Dr Ali Hussain

Senior Lecturer in Islamic Mysticism

Dr Ali Hussain completed a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence from Eastern Michigan University and a PhD in Islamic Mysticism from the University of Michigan. His doctoral research focuses on the image of Jesus in the writings of the Andalusian mystic Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (d. 1240). Alongside his academic formation, Dr Hussain pursued traditional Islamic studies in Tarim, Yemen, and other centres of learning, including classical Sufism from prominent masters like Shaykh Hisham Kabbani. His academic publications include “The Journey as Destination: Ibn Arabi, Derrida and Charles Taylor’s Creative Etymology in Contemporary Social Imaginaries”, “The Metaphysics of Creativity: Imagination in Sufism, from the Qurʿan into Ibn al-ʿArabi”, “Ibn ʿArabi and Joseph Campbell: Akbarian Mythology and the Metaphysics of Contemporary Art” and others. He recently founded the best-selling Substack community Studio of Meaning: Ibn Arabi Studies in Modern Motion, A center for research and education on the writings of the Andalusian mystic Ibn Arabi with a focus on his contemporary relevance.

The Classical Institute is pleased to welcome Dr Ali Hussain, whose forthcoming programme, The Interpreter of Ardent Desires: Ibn ʿArabi's Tarjuman al-Ashwaq and the Metaphysics of Love, will commence on 6 August 2026. Through a close reading of one of the most celebrated works of the Islamic intellectual tradition, the programme invites students to engage with Ibn ʿArabī's reflections on love, knowledge, imagination, and the nature of reality. Dr Hussain's teaching reflects the Institute's commitment to the careful study of foundational texts and to forms of learning that deepen understanding and bring enduring questions of human life into clearer view.