Ola Hassanain leads a critical spatial practice as a visual artist with architecture training and a current candidacy at the Academy of Fine Art Vienna. She premised her work on an idea of “space as political discourse”, an expanded notion of space, that tries to develop spatial literacy which can aid us to imagine different political ecologies. Ola's development of critical spatial practice is partly informed by her post-academic training;  a current teaching role at KABK Royal academy of Art in the Hague's department of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design, a Rijksakademie residency 2021-2023, BAK basis voor kunst fellowship 2017-2018, main tutor and co-development of the Blackerblackness Master course at the Sandberg Instituut 2021- 2023, teaching ‘Art in Context’ at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht at the Fine Art Department 2018-2022. Ola’s work has been exhibited in a Solo at Buro Stedelijk 2024, Hartwig Art Foundation, Casco Art Institute, Chicago Architecture Biennial and Sharjah Architecture Triennale.

Wassila Aarab is a documentary photographer whose practice centres on capturing human emotion and important historical moments through a deeply personal lens. Beginning with an early fascination for photography, Wassila first documented intimate gatherings of family and friends. This quickly expanded to include public and private events, including weddings, for a wider audience. However, primary focus lies in social themes such as human rights and global justice. Her work is informed by a commitment to photography as a means of visual storytelling and social engagement. Working both locally and internationally, they explore how emotion, identity and current events intersect. Through photography she invites the viewer into a distinct point of view: one that aims to shift perspectives and foster connection. Her practice has led to new opportunities, profound encounters and enduring friendships. Wassila continues to build a body of work that not only reflects the world as it is but also challenges us to see what it could be.

Lamiae El Hajjaji is a visual artist and storyteller, as well as the founder of LAMEIAE, a visual storytelling agency that helps brands and organizations cut through the noise with purpose-driven creativity. Through illustration, animation, and graphic design, she crafts narratives where the visuals transcend language. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Multimedia Design and grew up in Harderwijk, the Netherlands. 

Isshaq Albarbary is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the material, political and poetic dimensions of statelessness, incarceration and memory. Born in Beit Jibrin refugee camp, his practice engages with “stateless refugee heritage” as a form of alternative belonging and visibility beyond the nation-state. His concept of tanaaqush, derived from Arabic, meaning both discussion and engraving, informs a methodology that transforms everyday materials into poetic acts of resistance and remembrance. Notable works include Concrete Tent, UNcake, and Nifayatiyat. Albarbary’s work has been shown at institutions including BAK, Van Abbemuseum, and the Serralves Museum, and featured in Documenta 14 and the São Paulo Biennial. He holds an MFA from HKU Utrecht and is a member of the collectives Al Maeishah, Campus in Camps, and Urban Front.

Fatima Ballah is a writer and social worker based in The Hague. 

Omar Abdellatif is an artist and designer passionate about deconstruction, reinvention, and innovation. With a background in fashion design and a master’s in theology, his work explores the intersection of Islam and design. From a Muslim Spider-Man suit to bags made from prayer mats, he aims to create meaningful, functional designs that improve the lives of Muslims.

Fazle Shairmahomed (he/she/they/dem) creates performance rituals and altar installations with dance, plants, film and text. His work focuses on spiritual processes of decolonization and creolization, through which spaces are being created for interactions between different cosmologies and the sensorium. Community is a basis from where they create, which requires (interdisciplinary) collaboration. Inspiration for Fazle’s creations are rooted in interaction with Queer communities such as The Hang-Out 070, Queer Moslims, Hindostaans & Queer, and artistic communities such as CLOUD danslab and Masala Movement, en CTRL ALT+. More in particular, she is inspired by Muslim/Sufi traditions of Gnawa, Zar, the whirling Dervish; Japanese Butoh, Surinamese Winti culture, Hindu rituals, Caribbean Bubbling, Muslim funeral practices, and the Club. Fazle graduated in Cultural & Social Anthropology (University of Amsterdam, 2012, MA) and Middle Eastern Studies/Arabic (University of Leiden, 2010, BA).

Sara Bolghiran is a third year PhD Candidate in Islamic Philosophy/Religious Studies and the project Lead for Muslim Futures. Coming from an interdisciplinary background, she has written on the connection between beauty (husn), ethics (akhlaq) and imagination in Muslim Futures, and is mainly interested in critical Muslim studies & decolonizing Islamic studies. 

Dr. Yasmin Ismail is a researcher and project manager on the Project One Amongst Zeroes; Towards and Anthropology of Everyday AI in Islam, based at the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. She is also centre manager for ReCNTR (The centre for multimodal and audiovisual research methods in social science, humanities and the arts).  Prior to this she completed her PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin, where she explored linguistic shifts into English, in Quranic schools in the UK, Zambia and South Africa. She will soon begin a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge.

Aline Jabbari is an interdisciplinary scholar and educator. She worked as a lecturer in social sciences at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, designed and taught seminars on Theologies of Liberation at the Deir Mariam Al-Adra Monastery, and is a current Gates Cambridge PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology at Cambridge University, where her doctoral research focuses on vernacular memorialisation practices amongst post-genocide communities. In 2017, she founded Haar Minaret, a decolonial Islamic community and safe spiritual haven for Muslims on the margins that centres pluralistic Muslim imaginaries and articulations of "tafsirs of praxis". She is passionate about the social worlds of scripture and envisioning practical ways to manifest transformative justice.

Moonya Amro is a historian and social researcher whose work moves at the intersection of identity, belonging, and resistance. With a background in History and Middle Eastern studies and a deep curiosity for the emotional and political life of communities, she explores how people navigate instability, exclusion, and hope. Within Muslim Futures, Moonya is drawn to the power of imagination as a political act — a way for Muslims to reclaim space, reframe narratives, and envision futures rooted in dignity, faith, and collective care. She brings with her experience in academic research, youth engagement, and policy advising. She is particularly interested in the spaces where inner life and public life meet — and in building bridges between memory and possibility, history and future.

Nathal Dessing is a scholar of religion whose research focuses on everyday lived Islam in Europe. She is the director of the Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS).

Abdallah Abu Ayyash has a BA-degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Leiden University. He is also student-assistant at LUCIS.

Rashed Nazrabi has a BA-degree in Middle Eastern Studies and is currently doing his MA-degree in Middle Eastern Studies at Leiden University. He is part of the Middle Eastern Studies commission board as a student-member and is student-assistant at LUCIS.