Dr. U. Ryad – History of Islam

Position:
  • Lecturer History of Islam


Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 2568
E-Mail: u.ryad@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Leids Instituut Godsdienstwetenschappen
Office Address: Witte Singel-complex
Matthias de Vrieshof 1
2311 BZ Leiden
Room number 1.02b
Personal Homepage: www.hum.leiden.edu/​religion/​organisation/​institute-staff/​ryad.html


Umar Ryad is currently assistant professor of the study of Islam in the modern world. He studied at the Faculty of Languages and Translation, Al-Azhar University in Cairo (1998, BA Islamic Studies in English), and got his MA degree in Islamic Studies (Cum Laude) from the University of Leiden in 2001. In 2003-2006 he has been affiliated as assistant-in-training at the Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions. Since September 2006 he has been working as a lecturer within the section of Islamic Theology. His PhD dissertation (‘Islamic Reformism and Christianity: A Critical Study of the Works of Muhammad Rashid Rida and his Associates (1898-1935)’ focuses on the interaction between Islam and Christianity in the early 20th century as reflected in the writings of the Muslim scholar Sheikh Muhammad Rashîd Ridâ (1865-1935). His current research includes the dynamics of the networks of Islamic reformist movements, Muslim polemics on Christianity, the history of Christian missions in the modern Muslim World, and transnational Islam in interwar Europe.

Teaching

Modern Trends and Thinkers in Islam (BA, in Dutch) Modern Islamic Theology (BA, in Dutch) Qur’anic Sciences (BA, in Dutch) Qura’nic Exegesis (BA, in Dutch) Islamic Jurisprudence for Muslims in the West: The Role of Fatwas (MA, in English)

Selected Publications

  • Islamic Reformism and Christinaity. A Critical Reading of the Works of Muhammad Rashid Rida and his Associates (1898-1935) (Leiden, 2008)
  • ‘A Printed Muslim Lighthouse in Cairo al-Manar's Early Years, Religious Aspiration and Reception (1898-1903)’. Arabica: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies/Arabica: Revue d'Etudes Arabes, 56 (1), pp. 27-60
  • 'The Dismissal of A.J. Wensinck from the Royal Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo', in: W.B. Drees & P.S. van Koningsveld (eds.), The Study of Religion and the Training of Muslim Clergymen in Europe: Academic and Religious Freedom in the 21th Century, Leiden University Press 2008
  • ‘From an officer in the Ottoman army to a Muslim publicist and armament agent in Berlin: Zekî Hishmat Kirâm (1886–1946),’ Bibliotheca Orientalis, 63/3-4 (2006), pp. 235-268     
  • ‘Muslim Response to Missionary Activities in Egypt: With a Special Reference to the Al-Azhar High Corps of Ulamā’ (1925-1935)’, in Heleen Murre-Van den Berg (ed.), New Faith in Ancient Lands: Western Missions in the Middle East in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Brill, 2006, pp. 281-307

Last Modified: 03-11-2010