David Drennan

Dr David Drennan is an academic, researcher, and research coordinator who researches, writes, and teaches about Islam, Islamic history, and Muslim societies. In particular, David’s focus is on Northwest African history and societies, but also transregional history and literatures more generally.

He has completed a PhD in Islamic Studies at Charles Sturt University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Sydney. His wider research interest is the changing role of religious and legal scholars in Muslim societies, but his main research focus has been in demarcating and tracing the reception history of al-Shatibi’s medieval legal treatise on the ultimate aims and objectives (maqasid) of Islamic law, from the time of his passing in 1388 CE until the turn of the twentieth century. This focus led him to research the school of law, Muslim jurists, and legal texts across North and Northwest Africa. He has lectured, taught, and developed curricula at both undergraduate and graduate levels on a number of subjects related to Islamic studies, history, and academic literacy, as well as worked in research administration and learning coordination within the University sector for over fifteen years.