Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen

• Name — Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen • Birth Name — Gary Carl Legenhausen • Born — 3 May 1953 • Birthplace — New York City • Spouse — Narjes (Heidi) Javandel • Parents — Carl, Marilyn • Education — Rice University (PhD), State University of New York at Albany (BA) • Institutions — Imam Khomeini's Educational and Research Institute • Thesis Title — Matters of Substance • Thesis Url — https: repository.rice.edu/items/ac94e631-9239-4a29-819a-1753ec2f2823 • Thesis Year — 1983 • Doctoral Advisor — Baruch A. Brody • Academic Advisors — Richard Grandy, Ermanno Bencivenga, Carlo Borromeo Giannoni, Kenneth Stern • Main Interests — Philosophy of religion, epistemology, moral philosophy

Legenhausen was brought up as a Catholic but abandoned religion shortly after beginning his academic studies at the State University of New York at Albany. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Rice University, completed in 1983.

In 1979, while teaching at Texas Southern University (1979–1989), he became acquainted with Islam through Muslim students. His exposure to Shi’a Islam eventually led to his conversion in 1983.

He taught philosophy of religion, ethics, and epistemology at the Islamic Iranian Academy of Philosophy from 1990 to 1994. Since 1996, he has been teaching Western philosophy and Christianity, and studying Islam at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Iran.

Legenhausen is a proponent of interfaith dialogue and serves on the advisory board of the Society for Religious Studies in Qom. He is also a founding member of the advisory board of the Shi`ite Studies Center in Qom, and serves on the scientific board of the Human Rights Center of Mofid University, Qom. He is the author of Islam and Religious Pluralism, where he defends the idea of "non-reductive religious pluralism".