Zeshan Ullah Qureshi

Zeshan Ullah Qureshi is a Doctoral Research Fellow at MF Vitenskapelig Høyskole, focusing on Tafsīr (Qur’ān exegesis), Qur’ān translation, and European reception of Islam. His PhD project, supervised by Jan Loop (ERC-funded EuQu project) and Matthew Monger, examines George Sale’s 18th-century English Qur’ān translation using al-Bayḍāwī’s medieval tafsīr. Previously, he spent 9 years at the Islamic University of Madinah, earning a Master’s in Uṣūl al-Fiqh and a Bachelor’s in Sharī’ah. His interdisciplinary background includes studies in Philosophy, History of Ideas, Biomedical Engineering, and Electronic Engineering.

Education:

• PhD in Religious Studies (2024–2028), MF Vitenskapelig Høyskole
• Master’s in Uṣūl al-Fiqh (2018–2023), Islamic University of Madinah
• Bachelor’s in Shari’ah (2014–2018), Islamic University of Madinah
• Coursework in Philosophy (2022–2023), University of Tromsø
• 1-Year Program in History of Ideas (2020–2021), University of South-Eastern Norway

Research Interests: His work bridges Islamic legal theory, global intellectual history, and European Orientalism. Key areas include medieval Islamic theology (e.g., Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Hindī’s philosophy of legal differences) and the intersection of Enlightenment-era scholarship with Islamic textual traditions.

Grants & Supervision: His PhD is supported by the ERC-funded The European Qur’an (EuQu) project. Supervisors: Jan Loop (external) and Matthew Monger (primary).

Labs/Teams: Associated with the EuQu research group at MF Vitenskapelig Høyskole.