Dr Kahina Bahloul

Dr Kahina Bahloul holds a PhD in the History of Religions from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris and is a scholar of Islamic studies. Her work focuses in particular on the history of Muslim thought, the social and media representations of Islam, contemporary transformations of religious discourse, and the challenges of religious pluralism in the public sphere.

She has also developed international expertise at the intersection of female religious leadership, human rights, and the prevention of violent extremism. In 2025–2026, she contributed to the work of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as part of the Female Faith Leadership to Prevent Extremism conference, and is a member of the international Faith for Rights community of practice of the OHCHR.

Founder of La Mosquée Fatima, the first inclusive mosque in France led by a woman imam, she is also the author of several books, including Mon islam, ma liberté (Albin Michel, 2021), which received the Mare Nostrum Prize in 2022, and Des femmes et des dieux (Women and Gods) (Les Arènes, 2021).

Since 2019, she has also taught bioethics and Islamic law at the Faculty of Medicine of Université Paris Cité. She is regularly invited by French and international media to comment on contemporary Islam, women’s rights, intercultural dialogue, citizenship, and social cohesion.
Her current research focuses on colonial and postcolonial memories, memories of mass violence and their social and political implications, as well as processes of reconciliation and the construction of inclusive citizenship in pluralistic societies, within the framework of a research programme at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.