Annemarie Schimmel first to teach Indo-Muslim culture

Area studies to Islamic studies 1967

Annemarie Schimmel First to Teach Indo-Muslim Culture

Annemarie Schimmel was born in 1922 in Erfurt, Germany. She was introduced to the divan of Jalaluddin Rumi as a student at the University of Berlin and began a lifelong journey of scholarship in the Islamic mystical tradition. After earning her first doctorate in 1941 at the age of 19 and a second in 1951, she became History of Religion chair at Ankara University in Turkey. In 1967, Professor Schimmel accepted Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s invitation to come from Bonn to Harvard as its first Lecturer on Indo-Muslim Culture, a position funded by the bequest of the Afghan inventor of Minute Rice and lover of Urdu poetry, Ataullah Ozai-Durrani. In 1970, Professor Schimmel became the fourth woman granted tenure in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Her courses included “Islamic Calligraphy," "Ghalib's Persian Poetry in the Context of the Indian Style," and “Maulana Rumi and his Influence on East and West.” Among her publications are Gabriel's Wing (1963), My Soul is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam (1997), and Empire of the Great Mughals: History, Art, and Culture (2004). Her notable students include Ali Asani, Harvard’s current Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture, and Wheeler Thackston, Professor of the Practice of Persian Emeritus.

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Annemarie Schimmel

Annemarie Schimmel (1922-2003)

Historic Events

  1. Home: History of Islamic Studies at Harvard
  2. Early Arabic Instruction
  3. Hancock Professorship Established
  4. Harvard Library Collects Islamic Titles
  5. Stephen Sewall Delivers Lectures
  6. Crawford H. Toy Joins Harvard Faculty and Teaches Arabic
  7. Crawford H. Toy First to Teach Islamic History
  8. Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East Founded
  9. George Foote Moore Teaches Islam in History of Religions
  10. James Richard Jewett Becomes First Professor of Arabic
  11. Harvard Collects Islamic Art
  12. William Thomson and Islamic Intellectual History
  13. James Richard Jewett Professorship of Arabic Established
  14. Richard Frye First Professor of Iranian Languages
  15. Center for Middle Eastern Studies Founded
  16. Sir Hamilton Gibb Bolsters Islamic Studies and Advocates an Interdisciplinary Approach
  17. Wilfred Cantwell Smith Teaches Global, Comparative Religious and Islamic Studies
  18. Annemarie Schimmel First to Teach Indo-Muslim Culture
  19. Muhsin Mahdi Teaches Arabic Philosophy
  20. Oleg Grabar First to Teach History of Islamic Art and Architecture
  21. Wheeler Thackston Brings Expertise in Persian Studies
  22. Abdelhamid Sabra First to Teach History of Arabic Science
  23. William Graham Advocates Islamic Studies across Faculties
  24. Wolfhart Heinrichs Brings Expertise in Arabic Studies
  25. Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture and Professorship of Islamic Art Established
  26. Roy Mottahedeh Becomes First Professor of Islamic History
  27. Islamic Legal Studies Program Founded at Harvard Law School
  28. Gulru Necipoglu Named Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art
  29. Roger Owen Named A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History
  30. Cemal Kafadar Named Vehbi Koc Professor of Turkish Studies
  31. Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School Founded
  32. Leila Ahmed Becomes First Professor of Women's Studies in Religion
  33. Aga Khan Program at Harvard Graduate School of Design Founded
  34. Baber Johansen Teaches Islamic Law at Harvard Divinity School
  35. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program and Professorships Established
  36. David Roxburgh Named Alwaleed Professor of Islamic Art History
  37. Malika Zeghal Named Alwaleed Professor in Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life
  38. Ali Asani Named Director of Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program
  39. Steve Caton Named Khalid bin Abdullah Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies
    40. .
  40. Ousmane Kane Named Alwaleed Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society
  41. Khaled El-Rouayheb Named James Richard Jewett Professor of Arabic and Islamic Intellectual History
  42. Tarek Masound Named Director of Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program
  43. Program in Islamic Law Founded at Harvard Law School
  44. Program on Law and Society in the Muslim World Founded at Harvard Law School
  45. Teren Sevea Named Alwaleed Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies
  46. Islamic Studies at Harvard Today
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