Alifiya is a candidate for the Islamic Studies MA in the Middle East Institute at Columbia University. She was born in Houston, Texas, where she completed her primary and secondary studies. She completed her graduation and post-graduation from Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in Surat, India, majoring in Islamic Studies and Arabic Literature, with a focus on Faṭimī adab and its continuing legacy. Her interests include reading and composing Classical Arabic poetry. From the ISMA program she hopes to gain global perspective on the subjects of Islamic history, law, art, and especially literature. She wishes to further explore Islamic literary sources, which are like a window into the past and often provide moral as well as academic frameworks which help in contemplating the present and future.

Shamim Hossain is a second-year MA candidate in the Islamic Studies program at Columbia University. His research focuses primarily on Islam in Bengal, particularly the Fairazi movement in the 19th century. He also works in Digital Humanities, and is involved with the Muslim Manuscript Project at Columbia. He is also interested in liberation theology in general and specifically connecting modern and pre-modern models of economics and justice. He plans to continue his research and pursue a PhD after obtaining his MA.