Meri, Josef W. 1969-

PERSONAL:

Born December 23, 1969, in the United States; married Mariam Kilani (a high school mathematics teacher), July 27, 2003. Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1992; State University of New York at Binghamton, M.A., 1995; Oxford University, D.Phil., 1999. Hobbies and other interests: Computing, music, travel and sightseeing, dining.

ADDRESSES:

Home—California. Office—Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, P.O. Box 950361, Royal Court, Amman 11195, Jordan. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of California, Berkeley, visiting research fellow in Near Eastern studies, 1999-2002; Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, England, visiting fellow in medieval Islamic history, civilization, and inter-faith relations, 2002-05; Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan, fellow and special scholar in residence, 2005—.

MEMBER:

Middle East Medievalists (board member, 2002-04), Hagiography Society, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright fellow, 1992; Bradley fellow, 1993-96; Frenkel Scholarship in Jewish studies, 1995; Social Science Research Council fellowship, 1994, 1996; Barakat Trust Fellowship, 1996; Aal Falah Program fellow, 2001; Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, fellow, 2004—.

WRITINGS:

The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2002.

(Editor, with Farhad Daftary) Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam: Essays in Honour of Wilferd Madelung, I.B. Tauris (London, England), 2003.

(Translator) A Lonely Wayfarer's Guide to Pilgrimage: 'Ali ibn Abi Bakr's Kitab al-isharat ila ma'rifat al-ziyarat, Darwin Press (Princeton, NJ), 2004.

(Editor) Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, two volumes, Routledge (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to reference books and other compilations. Contributor to Middle East Studies Association Bulletin and other periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Josef W. Meri once told CA: "As a writer on Islamic history and religion, and interfaith relations, I believe that there is always room for self- improvement, introspection, and accepting justified criticism of my work. I am constantly striving to gain new insights and understandings into human processes and the historical development of ritual practices among Jews, Christians, and Muslims with the objective of making them more intelligible and accessible, particularly to the non-specialist.

"I hope that my work will eventually lead others to better understand the ritual practices which are at the heart of religion and which contribute to the dynamism of religious diversity. Such diversity manifested itself in many forms throughout North Africa and the Near East in pre-modern times and continues to do so down to the present. Religion is a positive force for change and people of conscience should more effectively harness that force to bring about change in our troubled times."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, April, 2006, C.A. Sproles, review of Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, pp. 1382-1383.

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, Volume 30, issue 1, 2005, D. Bousek, review of The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria, pp. 576-581.

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 16, April, 2006, Nile Green, review of Culture and Memory in Medieval Islam, pp. 93-95.

Religious Studies Review, Volume 32, issue 1, January, 2006, Warren C. Schultz, review of A Lonely Wayfarer's Guide to Pilgrimage: 'Ali ibn Abi Bakr's Kitab al-isharat ila ma'rifat al-ziyarat, p. 53.

Speculum: Journal of Medieval Studies, July, 2005, Bernd Radtke, review of The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria, pp. 936-938.

ONLINE

Humanities and Social Sciences Online,http://www.hnet.org (August, 2004), Richard McGregor, review of The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria.