Yohanan Friedmann | |
|---|---|
יוחנן פרידמן | |
 | |
| Born | 1936 (age 88–89) |
| Known for | Islamic religious thought, history of Islam in India |
| Awards | Landau Prize in the Humanities (2003) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem,McGill University |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Islamic studies |
| Institutions | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Notable works | Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition |
Yohanan Friedmann (Hebrew:יוחנן פרידמן; born 1936) is an Israeli scholar ofIslamic studies.
Friedmann was born inZákamenné, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Israel with his parents in 1949. He attended high school at theReali School inHaifa (1945-1950). In 1956 he began his undergraduate studies at theHebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, receiving hisB.A. in 1959. In 1962 he finished a master's degree in Arabic literature; his thesis was on the Arab poetAl-Ma'arri. After this, Friedman went toMcGill University in Montreal to study for his doctorate. He learnedUrdu and focused on the history of Islam in India. His dissertation on Muslim religious thinkerSheikhAhmad Sirhindi was approved in 1966. In the same year, Friedman joined the Hebrew University and was appointed lecturer in Islamic studies.
He is now Max Schloessinger Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at theHebrew University of Jerusalem and, since 1999, a member of theIsrael Academy of Sciences and Humanities.[1] He held several offices with the university: Chair of the Institute ofAsian Studies andAfrican Studies from 1975 to 1978; Chair of the Graduate School from 1980 to 1983;Dean of Humanities from 1985 to 1988; Chair of the Department ofArabic language andliterature from 2002 to 2004. In 2003 he was the Sternberg Distinguished Lecturer.[2] In 2007 he has been elected Chair of the Humanities Division of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
In 2002 Friedmann was member at theInstitute for Advanced Study inPrinceton.[3] In 2003 he received the Landau Prize in the Humanities.[4] Since 1993, he has been the editor ofJerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. Friedmann served several times as visiting professor atNew York University and theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[3] In 1997 he was scholar in residence with theRockefeller Foundation.[1]
Friedmann's studies center on Islamic religious thought, mainly in the Indian subcontinent.[1] He assays the historical record for evidence of both tolerance and intolerance of other religious faiths in the Islamic tradition in his most recent work, "Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition".[5]
