I first began learning Arabic when I moved to Morocco at the age of 17. Altogether, I lived and studied in Fes for three years before proceeding to do a B.A. in Middle Eastern studies at the Markfield Institute in England and an M.A. in Religious Studies at the University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago I was a FLAS Fellow for the Arabic language and published three articles on Medieval Islamic thought after extensive translation and analysis of Classical Arabic texts, including one article on the Arab philosopher al-Qunawi and two others on the Andalusian-Arab exegete Ibn Barrajaan. Shortly upon leaving the university I also co-published my first book, a guidebook to the spiritual history and culture of the city of Fes,  Morocco, for which I produced nearly a hundred pages of translations. After graduating, I travelled and studied extensively, including two years spent teaching Arabic in Istanbul, a year spent teaching English in Japan, and a year spent studying Mandarin intensively in Taiwan. 

 

Today, I speak advanced Arabic, intermediate Turkish, and intermediate Mandarin Chinese. Aside from religious and civilizational studies, learning and teaching languages continues to be a major passion of mine.