Irfan Arif Shahîd (Arabic: عرفان عارف شهيد ʿIrfān ʿĀrif Shahīd; January 15, 1926 – November 9, 2016),[1] also known as Erfan Arif Kawar (عرفان عارف قعوار ʿIrfān ʿĀrif Qaʿwār), was an American professor and scholar in the field of Oriental studies. Between 1982 and 2016, he was the Oman Professor of Arabic and Islamic Literature at Georgetown University.[2] Shahîd also became a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2012.[3][4]
Irfan Arif Shahîd | |
|---|---|
عرفان عارف شهيد | |
| Born | Irfan Arif Kawar January 15, 1926 Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel) |
| Died | November 9, 2016 (aged 90) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford (BA) Princeton University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Professor |
Biography
editShahîd was born in Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine, to a family of Palestinian Christians. He left in 1946 to attend St John's College, Oxford, where he studied classics and Greco-Roman history under the renowned British historian A. N. Sherwin-White.[2]
He received his PhD from Princeton University in Arabic and Islamic Studies. His doctorate thesis was "Early Islam and Poetry" and his research was primarily focused on three major areas: the area where the Greco-Roman world, especially the Byzantine Empire, meets the Arabic and Islamic worlds in the late antique and medieval times; Islamic studies, particularly the Quran; and Arabic literature, especially classical and medieval Arabic poetry.[5]
Selected works
edit- Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 1, part 1, 1995
- Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 1, part 2, 1995
- Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 2, Part 1, 2002
- Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 2, Part 2, 2010
- Byzantium and the Semitic Orient Before the Rise of Islam (Collected Studies Series: No.Cs270), 1988
- Omar Khayyám, the Philosopher-Poet of Medieval Islam, 1982
- Shahîd, Irfan (1971). The Martyrs of Najran - New Documents. Bruxelles, Belgium: Société des Bollandistes.
References
edit- ^ "In Memoriam Irfan Shahîd — Dumbarton Oaks". Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2016.
- ^ a b "Oral History Interview with Irfan Shahîd". Dumbarton Oaks. Archived from the original on April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
- ^ "Association of Main-Campus Retired Faculty". Georgetown University. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015.
- ^ "Georgetown University". Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ^ "Lectures by Irfan Shahid". University of California-Los Angeles. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
External links
edit- As enacted, S. 1483 is Private Law 536, 84th Congress (70 Stat. A18). "59 - Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill for the Relief of Irfan Kawar." Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The American Presidency Project, Washington DC, 19 March 1956. Retrieved on 22 August 2015.