Jonathan A. C. Brown

Jonathan Andrew Cleveland Brown[1] (born 1977) is an American scholar of Islamic studies. Since 2012, he has been associate professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He holds the Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University.[2]

Jonathan A.C. Brown
Jonathan Brown in 2018
Born (1977-08-09) August 9, 1977
Washington, D.C., United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materGeorgetown University (B.A.)
University of Chicago (Ph.D.)
Scientific career
InstitutionsGeorgetown University (2010-)
University of Washington (2006-2010)
ThesisThe Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim: the Formation and Function of the Sunni Hadith Canon (2006)
Doctoral advisorWadad Kadi
InfluencesIbn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Battuta, Fred Donner, Al-Shafi‘i, Muhammad Asad
Websitedrjonathanbrown.com

He has authored several books including Slavery and Islam, Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenges and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy, Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction, and The Canonization of al-Bukhari and Muslim. He has also published articles in the fields of Hadith, Islamic law, Salafism, Sufism, and Arabic language.

Background and education

Brown was born on August 9, 1977 in Washington, DC. He was raised as an Episcopalian and converted to Islam in 1997.[3] Brown is Sunni and follows the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence.[4] Brown graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2000 from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., studied Arabic for a year at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad at the American University of Cairo, and completed his doctorate in Islamic thought at the University of Chicago in 2006. Professor Brown is married to Laila Al-Arian, Executive Producer at Al Jazeera.[5]

Career

From 2006 to 2010 he taught in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was awarded tenure. He then gave up tenure to move to Georgetown in 2010. After serving as an assistant professor he was tenured again in 2012 teaching Islamic Studies and Muslim-Christian Understanding in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.[5][6] He is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[7]

Brown served as the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding till 2019.[8]

Publications and speeches

Brown has published work on Hadith, Islamic law, Sufism, Arabic lexical theory and Pre-Islamic poetry and is currently focused on the history of forgery and historical criticism in Islamic civilization and modern conflicts between late Sunni Traditionalism and Salafism in Islamic Thought.[9]

Misquoting Muhammad (book)

In his book Misquoting Muhammad, Brown argues that the “depth and breadth” of the early Muslim scholars’ achievement in assessing the authenticity of sayings and texts “dwarfed” that of the fathers of the Christian church.[10] The book received a number of positive reviews,[11][12][13] and was named as one of the top books on religion of 2014 by The Independent.[14] One review of the book in a Catholic journal called it "generous to an fault when it comes to remarks about Christianity."[15]

Writings on slavery

In a 2017 article, Brown stated that "the term ‘slavery’ is so ambiguous as to be functionally useless for the purposes of discussing extreme domination and exploitation across history," especially in the context of Islamic history. Brown wrote that the current understanding of "slavery" is defined primarily in terms of legal ownership and violations of autonomy. According to Brown, this understanding does not accurately reflect the way slavery was practiced in many times and places in the Islamic world. For example, some enslaved Ottoman officials held authority over free people, while some forms of extreme exploitation happened to legally free persons.[16] Brown writes that while slavery's evil "is so morally clear and so widely acknowledged", and that it is the "Hitler of human practices",[17] he also wishes to challenge the current understanding of slavery.[16]

A lecture presenting this article,[18] and in particular comments Brown made during the Q&A session, sparked criticism from a number of conservative commentators, some of whom accused Brown of supporting slavery and rape.[19][20][21] In addition, some liberal scholars of Islam criticized Brown for relativizing the concepts of slavery, human autonomy, and consent, and took issue with his suggestion that Muslims cannot view all historical forms of slavery to be immoral since the Islamic prophet Muhammad had owned slaves.[19]

In response, Brown wrote on Twitter, "Islam as a faith and I as a person condemn slavery, rape and concubinage."[19][22] In a subsequent essay and interview Brown elaborated his views and apologized for having addressed the subject too cerebrally, adding that members of the alt-right had bombarded him and his family with threats of death and rape over the controversy.[19][23]

Bibliography

Books authored

  • Slavery and Islam, Oneworld Publications, 2019 | 416 p | ISBN 978-1786076359
  • Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy, Oneworld Publications, 2014 | 384 p | ISBN 978-1780744209
  • Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2011 | 160 p | ISBN 978-0199559282
  • Hadith: Muhammad's Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, Oneworld Publications, Foundations of Islam series, 2009 | 320 p | ISBN 978-1851686636
  • The Canonization of al-Bukhārī and Muslim: The Formation and Function of the Sunnī Ḥadīth Canon, Brill Publishers, 2007 | 434 p | ISBN 978-9004158399

Articles

Book Reviews

  • "Review of The Encyclopedia of Canonical Hadith," Journal of Islamic Studies 19, n. 3 (2008): 391–97.

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_UB0W820qY (initials at 1:17:30)
  2. Oneworld Publications, Hadith by Jonathan A.C. Brown
  3. Ahsen Utku (2010-08-18). "Jonathan Brown on Being Inspired by Prophet Muhammad". LastProphet.info. LastProphet.info. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  4. Brown, Jonathan (18 June 2016). "The Shariah, Homosexuality & Safeguarding Each Other's Rights in a Pluralist Society | ImanWire". Al-Madina Institute.
  5. "Johnathan A.C. Brown : CV" (PDF). 18.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  6. Knight, Michael Muhammad (2014-12-12). "Book review: 'The Lives of Muhammad,' by Kecia Ali and 'Misquoting Muhammad,' by Jonathan A.C. Brown". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  7. "Membership Roster - Council on Foreign Relations". Cfr.org. 2016-02-15. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  8. Faculty, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
  9. "Jonathan Brown". Patheos.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  10. "Islam and hadiths: Sifting and combing". The Economist. 28 Oct 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  11. Karen Armstrong (2014-08-10). "Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy by Jonathan AC Brown". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  12. Muhammad, Michael (2014-12-12). "Book review: 'The Lives of Muhammad,' by Kecia Ali and 'Misquoting Muhammad,' by Jonathan A.C. Brown". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  13. Mona Siddiqui (2014-08-07). "Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy by Jonathan A C Brown, book review | Reviews | Culture". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  14. Marcus Tanner (2014-12-12). "Books of the year 2014: The best books on religion | Features | Culture". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-04-01.
  15. Damian Howard SJ (2015-04-17). "Misquoting Muhammad. The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy". Thinking Faith. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
  16. Brown, Jonathon A.C.; Ali, Abdullah Hamid (Feb 7, 2017). "Slavery and Islam – Part 1: The Problem of Slavery". Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2019."Slavery and Islam – Part 1: The Problem of Slavery" (PDF). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. Brown, Jonathon A.C.; Ali, Abdullah Hamid (Feb 7, 2017). "Slavery and Islam – Part 1: The Problem of Slavery" (PDF): 18. Retrieved 30 April 2019. Slavery is the ideal example to invoke because its evil is so morally clear and so widely acknowledged. Who would defend slavery? It is the Hitler of human practices. Yet despite all its power, the word "slavery" is rarely defined. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. "Dr. Jonathan AC Brown - Islam and the Problem of Slavery | IIITMedia". youtube.com. 9 February 2017.
  19. Valerie Strauss (Feb 17, 2017). "Georgetown professor under fire for lecture about slavery and Islam". Washington Post.
  20. Rod Dreher (Feb 11, 2017). "Georgetown Prof Defends Islamic Slavery". The American Conservative.
  21. MICHAEL LUCIANO (Feb 10, 2017). "Islamic Studies Professor On Whether Rape and Slavery Are Wrong: It Depends". The Daily Banter.
  22. Jonathan AC Brown [@JonathanACBrown] (11 February 2017). "Islam as a faith and I as a person condemn slavery, rape and concubinage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. Jonathan AC Brown (2017-02-16). "Apology without Apologetics". Muslim Matters. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
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