Muhammed Khaleel

Muhammed Khaleel, from Calicut, South India, is an MA candidate for the Columbia/Aga Khan dual degree in Islamic Studies and Muslim Cultures. He holds a BA in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Calicut. He has also completed an undergraduate degree in Islamic Studies from Jamia Madeenathunnoor, Calicut, where he was trained in the Shāfi’ī and Asha’rī Islamic texts. He has also worked as a research assistant at Malaibar Foundation for Research and Development, Calicut, where he gained hands-on experience in Muslim manuscripts from Malabar, further deepening his knowledge and expertise in the field. His areas of interest include Occult sciences, Manuscript cultures, history of science, food history, and Cultural Anthropology.

Sofie Leathers

Sofie Leathers, from Delray Beach, Florida, is pursuing a career in Arabic language education with a research focus in Islamic science and philosophy. She is an MA candidate for the Columbia/Aga Khan dual degree in Islamic Studies and Muslim Cultures. In her undergraduate thesis at Middlebury College, Sofie produced an original translation of a sample of a 10th-century, occult-scientific agronomical text. In her current position as a scholar-intern at Roots Academy in Rabat, Sofie designs educational programming, including a Sufism-themed trip around Morocco and a workshop series on higher education in the U.S. For two years, she has facilitated virtual English classes for students in rural Morocco with Yallah Al-Quds, an English-Arabic linguistic and cultural exchange platform she helped launch.