Filippo Osella is a Reader in Anthropology at the University of Sussex, UK. For the past 20 years, Osella has conducted research in South India, and more recently in a number of West Asian Gulf countries. His current research focuses on the emergence of Islamic reformist movements and the rise of a new Muslim middle class in Kerala.

Benjamin Soares is an anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Afrika-Studiecentrum in Leiden, The Netherlands. Soares' publications include Islam and the Prayer Economy (2005) and two edited volumes, Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa (2007) and Muslim-Christian Encounters in Africa (2006).