Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri

AMI Faculty

Lecturer in Arabic & Research Lead for Muslims, Societies, and Cultures

Shīʿī Religious Authority

Contemporary Shīʿism

Sociology

Gender and Religion

Biography

Muhammed Reza Tajri, PhD (2023), Lancaster University, is a lecturer in Arabic and is a Research Lead for Muslims, Societies, and Cultures. In addition to a background in traditional Islamic studies, Dr Tajri’s academic focus lies in sociological approaches to researching Muslim communities.

Dr Tajri began his seminary studies at the Ḥawza ʿIlmiyya of London and went on to complete a BA in Islamic Studies at The Islamic College and Middlesex University. He then moved to Damascus to study at the Ḥawza al-Imām al-Khumaynī with advanced Arabic studies at the University of Damascus. Upon returning to the UK, he completed an MA in Islamic Studies at The Islamic College and Middlesex University and a second MA in Islam in Contemporary Britain at Cardiff University. His PhD thesis explored the evolving perceptions of Shīʿī religious authority on British university campuses. His research interests revolve around Muslims in the UK and Europe, contemporary Shīʿism and Shīʿī identity, religious authority, and the impact of gender on religion.

Lecturer, Al-Mahdi Institute — Arabic.

Articles

“Assessing Perceptions of Islamic Authority amongst British Shia Muslim Youth.” In Muslims in the UK and Europe II. Edited by Yasir Suleiman and Paul Anderson, 148-156. Cambridge: Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge, 2016.
Amin, W. and Tajri, M. [eds] (2019). Ijtihād & Taqlīd: Past, Present and Future. Birmingham: AMI Press.
[Pending publication] Tajri, M. (2025). Competing for Credibility: Pedagogical and Gendered Challenges in Islamic Studies. in (eds. Sidat, H. and Tajri, M.). Muslims and Education. Birmingham: AMI Press
[Pending publication] Tajri, M. (2025). Dealing with Dichotomy: Homosexuality and Shīʿa Muslims. in (eds. Rahman, M. and Abdelhadi, E.). Muslim Engagement with Gender and Sexuality. (Part of Brill-AMI Series)

Translations

Muhammad Muhammadi Rayshahri. Wisdom of the Prophet Muhammad: A Compendium of Prophetic Hadith, translated by Afzal Sumar and Muhammad Reza Tajri. London: ICAS Press, 2023.
Al-Fayḍ al-Kāshānī. Spiritual Mysteries and Ethical Secrets (al-Ḥaqāʾiq fī maḥāsin al-akhlāq), translated by Muhammad Reza Tajri, Amina Inloes, and Nazmina Virjee. London: ICAS Press, 2012.

“Anchored in Europe: Local Shīʿa Scholarship and the Mediation of Transnational Religious Authority” (4 October 2025) Faculty of Islamic Studies, Pristina, Kosovo. Organised by The Center for Advanced Studies, Sarajevo.
“The Evolution of Shīʿī Taqlīd: Tussle between Authority and Agency” (1^st July 2025) BRAIS International Conference, Cambridge University
“Denying Dichotomy?: The Intersection of LGB Shia Muslims” (May 2024) University of Leeds, Annual BRAIS Conference
“Evolution of Shīʿī Taqlīd on UK University Campuses” (June 2022)
University of Edinburgh Annual BRAIS Conference
“Shī‘a Female University Experiences Shaping Religious Authority Conceptions” (January 2019)
Cardiff University, Centre for Study of Islam in the UK.
“Without Forgetting the Marjiʿ…” (September 2018)
SOAS, for Conference on Re/Presenting Islam on Campus (Funded by AHRC and ESRC) 2018 (Apr) University of Exeter Annual BRAIS Conference
“Assessing Perceptions of Islamic Authority amongst British Shia Muslim Youth” (April 2015 Apr) School of Advanced Study, University of London Annual BRAIS Conference
“The Decentralisation of the Hawza System and the Disintegration of A‘lamiyyah” 2012 (March) University of Oxford, Keble College As part of ‘The Hawza Project’, headed by Exeter University.

Management Board Member for Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University.

Recent Contributions

Explore the latest contributions to Islamic thought by Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri.

Thinking Islam Ep. 17: Ritual, Migration & Belonging: The Making of British Shia Islam with Dr Jaffer Mirza

AMI hosts its CIRS International Conference on “Technology and Religious Change in the Digital Age” in collaboration with the Catholic University of America

November 3, 2025

Al-Mahdi Institute (AMI), through its Muslims, Societies, and Cultures research area, in...

Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri Invited to Present at The International Conference in Pristina, Kosovo

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