Ahmad Al-Jallad

Al-Jallad was born in Salt Lake City. As an undergraduate, he attended the University of South Florida. He entered Harvard University for his doctoral program in Semitic philology and received his Ph.D. in 2012. Two of his mentors during his studies were Michael C. A. Macdonald from the University of Oxford and John Huehnergard from Harvard University. One of his earliest achievements was reconstructing a previously unknown Arabian zodiac from pre-Islamic Arabia. He is presently considered one of the foremost authorities on the early history of the Arabic language and script and he helps direct archaeological expeditions across the Middle East.{{Cite magazine |last=Muhanna |first=Elias |date=2018-05-23 |title=A New History of Arabia, Written in Stone |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-new-history-of-arabia-written-in-stone |access-date=2024-04-17 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}

Al-Jallad has contributed to the decipherment and interpretation of the inscriptions of Ancient Arabia, especially Safaitic and Thamudic, and more broadly to the history of the Arabic language and its position within the Semitic language family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/18470301|title=Al-Jallad. 2018. The earliest stages of Arabic and its linguistic classification|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|via=www.academia.edu}} He has discovered and studied a number of important texts for the history and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia, the Arabs, and the background of Islam.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/43141064|title=Al-Jallad. 2020. The Linguistic Landscape of pre-Islamic Arabia -- Context for the Qur'an|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|journal=OHoQuran|via=www.academia.edu}}

{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/16094901|title=Echoes of the Baal Cycle in a Safaito-Hismaic Inscription|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|date=June 14, 2015|journal=Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions|volume=15|issue=1|pages=5–19|doi=10.1163/15692124-12341267 |via=www.academia.edu}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/41753832|title=Al-Jallad. 2020. ʿArab, ʾAʿrāb, and Arabic in Ancient North Arabia: the first attestation of (ʾ)ʿrb as a group name in Safaitic|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|doi=10.1111/AAE.12157 |via=www.academia.edu}}

{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/43388891|title=Al-Jallad. 2022. The pre-Islamic basmala: Reflections on its first epigraphic attestation and its original significance|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|via=www.academia.edu}}

{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/73883276|title=Al-Jallad. 2021. The Pre-Islamic Divine Name ʿsy and the Background of the Qurʾānic Jesus, with Ali al-Manaser|first=Ahmad|last=Al-Jallad|date=January 1, 2021|journal=JIQSA|via=www.academia.edu}} He is also a pioneer in the documentation and study of the Paleo-Arabic inscriptions.{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/59258176|title=Al-Jallad and Sidky. 2021. A Paleo-Arabic inscription on a route north of Ṭāʾif|first1=Hythem|last1=Sidky|first2=Ahmad|last2=Al-Jallad|doi=10.1111/AAE.12203 |via=www.academia.edu}}{{Cite journal|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/729531|title=A Paleo-Arabic Inscription of a Companion of Muhammad?|first1=Ahmad|last1=Al-Jallad|first2=Hythem|last2=Sidky|date=April 1, 2024|journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies|volume=83|issue=1|pages=1–14|via=CrossRef|doi=10.1086/729531|url-access=subscription}} Alongside Karolina Jaworska, he published the first comprehensive dictionary of the Safaitic script.{{Cite book |last1=Al-Jallad |first1=Ahmad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RI8cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions |last2=Jaworska |first2=Karolina |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-40042-9 |series= |location= |pages=20}}

• The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia, Brill, 2022. Open-access.
• "The Pre-Islamic Divine Name ʿsy and the Background of the Qurʾānic Jesus," Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association (2021).
• A Dictionary of the Safaitic Inscriptions, Brill 2019.
• “A Paleo-Arabic Inscription of a Companion of Muhammad?”Journal of Near Eastern Studies (2024)
• “What is Ancient North Arabian?” In D. Birnstiel and N. Pat-El (eds.) Re-Engaging Comparative Semitic and Arabic Studies. Harrassowitz, 2018, 1-45

• Christian J. Robin
• Laila Nehmé

{{Reflist}}

• [https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/AhmadAlJallad Ahmad Al-Jallad - Academia.edu]

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Category:21st-century historians

Category:Jordanian archaeologists

Category:Living people

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:Historians of Islam

Category:Quranic studies academics

Category:Ohio State University faculty

Category:University of South Florida alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)