Lincoln, Neb. — Dr. Abla Hasan, Professor of Practice of Arabic Language and Culture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, has received the Inspire Women’s Excellence in Education Award for 2025.
Hasan is the coordinator of the Arabic Studies Program at Nebraska and a leading scholar of Qur’anic interpretation, philosophy of language, and gender equality in Islam. Since joining the university in 2013, she has single-handedly built the Arabic Studies Program, developing an innovative curriculum offering three years of Arabic language instruction and culture-based courses in English.
An accomplished author, Hasan has written several books, including Decoding the Egalitarianism of the Qur’an: Retrieving Lost Voices on Gender (Bloomsbury, 2019), On Pain and Suffering: A Qur’anic Perspective (Bloomsbury, 2022), and The Qur’anic Dilemma: A Hermeneutical Investigation of al-Khidr (Routledge, 2022). Her scholarship has been presented at institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, Villanova, Notre Dame, and the University of Münster, among others.
Beyond her research, Hasan has advanced intercultural and interfaith dialogue through events such as the annual “Big Arabic Day,” a community celebration highlighting the Arabic language and culture. Her work has been featured in Nebraska Quarterly, the Journal Star, and Nebraska Today, and she has earned multiple honors recognizing her teaching and leadership, including the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award (2022) and the Women’s and Gender Justice Award (2023).
Hasan accepted the Excellence in Education award at the Inspire – Celebrating Women’s Leadership Awards ceremony, held September 24 at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The event is presented by the Lincoln Journal Star.
More details at: https://inspirelincoln.com/2020-2025-winners/