jsparkes@pmu.edu.sa
F137
Dr. Jason Idriss Sparkes is Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences in the College of Sciences & Human Studies at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU). He is a transdisciplinary scholar whose research focus and areas of expertise include Islamic studies, comparative religion, history, decolonial world-systems analysis, global studies, languages, and cultural studies.
Prior to joining PMU, he worked at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, for the Department of Global Studies and the Department of Religion and Culture. He has published several research articles and book chapters. Dr. Sparkes has been teaching for over three decades and has lived in several countries across three continents. He speaks English, French, Arabic, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Sparkes has managed several language programs and developed curricula and proficiency tests for governmental organizations and private corporations in Canada, Egypt, and Morocco.
His teaching philosophy is eclectic and learner-centered. It draws upon both traditional and cutting-edge methods, to meet the multifaceted needs of students. His inclusive approach focuses on the qualitative learning process itself as the best guarantor of strong, measurable outcomes.
Currently, Dr. Sparkes is working on several research projects, including transnational collaborations. These projects draw upon the Islamic intellectual tradition—especially west of Makkah (North Africa, Europe, and the Americas)—and are laying the foundations for future publications and initiatives addressing border thinking and liminality, modernity and coloniality from Muslim perspectives, and Islamic humanities in an age of AI and other digital technologies.
PhD Religious Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, 2020
MA Religious Studies, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada, 2014
Critical Islamic Thought (International Summer School), Granada, Spain, 2011
BA (Distinction), Religion Major; Modern Arabic Language and Culture Minor, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 2008
Vocational Diploma in Second Language Teaching, Caron Professional and Linguistic Training Centre, Montreal, Canada, 1995
Journal Articles
Sparkes, J. I. (2025). Sayyida al-Ḥurra: An Early Modern Decolonial Muslim Exemplar. Religions, 16(11), 1362. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16111362
Sparkes, J. I. (2024). Neo-Traditionalism in Islam in the West: Orthodoxy, Spirituality and Politics by Walaa Quisay (review). Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 9(1), 89–94. https://doi.org/10.2979/jims.00027
Sparkes, J. I. (2024). Sufi groups in North America: A history. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.1153
Sparkes, J. I. (2022). Morocco as a hub of globalised traditional Islam. Religions, 13(5), 392. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050392
Sparkes, J. (2021). Decolonizing the Left and the Right: Muslim mistrust of foxes and wolves. The Maydan.
Sparkes, J. (2019). Crusades and inquisitions: The gestation of the modern/colonial world-system in Iberia, Northwest Africa, and the Canary Islands, from 1415 to 1492. The Moroccan Cultural Studies Centre Journal, 7.
Sparkes, J. (2017). Review of The Sultan and the Queen: The Untold Story of Elizabeth and Islam by Jerry Brotton. Nūr: The Newsletter of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, 3(1).
Book Chapters
Sharify-Funk, M., & Sparkes, J. (2021). Expressions of Sufism in Canada. In M. Adrian, A. Barras, & J. Shelby (Eds.), Producing Islam(s) in Canada: On the politics of knowledge production. University of Toronto Press.
Sparkes, J. (2016). Analyse comparative de la doctrine et des pratiques contemporaines de la voie soufie Burhaniya dans le monde arabe et en Occident. In S. Amor, D. Tsvetkova, & P. Brodeur (Eds.), Migrations et croyances: entre inculturation et acculturation. Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas).
Sparkes, J. (2015). Challenging global coloniality from a Sufi perspective. In M. Faghfoory & G. Dastagir (Eds.), Sufism and social integration: Connecting hearts, crossing boundaries. ABC International Group.
Conference Proceedings
Sparkes, J. I. (2025). What remains of the human in the age of AI and other disruptive technologies? In IEEE IntelliSecAI 2025 Proceedings, 109.
Dissertation and Thesis
Sparkes, J. I. (2020). Tradition as flow: Decolonial currents in the Muslim Atlantic (Doctoral dissertation, Wilfrid Laurier University). https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2300
Sparkes, J. (2014). Doctrines and practices of the Burhaniya Sufi order in the Arab world and in the West between 1938 and 2012: A decolonial and transdisciplinary analysis from an insider perspective (Master’s thesis, Université de Montréal). https://doi.org/1866/10578
English and French Language Teacher, Caron Professional and Linguistic Training Centre, Montreal, Canada, 1992–2013
Director of Administration and Marketing, Caron Professional and Linguistic Training Centre, Montreal, Canada, 1995–2001
Director of Studies, Caron Professional and Linguistic Training Centre, Montreal and Ottawa, Canada, 2002–2013
Vice-President, Programs, Canadian International Language Solutions, Montreal, Canada; Casablanca, Morocco; Cairo, Egypt, 2007–2013
Freelance Translator and Communication Specialist, Independent, Montreal, Canada; Casablanca, Morocco; Waterloo, Canada, 2013–2015
Director of Studies, British Centre Two, Casablanca, Morocco, 2013–2015
Director of Quality and Strategic Development, British Centre Group, Casablanca and El Jadida, Morocco, 2013–2015
Teaching Assistant, Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Religion and Culture, Waterloo, Canada, 2015–2020
Research Assistant, Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Religion and Culture, Waterloo, Canada, 2017–2021
Contract Teaching Faculty (Lecturer and Instructor), Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Global Studies, Waterloo, Canada, 2019–2022
Community Researcher, The Tshepo Institute for the Study of Contemporary Africa, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, 2021–2022
University Instructor, Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Religion and Culture and Department of Global Studies, Waterloo, Canada, 2019–2022
Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, 2022–Present
Courses Taught at PMU
World Civilizations HIST 1311
Written Communication COMM 1311
Writing and Research COMM 1312
Oral Communication COMM 2311
Technical and Professional Communication COMM 2312
Leadership and Teamwork UNIV 1213
Introduction to Islamic Culture ALIS 1211
LInguistic Communication Skills ALIS 2211
Area 1: Islamic Studies
Area 2: Decolonial world-systems analysis
Area 3: History of the Muslim Atlantic World
Area 4: North African and Andalusian Studies
Area 5: North American Islam and Sufism
Area 6: Sufi Studies
Area 7: Transdisciplinary Approaches
Area 8: Comparative Religion
