Nicholas was an infantryman with the United States Army from 2011-2014. While abroad, Nicholas felt there was need for greater emphasis or discretion for regional customs, which has guided his academic and career ambitions since. Currently, Nicholas is pursuing a B.A. in Political Science, an M.A. in Islamic Studies, and studying Arabic . His academic interests include tribal dynamics in Afghanistan, modern Levantine history, Islamic law, state formation, and U.S.-Middle East relations. He plans to write a thesis about Kandahar's Pashtun tribes. Nicholas is currently studying Arabic in Jordan with the Boren Scholarship. After completing his graduate studies, he hopes to enter the United States Foreign Service.
Read MoreBorn in India on December 21, 1946, Syed Tasnim Raza immigrated to Pakistan, the day it was created as an independent state, on August 14, 1947. He attended King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan, graduating in December 1970. He came to America six months after graduating from medical school and trained in surgery and then cardiothoracic surgery from July 1971 to June 1979 at the State University New York at Buffalo and the Buffalo General Hospital. In April 2011, he joined the faculty in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, where I am an Associate Professor of Surgery and director of the CT Surgery Stepdown Unit.
In the last few years, he developed an interest in the history of medicine. He realized that from Hippocrates and Galen (130-216 CE), most historical accounts jump to the Renaissance, brushing off the centuries in-between as the medieval dark ages. But those centuries included the Islamic Golden Age where Greek medicine was not only practiced but also progressed. To learn more about that period and to learn what were the contributions of the Arab/Islamic physicians during the medieval period, Syed Tasnim Raza decided to join the Middle East Institute to pursue a Master’s degree in Islamic studies.
Read MoreBefore joining the Middle East Institute, Murtaza completed graduate and post-graduate studies specializing in Islamic history at Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah in Surat, India. He also holds a BA from the Faculty of Arabic Language from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Murtaza is passionate about Islamic architectural history of North Africa and the Middle East, especially Cairo, as well as contextually analyzing historical artifacts and manuscripts, particularly related to the Fatimid era. After completing the MA program at MEI, he intends to continue to learn new contemporary perspectives and scholarly viewpoints regarding the interpretations of Islamic history and literature, both textual and artistic, and reflect on them from different vantage points.
Read MoreAyaz Talantuli completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington in Seattle. His research is focused on the Islamization of nomadic tribes in Central Asia. Through an analysis of historical primary sources written in Arabic and Turkic scripts, he seeks to explore the process of the expression of Islamic concepts and Arabic religio-linguistic forms in Turkic languages. After completing the program at MEI, Ayaz plans to pursue a Ph.D. in order to go beyond philological issues to inquire about religious adaptations at work in shaping or enriching Turkic vocabulary in a Muslim framework.Ayaz Talantuli completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington in Seattle. His research is focused on the Islamization of nomadic tribes in Central Asia. Through an analysis of historical primary sources written in Arabic and Turkic scripts, he seeks to explore the process of the expression of Islamic concepts and Arabic religio-linguistic forms in Turkic languages. After completing the program at MEI, Ayaz plans to pursue a Ph.D. in order to go beyond philological issues to inquire about religious adaptations at work in shaping or enriching Turkic vocabulary in a Muslim framework.
Read MoreHuzaifa is currently a second year MA student. He graduated from Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah with a BA in Arabic and Islamic studies with a specialization in adab (Arabic literature). His previous research focused on the depiction of Imam Husayn's martyrdom in contemporary Arabic poetry. His current research interests include: Islamic jurisprudence and legal history, Muslim identity and legal practice in colonial South Asia, and Ismaili Shi'ism. He is also a dexterous Arabic calligrapher.
Read MoreZahabiya has completed a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Houston. In 2018, she spent time in Cairo studying Egyptian Arabic, where she immersed in the cultures and traditions that intrigue her most. This has led to her current research interests, which focus on a comparative analysis of gendered experiences through class, economic development, and religion analysis in Middle Eastern/South Asian communities. In her work, she explores previous anthropological scholarship and ethnographies to better understand behavioral patterns and the role of cultural relativism. Upon completing her master’s degree, she intends to work for an organization/firm in which she can apply her critical thinking and analytical skills.
Read MoreToqa Badran, a native New Yorker of Egyptian heritage, is a candidate for the MA in Islamic Studies. Toqa completed her Bachelors degree here at Columbia with a double major in Political Science and Anthropology, and served as the college’s first Arab or female Muslim University Senator. Her academic and socio-political interests include linguistics, specifically with regards to languages within the Islamic world, revitalizing premodern world-views as methods of modern empowerment, and fighting for the freedom of occupied East Turkistan. She hopes to pursue a PhD after completing the MA program.
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