Department of Modern &
Classical Languages
University of Houston
613 Agnes Arnold Hall
Houston, TX 77204-3006
Phone: 713-743-8350
Fax: 713-743-2693
Email: mcl@central.uh.edu

Faculty

Emran El-Badawi

Emran El-Badawi
Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature
Director, Arabic Program

618 Agnes Arnold Hall
Phone: (713)743-3044
Email: eelbadaw@central.uh.edu


BIO

Dr. Emran El-Badawi joined the department of Modern and Classical Languages in fall of 2011. Prior to becoming a member of the faculty at the University of Houston, Emran completed his PhD with distinction in 2011 from the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He took an MA in Religion from Temple University in 2005 and a BA in Religion as well as Computer Science from Rutgers University in 2003. He has also studied in the Middle East and South East Asia.

TEACHING AND SERVICE

Emran teaches courses on Arabic language, literature, Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern History. He has also developed the Arab Studies Minor. Emran also serves as Co-Director of the International Qur'anic Studies Association (http://iqsaweb.org).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Emran areas of research are Qur’anic Studies and Arab intellectual history. His current research projects explore intellectual history in the contemporary as well as pre-modern Arab world. One of his projects is concerned with Enlightenment and Islamic Modernism in the Arab world, which is a study of new trends in religious, social and political discourse in Arabic speaking countries.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS

Trends in Arab Thought ca. 1979-2011 (in progress)

The Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions. New York; London: Routledge Press, 2013.

ACADEMIC ARTICLES

with Gabriel Reynolds, “The Qur’an in light of the Syriac Bible and religious exhortation in Late Antiquity,” Oxford Islamic Studies Online/Oxford Biblical Studies Online, Focus On Essay (forthcoming)

“A humanistic reception of the Qur’an,” English Language Notes 50.2, Scriptural Margins: On the Boundaries of Sacred Texts, Ed. Sue Zemka (forthcoming).

“Condemnation in the Qur’an and the Syriac Gospel of Matthew,” New Perspectives on the Qurʾan: The Qurʾān in Its Historical Context 2. London; New York: Routledge, 2011.

“Divine Kingdom in Syriac Matthew and the Qur’an,” Journal of Eastern Christian Studies
61.1-2 (2009).

“Tales of King Abgar: a Basis to Investigate Earliest Syrian Christian Syncretism,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 20.2 (2006): 25-44.

ECYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES

“Islamic Humanism,” Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God. 2 vols. Ed. Fitzpatrick, C. and A. Walker, A. ABC-CLIO (in progress).

“Tariq al-Suweidan,” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women (forthcoming).

TRANSLATIONS AND TRANSCRIPTS

Husayn, Faleh, “The Participation of Non-Arab Elements in the Umayyad Army and Administration” (Mushārakat al-‘anāsir ghayr al-‘arabiyyah fī al-jaysh wa al-idārah al-umawiyyah), Articulation of Islamic State Structures. Ed. Fred Donner. London: Ashgate Vaiorum, 2012. (Translated from Arabic to English)

POPULAR ARTICLES / OP-EDS

with Gabriel Reynolds, “Anti-Muslim video – one more reason for independent scholarship on the Quran,” Christian Science Monitor, October 8, 2012.

“Arab Studies in the American Academy,” Alumni Ties at Rutgers Preparatory School 5.1, July 2012.

with Anthony Banout, “From Tahrir to Maspero: Religious Tensions in Egypt Before and After the Revolution,” Sightings - Magazine of the Martin Marty Center, University of Chicago Divinity School, November 3, 2011


CONFERENCE PAPERS

“On Q 4:2-28,” Qur’an Seminar, University of Notre Dame, 2012-13

“Clerical authority in the Qur’an: A dialogue with the Syriac Gospels and Acts of the Apostles,” Workshop on Qur’anic Studies today – methodological diversity as a challenge: Biblical traditions revisited in the Qur’an, University of Chicago, November 9, 2012

“The qur’anic perspective on the Early Church: A dialogue with the Syriac Acts of the Apostles,” Society for Biblical Literature, Chicago, November 18, 2012

“The Qur’an and the Early Church,” Houston Colloquium, Lanier Theological Library, Houston, October 11, 2012

“The Qur’an: Revelation and Scripture,” “The Qur’an: Previous Nations and the Apocalypse,” “The Qur’an: Laws and Lessons,” Honors College, University of Houston, November 2011

“The Evolution of Arab Enlightenment Thought and Its Prospects after the Egyptian Revolution,” Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, May 2011

“Stages of the Apocalypse in the Qur’an and Aramaic Gospel Traditions,” Middle East History and Theory Workshop, in a joint meeting with the Workshop on Late Antiquity and Byzantium, University of Chicago, May 2011

“Prophetic Tradition in the Qur’an,” Middle East Studies Association, San Diego, California, November 2010

“Prophetic Tradition in the Late Antique Near East,” Middle East History and Theory Workshop, in a joint meeting with the Workshop on Late Antiquity and Byzantium, University of Chicago, May 2010

“The Language of Condemnation: a Comparative Analysis of the Qur’an and Syriac Matthew,” 2nd Conference on the Qur’an in its Historical Context,
University of Notre Dame, April 2009

“The Language of Condemnation in the Syriac Gospel of Matthew and the Qur’an,” Duroshe Annual Graduate Student Conference on Syriac Studies, Yale University, March 2009

INVITED TALKS AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Discussant, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians in the Umayyad State Symposium at the University of Chicago, June 17-18, 2011, “Looking for Jews in the Umayyad Period: First Efforts at a Prolegomena to the History of Jews in the Early Islamic Centuries” by Fred Astren

“Egypt between Enlightenment and Revolution/Misr bayna al-tanwir wa al-thawrah” (talk in Arabic), Arabic Circle Lecture Series, University of Chicago, February 2011

“Islamic Modernism and the Arab World,” Department of Humanities, University of Louisville, February 2011

"The Evolution of Arab Enlightenment Thought,” Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of Houston, February 2011

“A Survey of Modern Qur’anic Studies,” Department of Religion, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, December 2010

Discussant, Middle East History and Theory Workshop, January 11, 2010, “The Early Development of the Qur’anic Hanif: an Exegetical Analysis” by Mun’im Sirri

“The Qur’an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions,” Corpus Coranicum, Berlin, Germany, June 2009

“Qur’anic Parallels in the Bible,” Islamic Society of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, May 2001

“On Chapter 12 of the Qur’an, Surat yusuf,” Noor ul-Eman School, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, May 2000


MEDIA COVERAGE

Aimee Bachari, “Moving Forward: Area Studies Programs and Diversity at UH,” Houston History, November 26, 2012

Menachem Wecker, “As Muslim student population grows, UH debuts Arab studies minor,” Houston Chronicle, November 1, 2012

Paul Kopenkoskey, “Arab studies chief focusing on peace,” Houston Chronicle, June 21,2012


Marisa Ramirez, “UH Moment,” KUHF-FM News/Houston Public Radio, June 20, 2012

Mark Oppenheimer, “Across Religions, Persistent Battles Over What the Faithful May Read,” New York Times, June 9, 2012

“Bible scholars back more critical studies of Qur’an,” The Christian Century, June 7, 2012

“Society of Biblical Literature supports exploration of Qur’an scholar network," Bayan: Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies 10.1, June 2012, 151-52

Peter Monaghan, “For Koranic Studies, a Scholarly Society Is Born,” Chronicle for Higher Education, June 7, 2012

Kaustuv Basu, “A big tent society: A scholarly organization for those who study the Koran,” Inside Higher Ed, May 30, 2012

Melissa Caroll, “New Minor in Arab Studies Debuts at UH, Emran El-Badawi Named First Director of Program,” UH News, May 14, 2012