Rush is a historian of Southeast Asia who explores themes of colonialism, religion, biography, and current affairs. His latest books are Hamka's Great Story and Southeast Asia: a very short introduction.

A Fulbright Scholar, Professor Ali is the founding chair of CAIS, coordinator of Arabic Studies and head of Classics and Middle East Studies at ASU.

Woodward is affiliated with the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. His research focuses on Islam, religion-state-society relations and religion and conflict in Southeast Asia.

Liew is a scholar of the premodern Islamic world. His research interests include the history of Islamic political thought, Islamic scholarly and intellectual culture, and Islamic historical and biographical writings.