Barbara Daly Metcalf (born September 13, 1941) is a professor emeritus of history at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. She is a specialist in the history of

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, especially the colonial period, and the history of the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

population of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. She previously served as the dean of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Davis, and as the Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

(2003–2009). She was the president of the

Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Ann ...

in 1994 and the president of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

in 2010–11.

Biography

Barbara Metcalf received her Ph.D. from 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 ...

, in 1974. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the history of the Muslim religious scholars (

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

) of

Deoband Deoband is a town and a municipality in Saharanpur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, about 150 km (93 miles) from Delhi. Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic seminary and one of the largest Islamic Institutions of India is located ther ...

, a reformist religious seminary in northern India founded in the 1860s. Metcalf was called on to write to the

Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta at the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose o ...

s held at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps. Murat Kurnaz ARB ''

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

'', pages 96–98 The Boards were authorized to recommend whether Guantanamo captives should continue to be held in

extrajudicial Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a fe ...

detention. One of the justifications offered for the continued detention of over three dozen of the Guantanamo captives was that they had participated in the activities of a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

chapter of the Islamic missionary group named

Tablighi Jamaat Tablighi Jamaat ( , also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party") is an international Islamic schools and branches, Islamic religious movement. It focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant and encourages f ...

. Metcalf addressed the benevolent nature of Tablighi pilgrimages. She wrote:

''“I will also attempt to explain why it is implausible to believe that the Tablighis support terrorism or are in any way affiliated with other terrorist or ‘jihadi’ movements such as the Taliban or Al Qaeda.”''

She is married to Thomas R. Metcalf, also a retired historian of South Asia, and collaborated with him on a textbook history of India.

Selected bibliography

*''Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband, 1860–1900'', 1982 (2nd edition 2002) *''Perfecting Women: Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi's Bihishti Zewar'' (translation, annotation, and introduction), 1992 *''Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe'', 1996 *''A Concise History of India'' (with Thomas R. Metcalf), 2002 *''Islamic Contestations: Essays on Muslims in India and Pakistan'', 2004 * ''Husain Ahmad Madani: The Jihad for Islam and India's Freedom''
Essay, "'Traditionalist' Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs," ca. 2001

References

External links

"Barbara D. Metcalf Biography," 2010
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalf, Barbara D. Barbara D. Metcalf 1941 births Living people University of California, Davis faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni 21st-century American historians Historians of South Asia American women historians University of Michigan faculty 21st-century American women writers Deobandism scholars