Assistant Professor of Religion and Middle Eastern Studies and Islamic CivilizationMy book--Hadith as Scripture: Discussions on the Authority of Prophetic Traditions in Islam (Palgrave, 2008)--explores the development of the doctrine of duality of revelation and issues surrounding the relative authority of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions (Hadith), through an examination of early Islamic texts in a variety of genres from the 8th -11th centuries CE, and compares the early controversies to their contemporary counterparts. In exploring the early discussions, I also examine the parallel debates between Karaite and Rabbinate Jews that were occurring at the same time.The question of the relative authority of the Qur'an and the Prophetic Traditions is part of usul al-fiqh (roots of jurisprudential methodology). How early Muslims answered that question has helped to shape Islamic theology and jurisprudence throughout the Muslim world for the past 1200 years. The current resurgence of debates over the authority of Prophetic Traditions makes it a contemporary question of both academic interest and personal importance to Muslims. As part of my work, I produced the first English translation of al-Shafi'i's Kitab Jima' al 'ilm (The Book of the Amalgamation of Knowledge), one of the most important early texts addressing the issue of the authority of Prophetic Traditions. In addition to my book, my current publications include the chapter, "A Thousand Years, Less Fifty: Toward a Quranic View of Extreme Logevity," in Derek F. Maher and Calvin Mercer's Religion and the Implications of Radical Life Extension (Palgrave 2009). I am currently working on a critical translation of another important early work on Prophetic Traditions, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi's Taqyid al-'Ilm (The Securing of Knowledge). I am also planning a translation of Ibn Furak's Mushkil al-Hadith wa Bayanuhu (The Problem of Hadith and Its Elucidation). I have written, and am writing, articles on a variety of topics that integrate my work in classical texts with issues of significant contemporary interest. My research and teaching interests extend from the early classical period to the present and include translation of classical Arabic texts, Qur'anic interpretation, women's issues, and modern day reformist and neo-traditionalist movements. My doctoral work, which focused on the formative and classical periods, together with my on-going research and interdisciplinary teaching allows me to help students bridge the divide between the past and the present to facilitate development of a deeper and more nuanced understanding that will allow them to situate current events along the broad spectrum of Islamic social and intellectual history. I teach a variety of classes intended to familiarize students with not only the general outlines of Islamic history, but also to acquaint them with some of the great breadth and depth of intellectual and religious development that has taken place in Islam over more than a millennium. I teach Classical Arabic commensurate with student demand and level.Beyond the library and the classroom, I also participate in a variety of professional activities. I helped to organize the seminar "Is There Room at the Inn? The Layering of Scripture - The Torah, the Qur'an, and their Commentaries on a Place for 'The Other' in the Holy Land," which was held at FIU on March 6-7, 2007. In March, of 2007, I presented a lecture on sharing the legacy of Abraham, at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Centenary Conference held at Brandeis University. In June of 2008, I was invited to Baku, Azerbaijan, where I presented a keynote address on a Qur'anic view of multi-culturalism and inter-religious relations at the Baku International Forum on Expanding the Role of Women in Cross Cultural Dialogue. That address was well received and I was invited to present it at the international conference on Women, Religions, and Peace, at Ibn Tofail University in Rabat, Morocco in April, 2009. I returned to Baku at the invitation the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy in November, 2009 to speak on the Qur'anic view of just war at a conference on inter-civilizational dialogue.