Screenshots from Syed Saddiq's Twitter and Instagram story.
PETALING JAYA: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman congratulated his “senior”, Dr Raihan Ismail, for her achievement in being appointed as a professor in a leading international university.
On his Twitter account, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president on Wednesday (May 3) said it was proof that Malaysians could excel like other accomplished scholars worldwide.
"Congratulations Dr Raihan Ismail on being appointed as a Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at University of Oxford!
"I feel so proud to be her junior from the (International Islamic University Malaysia) IIUM debate alumni, with such an astounding accomplishment.
"Your appointment at one of the world’s leading universities is indeed a testament that Malaysians have what it takes to be on par with other brilliant academics," he tweeted.
Syed Saddiq also made similar congratulatory remarks in his Instagram story.
Dr Raihan is a senior lecturer for Australian National University’s (ANU) Coral Bell School and a Goldman Faculty Leave Fellow (2022-2023) at Brandeis University, United States.
She was also an ARC (Australian Research Council) DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award) Fellow from 2019-2022.
According to her biography shared by ANU online page, Dr Raihan research interests include political Islam, sectarianism, women in Islam and the intertwining nature of religion and politics in the Middle East.
She is also an author, with her books "Saudi Clerics and Shia Islam" published in 2016 and "Rethinking Salafism: The Transnational Networks of Salafi Ulama in Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia" published in 2021 by Oxford University Press.
Dr Raihan has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a minor in Islamic Studies, a Masters in International Relations from IIUM, and a PhD from ANU.
