
Bio
Ata Anzali is an associate professor of religion at Middlebury College. He received his Ph.D. from the department of Religious Studies at Rice University. Prior to that, he studied at the Qom Seminary focusing on Islamic rational disciplines, including speculative mysticism ('erfan) and philosophy. He also received a master’s degree in Islamic Philosophy and Theology from the University of Tehran. Anzali has had an enduring interest in mystical traditions of Islam. He is also interested in intellectual and social histories of the early modern and modern Iranian religious thought. His first monograph, ‘Mysticism’ in Iran: the Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept brings these interests together in an in depth examination of the emergence of the category of ‘erfan as an alternative to tasawwuf during the Safavid era. He is currently working on a research project that focuses on Morteza Motahhari (d. 1979), his significance, and his contributions to modern Iranian religious thought.