Ali-Asghar Seyed-Gohrab is Professor of Persian and Iranian Studies at Utrecht University in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He has published extensively on Persian literature, mysticism and religion. His publications range from Persian poetry to Sufism and the role of religious and mystical motifs and metaphors in Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and how peaceful religious injunctions are used to justify violence. At the moment he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the ERC-Advanced Grant entitled Beyond Sharia: The Role of Sufism in Shaping Islam , examining Islamic nonconformist movements.