David H. Warren is a scholar of contemporary Islam and politics in the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arab Gulf states, Islamic soft power, and interfaith dialogue.
David Warren is a scholar of the Arab World and contemporary Islam, with a particular interest in the Arab Gulf states, religious soft power, and interfaith dialogue. He teaches classes on Middle East politics, religion, and advanced Arabic.
His book, Rivals in the Gulf: Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Abdullah Bin Bayyah, and the Qatar-UAE Contest Over the Arab Spring and the Gulf Crisis (Routledge, 2021) investigated the political interventions of two of the most prominent figures among the Muslim scholarly-elite and their relationships with the Qatari and Emirati ruling families. His most recent essay on contemporary Islam, Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Islamic Reform, was recently published in the The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform (Oxford University Press, 2026).Â
His current project examines the intersection of religious tolerance promotion and authoritarianism in the Gulf, with a focus on the politics of interfaith dialogue. His most recent publication in this regard, Tolerance, Religious Freedom, and Authoritarianism, was authored on behalf of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).