Rania Awaad

Rania Awaad is an Egyptian-American Islamic scholar, psychiatrist, and professor. Awaad is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science.^[1] Awaad is known for her work on Islam and psychology and the mental health of Muslim Americans.

Awaad is a practicing psychiatrist and professor associated with Stanford University, where she is director of the Diversity Clinic and the Muslim Mental Health lab and chief of the Diversity section.^[2] Awaad is an activist for mental health among Muslim Americans.^[3][4]

Awaad studied Islam from the age of 14 in Damascus, Syria.^[1] She received ijazah to teach tajwid in the Hafs and Warsh recitations of the Quran. She also received ijaza in Shafi'i legal texts and Maliki fiqh, adab, and ihsan.^[5]

Awaad was the first female professor of Islamic law at Zaytuna College, where she taught Shafi'i jurisprudence, women's jurisprudential issues, and the Quran.^[2]

She is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and Yaqeen Institute.^[2][6]

• Islamophobia and Psychiatry: Recognition, Prevention, and Treatment edited by Ahmed Zakaria Hankir, H. Steven Moffic, John Peteet, and Rania Awaad (Springer International Publishing, 2018)
• Applying Islamic Principles to Clinical Mental Health Care: Introducing Traditional Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy edited by Bilal Ali, Fahad Khan, Hooman Keshavarzi, and Rania Awaad (Taylor & Francis, 2020)