Leif Stenberg

​Leif Sten​berg​

​​​​​Biograph​​​y

​Leif received a Ph.D. in History of Religions from Lund University, Sweden, in 1996. The publication of the award-winning thesis was titled “The Islamization of Science: Four Muslim Positions Developing an Islamic Modernity”. I was appointed founding Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Lund University in 2007. In 2011, I was appointed full Professor in Islamic Studies at Lund University. On April 1, 2017, Stenberg took up a position as the Dean of the Aga Khan University – Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC). My deanship ended in the end of 2023. Since January 1, 2024, I am a professor at AKU-ISMC.  In the spring of 2024, I was appointed as a Guest Professor at Karlstad University, Sweden.
 

Research interest​​​

  • Contemporary Islam and Muslims

  • Political and modern Sufism in Syria

  • Sport and football in Muslim contexts

  • Islamization of science and knowledge

 

Selected publications​

  • Hughes, A & ​Stenberg, L (eds), (2025). The Beautiful Game on a Muslim Pitch: How Football and Religion are Shaping Identity and Society. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
  • Stenberg, L, Sheikh, R and Kaya, E. (2025), Being Muslim in European Football: Defining Spaces of Muslimness. Abdou Filali-Ansary Occasional Paper Series. 
  • Stenberg, L. (2022) Poet and Businessman: Abd al-Aziz Sa‘ud al-Babtain and the Formation of Modern Kuwait. Gingko Library, London.
  • ​Stenberg, L,​ & Wood, P (eds). (2022), What is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
  • Stenberg, L, Olsson, Susanne, (2015), ”Engaging the History of Religions – from an Islamic Studies Perspective”, Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, Volume 51, No 2.
  • Stenberg, L, Christa & Leif Stenberg (eds). (2015)​​​, Syria from Reform to Revolt Vol. II: Culture, Society and Religion. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse.
  • ​Stenberg, L. & Schaebler, B (eds.) (2004), Globalization and the Muslim World: Culture, Religion, and Modernity. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse.
  • Stenberg, L. (1996), The Islamization of Science. Four Muslim Positions Making an Islamic Modernity. Lund Studies in History of Religions, vol. 6, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm. 


Personal links​​

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​​Contact​​​

​​​​Leif.Stenberg@aku.edu​