Ahmad Al-Jallad is a Jordanian-American philologist, epigraphist, and a historian of language. Some of the areas he has contributed to include

Quranic studies Qur'anic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the religious scripture of Islam. Schools Behnam Sadeghi and Mohsen Goudarzi classify scholars of Quranic studies into four groups: traditionalists, revisionists, skeptics, and neo-tradition ...

and the

history of Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, including recent work he has done on

pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions Pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions are Epigraphy, inscriptions that come from the Arabian Peninsula dating to Pre-Islamic Arabia, before the rise of Islam. They were written in both Arabic and other languages, including Sabaic, Hadramautic language, ...

written in Safaitic and

Paleo-Arabic Paleo-Arabic (or Palaeo-Arabic, previously called pre-Islamic Arabic or Old Arabic) is a pre-Islamic Arabian script used to write Arabic. It began to be used in the fifth century, when it succeeded the earlier Nabataeo-Arabic script, and it was ...

. He is currently Professor in the Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

at the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures. He is the winner of the 2017 Dutch Gratama Science Prize.

Biography

Al-Jallad was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. As an undergraduate, he attended the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

. He entered

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

for his doctoral program in

Semitic philology Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta. Semitic may also refer to: Religions * Abrahamic religions ** ...

and received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 2012. One of his mentors during his studies was

Michael C. A. Macdonald Michael C. A. Macdonald FBA is a research associate of the Khalili Research Centre, honorary fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford, and fellow of the British Academy. He is a Trustee of the International Association for the Study of Ara ...

from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and

John Huehnergard John Huehnergard (born March 16, 1952) is a Canadian-American specialist in Semitic languages, notable for his work on categorization, etymology, and historical linguistics. Early life and education Huehnergard was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Can ...

from Harvard University. One of his earliest achievements was reconstructing a previously unknown Arabian

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The p ...

from

pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia ( ar, شبه الجزيرة العربية قبل الإسلام) refers to the Arabian Peninsula before the emergence of Islam in 610 CE. Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations. Information ...

. He is presently considered one of the foremost authorities on the early history of the Arabic language and script and he helps direct archaeological expeditions across the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. Al-Jallad has contributed to the decipherment and interpretation of the inscriptions of Ancient Arabia, especially Safaitic and

Thamudic Thamudic is a name that refers to ancient Arabic Thamudic tribe language found by nineteenth-century scholars for large numbers of inscriptions in Ancient North Arabian (ANA) alphabets which have not yet been properly studied. These texts are foun ...

, and more broadly to the history of the Arabic language and its position within the Semitic language family. He has discovered and studied a number of important texts for the history and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia, the Arabs, and the background of Islam. He is also a pioneer in the documentation and study of the

inscriptions. Alongside Karolina Jaworska, he published the first comprehensive dictionary of the Safaitic script. Al-Jallad directs epigraphic and archaeological expeditions across the Middle East.

Notable publications

*''The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia'', Brill, 2022. Open-access. *"The Pre-Islamic Divine Name ʿsy and the Background of the Qurʾānic Jesus," ''Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association'' (2021). *''A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions'', Brill 2019. *“A Paleo-Arabic Inscription of a Companion of Muhammad?”''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'' (2024) *“What is Ancient North Arabian?” In D. Birnstiel and N. Pat-El (eds.) ''Re-Engaging Comparative Semitic and Arabic Studies''. Harrassowitz, 2018, 1-45

References

External links

Ahmad Al-Jallad - Academia.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jallad, Ahmad 21st-century historians Jordanian archaeologists Living people Harvard University alumni Historians of Islam History of Quran scholars Ohio State University faculty University of South Florida alumni Year of birth missing (living people)

Biography

Notable publications

See also

References

External links