Muhammad Afdillah is currently pursuing his doctoral degree in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary.

He has been focusing his research in peace and violence in religion, religious economy, religious regulation, religious persecution, and religion and contemporary issue. Some of his works were presented in seminars and conferences and published in scientific articles and journals. His proposed study is related to religious persecution against Christians in Indonesia and Myanmar, where they could not freely build a church for worship. Upon completion of his doctoral degree program, he intends to return to his current home institution to continue his work in academia and community activity. He would like to develop a better concept to analyze religious persecution in Indonesia and beyond.

Muhammad earned his Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Study of Religion at UIN Sunan Ampel in 2005, a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from Universitas Airlangga in 2007 and another Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2013. Prior to his Fulbright award, he was a teaching faculty at Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Sunan Ampel Surabaya, East Java. In addition to teaching, he volunteers for JAMAK (Jaringan Masyarakat Anti-Kekerasan/Society Network of anti Violence), where he advocates a minority group that suffered from religious persecution. He also serves as a secretary and social analyst at the Provincial Board of Muhammadiyah, East Java.