Ismail al-Faruqi

Isma'il Raji Al-Faruqi (1921–1986) was among the most influential Muslim scholars of the twentieth century, recognized as an authority on Islam and comparative religion. Born in Palestine, he studied philosophy at the American University in Beirut, Indiana University, and Harvard University, completing his doctorate at Indiana, and pursued further study in the Islamic sciences at Al-Azhar University and in Judaism and Christianity at McGill University. He held academic posts at McGill, the Central Institute of Islamic Research in Karachi, the University of Chicago, Syracuse University, and Temple University, where he taught religion from 1968 until 1986. He founded the Islamic Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion, served as president of the American Islamic College in Chicago, and authored more than twenty-five books, including The Cultural Atlas of Islam.