His dissertation was entitled "Islam and Search for Social Order in Modern Egypt: An Intellectual Biography of Shaykh al-Azhar 'Abd al-Halim Mahmud."
In addition to his work with interfaith dialogue, Abu-Rabi‘ specialized in issues of contemporary Islamic thought, particularly in relation to religion and society and mysticism.
In 2006 he was the Senior Fulbright Scholar in Singapore and Indonesia whilst based at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies on the Nanyang Technological University campus.
[1] "I am greatly saddened to learn of the sudden loss of one of our own, professor Ibrahim Abu-Rabi‘, chair of Islamic studies," said university President Indira Samarasekera.
A curriculum vitae (CV) containing Abu-Rabi‘'s publications is available on the website of the Hartford Theological Seminary, where he taught before moving to the University of Alberta.