Dr. Celene Ibrahim has published widely, and her contributions to enhancing cultural and religious literacy have been featured by prominent academic and media outlets. As a public voice on issues of religion and civic engagement, Ibrahim is deeply committed to counteracting bigotry and fostering values of pluralism, integrity, and civic responsibility. She offers lectures and workshops and leads educational seminars to destinations around the world.
She is the author of Women and Gender in the Qur'an (available for pre-order from Oxford University Press, 2020) and the editor of One Nation, Indivisible: Seeking Liberty and Justice from the Pulpit to the Streets (Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2019), an anthology exploring interreligious engagement as a way to overcome anti-Muslim prejudices. Her current book project examines the concept of monotheism in Islamic intellectual history (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press).
Dr. Ibrahim is currently a faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Groton School where she offers courses in comparative religion, ethics, and women's studies. She previously served as the Muslim Chaplain at Tufts University (2014–2019) and as Islamic Studies Scholar-in-Residence at Hebrew College and Andover Newton Theological School (2014–2017), where she co-directed a nationally recognized program on interfaith studies. She has also served in the department of Religious and Theological Studies at Merrimack College (2011–2014) and has offered courses at the Boston Islamic Seminary and Hartford Seminary, and other institutions.
She holds a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Civilizations and a master's degree in Women's and Gender Studies and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies from Brandeis University, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern Studies with highest honors from Princeton University. She is a graduate of the United World College of the American West.
Dr. Ibrahim's scholarship and service have earned her awards and honors, including as a Mellon Fellow, a Harvard Presidential Scholar, an HRH Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Fellow in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy at the Islamic Society of North America, and a Fellow in the Program on Religion, Diplomacy and International Relations at the Woodrow Wilson School, and a Davis Scholar at Princeton University, among other honors.
A scholar, author, spiritual leader, and activist, Ibrahim currently serves on the boards of the Boston Islamic Seminary, the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership, the Harvard Divinity School Alumni/ae Council, the Journal of Inter-Religious Studies, and the U.S. Selection Committee of the United World College. She is a member of several academic working groups, including the Feminist Studies in Religion Forum, the academic policy committee of The Islamic Seminary of America, and the Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care Unit of the American Academy of Religion.
