Associate Professor of Muslim Studies
BSc Cairo University, 1989
MA University of Toronto, 2003
PhD University of Toronto, 2010
Contact
Tel.: (416) 813-4056
Email: nevin.el.tahry@utoronto.ca
Research Interests
Nevin Reda is Associate Professor of Muslim Studies at Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. Her research is located in three areas: Qurʾanic studies, Islamic ethical-legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh), and interreligious pedagogy. Her first and main specialization is Qurʾanic studies, often utilizing interdisciplinary insights from literary theory, Islamic spiritual care, and/or Biblical Hebrew language and literature, in which she has a master’s degree. She is most interested in examining questions related to the Qur’an’s structure and organization, an emerging area of research that she calls the poetics and hermeneutics of Qurʾanic narrative structure. Currently, she is examining Surat al-Anʿām and how it fits into the rest of the Qurʾan. In uṣūl al-fiqh, her main interests are in methodology and revising it in ways that are more egalitarian and equitable. She is currently working with Musawah on the new project, “Building Egalitarian Ethics and Jurisprudence of Muslim Marriages.” Her interest in interreligious pedagogy stems from her location at Emmanuel, and has taken her research in new and interesting directions. She is currently exploring the intersection between Christian practical theology and the Islamic theological disciplines.
Courses
EMT 1851H Surat al-Baqara: An Introduction to the Quran
EMT 3101/6101H Biography and Thought: Study of Muhammad the Prophet
EMT 3020/6020H Intertwined Texts: Bible and Qur’an in Dialogue
EMT 3873/6873H Law, Ethics and Society
EMT 3607/6607H Islamic Thought in the Classical Age (7-13 cent C E)
EMT 3608/6608H Islamic Thought in the Modern Age (18 -21 Cent CE)
EMT 3610/6610H Religious Thought and Spirituality in Islam
EMT 2811H Women, Gender and Islam
EMT 1801H Intensive Arabic I
Selected Publications
Books
Islamic Interpretive Tradition and Gender Justice: Processes of Canonization, Subversion and Change. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, forthcoming August 2020 (coedited with Yasmin Amin).
The al-Baqara Crescendo: Understanding the Qurʾan’s Style, Narrative Structure, and Running Themes. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017.
Articles and Book Chapters
“The Poetics of Sūrat Āl ʿImrān’s Narrative Structure.” In Structural Dividers in the Qurʾan, edited by Marianna Klar. London: Routledge, forthcoming.
“The Qurʾan and Domestic Violence: An Islamic Feminist, Spiritually Integrative Reading of Verse 4:34.” International Journal of Practical Theology 23, no. 2 (2019), 257–273.
“What is the Qurʾan? A Spiritually Integrative Perspective.” Journal of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 30, no. 2 (2019), 127–148.
“Shifting, Reforming, Transforming Spaces for a Postcolonial, Interreligious Pedagogy.” In Reforming Practical Theology: The Politics of Body and Space, edited by Auli Vähäkangas, Sivert Angel and Kirstine Helboe Johansen, International Journal of Practical Theology, Conference Series 1 (2019), 160–167 (joint author with Pamela Couture and Pamela McCarroll).
“What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic in Christian Theological Schools.” Journal of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 29, no. 3 (2018), 309–329.
“Muslim Studies at Emmanuel College: The Opportunities and Challenges of Intercultural Pedagogies and Emerging Epistemologies.” The Muslim World 108, no. 2 (2018), 218–237.
“Scripture and Exegesis: Torah and Qurʾan in Historical Retrospective.” In Routledge Handbook of Jewish-Muslim Relations, edited by Josef Meri, 57–76. London: Routledge, 2016 (joint author with Shari Lowin).
“From the Canadian Sharia Debates to the Arab World: Developing a Qurʾan-Based Theology of Democracy.” In Religion and Democracy: Islam and Representation, edited by Ingrid Mattson, Paul Nesbitt-Larking and Nawaz Tahir, 79–100. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.
“Min ayna naʾkhudh sharʿ Allāh? Qaḍiyyat qiyādat al-marʾa al-siyāsiyya: ruʾya jadīda li-ḥiwār qadīm.” (Arabic version of below work). Cairo: Women and Memory Forum, 2014.
“From Where Do We Derive “God’s law”? The Case of Women’s Political Leadership: A Modern Expression of an Ancient Debate.” In Feminism and Islamic Perspectives: New Horizons of Knowledge and Reform, edited by Omaima Abou Bakr, 119–135. In cooperation with The Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Institute (DEDI) and The Danish Center for Research on Women and Gender (Kvinfo). Cairo: Women and Memory Forum, 2013.
“The Good Muslim, Bad Muslim Puzzle? On the Assertion of Muslim Women’s Islamic Identity in the Sharia Debates in Canada.” In Debating Sharia: Islam, Gender Politics, and Family Law Arbitration, edited by Jennifer Selby and Anna Korteweg, 231–256. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012.
“Introduction to the Quran.” In Three Testaments: Torah, Gospel and Quran, edited by Brian Arthur Brown, 445–456. Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield, 2012.
“Holistic Approaches to the Qurʾan: A Historical Background.” Religion Compass 4, no. 8 (2010), 495–506.
“The Qurʾānic Tālūt and the Rise of the Ancient Israelite Monarchy: An Intertextual Reading.” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences (AJISS) 25, no. 3 (2008), 31–51.
“Women in the Mosque: Historical Perspectives on Segregation.” AJISS 21, no. 2 (2004), 77–97.