Muna AlKhateeb

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Muna is an incoming MA candidate in Islamic Studies at Columbia University from the UAE.

A Zayed University alumna (BA in International Studies), Muna has worked as a Consultant and Higher Education Strategy Senior Analyst across several government entities in MENA. Muna is a native Arabic speaker, is proficient in English, and is on a journey to learn French. Muna is interested in studying different formats of oppression in MENA to later develop actionable policy recommendations for governments in the region. Muna is also a creative writer/poet whose work delves into the human condition, guilt, religiosity, mental health, and love.

Jaehoon Jung

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Jaehoon Jung is an incoming candidate for the MA in Islamic studies from the Republic of South Korea. Jaehoon is completing a BA from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) located in Seoul, in the department of Persian and Iranian studies, with a minor in Arabic. As a student who has been interested in Islamic Jurisprudence and its formation, Jaehoon’s primary interest is development of Islamic Jurisprudence, legal principles (Usul al-Fiqh), and contemporary Maqasid discourses, as well as the formative history of Shi'ite Islam.

Maria Khan

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Maria is from Delhi, India. She completed her BSc in Physics from Delhi University and her post-graduate studies in Islam from Jamia Hamdard, Delhi. Her thesis explains that Islamic daʿwah differs from proselytization, and can be understood as a dialogue on spirituality and the purpose of life. She studied Arabic at Qasid Institute in Jordan. Maria’s videos on social media have garnered millions of views. She was featured in a Discovery Channel documentary on Islam and interreligious relations.

At Columbia University, Maria is pursuing further graduate studies to understand the relevance of the Islamic faith and intellectual heritage to the present age. Her research interests include peace in Islam, intellectual challenges posed to Islam by modernity, political interpretation of Islam, and Islamic philosophy and modern science. She aims to explore eastern and Judaeo-Christian religious traditions, seeking opportunities for interfaith dialogue. Currently, Maria is translating Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s Muṭālaʿah-i Ḥadīth (Prophetic Wisdom) from Urdu into English.

Ella Gal

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Ella is an incoming MA candidate in Islamic Studies at Columbia University. She graduated the Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a dual degree in Middle East Studies and Political Science. Ella took extensive courses in Arabic language as part of her degree. Throughout her BA she researched the impact the separation wall has on the lives of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. 

Over the past year and a half, Ella has been working at the U.N as the spokesperson of the Israeli Ambassador. Her areas of interest are conflicts in modern Middle East, with a focus on the impact Islam has on decision making of Arab and Muslim states in foreign policy, specifically when it comes to the state of Israel. Ella is 26, married to Zev, with whom she currently lives in NYC. 

Chikako Hori

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Chikako Hori is an MA candidate in Islamic Studies at Columbia University. She is a diplomat trainee from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan. Before coming to New York, she studied Arabic for 2 years in Cairo. She holds an MSc in Culture and Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she researched Muslims in Europe. She has also completed a BA in Law from Kyoto University. 

Alsya Feydra

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Alsya Feydra is an MA candidate in Islamic Studies at Columbia University from Bogor, Indonesia. She received her Bachelor of Humanities in Arabic Studies from Universitas Indonesia last Fall; her thesis focuses on how various aspects of Islamic traditions interact and overlap in present-day popular culture. The representation and identity of Muslims in digital media, particularly those of Southeast Asian Muslims, is one of her main research interests. She’s also passionate about the multiculturalism of Islam in Indonesia, believing that Southeast Asian Muslims are not only exciting research objects but also deserve to be the ones conducting said research themselves. One of the main goals that she hopes to accomplish by pursuing graduate study at Columbia is to help fill in the existing gap in international academia of SEA Muslim women scholars. In her spare time, she likes to watch dramas with her family and do karaoke.

Kayvan Seyedin

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Kayvan Seyedin is a first-generation Iranian-American from San Diego, CA and born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. He graduated summa cum laude with Department Honors in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego. His thesis focused on the recent recirculation and pedagogical mobilization of Iranian-French artist Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical film Persepolis (2007) in the aftermath of Iran's 2022 women-led uprisings. Deploying an anti-Orientalist and anti-Islamophobic framework, his research examines the knowledges codified in Persepolis about Iranian women, men, and post-revolutionary Iran in particular, and Muslim women, men, and collectivities more generally, as well as the discursive effects produced by the film's treatment as an ethnographic work. 

Kayvan's research interests are deeply informed by his Iranian-American background and Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. He is specifically interested in exploring self-representations produced by Iranian women filmmakers in post-revolutionary Iranian cinema in order to understand how women's identities are simultaneously negotiated and resist hegemonic discourses about Muslim women's oppression. Kayvan's broader research interests include the emergence of Shia liberation theology, political Islam, and manifestations of Islamic modernity in post-revolutionary Iran.