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

Personal links​​

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/leif.stenbergislam?locale=sv_SE
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leif-stenberg-62077339/
 

​​Contact​​​

​​Leif.Stenberg@aku.edu​