Maria M Dakake

Maria M Dakake is a Professor of Religion at George Mason University, affiliated with the Women and Gender Studies program. She holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University (2000) alongside an MA from Princeton (1998) and a BA in Government from Cornell (1990). Her research focuses on Islamic intellectual history, Quranic exegesis, Shi‘ite and Sufi traditions, and gender studies in Islamic contexts.

Her major publications include The Routledge Companion to the Qur'an (2022, co-edited) and The Study Quran (2015, general editor), which offer groundbreaking translations and commentaries on Islamic scripture. She is completing a monograph on Toward an Islamic Theory of Religion and working on a translation of 20th-century Iranian scholar Nusrat Amin's Quranic commentary.

Dr. Dakake’s teaching spans courses such as Islamic Thought, Qur'an and Hadith studies, and Muslim Women Writers. Her work bridges academic rigor with public engagement, addressing contemporary issues like interfaith dialogue and pedagogical challenges in religious education. She has contributed to interdisciplinary projects analyzing Quranic terminology, Shi‘ite identity formation, and the role of women in Islamic spiritual traditions.

Her research emphasizes textual analysis, historical contextualization, and comparative theological frameworks, reflecting her commitment to both scholarly innovation and community-focused scholarship.