Philosophy and Religious Studies Program

Ovamir Anjum

Ovamir Anjum Imam Khattab Chair of Islamic Studies in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program at The University of ToledoOvamir Anjum is the Imam Khattab Chair of Islamic Studies in the Philosophy nd Religious Studies Program at The University of Toledo. His work focuses on the nexus of theology, ethics, politics and law in classical and medieval Islam, with comparative interest in Western Thought. His interests are united by a common philosophical focus on epistemology or views of intellect/reason in various domains of Islamic thought, ranging from politics (siyasa), falsafa (Aristotelian Islamic philosophy) and spirituality (Sufism, mysticism, and asceticism). He brings this historical knowledge to bear on issues in contemporary Islamic thought and movements.
 
He obtained his Ph.D. in Islamic Intellectual History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His Ph.D. dissertation is titled “Reason and Politics in Medieval Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment.” He holds a master's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
 
Anjum is the author of Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment, a revisionist account of the history of Islamic political thought from the early to the late medieval period. This book focuses on the thought of Ibn Taymiyya, one of the most brilliant theologians of his day. The standard accounts of Sunni political history typically end with the classical period and thereby leave out Ibn Taymiyya's contribution. This original study demonstrates how his influence shed new light on the entire trajectory of Islamic political thought. Read more...
 
He has long been involved in speaking to and organizing local Muslim communities in the US and encouraging dialogue among the various communities of faith. Besides academic conferences, he has taught at American Islamic institutions of learning, such as AlMaghrib Institute and ALIM (American Learning Institute for Muslims).

Between 2007-2009, he served as the senior fellow of the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions (LISAR; lisar.lss.wisc.edu/), UW-Madison, and taught in Religious Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Last Updated: 7/15/24