Ali Hussain has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies. The title of his dissertation is: “ʿĪsā b. Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) in the Writings of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī and Later Sufism”. During his graduate studies, Ali Hussain has taught various courses on Sufism at the University of Michigan, including “Jesus in Sufism”, “The Human Body in Sufism” and the most recent class “Sufism in America”.
Alongside this academic journey, Ali Hussain has also been a disciple of his eminence Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani. From Mawlana Shaykh Hisham, Ali Hussain learned the classical Islamic sciences, including tafsīr (Qurʾānic exegesis), Islamic theology, history and the science of Sufism. Through this learning and tarbiya (discipline) at the hands of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham, Ali Hussain has also given various lectures at Islamic organizations, including As-Siddique Mosque and the Naqshbandiyya Dergah in Fenton, MI on various topics pertaining to Sufism.
During the summer of 2013, Ali Hussain also visited the valley of Hadramawt, Yemen. There, he spent three months at Dar al-Mustafa, a seminary for Sufi and classical Islamic studies in the city of Tarim. During this period, Ali Hussain studied with prominent Sufi scholars such as Habib ʿUmar b. Ḥafīdh, the dean of Dar al-Mustafa, and others.
Most recently, Ali Hussain has begun working at Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani’s Naqshbandiyya Sufi Institute as an instructor and researcher in the writings of Sufi saints; including, most importantly, Grand Shaykh Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim ʿAdil al-Haqqani, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Shaykh al-Akbar Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī, Sīdī ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dabbāgh and others.
Ali Hussain’s other interests include creative writing and the spiritual dimensions of Arabic music. In this capacity, he is actively learning the Oud and has published his first collection of creative writings titled: Mystical Musings of a Contemporary Dervish.
Academic Education:
University of Michigan – PhD. Islamic Studies.
Eastern Michigan University – Masters of Science in Computer Science.
Eastern Michigan University – Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science.
Eastern Michigan University -Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics.
Teaching:
- Fall 2019 Graduate Student Instructor and Lecturer I in Global Islamic Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
- Spring 2015 Jesus in Islam. Primary Instructor. A course proposed and fully designed to be taught at the university of Michigan. The curriculum takes the students through the
various images of Jesus in the Qurʾan, Hadith, Shiʿism, Sufism and contemporary
Arabic literature. - Winter 2015 Introduction to Arab Culture. Graduate Student Instructor. An introductory
undergraduate course to Arab societies and cultures. This course also fulfilled the
university’s upper-level writing requirement for undergraduate students. - Fall 2014 Introduction to Islam. Graduate Student Instructor.
- Winter 2014 Introduction to Islam. Graduate Student Instructor. An introductory undergraduate course to Islamic intellectual thought and history.
- Fall 2013 People of the Near East. Graduate Student Instructor. An introductory
undergraduate course to the history of the Near East from prehistory until
contemporary times.
Presentations:
- Fall 2015 “The Ontology of Language in Ibn al-ʿArabi’s Thought” Annual Arabic Colloquium. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
- Fall 2015 “Jesus and Enoch in the African Barzakh of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-ʿArabi: Suffering and Redemption in the Drama of Creation” IKHLAS Interdisciplinary Seminar. University of Michigan.
- Fall 2015 “The Light of the Blessed Tree: Islam’s Intellectual Imperative in Modernity” IKHLAS Interdisciplinary Seminar. University of Michigan.
- Summer 2015 “The Light of the Blessed Tree: Islam’s Intellectual Imperative in Modernity” Keynote Address. Allentown, Pennsylvania.
- Winter 2015 “Jesus as Divine Poetry: The Mystical Poetics of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-ʿArabi” IKHLAS Interdisciplinary Seminar. University of Michigan.
- Fall 2014 “Nūrun min Shajaratin Mubārakatin: Usus al-Islām al-Fikriyya fī-l-Zaman al-Muʿāṣir (The Light of the Blessed Tree: Islam’s Intellectual Imperative in Modernity)” Arabic Club Lecture Series. Near Eastern Studies Department,
University of Michigan. - Winter 2014 “Mītāfīzīqiyat al-Shiʿr ʿinda Ibn al-ʿArabi (Ibn al-ʿArabi’s Metaphysics of Poetry)” Arabic Language and Literature Colloquium. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
- Winter 2014 “Between the Saint and Text: Embodied Knowledge in Medieval Islamic Mysticism” Medieval Lunch Series. University of Michigan.
- Winter 2014 “Jesus in Islamic Mysticism: Between the Ontology and Saintology of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-ʿArabi” Graduate Student Colloquium. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
- Fall 2013 “Hospitality as Knowledge Production: The Case of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-ʿArabi” Graduate Student Colloquium. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
- Winter 2013 “Ibn ʿArabi in Islamic Thought: A Discussion on Pedagogy and Epistemology” Graduate Student Colloquium. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
Selected Academic Awards, Scholarships and Honors:
- 2014 Outstanding GSI Award. Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan.
- 2012 George and Celeste Hourani Memorial Fellowship in Islamic studies, University of
Michigan. - 2009 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Eastern Michigan University.
- 2008 Golden Key International Honor Society, Eastern Michigan University.
- 2007 Graduate Fellowship, Eastern Michigan University.
- 2006 Barton Scholarship, Eastern Michigan University.
Publications:
- 2016 Hussain, Ali. “Al-Jandī, Muʾayyad al-Dīn.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online, 2016. Forthcoming.
- 2016 Hussain, Ali. “Imagination in Sufism” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill
Online, 2016. Forthcoming. - 2016 Hussain, Ali. “Ibn Sawdakīn, Shams al-Dīn.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online, 2016. Forthcoming.
- 2015 Hussain, Ali. “Farghānī, Saʿīd al-Dīn.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Brill Online, 2015. Forthcoming.
- 2015 Knysh, Alexander; Hussain, Ali. “Ibn al-ʿArabī.” In Oxford Bibliographies in
Islamic Studies. Ed. John O. Voll, New York: Oxford University Press,
forthcoming. - 2015 Hussain, Ali. “The Light of the Blessed Tree: Islam’s Intellectual Imperative in Modernity” The Lanturna Institute (2015).
- 2014 Hussain, Ali. “Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online, 2015.
- 2012 “An Endless Tajallī: A Historiography of Ibn ʿArabī” Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society 52 (2012).
- 2011 “Khāṭir ʿan al-Hijra” (A Reflection on Migration) al-Tawasul Magazine
(2011/2012). Tarim, Yemen.