Mahdee Islam
Software and AI engineer. I build agentic AI systems and automate the work businesses still do by hand. I also research how the Qur'an speaks to the Bible, reading both in the languages they were written and heard in.
4th Global Peace Summit
I represented the Monash University Islamic Society as a delegate at the 4th Global Peace Summit, held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok under the theme A World Together. The summit brought together 400 emerging leaders from 46 countries.
Watch on YouTubeAbout
I'm Mahdee Islam, an engineer and researcher based in Melbourne. I hold a Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science from Monash University and have lived in Melbourne since 2014.
On the engineering side I work on retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs and agentic applications, and I co-founded Systemaura to bring that work to small and growing businesses.
On the research side I study intertextuality between the Qur'an and the Bible across Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Greek sources. I study comparative theology with Dr. Ali Ataie and founded BelieversHeart, an Islamic learning platform focused on Qur'anic depth and Abrahamic theology.
Engineering
- Co-founder
Systemaura
An automation business. We find tasks businesses are doing manually and build systems that do them instead. I design and build the automations.
- Integration
Brock Solutions · Software Integration Engineer
Worked in the SmartSort team on the SmartSuite platform, integrating and automating the baggage handling system at Melbourne Airport.
- AI applications
JobEscape AI Innovations · Software Engineer
Part of a team that shipped two agentic AI applications. I owned the retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) implementation.
- Project
Cricket performance GraphRAG
Built solo, end to end: a Neo4j knowledge graph of cricket performance data that answers plain-English questions by translating them into Cypher queries.
- Education
Monash University
Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science.
Research
One word, four traditions. Choose a word to see where it comes from.
- Root
- k-l-m · to speak
- Where it appears
- Qur’an 3:45
The angels give Maryam good news of “a word from Him”, whose name is the Messiah, ʿĪsā son of Maryam.
The Qur’an calls Jesus God’s kalima again in 4:171. Reading that title against Luke’s infancy narrative is the spine of my current research.
- Root
- m-l-l · to speak
- Where it appears
- Peshitta, John 1:1
The Syriac Gospel opens: “In the beginning was the melltā.”
Syriac was a major language of Christianity in the late antique Near East, which makes it a key witness to how the Gospel was told in the Qur’an’s world.
- Root
- d-b-r · to speak
- Where it appears
- Psalm 33:6
“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made.”
Dāḇār means both “word” and “thing”: in the Hebrew Bible, what God says comes to pass.
- Root
- legō · to say, to gather
- Where it appears
- John 1:14
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.”
The Greek Logos carried a long philosophical history before John used it, and that history shapes how Christians and Muslims have argued over the title since.
- Article
Surah Maryam and the Gospel of Luke In progress
A study of Q 19 read alongside Luke, built around the Qur'anic description of Jesus as God's kalima.
- Paper
ʿĪsā ibn Maryam as the Davidic Messiah In progress
An academic paper on the Qur'an's Jesus as the Davidic Messiah.
- Book
Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Messenger of God In preparation
My largest planned work.
- Founder
BelieversHeart
Short videos and teaching materials on the Qur'an's language and its conversation with earlier scripture, including a series on Greek loanwords and Aramaic cognates. Follow on Instagram
Latest articles
New essays on the Qur'an and the Bible will appear here.
Sport
- 2018 · New Zealand
Under-16 Indoor Cricket World Cup Champions
Represented Australia and won the title.
- Australia
National indoor cricket squad
Selected three times. Received the Junior Ambassador award.