Du Huan, captured at 751
Battle of Talas, traveled in Muslim lands for ten years, his Jingxingji [Record of Travels] (c. 770) contains descriptions of Muslim life; book lost, but quoted by his uncle
Du You in his
Tongdian (766-801), an encyclopedia of
China.
Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, probably 8th/9th century
Abbasid, pseudonym [Servant of the
Messiah...] of an Arab Christian, author of the
Risalah, a dialogue with a Muslim; later translated into Latin by
Pedro de Toledo, this work Apology became very influential in Europe.
Nicetas Byzantius, his 9th century
polemicAnatrope tes para tou Arabos... (
P.G., v.105) picks at the
Qur'an chapter by chapter.
Francesco d'Assisi (1182–1226), Italian
saint, as peaceful
missionary to Muslims, preached before
Al-Kamil,
Kurdish Sultan of
Egypt, in 1219 during the fifth
crusade; his Regula non bullata (1221) [t], chapter XVI "Those who are going among the
Saracens and other unbelievers" counsels not to enter disputes, but rather humility, proclaiming what will please God.
Ibn Kammuna (c. 1215-c. 1285), Jewish scholar of
Baghdad, his fair-minded though controversial Tanqih al-abhat li-l-milal al-talat [Examination of the Inquiries into the
Three Faiths] (1280) [in Arabic] [t].
Bar 'Ebraya [Abu-l-Farag] (1226–1286),
Catholicos of the
Syriac Orthodox Church, learned theologian, prolific author, his spiritual treatise in Syriac Kethabha dhe yauna [Book of the Dove], as well as his Ethikon said by Wensinck to show influence by
al-Ghazali.
Ramon Llull [Raimundo Lulio] (1232–1316) Majorcan author and theologian, "Doctor Illuminatus", proponent of the "
Ars Magna", fluent in Arabic, three times missionary to
Tunis; his Llibre del Gentile e dels tres Savis (1274–76) [t], in which one learned in Hellenic philosophy hears three scholars, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, whose views are shared with exquisite courtesy by reasoning over their mutual virtues, rather than by attack and defense. Lull infers a heterodox continuum between the natural & the revealed supernatural.
Ramananda (died 1410)
Hindu egalitarian reformer of
bhakti movement, origin as
Brahmin in sect of
Ramanuja; his popular synthesis of both Islamic and Hindu elements led also to inter-religious understanding; the
Sant Mat poet
Kabir was a disciple.
Nanak (1469–1539) India, influenced by Muslim
sufis and Hindu
bhakti, became a teacher who traveled far to preach the unity of God;
Sikhs revere him as their first
Guru; opposed to caste divisions, and opposed to Hindu-Muslim rivalry/conflict.
Leo Africanus (c.1488–1554), originally Al Hassan, Muslim of
Fez; traveled with his diplomat uncle to
Timbuktu; later captured by Christian pirates & sold into slavery; freed by Pope
Leo X and baptised; wrote Cosmographia Dell'Africa of his travels; returned to Islam.
=> The [t] following a title indicates books translated into English.
1500 to 1800
Enbaqom (c.1470–1565),
Ethiopia, echage or abbot of
Dabra Libanos, origin as trader from
Yemen; his Anqasa Amin [Gateway of Faith] (c.1533), written in
Ge'ez, defends Christianity contra Islam, citing the Qur'an, and is addressed to the Muslim invader
Ahmad Gran.
Luis de Marmol Carvajal (c. 1520-c. 1600), Spanish soldier in Africa twenty years, captured and enslaved seven years, travels in
Guinea,
North Africa,
Egypt, and perhaps
Ethiopia: Descripción general de África (1573, 1599).
Alonso del Castillo (1520s – c.1607), Spain, formative work in Arabic archives and inscriptions (his father once a
Morisco of
Granada).
Andre du Ryer (c. 1580 – c. 1660) France, translation of the Qur'an: L'Alcoran de Mahomet translaté d'arabe en françois (Paris 1647) [t].
Alexander Ross (1591–1654), Scotland, chaplain to
Charles I, first English translation of the Qur'an (1649) from the French of du Ryer.
Ignazio Lomellini (1560–1645) Jesuit priest from Genoa known for Animadversiones, Notae ac Disputationes in Pestilentem Alcoranum (MS A-IV-4), a 1622 manuscript that is the oldest surviving example of a European translation of the Quran which also includes the complete original Arabic text.[2]
Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700) Italian priest, professor of Arabic, Latin translation of the Qur'an, Alcorani textus universus... (
Padua 1698), publication delayed by Church censors, in two volumes: Prodromus contains a biography of Mohammad and summary of Islamic doctrine; Refutatio Alcorani contains the Qur'an in Arabic text, with Latin translation, annotated per partisan purposes (cf.,
Ottoman military proximity); cited by
Edward Gibbon. Also, his earlier contributions translating the Bible into Arabic (1671).
Dara Shikuh (1615–1659),
Mughal, elder brother of
Aurangzeb; Muslim but included here because of his syncretism in the tradition of his great-grandfather
Akbar; his Majma-ul-Bahrain [Mingling of Two Oceans] (1655) [t] finds parallels between
Sufism and the monotheistic
Vedanta of
Hinduism, it was later translated into Sanskrit; also his own translation into Persian of the
Upanishads.
Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1620–1667) Swiss philologist, theologian, Historia Orientalis (Tiguri 1651) in Latin.
Barthelemy d'Herbelot de Molainville (1625–1695) French philologist, Bibliothèque orientale (1697), based initially on the Turkish scholar
Katip Celebi's Kashf al-Zunum which contains over 14,000 alphabetical entries.
Henry Stubbe (1632–1676) English author, his An Account of the rise and progress of Mahometanism: with the life of Mahomet and a vindication of him and his religion from the calumnies of the Christians, which evidently lay in manuscript several hundred years until edited by Mahmud Khan Shairani and published (London: Luzac 1911).
Jean Chardin (1643–1713) French merchant, Journal du Voyage.. de Chardin en
Perse et aux Indes Orientales (1686, 1711) [t].
Antoine Galland (1646–1715) France, first in the West to translate the
Arabian Nights, Les Mille et Une Nuits (1704–1717).
Humphrey Prideaux (1648–1724) Anglican
Dean, traditional partisan, The True Nature of Imposture fully display'd in the Life of Mahomet (London 1697), reprint 1798, Fairhaven, Vermont; this work follows earlier polemics, & also refutes European
deists.
Abraham Hinckelmann (1652–1692), edited an Arabic text of the Qur'an, later published in
Hamburg, Germany, in 1694.
Henri Comte de Boulainviller (1658–1722) French historian, his Vie de Mahomet (2nd ed., Amsterdam 1731) [t], praises what he saw as the instrumental rationalism of the prophet, portraying Islam in terms of a natural religion.
Liu Zhi (c.1660 – c.1730) Chinese Muslim scholar writing in
Chinese (Arabic "Han Kitab", Chinese books); during early
Qing, presented Islam to
Manchus as consonant with
Confucianism, e.g., his Tianfang Dianli dealing with
ritual, comparing
li with Muslim practice.
Jean Gagnier (c. 1670–1740)
Oxford Univ., De vita et rebus Mohammedis (1723), annotated Latin translation of chapters on Muhammad from Mukhtasar Ta'rikh a-Bashar by Abu 'l-Fida (1273–1331); also La Vie de Mahomet (Amsterdam 1748), biography in French.
Liu Chih (16wx–17yz) China, T'ien-fang Chih-sheng shi-lu ([1721–1724], 1779), ["True Annals of the Prophet of Arabia"]; I. Mason [t], The Arabian Prophet; A life of Mohammed from Chinese sources (Shanghai 1921).[3]
Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet] (1694–1778) French author, critic,
anti-cleric,
deist, wealthy speculator; his play Mahomet le prophete ou le fanatisme (1741) [t], invents scurrilous legends & attacks hypocrisy, (also being a hidden attack on the French ancien régime).
George Sale (1697–1736), English lawyer, using Hinckelmann and Marracci, annotated and translated into English a well regarded The Koran (1734); member of the "Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge", proofread its Arabic
New Testament (S.P.C.K. 1726).
Carsten Niebuhr (1733–1815) Germany, member of royal Danish expedition to
Yemen, Beschreibung von Arabien (
Kobenhavn 1772); Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Landern (3 volumes, Kobenhavn 1774, 1778, Hamburg 1837).
José Antonio Conde (1765–1820) Historia de la dominacion de los arabes en Espana (Madrid 1820–1821), pioneer work now depreciated.
Ram Mohan Roy [Raja Ram Mohun Roy] (1772–1833), India (
Kolkata,
Bengal), early journalist, influential religious and social reformer, founder of
Brahmo Samaj, his Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin [Gift of the Unitarians] (1803–1804), a book in Persian on, e.g., the unity of religions.
Washington Irving (1783–1859) U.S., author, Minister to Spain 1842–1846, Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829); Tales of the Alhambra (1832, 1851) where he lived several years; Mahomet and His Successors (
New York City: Putnam 1849) a popular, fair-minded biography based on translations from Arabic and on western authors, since edited (Univ.of Wisconsin 1970).
Charles Mills (1788–1826) England, History of Mohammedanism (1818).
Garcin de Tassy (1794–1878) France, L'Islamisme d'apre le Coran (Paris 1874), the religion based on a reading of the Qur'an.
Yusuf Ma Dexin (1794–1874) Chinese (
Yunnan) Muslim scholar and leader; first to translate the Qur'an into
Chinese.
A. P. Caussin de Perceval (1795–1871) Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme (
Paris 1847–1849), Arabia before Muhammad.
=> The [t] following a title indicates books translated into English.
John Medows Rodwell (1808–1900), English translation of The Koran, using derived chronological sequence of
Suras.
Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (1809–1897), Spanish Arabist, studied under de Sacy in Paris; translated
al-Maqqari (d.1632) into English as History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain (1840, 1843); Tratados de Legislación Musulmana (v.5, Mem.His.Esp. 1853).
Abraham Geiger (1810–1874) German
rabbi and scholar, major founder of
Reform Judaism, his Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen? (
Bonn 1833) [t] restates and updates a perennial thesis (e.g., cf.
L. Marracci).
Aloys Sprenger (1813–1893)
Austria, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad (2nd edition, 3 volumes, Berlin 1869).
Carl Paul Caspari (1814–1892) German, Christian convert from Judaism, Norwegian academic, Grammatica Arabica (1844–48), Latin.
William Muir (1819–1905), Scotland, government official in India, The Life of Mohamet (
London, 1861).
Reinhart Dozy (1820–1883)
Netherlands, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne jusqu'a la Conquete de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides (
Leiden, 1861), 4 volumes; Recherches sur l'Histoire et la Littérature de l'Espagne pendant le moyen âge (1881).
es:Francisco Javier Simonet (1825-c.1897) Spanish Arabist, traditional partisan, Leyendas históricas árabes (Madrid 1858); Historia de los
mozarabes de Espana (Madrid 1897–1903); controversial views, e.g., suggests that one-sided Muslim marriage law caused an insulation in the subject people that over generations fused their religious & lineage identities, hence focus put on limpio de sangre.
Ludolf Krehl (1825–1901) Beitrage zur Muhammedanischen Dogmatik (Leipzig 1885).
Alfred von Kremer (1828–1889) Austria, professor of Arabic at
Wien, foreign service to
Cairo,
Egypt; Geschichte de herrschenden Ideen des Islams (Leipzig 1868); Culturgeschichte Streifzüge auf dem Gebiete des Islams (
Leipzig 1873) [t].
Girish Chandra Sen (1836–1910)
India, translated Muslim works into
Bengali, including the Qur'an (1886); professor of Islam for the
Brahmo Samaj, universalist Hindu reform society founded in 1828 by
Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833).
Michael Jan de Geoje (1836–1909) Dutch academic, led the editing of the Arabic text of Ta'rikh al-rasul wa'l muluk [History of Prophets and Kings] of the Persian
al-Tabari (d. 923), in 14 volumes (Leiden: Brill 1879–1901).
Theodor Nöldeke (1836–1930) Germany, well regarded
philologist and academic, Das Leben Mohammeds (1863); Zur Grammatik de klassische Arabisch (1896); with Friedrich Schwally Geschichte des Qorans (Leipzig, 1909–1919, 2 volumes).
Edward Henry Palmer (1840–1882), English; traveler in Arab lands; called to the bar in 1874; translated Qur'an for the
S.B.E. (1880); killed in Egypt by desert ambush while with British military patrol.
Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) Germany, Muhammed in Medina (Berlin 1882); Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz (Berlin 1902); his Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Berlin 1878, 1882) [t] presents studies using the "higher criticism" of the Bible.
William Robertson Smith (1846–1894)
Scotland, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (Cambridge 1885); Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (1889), sought to locate ancient Judaism in its historical context; in his
Old Testament studies influenced by Wellhausen.
Ignaz Goldziher (1850–1921),
Hungary, Die
Zahiriten (Leipzig 1884); Muhammedanische Studien (2 volumes, Halle 1889–1890) [t] {vol.2 questions
hadith}; Vorlesungen uber den Islam (Heidelberg 1910, 1925) [t]; Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung (Leiden 1920); well regarded Jewish scholar, admirer of Islam, e.g., writing that he felt fulfillment when praying with Muslims in a
Cairomosque.
Herbert Udny Weitbrecht (1851−1937), The Teaching of the Qur’an with an Account of Its Growth and a Subjekt Index, (1919)
Martijn Theodoor Houtsma (1851–1943)
Netherlands, lead editor of Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: E.J.Brill 1913–1938), 9 volumes; eclipsed by a new edition (1954–2002) of 11 volumes with index and supplements.
William St. Clair Tisdall (1859–1928) Anglican priest, linguist, traditional partisan, The Original Sources of the Quran (S.P.C.K. 1905).
Edward G. Browne (1862–1926) English, A Literary History of Persia (4 volumes, 1902–1924).
Henri Lammens (1862–1937)
Flemish Jesuit, a modern partisan; Fatima et ls filles de Mahomet (
Roma 1912); Le berceau de l'Islam (Roma 1914); L'Islam, croyances et institutions (
Beyrouth 1926) [t]; L'Arabe Occidental avant l'Hegire (Beyrouth 1928).
Henri Pirenne (1862–1935)
Belgian historian, Mahomet et
Charlemagne (Paris 1937) [t], how the Arab conquests disrupted
Mediterranean trade, isolating the European economies which declined.
Maurice Gaudefroy-Desmombynes (1862–1957) France, Le pelerinage a la Mekke (Paris 1923); Le monde musulman et byzantin jusqu'aux croisades (Paris 1931) with S.F.Platonov; Les institutions musulmanes (Paris 1946) [t].
Duncan Black MacDonald (1863–1943) Scotland;
Hartford Seminary in U.S.; Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory (New York 1903); The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam (Chicago 1909).
Friedrich Zacharias Schwally (1863–1919), Germany; student of Theodor Nöldeke; Ibraham ibn Muhammed el-Baihaqi Kitab el Mahdsin val Masdwi (Leipzig 1899–1902); Kitab al-mahasin vai-masavi (Gießen 1902).
Thomas Walker Arnold (1864–1930) England, professor in India associating with
Shibli Nomani &
Muhammad Iqbal, later at London
S.O.A.S.; The Caliphate (Oxford 1924); Painting in Islam. A study of the place of pictorial art in Muslim culture (1928); The Preaching of Islam (1929); Legacy of Islam (Oxford 1931) editor with
A. Guillaume.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spain, philosopher; embraced Spanish connection to Berber North Africa but not to the Arabs.[4]
François Nau (1864–1913) Les chrétiens arabes en Mesopotamia et en Syrie au VIIe et VIIIe siècles (Paris 1933).
William Ambrose Shedd (1865–1918) U.S., Presbyterian, Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their historical relations (1904).
Theodor Juynboll (1866–1948) Handbuch des islamischen Gesetzes (Leipzig: Brill Harrassowitz 1910) on Islamic law.
Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867–1952) U.S., Dutch Reform missionary to Islam, later at
Princeton, Islam. A Challenge to Faith (NY 1907); Law of Apostasy in Islam (1924).
Leon Walerian Ostroróg, Comte (1867–1932) Poland, The Angora Reform (London 1927), on the "Law of Fundamental Organization" (1921) of republican
Turkey transferring power from the Sultan to the Assembly; Pour la réforme de la justice
ottomane (Paris 1912).
Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) English, Persian Pictures (1894); Syria: The desert and the sown (1907); became a British
political officer in Arab lands during World War I.
Reynold Nicholson (1868–1945) English, The Mystics of Islam (1914); A Literary History of the Arabs (Cambridge Univ. 1930).
Carl Brockelmann (1868–1956) Geschichte der arabischen Literatur (5 vol.,
Weimar &
Leiden, 1898–1942), Geschichte der islamischen Volker und Staaten (
Munchen 1939) [t].
Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869–1968), Spain, elaborates
Ribera and
Asín. España, eslabón entre la cristiandad y el islam (1956) [t].
Leone Caetani (1869–1935) Italian nobleman, Annali dell'Islam (10 volumes, 1904–1926) reprint 1972, contains early Arabic sources.
Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi (1869–1948) spiritual and independence leader in
India, opposed caste divisions; prolific writer, teacher of
satyagraha worldwide, influencing
Martin Luther King Jr.; his letter to
Mohammad Ali Jinnah of Sept. 11, 1944, stated "My life mission has been
Hindu-Muslim unity... not to be achieved without the foreign ruling power being ousted." Because of policies favorable to Islam,
Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu ultra-nationalist. Cf., McDonough, Gandhi's responses to Islam (New Delhi 1994).
Miguel Asín Palacios (1871–1944), Catholic priest, professor of Arabic, studied the mutuality of influence between Christian and Islamic spirituality (prompting vigorous response), Algazel (
Zaragoza 1901); La
escatologia musulmana en la Divina Comedia (Madrid 1923) ["t"] per influence on
Dante of mi'raj literature; El Islam cristianizado. Estudio del
sufismo a traves de las obras de
Abenarabi de
Murcia (Madrid 1931); Huellas del Islam (
Madrid 1941) includes comparative articles on
Tomas d'Aquino and
Juan de las Cruz.
De Lacy O'Leary (1872–1957)
Bristol Univ.Arabic Thought and Its Place in History (1922, 1939); Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages (1923); Arabia before Muhammad (1927); How Greek Science passed to the Arabs (1949).
Georg Graf (1875–1955) Germany, Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur (Vatican 1944).
Arthur S. Tritton (1881–1973) The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects. A critical study of the Covenant of '
Umar (Oxford 1930).
Alphonse Mingana (1881–1937)
Assyrian Christian (Iraq), former priest, religious historian, collected early
Syriac and Arabic documents and books into the "Mingana Collection".
Arent Jan Wensinck (1882–1939) Dutch, Mohammed en de Joden te Medina (Amsterdam 1908) [t]; La pensee de Ghazzali (Paris 1940); Handworterbuch des Islam (1941) [t] with J. H. Kramers; from Syriac, Bar Hebraeus's Book of the Dove (Leyden 1919).
Louis Massignon (1883–1962) France, influenced Catholic-Islamic understanding per the Nostra aetate of
Vatican II (1962–1965); a married priest (Orthodox [Arabic rite]), Essai sur les origines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (Paris 1922, 2nd ed. 1954) [t]; Passion de Husayn Ibn Mansur
Hallaj (Paris 1973) [t].
José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) Spain, philosopher; like
Unamuno opposed modern trend to incorporate into Spanish historiography the positive Islamic element. Abenjaldún nos revela el secreto (1934), about
Ibn Khaldun.[5]
Nicolas P. Aghnides (1883–19xx) Mohammedan Theories of Finance (
Columbia Univ. 1916).
Margaret Smith (1884–1970) Rabi'a the mystic and her fellow saints in Islam (
Cambridge Univ. 1928); Studies in Early Mysticism in the Near and Middle East (1931) development of early Christian mysticism, of Islamic re Sufism, and a comparison.
Seymour Gonne Vesey-FitzGerald (1884–1954), Muhammadan Law, an abridgement, according to its various schools (Oxford Univ. 1931); The
Iraq Treaty, 1930 (London 1932).
Américo Castro (1885–1972) Spain, reinterpreted Spanish history by integrating Muslim and Jewish contributions. España en su historia: Cristianos, moros y judíos (1948) [t]; Sobre el nombre y quién de los españoles: cómo llegaron a serlo (1973).
Philip Khuri Hitti (1886–1978)
Lebanon, formative re Arabic studies in the U.S., Origins of the Islamic State (Columbia Univ. 1916) annotated translation of Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of
al-Baladhuri; History of
Syria, including
Lebanon and
Palestine (1957).
Shūmei Ōkawa (1886–1957) Japanese author activist; pan-Asian modern partisan, pro-India since 1913 (criticized per China by Gandhi in 1930s); indicted at Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal for his "clash of civilizations" view; translation of Qur'an into Japanese (1950).
Giorgio Levi Della Vida (1886–1967) Jewish Italian, professor of
semitic languages, Storia e religione nell'Oriente semitico (Roma 1924); Les Sémites et leur rôle das l'histoire religieuse (Paris 1938); anti-
Fascist Italian politician in 1920s.
Gonzangue Ryckmans (1887–1969)
Belgium, Catholic priest,
Louvain professor,
epigraphy of pre-Islamic
South Arabia; Les Religions Arabes preislamiques (Louvain 1951).
Harry Austryn Wolfson (1887–1974) U.S., Harvard Univ., Philo. Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1947); The Philosophy of the
Kalam (1976); Repercussions of the Kalam in
Jewish Philosophy (1979).
es:Ángel González Palencia (1889–1949) Spanish Arabist, História de la España musulmana (
Barcelona 1925, 3rd ed 1932); História de la literatura arábigo-española (Barcelona 1928, 1945); Moros y cristianos in España medieval. Estudios históricos-literarios (1945).
Arthur Jeffery (1892–1959) American University at Cairo 1921–1938, Materials for the history of the text of the Quran (Leiden 1937–1951); Foreign Vocabulary in the Quran (
Baroda 1938); A Reader on Islam (1962).
Barend ter Haar (1892–1941) Dutch, Beginselen en Stelsel van het Adatrecht (Groningen Batavia 1939) [t], on
Adat law in
Indonesia.
Olaf Caroe (1892–1981) a former governor of the area, The
Pathans. 550 B.C. - A.D. 1957 (London 1958).
Freya Stark (1893–1993) English, Valley of the Assassins (1934) about NW Iran; The Southern Gates of Arabia. A journey in the Hadhramaut (1936); A winter in Arabia (1939).
Willi Heffening (1894–19xx) Germany, Das islamische fremdenrecht zu den islamisch-fränkischen staatsverträgen. Eine rechtshistorischen studie zum
fiqh (
Hanover 1925).
E. A. Belyaev (1895–1964) Russia (USSR), Araby, Islam i arabskii Khalifat (
Moskva, 2nd ed 1966) [t].
Henri Terrasse (1895–1971) French Arabist, Histoire du Maroc (2 volumes,
Casablanca 1949–1950) [t]; Islam d'Espagne (Paris 1958).
Morris S. Seale (1896–1993) Muslim Theology. A Study of Origins with Reference to the
Church Fathers (London: Luzac 1964).
Gerald de Gaury (1897–1984) English soldier, Rulers of Mecca (New York, c.1950).
José López Ortiz (1898–1992) Spain, Arabist with interest in legal history; article on
fatwas of
Granada; Los Jurisconsultos Musulmanes (
El Escorial, 1930); Derecho musulman (Barcelona, 1932); a Catholic priest, later made
Bishop.
Enrico Cerulli (1898–1988) Italy, Documenti arabi per la storia nell'
Etiopia (Roma 1931); his two works re
Dante and Islam per
M. Asín: Il "
Libro della scala" e la question delle fonti arabo-spagnole della
Divina commedia (Vatican 1949), Nuove ricerche sul "Libro della Scala" e la conoscenza dell'Islam in Occidente (Vatican 1972).
=> The [t] following a title indicates books translated into English.
1900 to 1950s
Claude L. Pickens (1900–1985), professor of Chinese at Harvard University, Annotated Bibliography of Literature on Islam in China (Hankow: Society of Friends of the Moslems in China 1950).
Josef Schacht (1902–1969) France (
Alsace), Islamic legal history, Der Islam (Tübingen 1931); Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford 1950) influential work, a legal historical critique (following, e.g., Goldziher) the early oral transmission of
Hadith & founding jurists; Introduction to Islamic Law (
Oxford 1964); Legacy of Islam (2nd ed., Oxford 1974) edited with
C. E. Bosworth.
Erwin Rosenthal (1904–1991) German, Political Thought in Medieval Islam (1958); Judaism and Islam (1961).
Arthur John Arberry (1905–1969) English, The Koran Interpreted (1955), a translation that attempts to capture the medium of the original Arabic; various other translations; Sufism. An Account of the Mystics of Islam (1950).
Emilio García Gómez (1905–1995) Spain, Arabist, poet; Poemas arabigoandaluces (Madrid 1940); Poesia arabigoandaluza (Madrid 1952); his theories, e.g., on origins of the muwashshahat (popular medieval strophic verse); his admired translations from Arabic.
Henri Laoust (1905–1983) France, Essai sur les doctrines sociales et politiques de
Taki-d-Din Ahmad Taimiya, cononiste
'anbalite (
Cairo 1939); Le traite de droit public d'Ibn Taimiya [al-Siyasah al-Shariyah] (Beirut 1948); Le politique de Gazali (Paris 1970).
Henry Corbin (1907–1978) France, associated with
Eranos Institute (inspired by
Carl Jung), an academic in
history of religions; Les Motifs
zoroastriens dans la philosophie de Suhrawardi (Tehran 1948); Avicenne et la recit vissionaire (Tehran 1954) [t]; L'imagination creatrice dans le
soufisme d'Ibn 'Arabi (Zürich 1955–56, Paris 1958) [t]; Terre celeste et corps de resurrection: de l'Iran
mazdeen a l'Iran
shi'ite (Paris 1960) [t].
Neal Robinson (1908–1983) academic, Christ in Islam and Christianity (SUNY 1991), study of Islamic commentaries and interpretations.
James Norman Dalrymple Anderson (1908–1994) U.K.,
Islamic law at
S.O.A.S., Islamic Law in Africa (H.M.S.O., 1954); Islamic Law in the Modern World (New York University, 1959); Law Reform in the Muslim World (Athlone, 1976).
Abraham Katsh (1908–1998) US academic, Judaism in Islam. Biblical and
Talmudic backgrounds of the Koran and its Commentators,
Sura I & II (New York 1954), reprinted 1962 as Judaism and the Koran.
Claude Cahen (1909–1991) France, Introduction a l'histoire du monde musulman medieval, VIIe-XVIe siecle (Paris 1983).
Józef Bielawski (1910–1997)
Uniwersytet Warszawski, former Polish diplomat to Turkey; Historia lieratury arabskiej: zarys (
Wroclaw 1968); translation of Qur'an into Polish (
Warszawa 1986), improving on that of J.M.T.Buczacki (1858).
Jacques Berque (1910 Algeria - 1995 France),
pied-noir scholar who early favored
Maghribi independence, he retained his ties to Africa; Moroccan
Berber ethnology: Les structures sociales du Haut Atlas (1955); Arab renaissance: Les Arabes d'hier a demain (1960) [t].
Geoffrey Parrinder (1910-2005) comparative religion, Jesus in the Qur'an (London 1965), reprint Oneworld 1995.
Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003) England; Arabian Sands (New York 1959), on late 1940s explorations by camel of the "empty quarter"
Ar-Rab' Al-Khali; The Marsh Arabs (London 1964), on the rural people of southern
Iraq.
Ann K. S. Lambton (1912-2008) English, State and Government in medieval Islam (1981); Continuity and Change in medieval Persia. Aspects of administrative, economic and social history, 11th–14th century (1988).
Giulio Basetti-Sani (1912-2001) Italy, Mohammed et Saint François (Ottawa 1959); Per un dialogo cristiano-musulmano (Milano 1969).
Kenneth Cragg (1913-2012) U.S., The Call of the Minaret (Oxford 1956; 2d Orbis 1985); The Arab Christian (Westm./Knox 1991).
George Hourani (1913–1984)
Lebanese English, Averroes. On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy (London 1961) annotated translation of Kitab fasl al maqal of
Ibn Rushd; Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics (
Cambridge Univ. 1985); Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in ancient and medieval times (
Princeton Univ. 1951, 1995).
Uriel Heyd [Heydt] (1913–1968) German, later Israeli, Studies in old Ottoman criminal Law (Oxford 1973).
Robert Charles Zaehner (1913–1974)
religious studies at
Oxford, The Comparison of Religions (London 1958); Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (London 1960); Concordant Discord: The Interdependence of Faiths (Oxford 1970).
Franz Rosenthal (1914-2003) Fortleben der Antike im Islam (Zürich 1965); Muslim intellectual and social history (Variorum 1990).
Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov (1914–1999) USSR/Russia, historian,
linguistics, Semitokhamitskie iazyki [Semito-Hamitic languages] (Moskva 1965) [t]; Afraziiskie iazyki [Afrasian languages] (
Moskva 1988) [t]; both on history and description of
Afroasiatic languages.
Albert Hourani (1915–1993) UK, Minorities in the Arab World (Oxford 1947); Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939 (1962) on the Arab nahda [revival]; Political Society in Lebanon (MIT 1986); A History of the Arab Peoples (1991, Harvard 2002); brother of George Hourani.
Maxime Rodinson (1915–2004) French
Marxist, Mahomet (Paris 1961) [t] as understood with empathy by an
atheist; Islam et
capitalisme (Paris 1966) [t]; Israel et le refus arabe (Paris 1968).
Bernard Lewis (1916-2018) British-American, Arabs in History (1950); Muslim Discovery of Europe (1982, 2001); What went Wrong? The Clash between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East (2002).
George Makdisi (1920–2002) U.S., Islamic studies, Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh Univ. 1981); Rise of
Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West (Edinburgh Univ. 1990).
Marshall Hodgson (1922–1968) U.S., The Venture of Islam (3 volumes, Univ.of Chicago [1958], 1961, 1974); The Order of the Assassins (The Hague: Mouton 1955); Rethinking World History. Essays on Europe, Islam... (Cambridge Univ. 1993).
Annemarie Schimmel (1922–2003) Germany, specialist in Sufism, Die Bildersprache Dschelaladdin
Rumi (
Walldorf 1949); Mevlana Celalettin Rumi'nin sark ve garpta tesirleri (
Ankara 1963); Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Univ.of N.Carolina 1975).
John K. Cooley (1927-2008) U.S. journalist, long time coverage of Arab world, An Alliance against Babylon (Univ.of Michigan 2006); Unholy Wars. Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (2001); Baal, Christ, and Mohammed. Religion and Revolution in North Africa (1965); collaboration with
E. W. Said (2002).
Fredrik Barth (1928-2016>) Political Leadership among the Swat Pathans (Univ.of London 1959).
Aram Ter-Ghevondyan (1928–1988), Armenian historian; The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia (Yerevan, 1965) [t], historical, political, and social study on the
Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia (885–1045) and its relations with Byzantium and the Arab Emirates; Armenia and the Arab Caliphate (Армения и apaбcкий Халифат) (Yerevan, 1977).
Speros Vryonis (1928->) U.S., U.C.L.A., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century (Univ. California 1971); Studies on
Byzantium,
Seljuks and
Ottomans (
Malibu 1981).
John Wansbrough (1928–2002) U.S.,
Islamic studies at
S.O.A.S., reinterpretation of Islamic origins, Quranic Studies (Oxford 1977), Sectarian Milieu (Oxford 1978).
Noel J. Coulson (1928–1986) U.K.,
Islamic law at
S.O.A.S., History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh Univ. 1964); Conflict and Tensions in Islamic Jurisprudence (
Univ.of Chicago 1969); Succession in the Muslim Family (Cambridge Univ. 1971); Commercial Law in the Gulf States: The Islamic Legal Tradition (Graham & Trotman 1984).
J. Hoeberichts (1929->) Dutch, Franciscus en de Islam (Assen: Van Gorcum 199x) [t]; formerly a theology professor in Karachi.
Jacob Neusner (1932-2016>) U.S., Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam (1999) with T.Sonn; Judaism and Islam in Practice (1999) editor, with T.Sonn & J.E.Brockopp; Three Faiths, One God (2003) with B. Chilton & W. Graham.
William Chittick (c.1943->) U.S., collaborations with
Seyyed Hossein Nasr and
Allameh Tabatabaei in Iran; A Shi'ite Anthology (SUNY 1981); Sufi Path of Love (
SUNY 1983) text and commentary on
Rumi; Sufi Path of Knowledge (SUNY 1989) on
Ibn Arabi; Imaginal Worlds. Ibn al-'Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity (SUNY 1994).
Sachiko Murata (c.1943->), Japan, Tao of Islam. A sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought (SUNY 1992); Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light (SUNY 2000) with her translations from Chinese, and those from Persian by W. Chittick, her spouse.
Richard E. Rubenstein (1938->) U.S., professor of conflict resolution, Alchemists of Revolution. Terrorists in the modern world (1987); Aristotle's Children. How Christians, Muslims, & Jews rediscovered ancient wisdom & illuminated the Dark Ages (2003).
Robert Simon (1939->) Hungary, Meccan Trade and Islam. Problems of origin and structure (Budapest 1989); Qur'an translation (1987).
Michael Cook (1940->) English, Studies in the Origins of Early Islamic Culture and Tradition (2004); with
P. Crone, Hagarism (1977).
John L. Esposito (1940->) U.S., Islam. The Straight Path (Oxford 1988); editor-in-chief Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (4 volumes, 1995); Islam and Civil Society (European Univ. Inst. 2000).
Malise Ruthven (1942->) Scotland, Islam in the World (Oxford Univ. 1984); Fury for God. Islamist attack on America (Granta 2002).
Mark R. Cohen (1943->)
Princeton Univ., Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt (1980); Under Crescent & Cross (1994).
William A. Graham (1943->) U.S., Harvard University, "Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam" (Mouton, 1977); "Beyond the Written Word" (Cambridge, 1986); "Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies" (Ashgate, 2010)
Gerald R. Hawting (1944->) with Wansbrough at S.O.A.S., The First Dynasty of Islam: The
Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750 (1986, 2000); The Idea of
Idolatry and the Rise of Islam: From polemic to history (Cambridge Univ. 1999).
Karen Armstrong (1944->) English author; Muhammad, a Biography of the Prophet (San Francisco, 1993); Jerusalem: one city, three faiths (1997); A History of God (New York, 1999); "Islam: A Short History" (2002).
Fred M. Donner (1945->) U.S., Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writings (1998).
Norman Calder (1950–1998) Studies in Early Muslim Jurisprudence (Oxford 1993), analysis of early Islamic legal texts.
Carl W. Ernst (1950–>) Islamic studies, Univ.of N.Carolina, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (1993); Shambhala Guide to Sufism (1997); Following Muhammad. Rethinking Islam in the contemporary world (2003).
Daniel Martin Varisco (1951–>) U.S., Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science: The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan (Univ.of Washington 1994).
François Déroche (1952–>) France, Professor at the
Collège de France, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur ̓ans of the 8th to 10th Centuries (1992); Scribes et manuscrits du Moyen-Orient (1997); Manuel de codicologie des manuscrits en écriture arabe (2000).
Miguel Cruz Hernandez,
Univ.of Salamanca, Filosofia Hispano-musulmana (Madrid 1957), 2 volumes.
Joseph ChelhodIntroduction a la Sociologie de l'Islam. De l'animisme a l'universalisme (Paris 1958).
Norman DanielIslam and the West. The making of an image (Edinburgh Univ. 1960).
Jean Jacques WaardenburgL'Islam dans le miroir de l'Occident (Paris 1962), cultural review of various western scholars of Islam: Goldziher, Hurgronje, Becker, Macdonald, Massignon.
Federico Corriente Spain, Las
mu'allaqat: antologia y panorama de Arabia preislamica (Madrid: Instituto Hispano-arabe de cultura 1974), annotated translation of well-known collection of popular poetry in Arabia prior to Muhammad.
Hava Lazarus-Yafeh,
Hebrew Univ.of Jerusalem, her Studies in Al-Ghazzali (Jerusalem 1975); Intertwined Worlds. Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism (Princeton Univ. 1992); Islam-Yahadut: Yahadut-Islam (Tel Aviv 2003).
G. W. Bowersock U.S., Princeton Univ., Roman Arabia (Harvard Univ. 1983),
Nabataea (now
Jordan) to 4th century.
William Chittick U.S., SUNY Stony Brook, Sufi Path of Love. Spiritual teachings of
Rumi (1983); Sufi Path of Knowledge.
Ibn Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination (1989); with
Sachiko Murata and
Tu Weiming, The Sage Learning of
Liu Zhi: Islamic Thought in Confucian Terms (2009).
Antoine El-Gemayel, Lebanon, The Lebanese Legal System 2 vol. (International Law Inst., Georgetown Univ. 1985), editor.
Joseph Cuoq France, L'Islam en Ethiopie des origines au XVIe siecle (Paris 1981); Islamisation de la Nubie Chretienne (Paris 1986).
George E. Irani Lebanon, U.S., The Papacy and the Middle East. The Role of the Holy See in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1962–1984 (
Univ.of Notre Dame 1986), e.g., the effect of
Vatican II on Church policy.
Lisa Anderson U.S. academic, The State and Social Transformation in
Tunisia and
Libya, 1830–1980 (Princeton Univ. 1986).
David Stephen PowersStudies in Qur'an and
Hadith. The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance (Univ.of California 1986).
David B. Burrell U.S., Knowing the Unknowable God:
Ibn-Sina,
Maimonides,
Aquinas (Univ.of Notre Dame 1986).
Masataka Takeshita Japan, Ibn 'Arabi's Theory of the Perfect Man and its Place in the History of Islamic Thought (Tokyo 1987).
Heribert Busse,
Univ.of Kiel, Theologischen Beziehungen des Islams zu Judentum und Christentum (Darmstadt 1988) [t], which discusses Muhammad, as well as the narratives found in the
Qur'an about the
Old Testament and the
New Testament.
R. Stephen Humphreys U.S., Islamic History: a framework for inquiry (
Minneapolis 1988); Tradition and innovation in the study of Islamic history. The evolution of North American scholarship since 1960 (
Tokyo 1998).
Claude Addas France, her Ibn 'Arabi ou La quete du Soufre Rouge (Paris: Editions Gallimard 1989) [t].
Julian Baldick,
Univ. of London, Mystical Islam (1989); Black God.
Afroasiatic roots of Jewish, Christian, & Muslim religions (1998).
Harald Motzki Germany, Die Anfange der islamischen Jurisprudenz (
Stuttgart 1991) [t], by his review of early legal texts, provides a moderate challenge to Schacht's criticism of
Hadith & the origins of Islamic law.
Jacob Lassner,
Northwestern Univ.; Demonizing the Queen of Sheba. Boundaries of gender and culture in postbiblical Judaism and medieval Islam (Univ.of Chicago 1993).
Haim Gerber Hebrew Univ.of Jerusalem, State, Society and Law in Islam.
Ottoman Law in Comparative Perspective (SUNY 1994).
Brannon M. Wheeler (1965–>) U.S., Applying the Canon in Islam. The Authorization and Maintenance of Interpretive Reasoning in
Hanafi Scholarship (SUNY 1996).
G. H. A. Juynboll Dutch, Studies on the Origin and Uses of Islamic
Hadith ("Variorum" 1996).
Michael Dillon, China's Muslims (Oxford Univ. 1996); China's Muslim Hui Community. Migration, Settlement, and Sects (London 1999).
Herbert Berg,
Univ.of N.Carolina, Philosophy & Religion, The Development of
Exegesis in Early Islam. The Debate over authenticity of Muslim literature from the formative period (Routledge/Curzon 2000).
Knut S. Vikor,
Univ.of Bergen, Norway; Between God and the Sultan. A History of Islamic Law (Oxford Univ. 2005), a fruitful synthesis of much resent scholarship; Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge (1995).
Benjamin Jokisch, Islamic Imperial Law.
Harun-Al-Rashid's Codification Project (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2007) restates early Islamic legal history re law reform by
Abbasid Caliphate (Baghdad, c.780-798), including reception of
Roman law via
Byzantine Empire, drafting a code, & centralized judiciary, followed by triumph of a vigorous opposition led by
orthodox jurists & rise of
legal theory; Islamisches Recht in Theorie und Praxis - Analyse einiger kaufrechtlicher
Fatwas von
Taqi'd-Din Ahmad b. Taymiyya (Berlin: K.Schwarz 1996).
=> The [t] following a title indicates books translated into English.
Other and Incomplete: alphabetical
Akbar [Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar] (1542–1605),
Mughul emperor; based chiefly on Islam and Hinduism he founded a court religion
Din-i-Ilahi, which did not flourish following the end of his reign.
Báb [Sayyid Ali Muhammad] (1819–1850), Iran; he proclaimed prophethood and, in succession to the three Abrahamic faiths including Islam, initiated a new religion which continues as the
Baháʼí Faith.
Juan Cole, American, contemporary academic and commentator on Islam.[6]
A. Holly Shissler, U.S., prof. of Ottoman & Early Turkish Republican History, Dept. of Nr. E. Lang. & Civil., U. of Chicago.
Srđa Trifković, Serbian-American journalist, political analyst, modern partisan; author, The Sword of the Prophet.
John Woods, U.S., Prof. of Iranian & Central Asian History, Dept. of Near Eastern Lang. & Civil., Univ. of Chicago.
Ehsan Yar-Shater (1920->) Editor of encyclopedia Danishnamah-i
Iran va Islam (10 volumes, Teheran 1976–1982); editor of History of
al-Tabari [re the Ta'rikh al-rusul wa'l-muluk] (39 volumes, SUNY c1985-c1999); editor of Encyclopædia Iranica (
Costa Mesa:
Mazda 1992->); History of Medicine in Iran (New York 2004).
Sami Zubaida (1937->) Univ.of London, Islam, the People and the State (1993); Law and Power in the Islamic World (I.B.Taurus 2003).
Farhad Daftary (1938->) Inst. of Isma'ili Studies, London, The Isma'ilis: their history and doctrines (1990).
Farhadt J. Ziadeh, University of Washington, Lawyers, the rule of law & liberalism in modern Egypt (1968).
Mehrzad Boroujerdi U.S., Iranian Intellectuals and the West. The tormented triumph of nativism (Syracuse University 1996), includes clerical and lay religious thought, with critical profiles of several 20th-century academic writers.
Malika Zeghal western academic,
Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Paris), Gardiens de l'Islam. Les oulemas d'al-Azhar dans l'Egypte contemporaine (Paris 1996); Les islamistes morocains: le defi a la monarchie (Paris 2005); currently at Univ.of Chicago.
Timur Kuran, Duke Univ., The Long Divergence. How Islamic law held back the Middle East (Princeton Univ. 2011); Islam and Mammon: The economic predicaments of Islamism (Princeton Univ. 2004).
Alfonse Javed, N.Y. Sch.of the Bible, The Muslim Next Door (ANM 2013); Muslim Pakistani and Indian Students in their New York School System Experience (Liberty Univ. 2011).
David S. Powers, Islamic Legal Interpretation. Muftis and their fatwas (1996); Dispensing Justice in Islam. Qadis and their judgments (2005).
Claudia Liebeskind, Three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times (1998).
Angelika Neuwirth, German Islamic studies scholar, Arabische Literatur. Postmodern (2004, t=2010); Scripture, Poetry and the Making of a Community (2015).
Adam Gaiser, medieval Islamic studies, esp. Oman, Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers. The origin and elaboration of
Ibadi Imanate traditions (2010).
Rudolph Ware, The Walking Qur'an. Islamic education, embodied knowledge, and history in West Africa (2014).
=> The [t] following a title indicates books translated into English.
Reference notes
^Many general and specific reference sources were used for the very wide variety of authors herein. The general sources employed include:
Bearman, Bianquis,
Bosworth, van Donzel, &
Heinrichs (editors), Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition., 12 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960-2005); Brandon (editor), Dictionary of Comparative Religion (New York: Scribners 1970); Norman Daniel, Islam and the West (Edinburgh Univ. 1958);
John L. Esposito, Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford Univ. 2003);
Gibb & Kramers (editors), Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: Brill 1953; Cyril Glassé, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam (San Francisco: HarperCollins 1989).
^Shore, Paul (2023). A Baroque Jesuit's Encounter with the Qur'an. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
ISBN978-3-447-12044-9.
^S. Munro-Hay, Aksum (Edinburgh Univ. 1991) at 92.
^J. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish scholarship (1970) at 247-248, 251.
^J. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish scholarship (1970) at 248-251.