Zeshan Ullah Qureshi

I am researching tafsīr (Qur’ān exegesis), Qur’ān translation, and European reception of Islam. In my doctoral project: “Beyond Orientalism: George Sale, al-Bayḍāwī, and the European Qurʾān Translation Tradition,” I am investigating how the British Orientalist scholar George Sale in the Enlightenment produced the first English translation of the Qur'ān directly from Arabic, utilizing the tafsīr of the medieval Persian philosopher Naṣir al-Din al-Bayḍawī. My PhD project is conducted in association with the ERC funded project, The European Qur’an (EuQu), which investigates European Qurʾān-reception from 1150-1850. Jan Loop, Principal Investigator at EuQu, also serves as the external supervisor of my PhD project, whilst Matthew Monger from MF is the main supervisor.

I have previously spent 9 years at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi-Arabia, and 1 year in Alexandria, Egypt. In Madinah, I completed a Master’s in Uṣūl al-Fiqh, after a Bachelor's in Sharī'ah. In my 496-page long Master’s thesis, I investigated the philosophy of differences in Islamic legal theory developed by the medieval Indian theologian Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Hindī, and its application in fatwá-construction.