Aziz Al-Azmeh (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: عزيز العظمة; born July 24, 1947) is a Syrian academic and professor at the Department of History, Central European University,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Among other books and papers, he published '' Islams and Modernities''. In May 1993, he received the Republican Order of Merit, for services to Arab culture, from former President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Early life and education

Aziz Al-Azmeh was born on July 24, 1947, in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He received a D.Phil. in Oriental Studies from St Antony's College, Oxford (supervised by Albert Hourani), having previously attended the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Career

He has taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses (though latterly focusing on postgraduate teaching and research) across the whole thematic range of Arab and Islamic historical studies, medieval and modern, at the Central European University, the American University of Beirut,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

, the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(where he was the Sultan Visiting Professor),

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, and more recently at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations of the Aga Khan University. He has served on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the ''Medieval History Journal'' and the '' Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies''. In addition, Al-Azmeh has been invited to various international conferences, talks, seminars, lectures and symposia.Archived resume from 2007
/ref> His book '' Islams and Modernities'' was released on October 17, 1996. The book explores the history of interaction between

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, analyzing myths about those interactions created by Orientalist and Islamist viewpoints. A new version was released on August 7, 2009, also examining "the discourse surrounding Islamism and irrationalism after 9/11." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' wrote that "''Islams and Modernities'' raises urgent questions that are central to the concerns of the contemporary world.” ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' wrote that “Aziz Al-Azmeh is perhaps the most original thinker on these themes in Britain today." In 2002 he became a professor at the Central European University in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. In 2010, he was then a visiting research fellow at the university in the School of History and Interdisciplinary Historical Studies.

Awards and honors

*1993: The Republican Order of Merit, for services to Arab culture, was conferred by the former President of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in May. *2005: An international conference was held at the Central European University,

, to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of book '' Islams and Modernities''. The proceedings, papers delivered and transcript of discussions, are in preparation for publication.

Bibliography

* ''Arabic Thought and Islamic Societies'' (1986) * ''Ibn Khaldun: An Essay in Reinterpretation'' (1990) * '' Islams and Modernities'' (1993, second edition: 1996, third edition: 2009) * ''Muslim Kingship: Power and the Sacred in Muslim, Christian and Pagan Polities'' (1997) * ''The Times of History: Universal Topics in Islamic Historiography'' (2007) * ''The Emergence of Islam in Late Antiquity: Allah and His People'' (2014)

References

External links

Aziz Al-Azmeh: Is Islamism the Arab Destiny?

The Relevance and Irrelevance of Muslim Political Traditions

Podcast
at Oxford University
Profile
at Department of History, CEU
Profile
at Department of Medieval Studies, CEU

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azmeh, Aziz 1947 births Syrian Muslims Syrian people of Turkish descent Syrian academics Academics from Damascus Living people Historians of Islam Muslim reformers Academic staff of Central European University University of Tübingen alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Academic staff of Kuwait University Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Critics of Islamism Critics of postmodernism Syrian expatriates in the United States Syrian expatriates in the United Kingdom Syrian expatriates in Kuwait Syrian expatriates in Hungary Al-Azma family Muslim scholars of Islamic studies

Early life and education

Career

Awards and honors

Bibliography

See also

References

External links