Peer Talks with Prof. Yohanan Friedmann | Podcast #29

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Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah with Prof. Yohanan Friedmann (Israel)

Prof. Yohanan Friedmann is an Israeli scholar of Islamic studies. Prof.Yohanan Friedmann was born in Zákamenné, Czechoslovakia, and immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1949. He attended high school at the Reali School in Haifa (1945-1950). In 1956 he began his undergraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, receiving his BA in 1959. In 1962 he finished a master’s degree in Arabic literature; his thesis was on the Arab poet Al-Ma’arri. After this, Friedman went to McGill University in Montreal to study for his doctorate. He learned Urdu and focused on the history of Islam in India. His dissertation on Muslim religious thinker Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi was approved in 1966. In the same year, Friedman joined the Hebrew University and was appointed lecturer in Islamic studies. He is now Max Schloessinger Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and, since 1999, a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He held several offices with the University: Chair of the Institute of Asian Studies and African Studies from 1975-1978; Chair of the Graduate School from 1980-1983; Dean of Humanities from 1985-1988; Chair of the Department of Arabic language and literature from 2002-2004. In 2003 he was the Sternberg Distinguished Lecturer. In 2007 he has been elected Chair of the Humanities Division of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In 2002 Friedmann was a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.[3] In 2003 he received the Landau Prize in the Humanities. Since 1993, he has been the editor of Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. Friedmann served several times as a visiting Professor at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania. In 1997 he was a scholar in residence with the Rockefeller Foundation.

AT A GLANCE

1936 – Born in Zakamenné, Czechoslowakia 1949 – Immigrated to Israel 1954 – Matriculated in the Reali High School, Haifa 1954 – 1956 Served in the Israel Defense Forces 1959 – B.A. in Arabic Language and Literature, and History of the Islamic Countries, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1962 – M.A. summa cum laude in Arabic Language and Literature, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1966 – Ph. D. in Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal 1966 – Lecturer in Islamic Studies (with special reference to Islam in the Indian subcontinent) The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1968 – married to Zafrira, née Schmidt; two daughters, Yasmin and Tamar 1971 – Senior lecturer in Islamic Studies (with tenure) 1975 – 1978 Chairman, Institute of Asian and African Studies 1977 – Associate Professor of Islamic Studies 1980 – 1983 Chairman, School of Graduate Studies of the Faculty of Humanities 1983 – Directeur d’études invité, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (one-month appointment). 1984 – Professor of Islamic Studies 1985 – 1988 Dean, Faculty of Humanities, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Since 1989 – Max Schloessinger Professor of Islamic Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1988 – 1990 Visiting Fellow, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University 1992 – Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and at New York University (spring term) 1993 – Visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania (spring term) Since 1993 – Editor, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 1995 – Visiting Professor at New York University (spring term) 1996 – Visiting Professor at New York University (spring term) 1997 – Visiting Professor at New York University (spring term) 1997 – Scholar in residence, Rockfeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy (September – October) Since 1999 – Member, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 1999-2000 (fall semester) – Co-convener (with Nurit Tsafrir) of the research group and fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Subject: “Sharīʿa, the schools of law and the state in early Islam”) 2002 (spring semester) – Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton 2003 Recipient, The Landau Prize for the Humanities 2002-2004 Chairman, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, The Hebrew University 2004 – Professor Emeritus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2007-2013 Chairman, Section of Humanities, The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 2015 Professor at Shalem College, Jerusalem 2016 Recipient, Rothschild Prize in the Humanities 2016 Recipient, Israel Prize in Near Eastern Studies

Peer Talks with Prof. Yohanan Friedmann | Podcast #29

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