Irfan Arif Shahîd ( ar, عرفان عارف شهيد ; Nazareth,

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

, January 15, 1926 –

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, November 9, 2016), born as Erfan Arif Qa'war (), was a scholar in the field of Oriental studies. He was from 1982 until his death

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, where he had been the Oman Professor of Arabic and Islamic Literature. Shahîd was also a Fellow of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

since 2012.

Biography

Erfan Arif was born in Nazareth,

to a

Palestinian Christian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

family. He left in 1946 to attend St John's College, Oxford, where he read classics and Greco-Roman history. He studied under renowned antiquities historian

A. N. Sherwin-White Adrian Nicholas Sherwin-White, FBA (10 August 1911 – 1November 1993) was a British academic and ancient historian. He was a fellow of St John's College, University of Oxford and President of the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. ...

. He received his Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in Arabic and Islamic Studies. His doctorate thesis was “Early Islam and Poetry.” Shahîd'Erfan's research was primarily focused on three major areas: the area where the Greco-Roman world, especially the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, meets the Arabic and Islamic worlds in the late antique and medieval times, Islamic studies, particularly the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

and

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

, especially classical and medieval Arabic poetry. In 2012 Irfan Shahîd became a Fellow of the

Selected works

*
Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs
', 1984 *
Byzantium and the Arabs in The Fourth Century
', 1984 *
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century
', 1989 *
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 *

References

External links

* 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."
''The American Presidency Project'', Washington DC, 19 March 1956. Retrieved on 22 August 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shahid, Irfan 1926 births 2016 deaths People from Nazareth Christian scholars of Islam Palestinian Christians Palestinian Byzantinists Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Princeton University alumni Georgetown University faculty Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Scholars of Byzantine history