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Lecture

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
The Jewish Discovery of Islam

Tuesday 25.11.2025

How to watch

This lecture starts on 25 November at 5:00pm (UK).

Summary

We examine the rise of Islamic studies in Europe, with a focus on the role Jews played in this development. The lecture covers key figures such as Rabbi Saadia Azankot, Ignaz Goldziher, Abraham Geiger, Shlomo Pines, and Shlomo Dov Goitein.

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite

An image of Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite teaches Chinese History, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, and sometimes Jewish history, at New York University. He is author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Harvard, 2005); The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, 2009); co-editor of Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Culture, and Politics (Brandeis, 2013); The Scaffolding of Sovereignty: Global and Aesthetic Perspectives on the History of a Concept (Columbia University Press, 2017); and Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History (Hawaii University Press, 2023).