Tarif Khalidi (; born 24 January 1938) is a
Palestinian
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
historian who now holds the Shaykh Zayid Chair in Islamic and Arabic Studies at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
in Lebanon.
Family
Khalidi is the son of Ahmad Samih Khalidi (1896–1951) and
Anbara Salam (1897–1986), brother of
Usama al-Khalidi and half-brother of
Walid Khalidi
Walid Khalidi (; born in Jerusalem on July 16, 1925) is a Palestinian historian who has written extensively on the Palestinian exodus. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies, established in Beirut in December 1963 as an inde ...
. His sister is Randa al-Fattal, a Palestinian-Syrian author, playwright and political activist. Palestinian-American historian
Rashid Khalidi is Tarif's first cousin.
Khalidi's son, Muhammad Ali Khalidi, is a philosophy professor at
York University
York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
. His daughter, Aliya Khalidi, is a lecturer at the
Lebanese American University
The Lebanese American University (LAU; ) is a secular private American university with campuses in Beirut, Byblos, and New York. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New York and is recognized by the Lebane ...
. The Khalidi family has lived in Jerusalem since the eleventh century and is noted for a long line of judges and scholars. Tarif's father was principal of the
Government Arab College in Jerusalem from 1925 until 1948.
[Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs, Jerusalem]
Palestinian Personalities
. He also served as Deputy Director of Education under the
British Mandate.
He was the author of several works on educational theory and on Palestinian history.
Khalidi's mother came from a Beiruti political family. She was a pioneer feminist, activist and writer; and the first Muslim woman in Greater Syria (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine) to publicly remove her veil in 1927. She also translated several literary works into
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 ...
, including Homer's
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
and
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
, and published her memoirs in 1978.
Khalidi and his family had their home stolen by settlers in April 1948 and sought refuge in
Beirut
Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
, Lebanon.
Academic career
In 1952, Khalidi attended
Haileybury College
Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...
in Hertford, England where he was on the classical side (Latin, Greek and Ancient History). He went on to
University College
In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...
, Oxford, where he received a B.A. in Modern History in 1960 and his master's degree three years later. Between 1960 and 1966, he was an instructor of Cultural Studies at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
.
Khalidi received a PhD in Islamic Studies from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1970. That year he returned to AUB as an assistant professor in the History Department. He taught at AUB through the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
The religious diversity of the ...
with a brief departure from 1985 to 1986 to become a senior research associate at
St. Antony's College, Oxford.
In 1996 he was named the
Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic and a fellow of
King's College, Cambridge as well as director of the Center of Middle Eastern Studies there.
He returned to AUB again in 2002 to occupy his position as Shaykh Zayid Chair at the Center for Arab and Middle East Studies.
Khalidi wrote an influential paper on Palestinian Historiography from 1900 to 1948 in which he argued that much of the historical writing came to centre on the history of the Arabs and of Palestine, in an attempt to re-define the place that Palestine occupied in the Arab world in general and to emphasise its ties to Egypt and Syria in particular.
Publications
;Books
* (Co-editor) ''Al-Jahiz: A Muslim Humanist for our Time'' (Würzburg/Beirut: Ergon Verlag, 2009).
of Muhammad: Narratives of the Prophet in Islam Across the Centuries''(New York: Doubleday, 2009).
''The Qur’an: A New Translation''(London:
Penguin Classics
Penguin Classics is an imprint (trade name), imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English language, English, Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese, and Korean language, Korean amon ...
, 2008).
Muslim Jesus; Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature''(Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou.
The pres ...
, 2001).
''Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period''(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1994).
''Classical Arab Islam''(Princeton: Darwin Press, 1985).
* Editor, ''Land Tenure and Social Transformation in the Middle East'' ( Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1984).
* ''A Study in the Meaning and Method of History'' (in Arabic; Beirut: Dar al-Tali`a, 1982).
* ''Studies in the History of Arabic Islamic Culture'' (in Arabic; Beirut: Dar al-Tali`a, 1977).
* ''Islamic Historiography: The Histories of Mas`udi'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1975).
''Mas`udi, Muruj al-Dhahab''(English translation on-line, 2020).
;Journal articles:
[Refer to Khalidi']
for a complete list of his articles and other publications.
* "A World Historian and his Vision: at-Tabari, the Qur’an and History”, ''Al-Abhath'', vol.55–56 (2007–2008).
* "Death and the Badi` in Early `Abbasid Poetry: The Elegy for al-Numayri by `Abdullah ibn al-Mu`tazz" (with Maher Jarrar), ''Al-Abhath'', vol. 54 (2006).
* "Jesus, Islam and World Dialogue", ''Concilium'', 39/4 (October 2003).
* "Poetry and Identity in the Umayyad Age" (with S.S.Agha), ''Al-Abhath'', vol.50–51, (2002–2003).
* Article "Arabs", ''Encyclopedia of the Qur'an'', ed. J.D.McAuliffe, Leiden: Brill, 2002.
* "Reflections on Periodisation in Arabic Historiography", ''The Medieval History Journal'', vol.1, number 1 (Jan–June 1998).
* "Islamic Views of the West in the Middle Ages", ''Studies in Interreligious Dialogue'' (The Netherlands), 5/1995/1.
References
External links
* American University of Beirut'
Tarif Khalidi Biographyweb page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khalidi, Tarif
Living people
1938 births
20th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
20th-century Palestinian historians
21st-century Palestinian historians
Academics from Jerusalem
Academic staff of the American University of Beirut
Alumni of University College, Oxford
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge
Khalidi family
Palestinian feminists
Palestinian people of Lebanese descent
Palestinian refugees
People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College
Quraysh
Banu Makhzum
Sir Thomas Adams's Professors of Arabic
Translators to Arabic
Translators of the Quran into English
University of Chicago alumni
Writers from Jerusalem
Writers on the Middle East