Jonathan Brown

Jonathan Brown is the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and he is the Director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding. He received his BA in History from Georgetown University in 2000 and his doctorate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago in 2006. Dr. Brown has studied and conducted research in countries such as Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Iran.

His book publications include The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon (Brill, 2007), Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World (Oneworld, 2009) and Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011), which was selected for the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Bridging Cultures Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.

His most recent book, Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy (Oneworld, 2014), was named one of the top books on religion in 2014 by the Independent. He has published articles in the fields of Hadith, Islamic law, Salafism, Sufism, Arabic lexical theory and Pre-Islamic poetry and is the editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law. Dr. Brown’s current research interests include Islamic legal reform and a translation of Sahih al-Bukhari.

Jonathan Brown – Islam and the Problem of Slavery

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This is the first in three pieces on the question of Islam and slavery. It demonstrates that the very term slavery is so ambiguous as to be functionally useless for the purposes of discussing extreme domination and exploitation across history. It should be conditions of extreme exploitation that are focused on, not shifting terms. The … Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:02 — 37.7MB)

Jonathan Brown – The Sahifa of Imam Reza

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Centrepiece of Confessional Ambiguity The confessional ambiguity between the spheres of Sunnism and Shiaism at various points in Islamic history is well known. But what is surprising is to see it appear among those Sunni scholars most known for antipathy towards Shiaism, such as the Ahl al-Hadith of the eighth-twelfth centuries CE. This presentation will … Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:16:36 — 35.2MB)

Jonathan Brown – Sharia and Law of the Land

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Dr. Brown gave the talk on December 26th, 2016 at the 15th MAS ICNA Convention (Chicago, Illinois) “Islam respects the law of the land and the local cultures and traditions, but are there restrictions? Are all man-made laws violating shariah law? What should Muslims do when the law of the land and shariah come into … Read more

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:48 — 12.9MB)