Alfred Guillaume (8 November 1888 – 30 November 1965) was a British Christian
Arabist
An Arabist is someone, often but not always from outside the Arab world, who specialises in the study of the Arabic language and culture (usually including Arabic literature).
Origins
Arabists began in medieval Muslim Spain, which lay on the ...
, scholar of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament and Islam.
Career
Guillaume was born in
Edmonton, Middlesex
Edmonton is a town in North London, north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and ...
, the son of Alfred Guillaume. He took up Arabic after studying Theology and Oriental Languages at the
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road.
Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...
. In the First World War, he served in France and then in the
Arab Bureau
The Arab Bureau was a section of the Cairo Intelligence Department established in 1916 during the First World War, and closed in 1920, whose purpose was the collection and dissemination of propaganda and intelligence about the Arab regions of ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. Guillaume was a Christian and later ordained.
He became Professor of Arabic and the Head of the Department of the Near and Middle East in the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...
(SOAS), in the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
. He was later Visiting Professor of Arabic at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, New Jersey. He was a professor of Hebrew at
Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
from 1920-30.
In the winter 1944-45, during the Second World War the
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
invited him to accept a visiting professorship at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
where he greatly enlarged his circle of Muslim friends. The Arab Academy of Damascus (1949) and the Royal Academy of Baghdad (1950) honoured him by electing him to their number, and the
University of Istanbul
, image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis
, motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü
, mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future
, established = 1453 1846 1933
...
chose him as their first foreign lecturer on Christian and Islamic theology. In the Autumn of 1945, Guillaume succeeded his friend
S. H. Hooke
__NOTOC__
Samuel Henry Hooke (January 21, 1874 – January 17, 1968) was an English scholar writing on comparative religion. He is known for his ''Bible in Basic English'' translation.
He was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. He was educated ...
on the Samuel Davidson chair at the University of London, changing to the chair in Arabic in 1947 (at SOAS), and was also a professor of Hebrew from 1947–55. In 1955, Guillaume served as president to the Society for Old Testament Study.
In 1916, he married Margaret Woodfield Leadbitter, daughter of Rev. William Oram Leadbitter, and they had two sons and two daughters. He died in
Wallingford, Berkshire
Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish located between Oxford and Reading on the River Thames in England. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it is within the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire for admi ...
at age 77.
Works
He was best known as the author of ''Islam'', published by
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Sir Thomas Arnold, of ''The Legacy of Islam'', in the ''Legacy'' series, which has been translated into several languages. He also translated
Ibn Ishaq
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār ibn Khiyār (; according to some sources, ibn Khabbār, or Kūmān, or Kūtān, ar, محمد بن إسحاق بن يسار بن خيار, or simply ibn Isḥaq, , meaning "the son of Isaac"; died 767) was an 8 ...
's "
Sirah Rasul Allah
Al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya (), commonly shortened to Sīrah and translated as prophetic biography, are the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad from which, in addition to the Quran and Hadiths, most historical information about his life and th ...
", published as ''The Life of Muhammad. A translation of Ishaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah"''.
* ''The traditions of Islam : an introduction to the study of the Hadith literature'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924
*(with Thomas Arnold ''The Legacy of Islam'' Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1931
*''Kitāb Nihājat al-iqdām fī ʿilm al-kalām'' / Abu-ʾl-Fatḥ Muḥammad Ibn-ʿAbd-al-Karīm aš- Šahrastānī Oxford University Press, 1934
*''Prophecy and Divination Among the Hebrews and Other Semites''
Bampton Lectures
The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780.
They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial ...