Eliza Tasbihi is a Senior Researcher, part-time lecturer and the Specialized Cataloguing Editor for Islamic Manuscripts at McGill University Library. She has a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Concordia University and an M.A. in Islamic Studies from McGill University. Her research specializations are early modern Islamicate intellectual history and theology with a focus on textual analysis of Sufi literature and theological writings in Ottoman and Persian, Iran, in and the broader Persianate world up to the nineteenth century. She has published extensively on Sufism, theology, Persian literature, specifically Rumi’s Mathnawi and its reception in the Persianate world, as well as on classical, medieval, and early modern Sufism. Her articles have appeared as book chapters and in peer-reviewed journals such as Mawlana Rumi Review, the Journal of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, the Encyclopedia of Islamic Mysticism, and An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History, among others.
Her new book, titled “Hidden in Plain Sight: Ismaʿil Rusukhi Anqaravi (d.1040/1631) and His Commentary on ‘Book Seven’ of Rumi’s (d.672/1273) Mathnawi” is coming out shortly by Brill. It will be volume 8 in the Studies on Sufism series. Her book examines intra-Sufi debates in the Ottoman Empire, and the controversies about “Book Seven” of Rumi’s Mathnawi among Ottoman Mevlevi Sufis.