Prof. Rudolph Bilal Ware has a BA in History and African Studies (University of Minnesota) and a PhD in History (University of Pennsylvania). He has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He has published two major books: The Walking Qur’an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge, and History in West Africa (2014) and Jihad of the Pen: the Sufi Literature of West Africa (coedited with Zachary Wright & Amir Syed, 2018).

He has spent considerable time in West Africa, particularly Senegal, mastering Wolof, French, and Arabic for his research. He has published extensively in journals and edited volumes and has done media and public-facing engagement.

In addition to his work in the academy, he has recently begun to offer online courses on matters related to his research, activism, and Islamic spirituality more broadly. His expertise covers a range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, African Studies, along with themes on epistemology, Qur’an schooling, Muslim Mysticism, slavery and abolition, and Islamic devotional poetry.

He has also been active in public life, previously running as the Green Party’s vice-presidential candidate and now campaigning for governor in California’s 2026 race.