Laleh Bakhtiar has a BA in History from Chatham College, Pittsburgh, PA, MA in Philosophy, MA in Counseling Psychology and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and is also a Nationally Certified Counselor who is licensed in the State of Illinois.

She is co-author of A Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture (University of Chicago Press) and author of SUFI Expressions of the Mystic Quest (Thames and Hudson), three volumes of Gods Will Be Done: Volume 1: Traditional Psychoethics and Personality Paradigm; Volume 2: Moral Healers Handbook : The Psychology of Spiritual Chivalry; and Volume 3: Moral Healing Through the Most Beautiful Names (Kazi Publications, Distributor), Muhammads Companions: Some Who Bore Witness to His Message, Parts I (Kazi Publications), The Encyclopedia of Islamic Law . Ramadan: Motivating Believers to Action and Sufi Women of America: Angels in the Making (Kazi Publications). Through the works on psychology she has become the leading authority on the Sufi origins of the Enneagram. She has also translated over 30 books on Islam and the Islamic movement into English including: Fatimah is Fatimah, Hijab: The Modest Dress, Hajj: Reflections on its Rituals, Religion vs. Religion, and Iqbal: Manifestation of the Islamic Spirit.

She has traveled around the world three times giving lectures on topics ranging from the Role of Women in Islam, Woman in the View of Rumi, Hajj and Its Relevance Today, and Sufism in major cities including London, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, and Beijing. She is an expert in the psychology of spiritual chivalry (futuwwa, java_ nmardi). She directs her work towards Muslim women and youth who, once they learn of this model of spiritual chivalry Islam, become more positive oriented towards their faith and family. She is presently Director of the Institute of Traditional Psychology and In-House Scholar at Kazi Publications. She was on the advisory board of the former Center for Religion and the Media, jointly established by the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University and the Garett Evangelical Theological Seminary, and taught Islam at the University of Chicago. She has a computer based training program on the internet at www.sufienneagram.com and has most recently completed the translation of the Sublime Quran., the first American woman to do so.