Hasan Kayali

Hasan Kayali Associate Professor Department of History, teaches the history of the Middle East in the Islamic period. He received his doctorate in History and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. His research focus is political history of the Middle East in the early twentieth century. He has written on the administration of Arab provinces in the late Ottoman Empire and nationalism and rival ideologies during the transition from empire to nation-states.

"The Divine and the Human in Islamic Tradition: A Historical Perspective"

Kayali’s talk is on conceptions and problems of the human and the divine in Islamic dogma and practice. It addresses the iconoclastic origin of Islam and its implications for Muslim belief and tradition. Starting from the fundamental and strict notion of the humanness of the Prophet Muhammad, the talk will touch on selected historical transformations in Muslims’ attitudes and practices with regard to the sacred and the human over time, geography, sectarian divides, and legal codes.