A native of Zanzibar, Tanzania, Liyakat Takim received his Ph.D. from the Department of History at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He has authored sixty scholarly works on diverse topics such as Islam in America, dialogue in post-9/11 America, war and peace in the Islamic tradition, the treatment of women in Islamic juridical literature, Islamic law, reformation in the Islamic world, jihad in Shi‘i law, and Islamic mystical traditions.

Professor Takim’s book, The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam, was recently published by SUNY press. He is currently working on his second book, The Shi‘i Experience in America. He also is translating volume four of ‘Allama Tabatabai’s voluminous exegesis of the Qur’an.