William Albert Graham Jr. (born 1943) is an American scholar of

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

and the history of religion, the Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, emeritus, and University

Distinguished Service Professor Professors in the United States commonly occupy any of several positions of teaching and research within a college or university. In the U.S., the word "professor" is often used to refer to anyone who teaches at a college of university level at ...

, emeritus, at

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 ...

Biography

Graham was born August 16, 1943, in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

and raised in

Chapel Hill, NC Chapel Hill is a town in Orange and Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill and Durham make ...

. He earned his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

(1966) summa cum laude in comparative literature from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, and his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(1970) and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(1973) from

in the History of Religion specializing in Islamic Studies. Graham joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard in 1973, and became professor of the history of religion and Islamic studies in 1985. He has held Guggenheim and Alexander von Humboldt fellowships and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He is the recipient of the quinquennial international prize for contributions to Islamic studies of the International Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, Istanbul (2000), the lifetime achievement award of the ''Journal of Law and Religion'' (2012) and honorary doctorates of humane letters from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2004) and Lehigh University (2005). He served as Director of Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies (1990–96) and Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program (2016–18); chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (1997-2002) and the Committee on the Study of Religion (1987–90); and master of the Harvard College undergraduate residential college of Currier House (1991-2003). He was named Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies in 2001, and the following year he joined the Divinity School as its dean, where he served for ten years before returning to full-time teaching in 2012 as a University Distinguished Service Professor.

Selected publications

*''Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam'' (1977) *''Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion'' (1987) *''Three Faiths, One God'' (2002) *''Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies'' (2010) *''The Heritage of World Civilizations'' (1986ff.; 10th ed., 2015)

References

External links

https://nelc.fas.harvard.edu/people/william-graha

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, William A. Harvard University faculty Harvard Divinity School faculty Harvard University alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American Islamic studies scholars 1943 births People from Raleigh, North Carolina Living people Members of the American Philosophical Society