I study classical Arabic literature as a way to understand the early Islamic/late antique and medieval Arabic-speaking societies that produced it and the role that these literary products played in shaping the course of history. My goal is also to highlight the ability of Arabic literature to provide insights into the human condition at large.
My first book, The Eloquent Tyrant (currently under contract with University of California Press), deals with public speech in the context of early Islamic empire building through the case study of al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf (d. 714), the infamous but powerful governor of Iraq under the Umayyads, the first dynasty of Islam. My current research project follows the rise of the Islamic empire through the perspectives of the poets. Their poetry and lives will offer a fresh angle on this crucial period in human history.
I have also written articles in different fields (from pre-Islamic and early Islamic poetry to ayyām al-ʿArab, ḥadīth, and biographical dictionaries) in which I addressed themes such as the relationship of Arabic poetry to Late Antiquity, the interaction of secular Arabic literary tradition with the Qurʾān, orality and literacy, the memory of early Islam in the Middle Ages, the literary possibilities of the ḥadīth genre, and Simone Weil’s concept of force in Arabian battle narratives. Among my other interests is wonder and its different facets in medieval Islamicate literary, religious, and scientific texts.
I am enthusiastic to work with students interested in various aspects and periods of classical Arabic literature.