Maher Jarrar | American University of Beirut (original) (raw)
Maher Jarrar is Professor at the American University of Beirut, both at the Critical Humanities for the Liberal Arts and at the Department of Arabic.
He is honorary member of Middle East Medievalists; director of the Anis Makdisi Program in Literature, and former director of AUB’s Center for Arts and Humanities 2012-2016, and he served as chairperson of the Civilization Studies Program from 2004 to 2007, and 2011 to 2014. He received his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Tübingen University in 1989. He was Visiting Professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard (1996 and 2011) and Fellow at the Arbeits kreises Moderne und Islam at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2002-03). His areas of interest include the biography of the Prophet Muhammad, Zaydi Studies, early and modern Arabic narratology, The Arabian Nights, and the literature of Islamic Spain, al-Andalus. He published numerous books and over 40 articles in the field of Islamic studies, Arabic literature, and literary criticism in academic journals, encyclopedias and chapters in books.
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Papers by Maher Jarrar
Rulers as Authors in the Islamic World: Knowledge, Authority and Legitimacy, 2024
This contribution investigates the essential features of Zaydī history and dogma; it then briefly... more This contribution investigates the essential features of Zaydī history and dogma; it then briefly broaches the history of the Zaydīs on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea until the beginning of the fifth/eleventh century. Finally, it examines a theological treatise (K. al-Tabṣira) by one of the towering figures in that area, the Imam (Supreme spiritual and political leader) and ruler, al-Muʾayyad bi-llāh Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Hārūnī (333/945-411/1021).
Doctrinal Instruction in Early Islam, 2020
Narrative Culture, 2018
The article studies the adaptation of the popular tale of “Ḥāsib Karīm al-Dīn and the Queen of Se... more The article studies the adaptation of the popular tale of “Ḥāsib Karīm al-Dīn and the Queen of Serpents” from The Thousand and One Nights as a hypotext in the work of the contemporary Egyptian novelist and poet Badr al-Dīb (1926–2005). In folklore and religion, the serpent as a complex mythical symbol is perceived as a primordial being and is linked with wisdom and cosmic power. The snake-woman is the embodiment of the world-generating, life-giving principle and lunar wisdom. Whenever the serpent appears in folktales, epics, and religion, one can expect a spectacle of ongoing metamorphosis. Al-Dīb’s endeavor reveals the unrestrained options of the imagination of a contemporary writer whose “renarrating” amounts to a diegetic transposition of the cycle. Al-Dīb remains faithful to the text and offers a novel reading opting for an experience of constant impermanence. The crossing of spaces and the shifting of physical and imagined borders form a central dynamic in the structure of the tale
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2003
The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin, 1975
The Arabian Nights in Historical Context, 2008
The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam
Der Islam, 1994
Na §r al-Marwazi (150 od. 152/767 od. 768-227/841-42) 1), genannt alffäß (der Barfüßer), ist m. W... more Na §r al-Marwazi (150 od. 152/767 od. 768-227/841-42) 1), genannt alffäß (der Barfüßer), ist m. W. der erste in der islamischen Geschichte, der tinter diesem Beinamen bekannt wurde. Der folgende Artikel soll sich weniger mit seinem Leben als mit seinem Beinamen beschäftigen. Lief er tatsächlich immer barfuß ? Warum tat er das ? Hat er islamische Vorläufer gehabt ? Sind außerislamische Vorbilder auszuschließen? Wie setzten sich seine Zeitgenossen und spätere Generationen mit seiner Barfußigkeit auseinander? Und schließlich, wie hat sich diese Tradion der Barfüßigkeit unter den Frommen und Mystikern fortgesetzt ? Es ist schwer, aus den Quellen ein differenziertes Bild von Bi §r zu gewinnen. Diese Schwierigkeit betrifft nicht nur Bi §r, sondern ebenfalls die *) Professor Fritz Meier und Professor Ulrich Haarmann haben eine erste Version des Artikels kritisch gelesen und mir mancherlei Anregungen für die Endfassung gegeben. Professor Werner Ende, Professor Josef van Ess, Dr. As c ad Khairallah und mein Kollege Dr. Ludwig Ammann (Freiburg) haben ebenfalls in den Text Einblick genommen. Ihnen allen sei an dieser Stelle herzlich gedankt.
Rulers as Authors in the Islamic World: Knowledge, Authority and Legitimacy, 2024
This contribution investigates the essential features of Zaydī history and dogma; it then briefly... more This contribution investigates the essential features of Zaydī history and dogma; it then briefly broaches the history of the Zaydīs on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea until the beginning of the fifth/eleventh century. Finally, it examines a theological treatise (K. al-Tabṣira) by one of the towering figures in that area, the Imam (Supreme spiritual and political leader) and ruler, al-Muʾayyad bi-llāh Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Hārūnī (333/945-411/1021).
Doctrinal Instruction in Early Islam, 2020
Narrative Culture, 2018
The article studies the adaptation of the popular tale of “Ḥāsib Karīm al-Dīn and the Queen of Se... more The article studies the adaptation of the popular tale of “Ḥāsib Karīm al-Dīn and the Queen of Serpents” from The Thousand and One Nights as a hypotext in the work of the contemporary Egyptian novelist and poet Badr al-Dīb (1926–2005). In folklore and religion, the serpent as a complex mythical symbol is perceived as a primordial being and is linked with wisdom and cosmic power. The snake-woman is the embodiment of the world-generating, life-giving principle and lunar wisdom. Whenever the serpent appears in folktales, epics, and religion, one can expect a spectacle of ongoing metamorphosis. Al-Dīb’s endeavor reveals the unrestrained options of the imagination of a contemporary writer whose “renarrating” amounts to a diegetic transposition of the cycle. Al-Dīb remains faithful to the text and offers a novel reading opting for an experience of constant impermanence. The crossing of spaces and the shifting of physical and imagined borders form a central dynamic in the structure of the tale
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2003
The Heritage of Arabo-Islamic Learning
British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Bulletin, 1975
The Arabian Nights in Historical Context, 2008
The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam
Der Islam, 1994
Na §r al-Marwazi (150 od. 152/767 od. 768-227/841-42) 1), genannt alffäß (der Barfüßer), ist m. W... more Na §r al-Marwazi (150 od. 152/767 od. 768-227/841-42) 1), genannt alffäß (der Barfüßer), ist m. W. der erste in der islamischen Geschichte, der tinter diesem Beinamen bekannt wurde. Der folgende Artikel soll sich weniger mit seinem Leben als mit seinem Beinamen beschäftigen. Lief er tatsächlich immer barfuß ? Warum tat er das ? Hat er islamische Vorläufer gehabt ? Sind außerislamische Vorbilder auszuschließen? Wie setzten sich seine Zeitgenossen und spätere Generationen mit seiner Barfußigkeit auseinander? Und schließlich, wie hat sich diese Tradion der Barfüßigkeit unter den Frommen und Mystikern fortgesetzt ? Es ist schwer, aus den Quellen ein differenziertes Bild von Bi §r zu gewinnen. Diese Schwierigkeit betrifft nicht nur Bi §r, sondern ebenfalls die *) Professor Fritz Meier und Professor Ulrich Haarmann haben eine erste Version des Artikels kritisch gelesen und mir mancherlei Anregungen für die Endfassung gegeben. Professor Werner Ende, Professor Josef van Ess, Dr. As c ad Khairallah und mein Kollege Dr. Ludwig Ammann (Freiburg) haben ebenfalls in den Text Einblick genommen. Ihnen allen sei an dieser Stelle herzlich gedankt.