Irfan Shahîd
{{Short description|American scholar in Oriental studies (1926–2016)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Irfan Arif Shahîd
| birthname = Irfan Arif Kawar
| image =
| caption =
| native_name = {{nobold|{{lang|ar|{{Script/Arabic|عرفان عارف شهيد}}|rtl=yes}}}}
| native_name_lang = ar
| birth_date = {{birth date|1926|01|15}}
| birth_place = Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|11|09|1926|01|15}}
| death_place = Washington, D.C., United States
| citizenship = American
| alma_mater = St John's College, Oxford (BA)
Princeton University (PhD)
| occupation = Professor
| parents =
| website =
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
Irfan Arif Shahîd ({{langx|ar|عرفان عارف شهيد}} {{Transliteration|ar|ʿIrfān ʿĀrif Shahīd}}; January 15, 1926 – November 9, 2016),{{Cite web |url=http://www.doaks.org/news-events/newsletter/in-memoriam-irfan-shahid |title=In Memoriam Irfan Shahîd — Dumbarton Oaks |access-date=2016-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629092101/http://www.doaks.org/news-events/newsletter/in-memoriam-irfan-shahid |archive-date=2017-06-29 |url-status=dead }} also known as Erfan Arif Kawar ({{lang|ar|عرفان عارف قعوار|rtl=yes}} {{Transliteration|ar|ʿIrfān ʿĀrif Qaʿwār}}), was an American professor and scholar in the field of Oriental studies. Between 1982 and 2016, he was the Oman Professor of Arabic and Islamic Literature at Georgetown University.{{cite web|title=Oral History Interview with Irfan Shahîd|url=http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/oral-history-project/irfan-shahid|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|access-date=11 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413002149/http://www.doaks.org/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/oral-history-project/irfan-shahid|archive-date=13 April 2015|url-status=dead}} Shahîd also became a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://emeriti.georgetown.edu/Prog/Events.htm |title=Association of Main-Campus Retired Faculty |publisher=Georgetown University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612142411/http://emeriti.georgetown.edu/Prog/Events.htm |archive-date=2015-06-12 }}{{Cite web |title=Georgetown University |url=http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=49993 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612152826/http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=49993 |archive-date=2015-06-12 |access-date=2011-09-05}}
Biography
Shahîd was born in Nazareth, Mandatory Palestine, to a family of Palestinian Christians. He left in 1946 to attend St John's College, Oxford, where he studied classics and Greco-Roman history under the renowned British historian A. N. Sherwin-White.
He received his PhD from Princeton University in Arabic and Islamic Studies. His doctorate thesis was "Early Islam and Poetry" and his research was primarily focused on three major areas: the area where the Greco-Roman world, especially the Byzantine Empire, meets the Arabic and Islamic worlds in the late antique and medieval times; Islamic studies, particularly the Quran; and Arabic literature, especially classical and medieval Arabic poetry.{{cite web|title=Lectures by Irfan Shahid|url=http://web.international.ucla.edu/institute/event/666|publisher=University of California-Los Angeles|access-date=11 June 2015|archive-date=12 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612123833/http://web.international.ucla.edu/institute/event/666|url-status=dead}}
Selected works
- [https://archive.org/details/rome-and-the-arabs Rome and the Arabs: A Prolegomenon to the Study of Byzantium and the Arabs], 1984
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-fourth-century Byzantium and the Arabs in The Fourth Century], 1984
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-fifth-century Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century], 1989
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-sixth-century-volume-1-part-1 Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century], Volume 1, part 1, 1995
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-sixth-century-volume-1-part-2 Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century], Volume 1, part 2, 1995
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-sixth-century-volume-2-part-1 Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century], Volume 2, Part 1, 2002
- [https://archive.org/details/byzantium-and-the-arabs-in-the-sixth-century-volume-2-part-2 Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century], Volume 2, Part 2, 2010
- Byzantium and the Semitic Orient Before the Rise of Islam (Collected Studies Series: No.Cs270), 1988
- Omar Khayyám, the Philosopher-Poet of Medieval Islam, 1982
- {{cite book |author-last=Shahîd |author-first=Irfan |author-link=Irfan Shahîd |title=The Martyrs of Najran - New Documents |publisher=Société des Bollandistes |location=Bruxelles, Belgium |year=1971 |language=en }}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- As enacted, S. 1483 is Private Law 536, 84th Congress (70 Stat. A18). [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-the-president-upon-signing-bill-for-the-relief-irfan-kawar "59 - Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill for the Relief of Irfan Kawar."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211209/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10755 |date=2016-03-04 }}, The American Presidency Project, Washington DC, 19 March 1956. Retrieved on 22 August 2015.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahid, Irfan}}
Category:Christian scholars of Islam
Category:Palestinian Christians
Category:Palestinian Byzantinists
Category:Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
Category:Princeton University alumni
Category:Georgetown University faculty