Dr. Celene Ibrahim

Areas of Expertise

gender studies, interfaith

Biography

Celene Ibrahim is a cultural historian and scholar of religion best known for her monograph Women
and Gender in the Qurʾan (Oxford University Press, 2020; paperback 2025), which won the Association
of Middle East Women's Studies Book Award and was featured by the American Academy of
Religion. She is also the author of Islam and Monotheism (Cambridge University Press, 2022), the
editor of One Nation, Indivisible: Seeking Liberty and Justice from the Pulpit to the Streets (Wipf & Stock,
2019), excerpts of which are published in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and a co-editor of the
forthcoming Oxford Annotated Study Qur'an. Her essays and articles appear in numerous scholarly
journals, edited volumes, and reference works spanning Qurʾanic studies, Islamic intellectual history,
and interreligious engagement. Ibrahim earned a doctorate in Arabic and Islamic Civilizations from
Brandeis University, a Master of Divinity from Harvard University with a focus on Islamic studies,
and an undergraduate degree with highest honors in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton
University. She serves on the Groton School faculty in the Department of Religious Studies and
Philosophy, where she is also the Muslim chaplain.

Selected Publications and Work

Ibrahim, Celene. "Divine Names for Interreligious Engagement." Islamic Perspectives on God and (Other) Monotheism (s) (2026): 275. Ibrahim, Celene. Islam and monotheism. Cambridge University Press, 2022. Ibrahim, Celene. Women and Gender in the Qur'an. Oxford University Press, 2020. Ibrahim, Celene (ed.), Peace, Jennifer Howe, One Nation, Indivisible: Seeking Liberty and Justice from the Pulpit to the Streets. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2019. Ibrahim, Celene. "Family law reform, spousal relations, and the “intentions of Islamic law”." In Women's Rights and Religious Law, pp. 108-122. Routledge, 2016.

Selected BIS Teaching

• IRL-613 Religions in Contemporary America

These are courses taught at BIS. For current academic information, explore the graduate program.

Professional and Community Service

Faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Groton School, where she also serves as Muslim Chaplain and teaches courses in classical Arabic and the Qur'an, global history, and religious studies (since 2019)

Founding affiliate faculty member of the Boston Islamic Seminary (since 2016), where she has taught courses including Interfaith and Intra-faith Engagement, Religions in Contemporary America, and Community Leadership as Vocation

Former Muslim Chaplain at Tufts University (2014–2019) and Denominational Counselor for Muslim students at Harvard Divinity School, with over a decade of experience in spiritual care and mentorship in university settings

Served as Islamic Studies Scholar-in-Residence at Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School and as Co-Director of the Center for Interreligious and Communal Leadership Education (CIRCLE); currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership

Author of Women and Gender in the Qur'an (Oxford University Press, 2020) and Islam and Monotheism (Cambridge University Press, 2022); speaks regularly at mosques, libraries, schools, and civic organizations on Islamic thought, religious literacy, and community life