Muhammad Kamal

Muhammad Kamal (Kurdish: محەممەد کەمال; born 1955) is a Kurdish philosopher, academic, author, and translator. He is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute in Australia, specializing in existential philosophy, particularly phenomenology.

Early life and education

Muhammad Kamal was born in 1955 in Kirkuk, Iraq. He completed his primary and secondary education in Sulaymaniyah, and graduated from the Teachers' Institute in Erbil in 1977. From 1977 to 1979, he worked as a teacher in the village of Awakala.

In 1979 Kamal moved to Karachi, Pakistan, to pursue higher education. He completed his undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees at the University of Karachi, where he also served as a lecturer and assistant professor until 1994. In 1992, he conducted postdoctoral research on Martin Heidegger's philosophy in Germany with a DAAD fellowship. From Essence to Being: The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Martin Heidegger, ICAS Press, 2010

Book chapters "Islamic Modernism in India" in History of Indian Philosophy, Routledge, 2017 "Existence and Essence in Mulla Sadra's Ontology", Philosophy Study, 2019

Books in Kurdish Kamal has written extensively in Kurdish, contributing significantly to Kurdish philosophical literature:

Descartes (دێکارت), Sardam, 2025 Philosophy of Language (فەلسەفەی زمان), Sardam, 2024 Marx as a Philosopher (مارکس وەکوو فەیلەسووف), Sardam, 2019 Philosophy of Being (فەلسەفەی بوون), Andêsha, 2014 Phenomenology (فینۆمینۆلۆجی), Binayî Publishing, 2013 Plato's Philosophy (فەلسەفەی ئەفلاتون), Sardam, 2010 Heidegger and a Philosophical Revolution (ھایدیگەر و شۆڕشێکی فەلسەفی), Sardam, 2007

Among his Kurdish works is Philosophy of Spinoza and Substance (فەلسەفەی سپینۆزا و جەوهەر), which examines the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza and presents his ideas in accessible Kurdish prose.

Translations into Kurdish Kamal has translated major philosophical works into Kurdish, making Western philosophy accessible to Kurdish readers:

Nietzsche by Martin Heidegger (four volumes), 2023 Phenomenology of Spirit by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Sardam, 2016 Being and Time by Martin Heidegger, Sardam, 2013 Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, Sardam, 2011 Poetics by Aristotle, Sardam, 2010 Categories by Aristotle, Sardam, 2009 The Republic by Plato, Sardam, 2009

Research interests

Kamal's scholarly work focuses on: Ontology and metaphysics Existential philosophy and phenomenology Comparative philosophy between Islamic and Western traditions The philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Martin Heidegger Religious studies and interreligious dialogue

Awards and recognition

DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1994