Islamic studies by author (non-Muslim or academic)
Included are prominent authors who have made studies concerning Islam, the religion and its civilization, and the culture of Muslim peoples. Not included are those studies of Islam produced by Muslim authors meant primarily for a Muslim audience.
Chronological by date of birth
622 to 1500
- Joannis Damasceni, official of the Caliph at Damascus, later a Syrian monk, Doctor of the Church, his Peri Aireseon , its chapter 100 being "Heresy of the Ishmailites".
- Du Huan, captured at 751 Battle of Talas, traveled in Muslim lands for ten years, his Jingxingji contains descriptions of Muslim life; book lost, but quoted by his uncle Du You in his Tongdian, an encyclopedia of China.
- Sankara of Kerala, pivotal Hindu reformer; theologian of non-duality, the Advaita Vedanta: a unity of self and the whole ; unresolved is the claim that early notions of the Sufi wahdat al-wujud was synthesized by Sankara.
- Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, probably 8th/9th century Abbasid, pseudonym of an Arab Christian, author of the Risalah, a dialogue with a Muslim; later translated into Latin by Pedro de Toledo, this work became very influential in Europe.
- Nicetas Byzantius, his 9th century polemic Anatrope tes para tou Arabos... picks at the Qur'an chapter by chapter.
- Mardan-Farrukh of Iran, his late 9th century Sikand-Gumanik Vigar favorably compares his Zoroastrianism, especially its theodicy, with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whose doctrines and beliefs are discussed.
- Petrus Venerabilis, Abbot of Cluny, while in Hispania circa 1240, inspired a group led by Robert of Ketton, with Herman von Carinthia, Pierre de Poitiers, and the mozarab Pedro de Toledo to translate the Qur'an into Latin, hence the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete ; it circulated only in manuscript copies until 1543. Often only a tinted paraphrase, later George Sales would say it "deserves not the name of translation" because of its inaccuracy.
- Raimundo, Arzobispo de Toledo sponsored uncensored translations, at first by Domingo Gundisalvo a mozarab who rendered into Latin the Spanish translations from Arabic by the converso Juan Avendaut; later joined by European scholars, e.g., Gerardo da Cremona. From books found in al-Andalus, e.g., the pagan Aristotle, and the Muslims Ibn Sina, al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd ; such translations led to controversy & the eventual "baptism" of Aristotle by Tomas d'Aquino at the University of Paris.
- Mose ben Maimon, major Jewish theologian and talmudist who fled Al-Andalus for Morocco, then Cairo, his Dalalat al-Ha'rin , reconciles the Bible and the Talmud with Aristotle, discusses Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and the Muslim Kalam, especially the Mutakallimun, as well as the Mutazili; influenced by Ibn Rushd.
- Marco de Toledo Castile, an improved Latin translation from Arabic of the Qur'an.
- Francesco d'Assisi, Italian saint, as peaceful missionary to Muslims, preached before Al-Kamil, Kurdish Sultan of Egypt, in 1219 during the fifth crusade; his Regula non bullata , chapter XVI "Those who are going among the Saracens and other unbelievers" counsels not to enter disputes, but rather humility, proclaiming what will please God.
- Frederick II, Hohenstaufen Emperor, at whose court in Palermo, Sicily, translations from Arabic into Latin continued.
- Ibn Kammuna, Jewish scholar of Baghdad, his fair-minded though controversial Tanqih al-abhat li-l-milal al-talat .
- Alfonso X el Sabio, Castile, his royal Scriptorium or continued translations from Arabic into Latin, which then became widely known in Europe; many translators were Jewish.
- Ramon Marti Castilla, Dominican friar, Summa contra errores Alcoranorum ; Pugio fidei adversus mauros et judaeos ; a traditional partisan, he refers to the Qur'an, Hadith, as well as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, al-Ghazali, Ibn Rushd.
- Tomás d'Aquino Italian Dominican, Doctor of the Church, his Summa contra Gentiles , includes criticism of the Aristotelianism of Ibn Rushd ; also De Unitate Intellectus Contra Averroistas .
- Bar 'Ebraya , Catholicos of the Syriac Orthodox Church, learned theologian, prolific author, his spiritual treatise in Syriac Kethabha dhe yauna , as well as his Ethikon said by Wensinck to show influence by al-Ghazali.
- Ramon Llull Majorcan author and theologian, "Doctor Illuminatus", proponent of the "Ars Magna", fluent in Arabic, three times missionary to Tunis; his Llibre del Gentile e dels tres Savis , in which one learned in Hellenic philosophy hears three scholars, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, whose views are shared with exquisite courtesy by reasoning over their mutual virtues, rather than by attack and defense. Lull infers a heterodox continuum between the natural & the revealed supernatural.
- Riccoldo di Monte Croce Italian Dominican, a missionary during the 1290s, lived in Baghdad, his Propugnaculum Fidei soon translated into Greek, later into German by Martin Luther; also polemic Contra Legum Serracenorum.
- Ramananda Hindu egalitarian reformer of bhakti movement, origin as Brahmin in sect of Ramanuja; his popular synthesis of both Islamic and Hindu elements led also to inter-religious understanding; the Sant Mat poet Kabir was a disciple.
- Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, ambassador of Enrique III of Castile to Timur at Samarkand, Embajada a Tamor Lán .
- Nicolaus Cusanus German Cardinal, at cusp of renaissance; following the fall of Constantinople, his De pace fidei sought common ground among the various religions, presenting fictitious short dialogues involving an Arab, an Indian, an Assyrian, a Jew, a Scythian, a Persian, a Syrian, a Turk, a Tartar, and various Christians; also his Cribratio Alcorani.
- Nanak India, influenced by Muslim sufis and Hindu bhakti, became a teacher who traveled far to preach the unity of God; Sikhs revere him as their first Guru; opposed to caste divisions, and opposed to Hindu-Muslim rivalry/conflict.
- Leo Africanus, originally Al Hassan, Muslim of Fez; traveled with his diplomat uncle to Timbuktu; later captured by Christian pirates & sold into slavery; freed by Pope Leo X and baptised; wrote Cosmographia Dell'Africa of his travels; returned to Islam.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.
1500 to 1800
- Enbaqom, Ethiopia, echage or abbot of Dabra Libanos, origin as trader from Yemen; his Anqasa Amin , written in Ge'ez, defends Christianity contra Islam, citing the Qur'an, and is addressed to the Muslim invader Ahmad Gran.
- Theodor Bibliander , Swiss theologian, in 1543 published in Basle various documents, which included the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete of 1143.
- Luis de Marmol Carvajal, Spanish soldier in Africa twenty years, captured and enslaved seven years, travels in Guinea, North Africa, Egypt, and perhaps Ethiopia: Descripción general de África.
- Alonso del Castillo, Spain, formative work in Arabic archives and inscriptions.
- Andre du Ryer France, translation of the Qur'an: L'Alcoran de Mahomet translaté d'arabe en françois .
- Alexander Ross, Scotland, chaplain to Charles I, first English translation of the Qur'an from the French of du Ryer.
- Ludovico Marracci Italian priest, professor of Arabic, Latin translation of the Qur'an, Alcorani textus universus..., publication delayed by Church censors, in two volumes: Prodromus contains a biography of Mohammad and summary of Islamic doctrine; Refutatio Alcorani contains the Qur'an in Arabic text, with Latin translation, annotated per partisan purposes ; cited by Edward Gibbon. Also, his earlier contributions translating the Bible into Arabic.
- Dara Shikuh, Mughal, elder brother of Aurangzeb; Muslim but included here because of his syncretism in the tradition of his great-grandfather Akbar; his Majma-ul-Bahrain finds parallels between Sufism and the monotheistic Vedanta of Hinduism, it was later translated into Sanskrit; also his own translation into Persian of the Upanishads.
- Johann Heinrich Hottinger Swiss philologist, theologian, Historia Orientalis in Latin.
- Barthelemy d'Herbelot de Molainville French philologist, Bibliothèque orientale, based initially on the Turkish scholar Katip Celebi's Kashf al-Zunum which contains over 14,000 alphabetical entries.
- Henry Stubbe English author, his An Account of the rise and progress of Mahometanism: with the life of Mahomet and a vindication of him and his religion from the calumnies of the Christians, which evidently lay in manuscript several hundred years until edited by Mahmud Khan Shairani and published.
- Jean Chardin French merchant, Journal du Voyage.. de Chardin en Perse et aux Indes Orientales .
- Antoine Galland France, first in the West to translate the Arabian Nights, Les Mille et Une Nuits.
- Humphrey Prideaux Anglican Dean, traditional partisan, The True Nature of Imposture fully display'd in the Life of Mahomet, reprint 1798, Fairhaven, Vermont; this work follows earlier polemics, & also refutes European deists.
- Abraham Hinckelmann, edited an Arabic text of the Qur'an, later published in Hamburg, Germany, in 1694.
- Henri Comte de Boulainviller French historian, his Vie de Mahomet , praises what he saw as the instrumental rationalism of the prophet, portraying Islam in terms of a natural religion.
- Liu Zhi Chinese Muslim scholar writing in Chinese ; during early Qing, presented Islam to Manchus as consonant with Confucianism, e.g., his Tianfang Dianli dealing with ritual, comparing li with Muslim practice.
- Jean Gagnier Oxford Univ., De vita et rebus Mohammedis, annotated Latin translation of chapters on Muhammad from Mukhtasar Ta'rikh a-Bashar by Abu 'l-Fida ; also La Vie de Mahomet, biography in French.
- Liu Chih China, T'ien-fang Chih-sheng shi-lu, ; I. Mason , The Arabian Prophet; A life of Mohammed from Chinese sources.
- Simon Ochley England, Cambridge Univ., his History of the Saracens praises Islam at arm's length.
- Voltaire French author, critic, anti-cleric, deist, wealthy speculator; his play Mahomet le prophete ou le fanatisme , invents scurrilous legends & attacks hypocrisy,.
- George Sale, English lawyer, using Hinckelmann and Marracci, annotated and translated into English a well regarded The Koran ; member of the "Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge", proofread its Arabic New Testament.
- Miguel Casiri, Syrian Maronite, Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis.
- Carsten Niebuhr Germany, member of royal Danish expedition to Yemen, Beschreibung von Arabien ; Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und andern umliegenden Landern.
- Silvestre de Sacy Jewish French, his Grammaire arabe ; teacher of Champollion who read the Rosetta Stone.
- José Antonio Conde Historia de la dominacion de los arabes en Espana, pioneer work now depreciated.
- Ram Mohan Roy , India, early journalist, influential religious and social reformer, founder of Brahmo Samaj, his Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin , a book in Persian on, e.g., the unity of religions.
- Washington Irving U.S., author, Minister to Spain 1842-1846, Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada ; Tales of the Alhambra where he lived several years; Mahomet and His Successors a popular, fair-minded biography based on translations from Arabic and on western authors, since edited.
- Charles Mills England, History of Mohammedanism.
- Garcin de Tassy France, L'Islamisme d'apre le Coran, the religion based on a reading of the Qur'an.
- Yusuf Ma Dexin Chinese Muslim scholar and leader; first to translate the Qur'an into Chinese.
- A. P. Caussin de Perceval Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme, Arabia before Muhammad.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.
1800 to 1900
- Gustav Leberecht Flügel, Germany, Al-Qoran: Corani textus Arabicus, Arabic text for academics.
- Gustav Weil Jewish German, Mohammed der Prophet ; Biblische Legenden der Musel-manner ; Das Leben Mohammeds nach Mohammed ibn Ishak, bearbeitet von Abdel Malik ibn Hischam.
- John Medows Rodwell, English translation of The Koran, using derived chronological sequence of Suras.
- Pascual de Gayangos y Arce, Spanish Arabist, studied under de Sacy in Paris; translated al-Maqqari into English as History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain ; Tratados de Legislación Musulmana.
- Abraham Geiger German rabbi and scholar, major founder of Reform Judaism, his Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen? restates and updates a perennial thesis.
- Aloys Sprenger Austria, Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad.
- Carl Paul Caspari German, Christian convert from Judaism, Norwegian academic, Grammatica Arabica, Latin.
- William Muir, Scotland, government official in India, The Life of Mohamet.
- Edward Rehatsek Hungary, later India, first translation of Sirah Rasul Allah into English.
- Reinhart Dozy Netherlands, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne jusqu'a la Conquete de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides, 4 volumes; Recherches sur l'Histoire et la Littérature de l'Espagne pendant le moyen âge.
- Richard Francis Burton British, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Mecca.
- Ernest Renan French, Catholic apostate, Histoire generale et system compare des langues semitiques.
- Friedrich Max Müller German philologist, comparative religion pioneer, Oxford Univ. professor, editor of 50 volume Sacred Books of the East, volumes 6 and 9 being the Qur'an translated by E. H. Palmer.
- :es:Francisco Javier Simonet Spanish Arabist, traditional partisan, Leyendas históricas árabes ; Historia de los mozarabes de Espana ; controversial views, e.g., suggests that one-sided Muslim marriage law caused an insulation in the subject people that over generations fused their religious & lineage identities, hence focus put on limpio de sangre.
- Ludolf Krehl Beitrage zur Muhammedanischen Dogmatik.
- Alfred von Kremer Austria, professor of Arabic at Wien, foreign service to Cairo, Egypt; Geschichte de herrschenden Ideen des Islams ; Culturgeschichte Streifzüge auf dem Gebiete des Islams .
- Girish Chandra Sen India, translated Muslim works into Bengali, including the Qur'an ; professor of Islam for the Brahmo Samaj, universalist Hindu reform society founded in 1828 by Ram Mohan Roy.
- :es:Francisco Codera y Zaidín Tratado numismática arábigo-español ; founded Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana.
- Michael Jan de Geoje Dutch academic, led the editing of the Arabic text of Ta'rikh al-rasul wa'l muluk of the Persian al-Tabari, in 14 volumes.
- Theodor Nöldeke Germany, well regarded philologist and academic, Das Leben Mohammeds ; Zur Grammatik de klassische Arabisch ; with Friedrich Schwally Geschichte des Qorans.
- Edward Henry Palmer, English; traveler in Arab lands; called to the bar in 1874; translated Qur'an for the S.B.E. ; killed in Egypt by desert ambush while with British military patrol.
- Ignazio Guidi Italy, L'Arabe anteislamique.
- Julius Wellhausen Germany, Muhammed in Medina ; Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz ; his Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels presents studies using the "higher criticism" of the Bible.
- William Robertson Smith Scotland, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia ; Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, sought to locate ancient Judaism in its historical context; in his Old Testament studies influenced by Wellhausen.
- Italo Pizzi L'Islamismo.
- Ignaz Goldziher, Hungary, Die Zahiriten ; Muhammedanische Studien ; Vorlesungen uber den Islam ; Die Richtungen der islamischen Koranauslegung ; well regarded Jewish scholar, admirer of Islam, e.g., writing that he felt fulfillment when praying with Muslims in a Cairo mosque.
- Herbert Udny Weitbrecht, The Teaching of the Qur’an with an Account of Its Growth and a Subjekt Index,
- Martijn Theodoor Houtsma Netherlands, lead editor of Encyclopaedia of Islam, 9 volumes; eclipsed by a new edition of 11 volumes with index and supplements.
- Julián Ribera y Tarragó Spain, professor of Arabic, studies in mixed culture of al-Andalus ; El Cancionero de Abencuzmán ; La musica de las Cantigas.
- David Samuel Margoliouth, Anglican, his father a Jewish convert, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam ; Relations between Arabs and Israelites prior to the Rise of Islam ; Table-talk of a Mesopotamian judge.
- William St. Clair Tisdall Anglican priest, linguist, traditional partisan, The Original Sources of the Quran.
- Edward G. Browne English, A Literary History of Persia.
- Henri Lammens Flemish Jesuit, a modern partisan; Fatima et ls filles de Mahomet ; Le berceau de l'Islam ; L'Islam, croyances et institutions ; L'Arabe Occidental avant l'Hegire.
- Henri Pirenne Belgian historian, Mahomet et Charlemagne , how the Arab conquests disrupted Mediterranean trade, isolating the European economies which declined.
- Maurice Gaudefroy-Desmombynes France, Le pelerinage a la Mekke ; Le monde musulman et byzantin jusqu'aux croisades with S.F.Platonov; Les institutions musulmanes .
- Duncan Black MacDonald Scotland; Hartford Seminary in U.S.; Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence and Constitutional Theory ; The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam.
- Friedrich Zacharias Schwally, Germany; student of Theodor Nöldeke; Ibraham ibn Muhammed el-Baihaqi Kitab el Mahdsin val Masdwi ; Kitab al-mahasin vai-masavi.
- Thomas Walker Arnold England, professor in India associating with Shibli Nomani & Muhammad Iqbal, later at London S.O.A.S.; The Caliphate ; Painting in Islam. A study of the place of pictorial art in Muslim culture ; The Preaching of Islam ; Legacy of Islam editor with A. Guillaume.
- Miguel de Unamuno Spain, philosopher; embraced Spanish connection to Berber North Africa but not to the Arabs.
- François Nau Les chrétiens arabes en Mesopotamia et en Syrie au VIIe et VIIIe siècles.
- William Ambrose Shedd U.S., Presbyterian, Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their historical relations.
- Marshall Broomhall British, Protestant missionary to China, .
- Theodor Juynboll Handbuch des islamischen Gesetzes on Islamic law.
- Samuel Marinus Zwemer U.S., Dutch Reform missionary to Islam, later at Princeton, Islam. A Challenge to Faith ; Law of Apostasy in Islam.
- Leon Walerian Ostroróg, Comte Poland, The Angora Reform, on the "Law of Fundamental Organization" of republican Turkey transferring power from the Sultan to the Assembly; Pour la réforme de la justice ottomane.
- Gertrude Bell English, Persian Pictures ; Syria: The desert and the sown ; became a British political officer in Arab lands during World War I.
- Reynold Nicholson English, The Mystics of Islam ; A Literary History of the Arabs.
- Carl Brockelmann Geschichte der arabischen Literatur, Geschichte der islamischen Volker und Staaten .
- Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Spain, elaborates Ribera and Asín. España, eslabón entre la cristiandad y el islam .
- Leone Caetani Italian nobleman, Annali dell'Islam reprint 1972, contains early Arabic sources.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi spiritual and independence leader in India, opposed caste divisions; prolific writer, teacher of satyagraha worldwide, influencing Martin Luther King; his letter to Mohammad Ali Jinnah of Sept. 11, 1944, stated "My life mission has been Hindu-Muslim unity... not to be achieved without the foreign ruling power being ousted." Because of policies favorable to Islam, the mahatma was assassinated by a Hindu ultra-nationalist. Cf., McDonough, Gandhi's responses to Islam.
- Miguel Asín Palacios, Catholic priest, professor of Arabic, studied the mutuality of influence between Christian and Islamic spirituality, Algazel ; La escatologia musulmana en la Divina Comedia per influence on Dante of mi'raj literature; El Islam cristianizado. Estudio del sufismo a traves de las obras de Abenarabi de Murcia ; Huellas del Islam includes comparative articles on Tomas d'Aquino and Juan de las Cruz.
- De Lacy O'Leary Bristol Univ. Arabic Thought and Its Place in History ; Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages ; Arabia before Muhammad ; How Greek Science passed to the Arabs.
- Georg Graf Germany, Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur.
- Richard Bell British, Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment.
- Arthur S. Tritton The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects. A critical study of the Covenant of 'Umar.
- Alphonse Mingana Assyrian Christian, former priest, religious historian, collected early Syriac and Arabic documents and books into the "Mingana Collection".
- Julian Morgenstern U.S., Rites of Birth, Marriage, Death and Kindred Occasions among the Semites.
- Arent Jan Wensinck Dutch, Mohammed en de Joden te Medina ; La pensee de Ghazzali ; Handworterbuch des Islam with J. H. Kramers; from Syriac, Bar Hebraeus's Book of the Dove.
- Louis Massignon France, influenced Catholic-Islamic understanding per the Nostra aetate of Vatican II ; a married priest, Essai sur les origines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane ; Passion de Husayn Ibn Mansur Hallaj .
- José Ortega y Gasset Spain, philosopher; like Unamuno opposed modern trend to incorporate into Spanish historiography the positive Islamic element. Abenjaldún nos revela el secreto, about Ibn Khaldun.
- Nicolas P. Aghnides Mohammedan Theories of Finance.
- Margaret Smith Rabi'a the mystic and her fellow saints in Islam ; Studies in Early Mysticism in the Near and Middle East development of early Christian mysticism, of Islamic re Sufism, and a comparison.
- Seymour Gonne Vesey-Fitzgerald, Muhammadan Law, an abridgement, according to its various schools ; The Iraq Treaty, 1930.
- Tor Andrae, Sweden, Univ.of Uppsala, history of religion, comparative religion; Mohammed. Sein Leben und Sein Glaube ; I myrtenträdgarden: Studier i tidig islamisk mystik .
- Américo Castro Spain, reinterpreted Spanish history by integrating Muslim and Jewish contributions. España en su historia: Cristianos, moros y judíos ; Sobre el nombre y quién de los españoles: cómo llegaron a serlo.
- Philip Khuri Hitti Lebanon, formative re Arabic studies in the U.S., Origins of the Islamic State annotated translation of Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Baladhuri; History of Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine.
- Shūmei Ōkawa Japanese author activist; pan-Asian modern partisan, pro-India since 1913 ; indicted at Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal for his "clash of civilizations" view; translation of Qur'an into Japanese.
- Giorgio Levi Della Vida Jewish Italian, professor of semitic languages, Storia e religione nell'Oriente semitico ; Les Sémites et leur rôle das l'histoire religieuse ; anti-Fascist Italian politician in 1920s.
- Gonzangue Ryckmans Belgium, Catholic priest, Louvain professor, epigraphy of pre-Islamic South Arabia; Les Religions Arabes preislamiques.
- Harry Austryn Wolfson U.S., Harvard Univ., Philo. Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ; The Philosophy of the Kalam ; Repercussions of the Kalam in Jewish Philosophy.
- Alfred Guillaume England, Life of Muhammad annotated translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, an early "biography" of the prophet ; Legacy of Islam co-editor with T. W. Arnold.
- :es:Ángel González Palencia Spanish Arabist, História de la España musulmana ; História de la literatura arábigo-española ; Moros y cristianos in España medieval. Estudios históricos-literarios.
- Arthur Jeffery American University at Cairo 1921-1938, Materials for the history of the text of the Quran ; Foreign Vocabulary in the Quran ; A Reader on Islam.
- Barend ter Haar Dutch, Beginselen en Stelsel van het Adatrecht , on Adat law in Indonesia.
- Olaf Caroe a former governor of the area, The Pathans. 550 B.C. - A.D. 1957.
- Freya Stark English, Valley of the Assassins about NW Iran; The Southern Gates of Arabia. A journey in the Hadhramaut ; A winter in Arabia.
- Willi Heffening Germany, Das islamische fremdenrecht zu den islamisch-fränkischen staatsverträgen. Eine rechtshistorischen studie zum fiqh.
- Évariste Lévi-Provençal France, Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane, 711-1031.
- E. A. Belyaev Russia, Araby, Islam i arabskii Khalifat .
- Henri Terrasse French Arabist, Histoire du Maroc ; Islam d'Espagne.
- Morris S. Seale Muslim Theology. A Study of Origins with Reference to the Church Fathers.
- Gerald de Gaury English soldier, Rulers of Mecca.
- José López Ortiz Spain, Arabist with interest in legal history; article on fatwas of Granada; Los Jurisconsultos Musulmanes ; Derecho musulman ; a Catholic priest, later made Bishop.
- Enrico Cerulli Italy, Documenti arabi per la storia nell' Etiopia ; his two works re Dante and Islam per M. Asín: Il "Libro della scala" e la question delle fonti arabo-spagnole della Divina commedia, Nuove ricerche sul "Libro della Scala" e la conoscenza dell'Islam in Occidente.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.
1900 to 1950s
- Claude L. Pickens, professor of Chinese at Harvard University, Annotated Bibliography of Literature on Islam in China.
- Josef Schacht France, Islamic legal history, Der Islam ; Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence influential work, a legal historical critique the early oral transmission of Hadith & founding jurists; Introduction to Islamic Law ; Legacy of Islam edited with C. E. Bosworth.
- J. Spencer Trimingham English; Islam in Ethiopia, history and sociology; Sufi Orders in Islam ; Christianity among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times.
- Erwin Rosenthal German, Political Thought in Medieval Islam ; Judaism and Islam.
- Arthur John Arberry English, The Koran Interpreted, a translation that attempts to capture the medium of the original Arabic; various other translations; Sufism. An Account of the Mystics of Islam.
- Emilio García Gómez Spain, Arabist, poet; Poemas arabigoandaluces ; Poesia arabigoandaluza ; his theories, e.g., on origins of the muwashshahat ; his admired translations from Arabic.
- Henri Laoust France, Essai sur les doctrines sociales et politiques de Taki-d-Din Ahmad Taimiya, cononiste 'anbalite ; Le traite de droit public d'Ibn Taimiya ; Le politique de Gazali.
- :de:Geo Widengren|Geo Widengren Sweden, comparative religion; Muhammad, The Apostle of God, and His Ascension.
- Frithjof Schuon German Swiss; of Traditionalist School, its co-founder with Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy; De l'unite transcendente des religions ; Comprendre l'Islam ; Regards sur le Mondes Anciens .
- Henry Corbin France, associated with Eranos Institute, an academic in history of religions; Les Motifs zoroastriens dans la philosophie de Suhrawardi ; Avicenne et la recit vissionaire ; L'imagination creatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn 'Arabi ; Terre celeste et corps de resurrection: de l'Iran mazdeen a l'Iran shi'ite .
- Neal Robinson academic, Christ in Islam and Christianity, study of Islamic commentaries and interpretations.
- James Norman Dalrymple Anderson U.K., Islamic law at S.O.A.S., Islamic Law in Africa ; Islamic Law in the Modern World ; Law Reform in the Muslim World.
- Titus Burckhardt German Swiss, early contact with Traditionalist School and Rene Guenon; Du Soufisme ; Die Maurische Kultur in Spanien .
- Abraham Katsh US academic, Judaism in Islam. Biblical and Talmudic backgrounds of the Koran and its Commentators, Sura I & II, reprinted 1962 as Judaism and the Koran.
- William Montgomery Watt Muhammad at Mecca, Muhammad at Medina ; with P. Cachia A History of Islamic Spain ; Formative Period of Islamic Thought.
- Claude Cahen France, Introduction a l'histoire du monde musulman medieval, VIIe-XVIe siecle.
- Martin Lings student of Frithjof Schuon, Muhammed. His life based on the earliest sources ; Secret of Shakespeare.
- Józef Bielawski Uniwersytet Warszawski, former Polish diplomat to Turkey; Historia lieratury arabskiej: zarys ; translation of Qur'an into Polish, improving on that of J.M.T.Buczacki.
- Jacques Berque, pied-noir scholar who early favored Maghribi independence, he retained his ties to Africa; Moroccan Berber ethnology: Les structures sociales du Haut Atlas ; Arab renaissance: Les Arabes d'hier a demain .
- Geoffrey Parrinder comparative religion, Jesus in the Qur'an, reprint Oneworld 1995.
- Wilfred Thesiger England; Arabian Sands, on late 1940s explorations by camel of the "empty quarter" Ar-Rab' Al-Khali; The Marsh Arabs, on the rural people of southern Iraq.
- Ann K. S. Lambton English, State and Government in medieval Islam ; Continuity and Change in medieval Persia. Aspects of administrative, economic and social history, 11th-14th century.
- Giulio Basetti-Sani Italy, Mohammed et Saint François ; Per un dialogo cristiano-musulmano.
- Kenneth Cragg U.S., The Call of the Minaret ; The Arab Christian.
- George Hourani Lebanese English, Averroes. On the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy annotated translation of Kitab fasl al maqal of Ibn Rushd; Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics ; Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in ancient and medieval times.
- Uriel Heyd German, later Israeli, Studies in old Ottoman criminal Law.
- Robert Charles Zaehner religious studies at Oxford, The Comparison of Religions ; Hindu and Muslim Mysticism ; Concordant Discord: The Interdependence of Faiths.
- Franz Rosenthal Fortleben der Antike im Islam ; Muslim intellectual and social history.
- Toshihiko Izutsu Japan, Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an ; Sufism and Taoism.
- Igor Mikhailovich Diakonov USSR/Russia, historian, linguistics, Semitokhamitskie iazyki ; Afraziiskie iazyki ; both on history and description of Afroasiatic languages.
- Joseph Greenberg U.S., Stanford Univ., linguistic anthropology; in historical linguistics use of his mass lexical comparison to establish language families; Languages of Africa coined "Afroasiatic" to replace "Hamito-Semitic" for it includes as equal branches Ancient Egyptian, Berber, Chadic, and Cushitic, as well as Semitic; also his recent book on Eurasiatic; cf. Nostratic.
- Albert Hourani UK, Minorities in the Arab World ; Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939 on the Arab nahda ; Political Society in Lebanon ; A History of the Arab Peoples ; brother of George Hourani.
- Maxime Rodinson French Marxist, Mahomet as understood with empathy by an atheist; Islam et capitalisme ; Israel et le refus arabe.
- Bernard Lewis British-American, Arabs in History ; Muslim Discovery of Europe ; What went Wrong? The Clash between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East.
- George Makdisi U.S., Islamic studies, Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West ; Rise of Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West.
- Ehsan Yar-Shater Editor of encyclopedia Danishnamah-i Iran va Islam ; editor of History of al-Tabari ; editor of Encyclopædia Iranica ; History of Medicine in Iran.
- Marshall Hodgson U.S., The Venture of Islam ; The Order of the Assassins ; Rethinking World History. Essays on Europe, Islam....
- Annemarie Schimmel Germany, specialist in Sufism, Die Bildersprache Dschelaladdin Rumi ; Mevlana Celalettin Rumi'nin sark ve garpta tesirleri ; Mystical Dimensions of Islam.
- Sabatino Moscati Italy, Semitic studies, Le antiche civiltà semitiche ; I Fenici e Cartagine.
- Bogumił Witalis Andrzejewski, Poland, linguistics at S.O.A.S. in London; Islamic literature in Somalia ; formulator of Latin alphabet for Somali; also work in Oromo, another East Cushitic language, of the Afroasiatic language family.
- Donald Leslie Australia, Islamic Literature in China, late Ming and early Ch'ing ; Islam in Traditional China.
- Ernest Gellner London Sch.of Econ., Saints of the Atlas ; Muslim Society: Essays.
- Irfan Shahid, Georgetown Univ., Dumbarton Oaks; Byzantium and the Arabs multi-vol., pre-Islamic politics.
- Leonard Binder Univ.of Chicago, Religion and Politics in Pakistan.
- Francis E. Peters U.S.; Aristotle Arabus ; Jerusalem and Mecca ; Muhammad and the Origins of Islam ; Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam.
- John K. Cooley U.S. journalist, long time coverage of Arab world, An Alliance against Babylon ; Unholy Wars. Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism ; Baal, Christ, and Mohammed. Religion and Revolution in North Africa ; collaboration with E. W. Said.
- Fredrik Barth Political Leadership among the Swat Pathans.
- Aram Ter-Ghevondyan, Armenian historian; The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia , historical, political, and social study on the Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia and its relations with Byzantium and the Arab Emirates; Armenia and the Arab Caliphate .
- Speros Vryonis U.S., U.C.L.A., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century ; Studies on Byzantium, Seljuks and Ottomans.
- John Wansbrough U.S., Islamic studies at S.O.A.S., reinterpretation of Islamic origins, Quranic Studies, Sectarian Milieu.
- Noel J. Coulson U.K., Islamic law at S.O.A.S., History of Islamic Law ; Conflict and Tensions in Islamic Jurisprudence ; Succession in the Muslim Family ; Commercial Law in the Gulf States: The Islamic Legal Tradition.
- J. Hoeberichts Dutch, Franciscus en de Islam ; formerly a theology professor in Karachi.
- Wilferd Madelung Germany, The Succession to Muhammad ; studies on the Shia.
- Jacob Neusner U.S., Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam with T.Sonn; Judaism and Islam in Practice editor, with T.Sonn & J.E.Brockopp; Three Faiths, One God with B. Chilton & W. Graham.
- Edward W. Said Palestinian-American, academic, Columbia Univ.; Orientalism ; collaborations with Christopher Hitchens, Noam Chomsky, John K. Cooley.
- William Chittick U.S., collaborations with Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Allameh Tabatabaei in Iran; A Shi'ite Anthology ; Sufi Path of Love text and commentary on Rumi; Sufi Path of Knowledge on Ibn Arabi; Imaginal Worlds. Ibn al-'Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity.
- Sachiko Murata, Japan, Tao of Islam. A sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought ; Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light with her translations from Chinese, and those from Persian by W. Chittick, her spouse.
- Sami Zubaida Univ.of London, Islam, the People and the State ; Law and Power in the Islamic World.
- Farhad Daftary Inst. of Isma'ili Studies, London, The Isma'ilis: their history and doctrines.
- Richard E. Rubenstein U.S., professor of conflict resolution, Alchemists of Revolution. Terrorists in the modern world ; Aristotle's Children. How Christians, Muslims, & Jews rediscovered ancient wisdom & illuminated the Dark Ages.
- Robert Simon Hungary, Meccan Trade and Islam. Problems of origin and structure ; Qur'an translation.
- Michael Cook English, Studies in the Origins of Early Islamic Culture and Tradition ; with P. Crone, '.
- Roy Parviz Mottahedeh U.S., Loyalty and Leadership in an Early Islamic Society, :The Mantle of the Prophet.
- John L. Esposito U.S., Islam. The Straight Path ; editor-in-chief Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World ; Islam and Civil Society.
- Malise Ruthven Scotland, Islam in the World ; Fury for God. Islamist attack on America.
- Mark R. Cohen Princeton Univ., Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt ; Under Crescent & Cross.
- William A. Graham U.S., Harvard University, "Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam" ; "Beyond the Written Word" ; "Islamic and Comparative Religious Studies"
- Gerald R. Hawting with Wansbrough at S.O.A.S., The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750 ; The Idea of Idolatry and the Rise of Islam: From polemic to history.
- Karen Armstrong English author; Muhammad, a Biography of the Prophet ; Jerusalem: one city, three faiths ; A History of God ; "Islam: A Short History".
- Fred M. Donner U.S., Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writings.
- Patricia Crone Denmark, professor in England & U.S., ', on political thought; Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam ; Roman, Provincial and Islamic Law, as sources of Islamic jurisprudence; with M. Cook, ' following Wansbrough, sets forth the thesis that a multivalent sect of Judaic dissenters predated Muhammad and contributed to the Qur'an.
- Daniel Pipes U.S., Hoover Inst., historian, political commentator; '.
- Norman Calder Studies in Early Muslim Jurisprudence, analysis of early Islamic legal texts.
- Carl W. Ernst Islamic studies, Univ.of N.Carolina, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center ; Shambhala Guide to Sufism ; Following Muhammad. Rethinking Islam in the contemporary world.
- Daniel Martin Varisco U.S., Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science: The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan.
- François Déroche France, Professor at the Collège de France, The Abbasid Tradition: Qur ̓ans of the 8th to 10th Centuries ; Scribes et manuscrits du Moyen-Orient ; Manuel de codicologie des manuscrits en écriture arabe.
- María Rosa Menocal U.S., her The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History.
- Kim Ho-dong Korea, Holy War in China. Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia 1864-1877''.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.
Chronological by date of publication
- Austin Kennett England, Bedouin Justice. Law and Custom among the Egyptian Bedouin.
- David Santillana Italy, Istituzioni di Diritto musulmano malichita, 2 volumes, on Islamic law, Maliki school.
- Chin Chi-t'ang China, Chung-kuo hui-chiao shih yen-chiu .
- Ugo Monneret de Villard Italian academic, Lo Studio dell' Islam in Europa nel XII e nel XIII secolo.
- José Muñoz Sendino Spanish academic, La Escala de Mahoma, on mi'raj literature re Dante and Islam per M. Asín.
- Jacques Ryckmans Belgium, Leuven Univ. professor, L'institution monarchique en Arabie meridionale avant l'Islam ; Textes du Yemen antique ; nephew of Gonzangue Ryckmans.
- Miguel Cruz Hernandez, Univ.of Salamanca, Filosofia Hispano-musulmana, 2 volumes.
- Joseph Chelhod Introduction a la Sociologie de l'Islam. De l'animisme a l'universalisme.
- Norman Daniel Islam and the West. The making of an image.
- Jean Jacques Waardenburg L'Islam dans le miroir de l'Occident, cultural review of various western scholars of Islam: Goldziher, Hurgronje, Becker, Macdonald, Massignon.
- Farhadt J. Ziadeh, University of Washington, Lawyers, the rule of law & liberalism in modern Egypt.
- James T. Monroe U.S., Univ.of California at Berkeley; Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship ; Hispano-Arabic Poetry ; with Benjamin M. Liu, Ten Hispano-Arabic Strophic Songs.
- Abraham L. Udovitch U.S., Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam.
- Cristobal Cuevas El pensamiento del Islam. Contenido e Historia. Influencia en la Mistica espanola.
- Nilo Geagea Lebanese priest, Maria nel messagio coranico , study of texts and of a meeting point between religions.
- Victor Segesvary Swiss, L'Islam et la Reforme.
- Federico Corriente Spain, Las mu'allaqat: antologia y panorama de Arabia preislamica, annotated translation of well-known collection of popular poetry in Arabia prior to Muhammad.
- Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, Hebrew Univ.of Jerusalem, her Studies in Al-Ghazzali ; Intertwined Worlds. Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism ; Islam-Yahadut: Yahadut-Islam.
- Bat Ye'or, British author, Jewish refugee ; her Hebrew pen name "Daughter of the Nile"; modern partisan; ' ; ' ; '.
- G. W. Bowersock U.S., Princeton Univ., Roman Arabia, Nabataea to 4th century.
- William Chittick U.S., SUNY Stony Brook, Sufi Path of Love. Spiritual teachings of Rumi ; Sufi Path of Knowledge. Ibn Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination ; with Sachiko Murata and Tu Weiming, The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi: Islamic Thought in Confucian Terms.
- Antoine El-Gemayel, Lebanon, The Lebanese Legal System 2 vol., editor.
- Luce López-Baralt Puerto Rico academic, her San Juan de la Cruz y el Islam ; Huellas del Islam en la literatura espanola ; influenced by Miguel Asín Palacios.
- Joseph Cuoq France, L'Islam en Ethiopie des origines au XVIe siecle ; Islamisation de la Nubie Chretienne.
- George E. Irani Lebanon, U.S., The Papacy and the Middle East. The Role of the Holy See in the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1962-1984, e.g., the effect of Vatican II on Church policy.
- Lisa Anderson U.S. academic, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980.
- David Stephen Powers Studies in Qur'an and Hadith. The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance.
- David B. Burrell U.S., Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas.
- Masataka Takeshita Japan, Ibn 'Arabi's Theory of the Perfect Man and its Place in the History of Islamic Thought.
- Heribert Busse, Univ.of Kiel, Theologischen Beziehungen des Islams zu Judentum und Christentum , which discusses Muhammad, as well as the narratives found in the Qur'an about the Old Testament and the New Testament.
- R. Stephen Humphreys U.S., Islamic History: a framework for inquiry ; Tradition and innovation in the study of Islamic history. The evolution of North Armerican scholarship since 1960.
- Jean-François Breton, L'Arabie heureuse au temps de la reine de Saba: Viii-I siècles avant J.-C. .
- Claude Addas France, her Ibn 'Arabi ou La quete du Soufre Rouge .
- Julian Baldick, Univ. of London, Mystical Islam ; Black God. Afroasiatic roots of Jewish, Christian, & Muslim religions.
- Harald Motzki Germany, Die Anfange der islamischen Jurisprudenz , by his review of early legal texts, provides a moderate challenge to Schacht's criticism of Hadith & the origins of Islamic law.
- Jacob Lassner, Northwestern Univ.; Demonizing the Queen of Sheba. Boundaries of gender and culture in postbiblical Judaism and medieval Islam.
- Haim Gerber Hebrew Univ.of Jerusalem, State, Society and Law in Islam. Ottoman Law in Comparative Perspective.
- Brannon M. Wheeler U.S., Applying the Canon in Islam. The Authorization and Maintenance of Interpretive Reasoning in Hanafi Scholarship.
- G. H. A. Juynboll Dutch, Studies on the Origin and Uses of Islamic Hadith.
- Mehrzad Boroujerdi U.S., Iranian Intellectuals and the West. The tormented triumph of nativism, includes clerical and lay religious thought, with critical profiles of several 20th-century academic writers.
- Michael Dillon, China's Muslims ; China's Muslim Hui Community. Migration, Settlement, and Sects.
- Malika Zeghal western academic, Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Gardiens de l'Islam. Les oulemas d'al-Azhar dans l'Egypte contemporaine ; Les islamistes morocains: le defi a la monarchie ; currently at Univ.of Chicago.
- Robert G. Hoyland Oxford Univ., Seeing Islam as Others Saw It. A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian Writings on early Islam ; Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam.
- Christopher Melchert U.S., The Formation of the Sunni Schools of Law ; Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, re Hanbali.
- Christoph Luxenberg, Die Syro-Aramäische Lesart des Koran: Ein Beitrag zur Entschlüssenlung de Koransprache, employs historic Aramaic to elucidate the Arabic texts.
- Herbert Berg, Univ.of N.Carolina, Philosophy & Religion, The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam. The Debate over authenticity of Muslim literature from the formative period.
- Knut S. Vikor, Univ.of Bergen, Norway; Between God and the Sultan. A History of Islamic Law, a fruitful synthesis of much resent scholarship; Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge.
- Benjamin Jokisch, Islamic Imperial Law. Harun-Al-Rashid's Codification Project restates early Islamic legal history re law reform by Abbasid Caliphate, including reception of Roman law via Byzantine Empire, drafting a code, & centralized judiciary, followed by triumph of a vigorous opposition led by orthodox jurists & rise of legal theory; Islamisches Recht in Theorie und Praxis - Analyse einiger kaufrechtlicher Fatwas von Taqi'd-Din Ahmad b. Taymiyya.
- Timur Kuran, Duke Univ., The Long Divergence. How Islamic law held back the Middle East ; Islam and Mammon: The economic predicaments of Islamism.
- Alfonse Javed', NYSB., The Muslim Next Door ; Muslim Pakistani and Indian Students in their New York School System Experience.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.
Other and Incomplete: alphabetical
- Akbar , Mughul emperor; based chiefly on Islam and Hinduism he founded a court religion Din-i-Ilahi, which did not flourish following the end of his reign.
- Báb , Iran; he proclaimed prophethood and, in succession to the three Abrahamic faiths including Islam, initiated a new religion which continues as the Baha'i.
- Juan Cole, American, contemporary academic and commentator on Islam.
- Mircea Eliade, Romania, U.S., late professor of comparative religions, University of Chicago.
- Cornell Fleischer, U.S., Kanuni Suleyman Prof. of Ottoman & Mod. Turkish Studies, Dept. of Nr. E. Lang. & Civil., U. of Chicago.
- H. A. R. Gibb, British historian of the Arabs and Islam.
- Betty Kelen, U.S., U.N. editor, author, Muhammad, The Messenger of God
- Martin Kramer, Israel, modern partisan, Wash. Inst. for Near East Policy; Shalem Center; Harvard University.
- Richard Landes, U.S., Boston University, modern partisan.
- Franklin Lewis, U.S., Assoc. Prof. of Persian Lang. & Lit., Dept. of Near Eastern Lang. & Civil., U. of Chicago.
- Elijah Muhammad , U.S., started the Nation of Islam movement and proclaimed prophethood.
- Pai Shou-i, China, Chung-kuo I-ssu-lan shih kang-yao .
- Andrew Rippin, Britain, Canada, University of Victoria.
- A. Holly Shissler, U.S., prof. of Ottoman & Early Turkish Republican History, Dept. of Nr. E. Lang. & Civil., U. of Chicago.
- Srđa Trifković, Serbian-American journalist, political analyst, modern partisan; author, The Sword of the Prophet.
- John Woods, U.S., Prof. of Iranian & Central Asian History, Dept. of Near Eastern Lang. & Civil., Univ. of Chicago.
- Alfonse Javed, U.S., Prof. of Islamic Studies, Dept. of Missions &Islam., New York School of the Bible.
- Malcolm X, U.S., minister-politician, former black Muslim, black nationalist leader; Muslim hadji.
- David S. Powers, Islamic Legal Interpretation. Muftis and their fatwas ; Dispensing Justice in Islam. Qadis and their judgments.
- Claudia Liebeskind, Three Sufi traditions in South Asia in modern times.
- Angelika Neuwirth, German Islamic studies scholar, Arabische Literatur. Postmodern ; Scripture, Poetry and the Making of a Community.
- Adam Gaiser, medieval Islamic studies, esp. Oman, Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers. The origin and elaboration of Ibadi Imanate traditions.
- Rudolph Ware, The Walking Qur'an. Islamic education, embodied knowledge, and history in West Africa.
- => The following a title indicates books translated into English.