Dr Mohamed Aidarus NOOR obtained his PhD from the University of Bergen in Norway. His research focused on the history, processes, and contexts of the canonisation of Islamic legal texts, with particular emphasis on the Shāfiʿī legal text Minhāj al-Tālibīn, authored by the renowned Syrian Shāfiʿite jurist Zakariyyā Yaḥyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī (d. 676/1277). The study examined the canonisation of this work on the Swahili Coast during the historical period between 1856 and 1963 CE.

He is currently an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow serving as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Islamic Studies from November 2025 to October 2027. His ongoing research delves into the Shāfiʿī school’s legal commentary, investigating the translocal scholarly dynamics between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Bū Saʿīdī Swahili Coast. This project seeks to explore the intricate complexities of Islamic legal thought and the historical exchange of knowledge in these contexts.