Rebecca Masterton is a British Islamic scholar, author and television presenter.

Early life

Masterton was born to a Christian family. She converted to Islam in 1999 and became a Shia Muslim in 2003.^[1][2][3]She moved to London at the age of eighteen. She attended the School of Oriental and African Studies London, and received a BA in Japanese, an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature, and a PhD in francophone and Islamic mystical literature of West Africa.^[4][5]

Career

Masterton's academic work focuses on West African Sufism, Shia spirituality, colonialism, and modernity. She has previously taught at Birkbeck College and the University of London.^[3]

She has appeared on Iranian Islamic media programs by Sahar TV, Press TV, HadiTV, and on the British Shia broadcaster Ahlulbayt TV.^[3]

Masterton is also a senior lecturer at The Islamic College in London.^[6]

She has also published her book of short stories Passing Through the Dream... To the Other Side.^[3]

Works

Books

• Shī‘ī Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century (London: Light Reading, 2020)
• Passing Through the Dream... To the Other Side. (Light Reading, 2008) ISBN 978-0955934407^[4]

Translations

• The Moral World of the Qur’an, by M. A. Draz, translated from French^[7]
• The Inner Dimensions of Hajj, by Zohreh Borujerdi, translated from Persian

Articles

• A comparative exploration of the spiritual authority of the awliyā' in the Shi'ī and Sūfī traditions with reference to the works of the Dhahabī Order and Allamah Tabataba'i
• Walayah as a Response to the Self-Other Dichotomy in European Philosophy
• Islamic Mystical Resonances in Fulbe Literature
• Islamic Mystical Readings of Cheikh Hamidou Kane's Ambiguous Adventure
• A Critical Comparison of Cosmic Hierarchies in the Development of Christian and Islamic Mystical Theology