WELCOME
to AbdullahSaeed.org
Abdullah Saeed holds degrees from Australia and overseas. He has a BA in Arab/Islamic Studies as well as an MA in Applied Linguistics and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Melbourne, Australia. In 1993, he joined the then Department of Asian Languages and Anthropology at the University of Melbourne as a Lecturer, rising to Senior Lecturer in 1996 and Associate Professor in 2000. He was appointed Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies in 2003.
His research focus is one of the most important issues in Islamic thought: the negotiation
of text and context, ijtihad and interpretation. He is a strong advocate of reform of Islamic
thought. His publications cover Islamic finance, Muslim communities in Australia, Islamic law
and freedom of religion, Christian–Muslim relations, Islamic thought in Indonesia, Qur’anic
hermeneutics, Islam and human rights, and Islamic law reform. He writes for both scholarly and
general audiences.
Prof Saeed has taught Arabic and Islamic Studies at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Among the subjects he teaches are: Great Texts of Islam: Qur’an; Muslim Intellectuals and
Modernity; Great Empires of Islamic Civilization; Islamic Banking and Finance; Qur’anic
Hermeneutics; Methodologies of Hadith; Methods of Islamic Law; Religious Freedom in Asia;
Islam and Human Rights; and Islam and Muslims in Australia.
He is involved in interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims,
and between Jews and Muslims, and is a frequent and popular lecturer.
He travels widely and has visited several times, for instance, North America,
Europe, Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. He has a wide range of professional
and research relationships around the world.
