A. Rashied Omar

A. Rashied Omar is associate teaching professor of Islamic studies and peacebuilding in the Keough School’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He also is a fellow of the Keough School’s Pulte Institute for Global Development.

Omar earned an MA and PhD in religious studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and an MA in international peace studies from Notre Dame.

During Notre Dame’s spring semester, Omar teaches a popular course on the Islamic ethics of war and peace as well as peace studies courses. For the remainder of the year, he serves as field research advisor to master of global affairs students in Cape Town, South Africa.

In addition to being a university-based researcher and teacher, Omar serves as imam (religious minister) at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, a trustee of the Healing of Memories Institute in South Africa, a member of the Interfaith Council for Ethics Education, Arigatou International in Japan, and an advisory board member for Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa.

Omar’s research and teaching focus on the roots of religious violence and the potential of religion for constructive social engagement and interreligious peacebuilding. He is co-author with David Chidester et al. of Religion in Public Education: Options for a New South Africa (UCT Press, 1994), a contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2015), and a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (Macmillan Reference USA, 2016).