Maria M Dakake
Maria M Dakake
Director of Graduate Programs
Associate Professor
Islamic Thought; Qur'anic Studies; Shi'ite and Sufi Traditions; Women and Gender
Dr. Dakake researches and publishes on Islamic intellectual history, Quranic studies, Shi`ite and Sufi traditions, and women's spirituality and religious experience. She is one of the general editors and contributing authors of the The Study Quran (HarperOne, 2015), which comprises a translation and verse-by-verse commentary on the Qur'anic text that draws upon the rich and varied tradition of Muslim commentary on their own scripture. Her most recent publication, The Routledge Companion to the Qur'an (September 2021), is a co-edited volume with 40 articles on the Qur'an's history, content, style, and interpretation written by leading contemporary scholars working from different methodological perspectives. She is currently completing a monograph, Toward an Islamic Theory of Religion, and has begun work on a partial translation of a Persian Qur'an commentary written by the 20th century Iranian female scholar, Nusrat Amin.
Selected Publications
The Routledge Companion to the Qu'ran (co-edited with George Archer and Daniel Madigan), Routledge, September 2021.
The Study Qur'an (with S.H. Nasr, C. Dagli, J. Lumbard, and M. Rustom), HarperOne, 2015.
The Charismatic Community: Shi`ite Identity in Early Islam, State University of New York Press, 2007. (Paperback released 2008).
"Ta'wil in the Qur'an and Islamic Exegetical Tradition: The Past and Future of the Qur'an" in The Enigma of Divine Revelation: Between Phenomenology and Comparative Theology (eds. Jean-Luc Marion and Christiaan Jacobs-Vandegeer). Contributions to Hermeneutics 7 (2020).
"Qur'anic Terminology, Translation, and the Islamic Conception of Religion" in Religion 49, no. 3 (2019).
"Conceptions of a Spiritual Elect in Shiite and Sufi Thought: Early Sources and Connections" in Esotérisme shièite, ses racines et ses prolongements (ed. M. Ali Amir-Moezzi), Brepols, 2016.
Expanded Publication List
Courses Taught
RELI 211: Religions of the Near East
RELI 272: Islamic Religious Life
RELI 374: Islamic Thought
RELI 375: Qur'an and Hadith
RELI 365: Muhammad: Life and Legacy
RELI 376 / WMST 300 Muslim Women Writers and Thinkers (FALL 2021)
RELI 490: Comparative Study of Religion
RELI 636: Religion and the Natural Environment
Education
PhD in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University (2000)
MA in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University (1998)
BA in Government, Cornell University (1990)