Dr Rebecca Masterton

Senior Lecturer

masterton.r@googlemail.com

Area of Expertise

Islamic mysticism

Biography

Dr Rebecca Masterton graduated with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature; an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature and a PhD in Islamic literature of West Africa, in which she critiqued the effects of secularism and colonialism upon traditional Islamic teachings on the self, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Dr Masterton has been teaching for nearly fifteen years through different media, including one-to-one tuition; short courses at Birkbeck College, University of London; on the BA and MA programmes at the Islamic College in London, both in-house and on-line; and on-line classes for the Islamic Institute for Postgraduate Studies (Damascus and Birmingham). She has also lectured widely at conferences both in Europe and the United States. Currently she runs a series of online short courses on Islam and the humanities at Online Shi‘a Studies.

Teaching and experience

Dr Rebecca Masterton has taught courses on the BA and MA levels at The Islamic College. She also runs and teaches on the Online Shi‘a Studies platform.

Education

2001-2006 School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
PhD Islamic and Francophone Literature of West Africa
A comparative analysis of European secular and Islamic esoteric thought in francophone literature of West Africa.

1998-2000 School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
MA Comparative African/East Asian Literature (Merit)
Covering the development of modern literature in China and Japan; theory and techniques of literary criticism; and African language literatures.

1990-1994 School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
BA Honours Japanese (Grade 2/1)
Including study in Japan for three months. Two years of Indonesian language.

Research & Publications

Books

Shī‘ī Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century (London: Light Reading, 2020)

The Inner Dimensions of Hajj, by Zohreh Borujerdi (Qom: Islam IFC, 2018). Translated from Persian.

A History of Spirituality in Europe: from Pharaonic Times to the Present Day (London: Light Reading, forthcoming), 300pps.

The Moral World of the Qur’an, by M. A. Draz (London: IB Tauris, 2008). Translated from French.

Passing Through the Dream… (London: Light Reading, 2008)

Articles

‘A Critical Comparison of Conceptions of Tawḥīd in Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī and Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj’s Kitāb al-Ṭawāsīn’. (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming chapter).

‘Një Studim Krahasues i autoritetit Shpirtëror të evlijave në Traditën Shi’ite dhe atë Sufiste’, Mejdani (Macedonia: GNOSA Foundation, 2020), Vol 3, no. 11, pps 49-66. Trans. Numan Mustafa.

‘Comprendre la spiritualité d’un point de vue chiite’, Arca, Revue de Nouveau Monde (Belgium: Grez-Doiceau, No. 3, December 2019), pps 79-90. Trans. Alexandre Feye.

‘Imam Hussain’s Stand Against Materialism’, The Warith Magazine (Karbala: The Batool Foundation, 2018)

‘Survival Under Oppression: The Story of the Shi‘i Tradition’, Caduceus (Sussex: Caduceus Journal Ltd, Issue 99, Autumn 2018)

‘Shi‘i Islam: the Way of the Prophetic Family’, Caduceus (Sussex: Caduceus Journal Ltd, Issue 98, Spring 2018)

‘Walāya as a Response to the Self-Other Dichotomy in European Philosophy’, Claremont Journal of Religion (Claremont, CA: Claremont Lincoln University, Winter 2016)

‘A Comparative Exploration of the Spiritual Authority of the Awliyā’in the Shī‘ī and Sūfī traditions’, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought, Winter 2015), Vol. 32, No. 1, pps 49-74

‘A Critical Comparison of Cosmic Hierarchies in the Development of Christian and Islamic Mystical Theology‘, Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2009)

‘Islamic Mystical Readings of Cheikh Hamidou Kane’, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford: OUP, 2008). https://www.jstor.org/stable/26200863?refreqid=excelsior%3A846fd17988d5b348687514764a463836&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

‘Islamic Mystical Resonances in Fulbe Literature’, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford: OUP, 2007)

‘The Drowned History of New Orleans’; ‘West African Islam Comes to European Theaters’; ‘A Letter to the Prime Minister’; ‘Tales from Muslim Lands Enchant British Theater-goers’; ‘Mystical Shakespeare Draws the Audience “Through the Rug”’; ‘Portraying Twelver Shiʿa Ramadan in London’; ‘Sunjata: A Muslim Hero in 13^th Century Africa’; ‘Debate Probes Debt Relief for Africa’; ‘Mansa Musa’; ‘The 3000-Year Battle for Palestine’; ‘The Road to Insanity’; ‘The Sokoto Caliphate: Dar al-‘Ilm’; ‘Norouz: A New Year, A Time for Reflection’; ‘The Beautiful Names: Striking a Sensitive Note’; ‘Hijab in Iran: Many Shades of Meaning’ (Cairo: Islam Online, 2004-2007)

‘Professor Eric Herring: Critical Security Studies’, Q-News (London, 2003)

Reviews

Opposing the Imam: the Legacy of the Nawāṣib in Islamic Literature by Nebil Husayn (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021). (London: ICAS Press, 2024 [Winter-Spring 2023 . Vol. XVI . No. 1-2])

Visions of Sharīʿa: Contemporary Discussions in Shī’ī Legal Theory: Studies in Islamic Law and Society ed. by Ali-Reza Bhojani. Vol. 14, No. 1-2, pps 119-126. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2021 [Winter/Spring 2018])

Encounters with the Hidden Imam in Early and Pre-Modern Twelver Shi‘i Islam, by Omid Ghaemmaghami. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2021 [Winter/Spring 2018]).

God and Man in Tehran: Contending Visions of the Divine from the Qajars to the Islamic Republic, by Hossein Kamaly. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2021 [Winter/Spring 2018])

Medina in Birmingham; Najaf in Brent, by Innes Bowen. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (Virginia: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2016)

Islamic Images and Ideas: Essays on Sacred Symbolism, ed. John Andrew Morrow. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2015)

A History of Shi‘i Islam, by Farhad Daftary. The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (Virginia: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2014)

The Spirit of Tolerance in Islam, by Reza Shah-Kazemi. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2013)

Early Islam between Myth and History: Al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110H/728 CE) and the Formation of His Legacy in Classical Islamic Scholarship, by Suleiman Ali Mourad. Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2009)

Sufism, The Formative Period, by Ahmet T. Karamustafa. Journal of Qur’anic Studies (London: SOAS, 2009)

The Other Shiites, Monsutti, Naef and Sabahi (eds). Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies (London: ICAS Press, 2008)

Fighting the Greater Jihad, by Cheikh Anta Babou. Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford: OUP, 2008)

Muslim-Christian Encounters in Africa, ed. Benjamin Soares. Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies (Oxford: OUP, 2007)

Swedenborg and Esoteric Islam, by Henry Corbin. Journal of Qur’anic Studies (London: SOAS, 2007)

In Search of Sunjata, ed. Ralph Austen. Journal of Asian and African Studies (University of Philadelphia, 2001)

‘One Woman’s Jihad: Nana Asma’u, Scholar and Scribe’, African Arts (University of California, 2001)