Reference and Instruction Librarian
After receiving his education in Arabic and Islamic studies from seminaries in the UK and India, Waseem achieved his BA (Honours) in Arabic with Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from the University of Durham. He also earned an MA in Library and Information Studies at University College London, and an MA in Historical Research Methods at SOAS University of London.
He began his career in librarianship as a cataloguer of Arabic materials and leading library assistant at the British Library in 2002. He then joined the AKU-ISMC as an assistant librarian in 2005, became a librarian in 2010, and started his current position in 2021.
Waseem is primarily responsible for the acquisitions of print and ebooks, and providing information literacy training. His research interests include the history of Sufism in South Asia, early and medieval Islamic documents and sources, dialectical theology, principles of fiqh, and hadith studies.