THE BEGINNINGS:

My Rihla fi talab al-‘ilm (travels in search of learning) started in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut. After three years wandering in the wilderness (majoring in Mathematics, B.S. 1990), I "saw the light" and joined the History department to study Middle East history (B.A. 1991; M.A. 1996). I studied with Kamal Salibi (Medieval, pre-Modern and Modern Middle East History), Tarif Khalidi (Islamic Culture, History and Religious Thought), Samir Seikaly (Modern Middle East Social and Intellectual History, and the discipline of History), and Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn (Ottoman History and History of pre-Modern Lebanon). In 1996, I came to the United States to work on the Ph.D. at Yale University, where I studied the basic curriculum in Arabic and Islamic studies: Philosophy and Intellectual History (with Dimitri Gutas), Arabic Language, Poetry and Grammar (with Beatrice Gruendler), and Qur’an, Tafsir and Mysticism (with Gerhard Bowering). I also ventured into Ancient Christianity and Early Christian Monasticism (with Bentley Layton), Diaspora Christianity (with Wayne Meeks), Syriac (with Paul-Alain Beaulieu), Syriac Historiography and Religious Texts (with Walid Saleh), and Persian (with Fereshteh Amanat-Kowssar). My professors at AUB and Yale were instrumental in my education. I owe a great deal to them for helping me become a better scholar and teacher.

RESEARCH

My research interests (Publications) have focused so far on Islamic Religious Thought and History between 600 and 1500 CE: Qur’an and Qur’anic exegesis, the Mu‘tazila school of theology, the transformation of Jihad ideology in the period of the Crusades and its subsequent impact on mainstream Sunni thought, early Arabic/Islamic historical writing, Jesus and Mary in Islam, and Jerusalem and its fada’il (Merits) literature. My objective from examining this wide array of topics is to determine the level of originality on the part of Muslim scholars in shaping the Islamic tradition, and how this led to the formation of trends and religious beliefs that reflect, in the first place, the socio-economic, political and religious environment of these scholars and movements, and, subsequently, their particular understanding of the Islamic tradition and the way it has to be conceptualized and transmitted.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS:

My major current research project relates to the Mu‘tazila school of theology, in particular its approach and methodology with respect to Qur’anic exegesis. I am preparing a comprehensive study of the exegesis of the Qur’an (al-Tahdhib fi Tafsir al-Qur’an) by the Mu‘tazila theologian al-Hakim al-Jishumi (d. 494/1101), for which I was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities (A/Y 2007-2008). Al-Jishumi's Tahdhib has not been properly studied yet, and the work is only available in manuscripts scattered in libraries and private collections around the world. It is the earliest substantial commentary on the Qur’an we possess that was written by a member of the Mu‘tazila movement, and, given the emphasis early Muslim theologians placed on the “proper” interpretation of the Qur’an, it includes a wide array of scriptural hermeneutics and exegetical glosses otherwise lost to us.

The other major research project relates to the career and views of the famous medieval Damascene scholar Ibn ‘Asakir (d. 571/1176) and the extent of his contribution to the revival of Sunnite Islam in Syria under the reign of sultan Nur al-Din. In cooperation with James E. Lindsay (Colorado State University), I am finalizing a monograph, entitled “Fight in the Name of God”: Ibn ‘Asakir and Jihad Ideology in the Crusader Period, which examines Ibn ‘Asakir's presentation of the concept of Jihad as a religious obligation, how it fits in the totality of his thought, and what is the extent of his contribution as a scholar and propagandist to the Jihad campaign of Sultan Nur al-Din. In this respect, the study will underscore the social and political contexts of Ibn ‘Asakir's as an example of the way certain intellectual and theological positions are generated by particular religio-political environments and draw on the authoritative religious sources, like the career of Muhammad, to endorse such religiously and politically motivated views, thus legitimizing them as normative discourses within Islamic thought.

OTHER RESEARCH INTERESTS & PUBLICATIONS:

My research on Mary and Jesus focus on the Qur’anic stories about their life and careers and their treatment in Islamic scholarship. regrading the Qur’anic material, I exmaine in one article the story of Jesus's birth under a Palm-tree (in Qur’an 19.22-26) which shares close similarity with the Hellenic myth of the birth of Apollo. I another article, I examined the two annunciation stories (in Qur’an 19.2-33 and 3.35-39) which also closely correspond to the borth narratives found respectively in the Gospel of Luke 1.5-2.24 and the Protevagelium of James.

I edited as well the biography of Jesus in Ta’rikh madinat Dimashq (History of Damascus) by Ibn ‘Asakir (d. 571H/1176CE) and published an analytical study on Ibn ‘Asakir's portrayal of Jesus which reflects his preoccupations with the Crusaders' invasion of parts of the Near East and the Muslims' inability to resist it. Ibn ‘Asakir presented Jesus as the ascetic prophet and the Mahdi who will come to rescue the Muslims, lead them to triumph against their internal and external enemies, and usher in the Day of Judgment.

My work on early Arabic/Islamic historical writing came as a fruition of my M.A. dissertation research with Tarif Khalidi, at the American University of Beirut . The particular case I examined was the Futuh al-Sham (Conquests of Syria) by Abu Isma‘il al-Azdi al-Basri (d. ca. 190/805). The dissertation (out of which came the article published in JAOS) establishes that the text dates to the second century H/eighth century CE, and that it was based on the now lost work with the same title by the early chronicler Abu Mikhnaf al-Azdi (d. 157/774) who flourished in Kufa, Iraq.

My monograph Early Islam between Myth and History: al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110 H/728 CE) and the Formation of His Legacy in Classical Islamic Scholarship (Brill, 2005), which is based on my dissertation completed under the supervision of Dimitri Gutas at Yale University, examines the way the early Muslim scholar al-Hasan al-Basri has been portrayed in medieval literature and how that shaped his perception in modern scholarship.  I employ textual criticism and historical analysis to demonstrate the pseudepigraphal nature of the treatises attributed to him--more than ten in number that discuss topics like asceticism, mysticism and theology, including the two short epistles al-Risala ila ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan fi al-qadar (Epistle to Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik Against the Predestinarians) and Risalat al-Zuhd ila ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (Treatise on Asceticism to Caliph ‘Umar II).  I also investigate how, when and why these works, along with several other sayings and anecdotes, came to be attributed to him over the centuries by a variety of religious groups and intellectual trends. I argue, with reference to compelling cases, that transfer of authorship (i.e. misattribution of sayings and anecdotes) and pseudepigraphy were essential tools for the legitimization of trends and beliefs that became popular in the third/ninth century onward; the groups involved (including Sunnis, Shi‘is, Mu‘tazilas, and mystics) used such means to project their views and beliefs back to the generation of Islam's founding fathers (Muhammad, his Companions, and their Successors), enabling them, on the one hand, to claim adherence to the “true” teachings of Islam and, on the other hand, to refute the beliefs of their adversaries.  In the particular case of al-Hasan al-Basri, the process of his mythicization was much more intense and widespread than modern scholars have expected.  My findings corroborate with the results of a number of recent studies on early Islam, necessitating a radical reconsideration of our understanding of the formative period of Islamic religious thought and the way we read and use the classical sources.

Recently, I co-edited (with Tamar Mayer) Jerusalem: Idea and Reality, a collection of 17 multi-disciplinary studies on Jerusalem that offer insights into the complexity and significance of the city's perception, representation and status at the historical, religious, social, artistic, and political levels from biblical to modern times.  This book has been published by Routledge in May 2008 both in hardcover and in Paperback.

My interest in the significance of Jerusalem in Islam focuses on the period spanning from Muhammad to the end of the Crusades.  I am particularly interested in the way Muslims first identified and acknowledged Jerusalem's religious symbolism as stemming from its bilbical heritage (in particular the personalities and events associated with the presence of the Israelite Temple), and how and why it shifted through times to become primarily dependent on Muhammad's legendary Night Journey and Ascension to Heaven.  A project underway is to finalize the reconstruction, critical edition and translation of the earliest text on the religious symbolism of Jerusalem known to have been authored by a Muslim scholar.  It is entitled Fada’il Bayt al-Maqdis (The Merits of Jerusalem) by al-Walid b. Hammad al-Ramli (d. 300/912 CE), who lived in the town of Ramla, west of Jerusalem.  An analytical study of this text, its content and significance appears in Chapter 6 of Jerusalem: Idea and Reality.

EMPLOYMENT & TEACHING:

My employment in the Religion Department at Smith College started in July 2005.  I currently hold the rank of Associate Professor with tenure.  I teach courses on the Islamic religious tradition and history, including the two surveys The Islamic Tradition and Islamic Thought and the Challenge of Modernity. I also teach the departmental seminar entitled Approaches to the Study of Religion, which examines the many theories and disciplinary approaches and methodologies in the academic study of religion.  Prior to Smith, I taught between 2002 and 2005 in the Department of Religion at Middlebury College, in 2000-2001 in the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut , and in 1998-1999 in the Department of Religious Studies and in Yale Divinity School at Yale University.

OFFICE HOURS:

Fall 2008: Tuesdays 3:00-4:00 pm, or by appointment.

PERSONAL:

You are most welcome to view my family profile.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Smith College, Department of Religion, Wright Hall 114, Northampton, MA 01063, USA
Email: smourad@smith.edu, Office Phone: 413-585-3618