My name is Ali Ghandour. I was born and raised in Casablanca. Today I live in Germany and teach and conduct research as a professor of Islamic theology at the University of Hamburg.

I studied Arabic studies and political science at the University of Leipzig, with a focus on Islamic studies, and completed my studies with a Magister degree. This was followed by a doctorate in Islamic theology at the University of Münster with a dissertation on the epistemology of Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 1240).

Parallel to my academic path, I have spent many years intensively engaging with Muslim theologies and traditions — both under the guidance of scholars and through self-study.

Additionally, I studied systematic Buddhism at the Tibetan Center Hamburg, not with the aim of obtaining a degree but out of interest in religious worldviews beyond Muslim horizons.

My interests beyond academic subjects include music, especially electronic productions, video games, anime and visual narrative forms. I appreciate spaces where reflection and play interlock.