Adnan A. Zulfiqar's scholarship pursues an interdisciplinary approach to better understanding the theoretical and practical dynamics of legal change, domestically and internationally. His primary fields of inquiry are criminal law and Islamic law. In criminal law, his work explores questions relating to the abuse of policing powers, over-criminalization and the challenges of criminal codification. In Islamic law, he focuses on the formulation, evolution and application of Islamic legal concepts, with particular emphasis on the idea of legal obligation.
He joined the faculty at Rutgers Law as an Assistant Professor in 2017. Prior to that, he was a George Sharswood Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a Harry F. Guggenheim Fellow. He previously helped draft criminal codes and commentaries for the Republic of the Maldives and the Federal Republic of Somalia under the auspices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), respectively. He also worked as an Associate in the Investigations, White Collar and Fraud Group at Hogan Lovells, LLP (Washington, D.C.) and was a Legislative Staffer for U.S. Senator Max Cleland (D-GA). Currently, he is a Fellow at the Truman National Security Project, an Editor at SHARIASource at Harvard Law School and on the Editorial Board of the Arab Law Quarterly.
He earned his J.D. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (NELC) from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received an M.L.S. in International Affairs from Georgetown University, an M.A. in NELC from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Religion and Anthropology from Emory University.