Prayer: Performance or spiritual upliftment?

Syed Wajee graduated with a 2:1 Honours degree in Religion and Education from York St John University in 2016. Following his undergraduate studies, he travelled to Qum, Iran, where he undertook intensive Persian language studies before continuing his Islamic scholarship at the Al-Mahdi Institute, graduating with Distinction in the Hawza programme specialising in Arabic and Islamic Studies.

He subsequently completed an MA in Islamic Studies at the University of Birmingham, graduating with Distinction. His master’s dissertation examined ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s defence of the doctrine of Divine Simplicity, exploring the intersection of Islamic philosophy and theology.

His research interests centre on Qur’anic studies, Islamic philosophy, and legal theory, with a particular interest in contemporary engagements with the Qur’an and classical Islamic intellectual traditions.

Syed has co-authored scholarly work with Professor Sayyid Mostafa Mohaqiq Damad, contributing a chapter to Islam and the Institution of Marriage: Historical, Sociological, and Legal Approaches (AMI Press, 2023). He also has a forthcoming co-authored chapter with  Sayyid Fatemi, to be published by Brill, examining the regulative verses of the Qur’an as part of an edited volume on Qur’anic studies.