.

“The Feminine Voice of Conscience: Woman as Moral Critic in Early Islamic Literature.” American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting. Nashville, November 19-22, 2000.

“The Charismatic Community: Shi`ite Self-Perception in Early Islam.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. Orlando, November 17-19, 2000.

“Between the Political and the Mystical: Walaya in Early Shi`ite Thought.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, November 19-22, 1999.

“The Pre-existence of the Soul in Early Shi`ite Hadith and in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra.” World Congress on Mulla Sadra. Tehran, May 23-27, 1999.

“Hidden Knowledge and the Written Text: Kitab Sulaym b. Qays and Shi`ite Counter-History.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, December 4-6, 1998.

“The Changing Role of Ghadir Khumm in Shi`ite Thought.” The 13th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference. University of Chicago, May 8-9, 1998.

“Persian Language and Humanities Studies in Iran.” Working with -- and in – Iran.

Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, New York, New York, April 1, 1998.

Invited lectures and presentations

“Female Contributions to Qur’anic Exegesis: Historical and Contemporary Voices” at The College of William and Mary, Nov. 8, 2018.

“The Scholar’s Dilemma: Appreciating Shi`i Difference in an Age of Heightened Sectarian Tensions”: Keynote lecture at the Shi`i Studies Symposium, University of Chicago, Oct. 26, 2018.

“Nusrat Amin’s Treasury of Knowledge: Exploring the Shi`i Commentary of a 20th century Female Scholar” at Hartford Seminary, Oct. 18, 2018.

“Is There an Islamic Theory of Religion?: Potential Contributions (and Complications) to Religious Studies Theory,” University of Cincinnati, March 28, 2018.

“‘The Words of God Will Not Be Exhausted’: Contemplating the Qur’an in a Contemporary Context” at Search for Meaning Book Festival, Seattle University, February 24, 2018.

“Gender in the Qur’an” at Lebanese American University, Beirut, January 9, 2018.

“Is the Qur’an an Open Book? The Qur’anic ‘Signs’ and their Interpretation” at University of Virginia, April 3, 2017.

“Encountering the Divine through His Most Beautiful Names in Islamic Mystical Tradition” at University of Virginia, April 3, 2017.

“The Study Qur’an: Reading the Qur’anic ‘Signs’” at Colgate University, Dec. 1, 2016.

“The Qur’an: Reading the Signs” at California Lutheran University, April 21, 2016.

“Sign, Word, and Remembrance: Jesus and Muhammad in the Qur’an and Islamic Tradition” Princeton University, February 5, 2016.

“An Islamic Conception of Environmental Stewardship” at The Center for World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, Nov. 30, 2015.

Roundtable Panelist: “Origin Stories: A Forum on the Discovery and Interpretation of the Birmingham Qur’an” at the Freer Art Gallery, Smithsonian Institution,Washington, DC, Oct. 29, 2015.

“Women and Islam,” Atheneam Lecture Series, Montgomery College, Germantown, MD, Nov. 14, 2013.

“Imagining the Sacred: The Role of Imagination in Religious Consciousness,” Center for Consciousness and Transformation, George Mason University, April 6, 2011.

“The Islamic Marriage Contract” at Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Conference, Vienna, VA, February 26, 2011.

“The Virgin Mary in the Qur’anic Narrative,” Institute for Islamic and Turkish Studies, Fairfax, VA, July 29, 2010.

“Religious Inclusivism and Excluvism: The Case of Abraham and the Hajj,” George Mason University, Religious Studies Colloquium, April 26, 2010.

“Muslim Women in Historical Perspective,” “Spiritual Connections: Judaism, Christianity, Islam,” and “Sunnism and Shi`ism” at the Dar al-Islam Teachers’ Institute, Abiquiu, New Mexico, July 2008.

“Sacred Destinations: Mecca” at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC, June 25, 2008.

“The Virgin Mary in Islam”, George Washington University Muslim Student Association, March 30, 2008.

“The Religious Lives of Muslim Women”, Annual Women and Religion Lecture, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, March 13, 2008.

“Women in Islam” and “The Qur’anic Prophets” at the Dar al-Islam Teachers’ Institute, Abiquiu, New Mexico, July 2006.

“Prophecy in Islam,” Interreligious Council of Washington, D.C., March 14, 2003.

Congressional briefing: “An Overview of Islam,” Panel on Terrorism, Bioterrorism and Islam, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, October 12, 2001.

“Cultural Sensitivity and Academic Freedom,” Intellectual Life of Schools Conference, George Mason University, August 14-15, 2001.

“Women and Early Islamic Mysticism,” Rumi Forum for Interfaith Dialogue, Washington, DC, March 30, 2001.

CONFERENCES ORGANIZED

“Sectarianism, Identity, and Conflict in Islamic Contexts: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives”, at George Mason University, April 15-17, 2016.

“2nd Biennial Tadabbur al-Qur’an Conference: The Qur’an and the Reading of History” (co-organizer), at Howard Divinity School, April 20-21, 2015

“(Inaugural) Tadabbur al-Qur’an: Contemplating the Qur’an Conference” (co-organizer), at Howard Divinity School, March 25-26, 2013.

“New Approaches to Qur’an and Exegesis,” George Mason University, October 23-24, 2010.

AWARDS AND HONORS

NEH Summer Stipend, Summer 2020.

Faculty Study Leave, George Mason University, Fall 2017.

Finalist, Teaching Excellence Award; named “Teacher of Distinction” at GMU, 2013.

OSCAR grant ($2500) for faculty-undergraduate student research collaboration, 2013.

Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, Summer Research grant ($2000), 2011.

El-Hibri Charitable Foundation grant: Study Qur’an project ($140,000), 2010-2011.

Institute on Religion and Civic Values grant for course release ($75,000), 2009-2010.

Faculty Study Leave, George Mason University, Fall 2008.

Mathy Junior Faculty Fellowship, Spring 2002.

Andrew W. Mellon Summer Fellowship, 1998.

Princeton University Hyde Fellowship, 1996-1997.

Phi Beta Kappa, inducted as lifetime member at Cornell University, 1990.

COURSES TAUGHT

(Undergraduate)

Religions of the West; Human Religious Experience; Islam; Islamic Thought; Qur’an and Hadith; Muhammad: Life and Legacy; Islamic Law; Women in World Religions; Modern Islamic Thought; Sufism; Women in Islamic Literature; Women and Islam; Religious Thought in Islamic and Medieval Spain; Shi`ite Islam; Religion in Safavid-Era Iran.

(Graduate)

Islamic Texts and Contexts; Qur’an and Interpretation; Islamic Philosophy and the Problem of Soul; Religion and the Natural Environment; Shi`ite and Sufi Mysticism; Islamic Feminism.

Other teaching activity

Thesis Advisor/Committee Member for the following topics: “Conversion to Islam in America” (MA); “‘The Face of God’ in the Qur’an and Islamic Thought” (MA); “Beyond Binary Barzakhs: Using the Theme of Liminality in Islamic Thought to Question the Gender Binary” (MA).

UNIVERSITY AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

(University service)

Distinguished Mentoring Fellow, Faculty Affairs and Development, GMU, 2019-2020.

Chair, Center for Humanities Research Planning Committee (2019-)

Graduate Coordinator, MA in Interdisicplinary Studies-Religion, Culture and Values

Concentration (2011-2013; 2017-)

Steering Committee member, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies (2011-present)

Chair, Department of Religious Studies (2013–2017)

Co-Director, Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies (2015-2016)

Senior Leadership Committee, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, GMU (2011-2017)

Member, Executive Board, Middle East Studies Program, GMU (2009–)

Director, Islamic Studies Program, George Mason University, (2008-2009, 2013-)

Dean’s Long-Term Planning Committee, (2009-2011)

Promotion and Tenure Committee (2006-2008)

Student Appeals Committee (2005-2006)

Advisory Committee on Global Ethics (2004-2006)

Committee on Committees (2001-2003).

ad hoc Committee on Minority Recruitment, Retention and Promotion (2001-2002).

ad hoc Committee on Non-Western Languages (2000-2001).

(Service to the Profession)

Co-chair, Islamic Mysticism Group, American Academy of Religion (2017-)

Member-at-Large, National Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (2013-)

Associate editor, Review of Middle East Studies (2016-2018)

Senior Editor, Stanford University Press series, Encountering Traditions (with Peter Ochs,

Stanley Hauerwas, Randi Rashkover (2012–2017).

Steering Committee, Study of Islam Section, American Academy of Religion (2015-2018)

Steering Committee, Qur’anic Studies Group, American Academy of Religion (2007-2013)

Awards Committee, Best Graduate Student Paper, American Muslim Social Scientists

Conference, October, 2008

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