Nur Farhana Azmi is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Building Surveying, Universiti Malaya. She holds a PhD degree in Building Control and Performance, and Bachelor degree in Building Surveying. Her doctoral thesis focused on sustaining the identity of small towns in Malaysia from the perspective of building regulations and requirements. Her current research interests are in Building Control, Building Regulations, and Urban Conservation. She has collaborated actively with researchers in several other disciplines of built environment and has published a number of publications in journals, proceedings, and book chapters. Professionally, Farhana is a full member of the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (MRISM).

Edmund Terence Gomez Gomez is Professor of Political Economy at the Faculty of Economics & Administration, Universiti Malaya. He specializes in state-market relations and the linkages between politics, public policies, and enterprise development -- a subject on which he has published extensively, writing not only for academia but also more widely.  He has held appointments as Visiting Professor at: the School of International Relations & Pacific Studies at the University of California-San Diego, USA (2014-2015); the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, USA (2013-2014); and at Kobe University, Japan (May-August 2002). Other academic appointments include Visiting Fellowships at: the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Denmark (October-November 2004); the Australian National University, Canberra (February 2002); and at the Asian Studies Department, Murdoch University, Australia (January-December 1993). He was also Senior Research Fellow at the Department of East Asian Studies, Leeds University, United Kingdom from 1996-1999. From 2005-2008, Terence served as Project Manager and Research Coordinator of the programme area ‘Identities, Conflict and Cohesion’ at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in Geneva, Switzerland. He has undertaken various research projects and convened numerous international conferences–among others, on political-business linkages in East Asia; the growth of national and transnational ethnic Chinese enterprise; the history of Chinese communities and their enterprises in Australia, Britain and Southeast Asia; ethnic conflict and social cohesion in Asia; equity distribution and government intervention in Malaysia –all of which have received funding from various local and global agencies, including the Sasakawa, Sumitomo and Toyota Foundations of Japan, the Department of Education and Training in Australia, the Christensen Fund (USA), the British Academy, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the United Kingdom. He serves on the editorial board and advisory committee of the following international journals: East Asia: An Internationaal Quarterly, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia and Asian Journal of Comparative Politics. He is also editor of the 'Chinese Worlds' Series and the 'Malaysian Studies' Series for Routledge, London & New York.

Dr. Mohamad Razif bin Mohamad Fuad is a Lecturer in the Department of Usuluddin and Dakwah, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya. His academic specialisation encompasses Islamic theology (ʿaqīdah), the study of theosophical and esoteric currents in religious thought, comparative religion, and Islamic thought, with a particular focus on atheism. He approaches atheism not merely as an intellectual denial of God, but as a broader epistemological and psychospiritual condition, situating classical Islamic theological traditions in critical dialogue with modern New Atheist discourse, contemporary philosophy of religion, and ethical questions arising from modernity. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in ʿAqīdah and Religious Studies from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), followed by a Master’s degree in Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). His master’s research examined the thought of ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Shaʿrānī, with particular attention to the synthesis of rational theology (ahl al-fikr) and spiritual epistemology (ahl al-kashf) in discussions of divine attributes (ilāhiyyāt), providing a conceptual foundation for his later engagement with esoteric and theosophical traditions. He subsequently earned his PhD in ʿAqīdah and Islamic Thought from the University of Malaya, awarded with distinction. His doctoral research analysed critiques of New Atheist arguments denying the existence of God through a comparative study of Muslim and Christian theological traditions. Methodologically, his scholarship integrates close textual analysis of classical Islamic sources (turāth), comparative theology, discourse analysis, and sustained engagement with contemporary philosophy of religion. Beyond formal academic training, he has participated in international scholarly and leadership programmes, including the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) organised by the United States Department of State in 2022, with a focus on religion, society, and public diplomacy. His current research interests extend to theosophy and modern esotericism, the psychospiritual dimensions of disbelief, the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, secularism, and modern ideological challenges to religious belief. In addition to his academic publications, he is an active writer and translator, producing scholarly and public-facing works in Malay and English. He regularly delivers lectures and public talks on Islam, atheism, theosophy, and theology for universities, non-governmental organisations, and government agencies. His work seeks to bridge the classical Islamic intellectual heritage with contemporary epistemological and ethical challenges facing Muslim societies.