“In terms of his knowledge of the sources and the meticulousness with which he handles the details, [Wilferd] Madelung’s scholarship in Islamic studies is unrivalled in modern times … It is no exaggeration to state that rarely has any contemporary Islamicist made as many original contributions as Madelung to such a diversity of areas within the field of Islamic studies.” Farhad Daftary |
With some 15 books and edited volumes, 60 articles and chapters in various journals and collective volumes, 130 encyclopaedia entries and more than 160 book reviews, Wilferd Madelung has made major contributions to many aspects of medieval Muslim history and thought. With particular reference to religious schools and movements in early Islam, his studies, based on a vast array of primary sources, have enriched the discipline’s understanding of almost every major Muslim movement and community – not only early Imami Shi‘ism and the later developments of Twelver, Ismaili and Zaydi Islam but also the lesser known aspects of Sunni, Khariji and the Mu‘tazili schools of theology and philosophy.
“There is no branch of knowledge of medieval Islamic history and religion that Wilferd Madelung has left untouched. Few have been as prolific in the depth and breadth of their scholarship, while possessing the humility, humanity and perspicacity that he does. Professor Madelung is a humanist in the truest sense of the word.” Josef W. Meri |
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After a brief period of diplomatic service (1958–60) as the Cultural Attaché at the West German Embassy in Baghdad, Madelung’s long and distinguished career in Islamic studies followed. In 1963, he started as Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and then joined the faculty of the University of Chicago where he taught for fourteen years as Assistant Professor (1964–65), Associate Professor (1966–68) and, finally, as Professor of Islamic History from 1969 until 1978 when he became the Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St. John’s College. He held this most prestigious of Islamic chairs in Europe until his retirement from Oxford and its Institute of Oriental Studies in 1998. Since 1999, Professor Madelung has been affiliated to The Institute of Ismaili Studies as a Senior Research Fellow. In the course of his career, Madelung has received numerous honours and has also taught as Visiting Professor at many academic institutions such as The American University in Beirut and the University of Toronto. His standing in the field has received recognition in his election as Fellow of the British Academy.
Divided into three sections, Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam: Essays in Honour of Wilferd Madelung, focuses on subthemes related to the transmission of knowledge, the acts of memorialising and remembering and the commemoration of rulers, dynasties and conquests. With contributions by Abbas Amanat, Said Amir Arjomand, Michael L. Bates, Joseph Norment Bell, Julia Bray, Farhad Daftary, Elton L. Daniel, George Makdisi, Martin J. McDermott, Josef W. Meri, Andrew J. Newman, Ismail K. Poonawala, Wada al-Qadi
, Emilie Savage-Smith, Sabine Schmidtke, Pieter Smoor, Luke Treadwell, Paul E. Walker and David J. Wasserstein, this volume will not only appeal to scholars and students of early and medieval Islamic history and theology, but also to all those interested more generally in historiography and the development and diversity of emergent religious thought.