Tazeen M. Ali

Assistant Professor of Religion and Politics

My research focuses on Islam, gender, and race in America. My first book analyzes American Muslim women’s religious authority, examining how they negotiate the Islamic tradition and build gender-equitable worship spaces.

Tazeen M. Ali joined the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics as Assistant Professor of Religion and Politics on July 1, 2019.

Ali’s research and teaching focus on Islam in America, women’s religious authority, and Islam, gender, and race. Her book The Women’s Mosque of America: Authority & Community in US Islam (NYU Press: November 2022) analyzes how American Muslim women negotiate the Islamic tradition to cultivate religious authority and build gender-equitable worship communities.

Ali earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Boston University in 2019. She was a visiting postgraduate student in Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh from 2017 to 2018. Prior to that she earned a graduate certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Boston University, as well as a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in both religion and biology from Lehigh University. Competitive fellowships and grants from The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, the Boston University Center for the Humanities, and the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations at Boston University have supported her writing and research.

Sample Courses

  • L57 RelPol 362

    Islam, Gender, Sexuality

    Investigates how gender and sexuality inform social, political, and family life in diverse Islamic contexts, spanning from seventh century Arabia to the contemporary U.S.

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  • L57 RelPol 290

    Islamophobia & U.S. Politics

    This course examines the phenomenon of Islamophobia as a form of anti-Muslim racism as it has manifested throughout U.S. history and within contemporary American politics.

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Videos

Books

Tazeen M. Ali in the News