Shahab Ahmed (; December 11, 1966 – September 17, 2015) was a Pakistani scholar of

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 ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Ahmed's posthumous work ''What Is Islam?'' was listed in ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is an American newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals, including staff members and administrators. A subscription ...

'' as one of the eleven best scholarly books of the 2010s, chosen by

Noah Feldman Noah Raam Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American legal scholar and academic. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Harvard Society of Fellows. He is the author of 10 books, host of the podcas ...

. Professor Elias Muhanna of

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

described the work as "a strange and brilliant work, encyclopedic in vision and tautly argued in the manner of logical proof, yet pervaded by the urgency of a political manifesto".

Life

Ahmed's parents were Pakistani doctors who were living in Singapore at the time of his birth. He was born at

Mount Alvernia Hospital Mount Alvernia Hospital is the only not-for-profit general acute tertiary care private hospital in Singapore. With close to 380 beds, Alvernia is supported by more than 300 on-campus specialist doctors and nearly 1,400 accredited doctors. Hist ...

, educated at Anglo Chinese School, Singapore and

Caterham School Caterham School is a private co-educational day and boarding school located in Caterham, Surrey and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History Caterham School was founded as the Congregational School in 1811 in Lewi ...

, before studying at

International Islamic University Malaysia The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is a public university in Malaysia. Headquartered in Gombak, Selangor, IIUM has six other campuses all over Malaysia: two medical-centric campuses and a Centre for Foundation Studies in Gam ...

. After work as a journalist in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, he gained a master's degree at the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...

and his PhD at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He was a junior member of the

Harvard Society of Fellows The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intellect ...

(2000–2003), and served as a Visiting Lecturer and Research Fellow at

(2004–2005), Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Harvard University (2005–2014),

Higher Education Commission of Pakistan The Higher Education Commission (colloquially known as HEC) is a statutory, statutory body formed by the Government of Pakistan which was established in 2002 under the Chairmanship of Atta-ur-Rahman (chemist), Atta-ur-Rahman. Its main functions ...

Visiting Scholar at the Islamic Research Institute in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

(2007–2008), and Lecturer on Law and Research Fellow in Islamic Legal Studies at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

(2014–2015). A

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

who was "master of perhaps 15 languages", Ahmed's broad field of study was Islamic

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

, with a special interest in the

Satanic Verses The Satanic Verses are words of "satanic suggestion" which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is alleged to have mistaken for divine revelation. The first use of the expression in English is attributed to Sir William Muir in 1858. The words praise the ...

and the supposed evaluation of its historicity by Islamic scholars of the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

on 17 September 2015, at the age of 48.Mark Oppenheimer (5 July 2016)
"Can Islam Be More Jewish?"
''Tablet''. Retrieved 17 October 2019. In a posthumous presentation about him, Shahab Ahmed's sister highlighted her brother's fondness and appreciation for good wine. In this regard, she noted that "he felt very much in good company with

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

, with

Ghalib Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (27 December 179715 February 1869), commonly known as Mirza Ghalib, was an Indian poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, he also produced a significant body of work in Persian. Ghali ...

, and with other writers ..he adored."

Publications

Books

* ''Ibn Taymiyya and his Times''. Co-edited with Yossef Rapoport. Oxford University Press: 1st Edition: September 9, 2015, 400 p. (). * ''What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic''. Princeton University Press: November 17, 2015, 624 p. (). * ''Before orthodoxy: the Satanic Verses in early Islam''. Harvard University Press: April 24, 2017, 336 p. (). * ''Neither Paradise Nor Hellfire: Understanding Islam through the Ottomans, Understanding the Ottomans through Islam'' (forthcoming).

Articles

* "Ibn Taymiyyah and the Satanic Verses". Studia Islamica 87 (1998): 67–124. * "The Poetics of Solidarity: Palestine in Modern Urdu Poetry", Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics/Alif: Majallat al-Balāghah al-Muqāranah 18 (1998), thematic issue on "Post-colonial Discourse in South Asia/Khiṭāb mā ba`d al-kūlūniyāliyyah fī junūb āsyā," 29-64. * "Mapping the World of a Scholar in sixth/twelfth century Bukhara: Regional Tradition in Medieval Islamic Scholarship as Reflected in a Bibliography", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 120.1 (2000), 24-43. * "The Sultan's Syllabus: A Curriculum for the Ottoman Imperial Medreses Prescribed in a Fermān of Qānūnī I Süleymān, Dated 973 (1565)", cowritten with Nenad Filipovic. Studia Islamica 98/99 (2004): 183–218.

Book reviews

*Review of

Andrew Rippin Andrew Lawrence Rippin, (16 May 1950 in London, England – 29 November 2016) was a Canadian scholar of Islamic studies and Quranic studies. Biography Rippin was Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victo ...

(ed.), ''The Qur'ān: Formative Interpretation'', Aldershot: Ashgate-Variorum, 2000, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin 36.2 (2003), 216-218. *Review of

Issa J. Boullata Issa J. Boullata (‎; February 25, 1929 – May 1, 2019) was a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature. Biography He was born in Jerusalem on February 25, 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained ...

(ed.), ''Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur'ān'', Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 14.1 (2003), 93-95. *Review of Meir M. Bar-Asher, ''Scripture and Exegesis in Early Imāmī Shiism'', Leiden: Brill, 1999, Journal of the American Oriental Society 123.1 (2003), 183-185. *Review of Daphna Ephrat, ''A Learned Society in a Period of Transition: The Sunni `Ulama' of Eleventh-Century Baghdad'', State University of New York Press, 2000, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 123.1 (2003), 179-182.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Shahab 1966 births 2015 deaths 21st-century Muslim scholars of Islam American academics of Pakistani descent American historians of religion American Islamic studies scholars American writers of Pakistani descent Anglo-Chinese School alumni Deaths from leukemia Harvard Law School faculty International Islamic University Malaysia alumni Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty