Dr Mohamed Moustafa teaches analytical tafsīr at Mishkah University. He holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Arizona’s School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, an MA in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations from Hartford Seminary (now Hartford International University), and a BA from the School of Languages and Translation at al-Azhar University.
Dr Moustafa is currently converting his doctoral dissertation on al-Bayḍāwī’s renowned Qurʾān commentary into a monograph. His research situates Anwār al-tanzīl within the evolution of classical tafsīr to illuminate its textual utility and historical significance. He has also published on other themes in Islamic intellectual history, including the ontology of the human soul as well as the historical reception of Jewish and Christian scriptures among Muslim scholars.
Prior to joining Mishkah, Dr Moustafa taught courses on Islam, Middle Eastern studies, and Arabic language at the University of Arizona. He also taught tafsīr, Islamic civilization, Hadith studies, and Arabic-English translation at al-Azhar University.
Dr Moustafa’s approach to teaching tafsīr centers on two key aims. First, to equip students with the methodologies used by the Muslim exegetes to derive meaning from the Qurʾān. Second, to guide students toward personal edification, reflecting the Islamic pedagogical tradition of pairing knowledge with practice. The tafsīr course empowers students to read classical works of tafsīr on their own terms and derive meaning from them on both an intellectual and spiritual level.