Ali Rida Rizek is a postdoctoral researcher in Arabic and Islamic Studies. He received his BA and MA in Arabic Language and Literature from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon. He has taught Arabic language and literature, Islamic studies, and cultural studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Lebanese American University (LAU), the University of Leiden, the University of Göttingen, and the University of Bayreuth. His research focuses on Islamic intellectual history, the intellectual and social history of Shi'i Islam (with a special concern for Imamiyya), Islamic law, and Qur’anic studies. At OIB, he will be working on his new project titled "Teaching Imams and Learning Communities: Education and Religious Authority in Early Shiʿi Islam."