Dr Tarek Elgawhary is an entrepreneur, teacher, and scholar of comparative religions and Islamic studies. He is currently the US representative of Egypt’s National Fatwa Office (Dar al-Iftā’ al-Misriyya), the scholar-in-residence of the Islamic Community Center of Potomac (ICCP), and the founder of the Making Sense of Islam platform. In these various capacities he teaches, lectures, and writes about normative Sunni Islam and how it is expressed and practiced in the modern world.
Tarek’s educational background is a bit unorthodox and eclectic. He spent his western education in the space of comparative religions, having earned a BA in comparative religions with a focus on Jewish studies, and an MA in a specialized program focusing on Islam and Hinduism (both from the George Washington University). Tarek’s graduate studies culminated with his PhD, from Princeton University in Islamic law. Tarek was also trained at the al-Azhar Seminary in Cairo, Egypt between 2003-2007 where he studied and was licensed in the traditional Islamic sciences.
Tarek is also the President and Founder of Coexist Research International LLC (est. 2007) through which he advises non-profit organizations, corporations, and governments throughout the world on challenges that intersect faith, culture, and politics, especially the growing problem of extremism.
