Alexander Knysh is Professor of Islamic Studies at the Department of Near Eastern Studies. He obtained his doctoral degree from the Institute for Oriental Studies (The Leningrad Branch) of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1986. Since 1991 he has lived and worked in the United States of America and, briefly (1997-1998) in the United Kingdom. His research interests include Islamic mysticism (Sufism) and Islamic theological, philosophical, and juridical thought in historical perspective. His recent work has addressed the vicissitudes of Islamic/Islamist movements in local contexts (especially in Yemen, North Africa, Russia and the Northern Caucasus) with special reference to the on-going conflicts between Sufis and Salafis. He has numerous academic publications on these subjects, including seven books. He is currently working on a sequel to his Islamic Mysticism (2000; 2nd ed. 2010). Tentatively entitled Sufism in Modern Time it discusses the societal, educational, cultural and political roles of Sufi teachings, practices and institutions over the past few centuries. His next book project, tentatively entitled Islam and Empire in the Northern Caucasus, will examine the uses of Islam by the ethnically diverse communities of the Northern Caucasus as the ideology of resistance to the Russian conquest and subsequent domination of the area (from the 1820s until today). Alexander Knysh conducted field research in Yemen in 1986-1989 and 1999 where he examined the cult of saints as the site of contestation between adherents of traditional Yemeni religiosity and their “fundamentalist”/salafist opponents. Since 2005 he has served as section editor for “Sufism” on the Editorial Board of the Encyclopedia of Islam, Third Edition and a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Sufi Studies, both of which are published by E.J. Brill, Leiden, the Netherlands. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the recently-launched Encyclopedia of Islamic Mysticism (E.J. Brill, Leiden).

Religious Studies/Theology

Arabic

Middle East/Near East Studies

Mysticism/Sufi Studies

World History

All Middle East

Caucasus

Yemen

History

Islam In The Northern Caucasus

Islamic Studies

Arabic (fluent)

French (advanced)

German (intermediate)

Persian (elementary)

Russian (native)

Spanish (intermediate)