Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Suleiman Bashir (b. 1947 - d. 1991) was a prominent Palestinian researcher and professor, who taught at Birzeit University, An-Najah National University, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bashir is best known for his work on the history of early Islam.
life and education
Bashir was born in the village of al-Maghar in northern Palestine, where he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his BA (1971) and MA (1973). In 1976, he obtained his Ph.D. at the University of London for his thesis, “Communism in the Arab East,” which was published in both Arabic and English.
The writer Suleiman Bashir passed away in October of 1991, due to a heart attack, and ended his promising career. In the last six years of his life, he produced no less than fifteen published articles.
thesis
Writer Bashir made international headlines after he was injured after allegedly being thrown out of a second-floor window at Nablus University in the West Bank by his students when he said Islam developed as a religion gradually within the historical context of Judaism and Christianity rather than as a revelation from the Prophet. Bashir’s wife, Dr. Laila Faydi, denied the incident, writing in an email, “Please note that Suleiman was not attacked or injured by his students; He was not physically attacked by anyone else. I've been asked this question a million times.
Bashir's history of early Islam not only takes into account the evolution of religious customs and beliefs, but also traces how subsequent generations recast the past in order to meet the needs of their time. Like the work of Patricia Crone, Michael Cook, John Wansbrough, Martin Hinds, Gerald Hawing, Christoph Luxenberg, Gerald Rudiger Bowen, Andrew Rippen, Gunter Lulling, and other early Islamic historians, Bashir's research challenges what he sees as a unifying narrative of the beginning of Islam.
Books and articles
Communism in the Arab East: 1918-1928. London: Ithaca Press, 1980.
An Introduction to the Other History: Towards a New Reading of the Islamic Tradition [Introduction to the Other History: Towards a New Reading of the Islamic Traditions]. Jerusalem, 1984. [Arabic]
Al-Quran 2: 114 and Al-Quds. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 52.2 (1989): 215–238.
Yemen in Early Islam: A Study of Non-Tribal Traditions. Arabica 36.3 (November 1989): 327-361.
"Abraham's sacrifice for his son and related issues". Der Islam 67 (1990): 243-277.
The nickname “Fariq” and its association with Omar the First. Study Islamica 72 (1990): 47-70.
The End of the World and Other Materials on the Early Byzantine Islamic Wars: A Review of Arabic Sources. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society III. 1.2 (1991): 173-207.
Ashura, an early Muslim fast. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 141.2 (1991): 281–316.
Dahiya al-Kalbi's mission and the situation in Syria. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 14 (1991): 84-114.
A bright kiss and early Islamic prayer in churches. The Islamic World 81 (1991): 267-282.
Riding beasts in divine missions: a study of donkey and camel traditions. Journal of Semitic Studies 36.1 (Spring 1991): 37-75.
“Images of Mecca: A Case Study of Islamic Iconography.” Le Muséon 105 (1992): 361-377.
The Islamic Apocalypse and the Hour: A Case Study of Traditional Interpretation. Israeli Oriental Studies 13 (1993): 75-99.
On the Origin and Development of Zakat in Early Islam. Arabica 40 (1993): 84-113.
Qunoot in Interpretation, Hadith and Literature. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19 (1995): 36-65.
Arabs and others in early Islam. Princeton: Darwin Press, 1997.
The Roots of the Jordanian Guardianship: A Study in the Documents of the Zionist Archive. Beirut: Dar Qadmas, 2001. [Arabic]
Studies in Early Islamic Traditions. Collected Studies in Arabic and Islam. Jerusalem: Max Schlossinger Memorial Foundation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2004.
This author brings together the thirteen published articles mentioned above, as well as the following two unpublished monographs: “Hanifiya and the Hajj” and “Jesus in Early Islamic Testimony and Related Issues: A New Perspective.”
Bibliography
Stewart, Devin J. Revised by Suleiman Bashir, Studies in Early Islamic Traditions (Jerusalem: The Max Schlossinger Memorial Foundation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2004). International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 41.2 (May 2009): 321-322.
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Achievements and Awards
- Years in active
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