Director of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies Sultan of Oman, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies
He received PhD in Islamic Studies (University of Melbourne, Australia 1992). He also completed a Master of Arts degree in Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. He was appointed Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies in 2003. His research focus is the negotiation of text and context, ijtihad and interpretation. He is a strong advocate of reform of Islamic thought. His publications cover Qur’anic hermeneutics, Islam and human rights, Islamic law reform, Muslim communities in Australia, and Islam and freedom of religion. He is on the board of a number of national and international bodies. He authored many books such as Reading the Qur'an in the Twenty-First Century: A Contextualist Approach (2014).
