News

Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize Announcement 2026

October 08, 2026

The Selection Committee has chosen Dr. Sarah Molina (History of Art and Architecture) as the winner of the 2026 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation, “ The Poetics of Space: How Carpets Shaped the Safavid World.”...

In Memoriam: Baber Johansen (1936–2026)

October 01, 2026

"Baber Johansen’s teaching at Harvard was a pole of attraction for graduate students in the Harvard Divinity School, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Law School, whether they were interested in legal history or Islam more broadly." Click...

New Podcast: A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī | Dr. Hacı Osman Gündüz

June 23, 2026

Eid Mubarak!

May 28, 2026

We at the Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program wish you and your loved ones a joyous Eid al-Adha! Khaled El-Rouayheb, Harry Bastermajian, and Meryum Kazmi

2026 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis in Islamic Studies Winner

May 15, 2026

After reviewing many excellent submissions, the Selection Committee has chosen Eva Frazier (Social Studies and EMR) as the winner of the 2026 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies for her thesis, “ Pacification and its...

Alwaleed Program Director, Professor Khaled El-Rouayheb, Elected to Prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences

April 28, 2026

Professor Khaled El-Rouayheb was one of eight scholars from Harvard elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor El-Rouayheb is James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic and Islamic Intellectual History in the Department of Near Eastern...

Professor Khaled El-Rouayheb Publishes New Book on North African Ash'ari Theologian, al-Sanūsī

April 28, 2026

Professor Khaled El-Rouayheb has recently published a new book as part of the Great Medieval Thinkers series of Oxford University Press. Al-Sanūsī (2026) examines the life, works, and intellectual world of Muhammad b. Yusuf al-Sanūsī (1436–1490), a major...

Professor Malika Zeghal's recent book named AAR Book Award Finalist

March 02, 2026

The recent book by Malika Zeghal, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life, The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 2024) was a...

In Memoriam: András Riedlmayer (1947-2026)

February 13, 2026

It is with profound sadness that I must report the passing, on February 9, of András Riedlmayer, who, starting in 1985, served for thirty-five years as the Bibliographer and Director at the Documentation Center of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic...

2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize Announcement

October 31, 2025

After reviewing many excellent submissions, the Selection Committee has decided to award two prizes this year to Dr. Hacı Osman Gündüz (Ozzy) and Dr. Conor Dube. Dr. Conor Dube is a winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic...

Ep. 19 | Portrait of a Moroccan ʿĀlim: Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World | Dr. Armaan Siddiqi

August 20, 2025

Dr. Armaan Siddiqi is the winner of the 2024 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for her dissertation, "Portrait of a Moroccan ʿālim: Shaykh Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar al-Kattānī’s Life, Works, and World (1858 - 1927)." In this episode...

New Article by Dr. Shahrad Shahvand, 2023-24 Alwaleed Postdoctoral Fellow: "In Search of Qiwām al-Dīn and Humām al-Dīn al-Kurbālī: Bridging a Gap in the Intellectual History of Fifteenth-Century Shiraz"

June 10, 2025

Abstract: During the ninth/fifteenth century, Shiraz sustained its prominence as an intellectual epicenter in Iran. Although sub stantial research has recently been conducted on Ṣadr al-Dīn Dashtakī (d. 903/1498) and Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī (d. 908/1502), two...