Hamza Mahmood Zafer

Project Description

Associate Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization

Ph.D. Cornell (2013)

Faculty Profiles

My research focuses on the Quran’s polemical engagements with Jewish communities in Arabia, and the portrayal of these communities in the earliest Muslim historical and exegetical writings up to the 9th century. My doctoral dissertation examines the emergence and expression of a religio-communal ideology among early Muslims, as it co-opts, appropriates and subverts the legacy of the biblical “Children of Israel”. In the 2013-14 school year, I will offer a range of courses on early and classical Islam, which include: “Islam in Jewish Contexts, Judaism in Muslim Contexts” and “Moses, Muhammad and Malcolm X: Prophecy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”

Research Interests: Late Antique Judaism and Early Islam, Jewish-Muslim Encounters in the Quran and Early Muslim Historiographical and Exegetical Works, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian Writings