By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
Prof. Anver Emon, a world-renowned scholar of Islamic law, has been awarded a notable John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for his outstanding scholarship, one of three University of Toronto faculty to be honoured. These prominent Fellowships are awarded to mid-career academics and artists from a wide variety of backgrounds, and recognize “prior achievements and exceptional promise.” A total of 177 awards were given in the US and Canada, representing 56 disciplines at 83 academic institutions. More than 100 Guggenheim fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates.
“These artists and writers, scholars and scientists represent the best of the best,” said Foundation president Edward Hirsch in a media release. “Since 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has always bet everything with the individual, and we’re thrilled to continue the tradition with this wonderfully talented and diverse group.”
Emon researches the role of Shari'a inside and outside the Muslim world, premodern and modern Islamic legal history and theory, and premodern modes of governance and adjudication. Editor-in-Chief of Middle East Law and Governance and series editor of Oxford Islamic Legal Studies, Emon researches and teaches across multidisciplinary legal traditions and consults widely for governments, non-governmental organizations and legal advocacy groups.
For the 2014-2015 academic year, he will be a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, one of the world’s top academic centres for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry.
“This grant will make it possible for me to be away for the year with my family, focus my time and full attention on research for the new book project, and create the kind of environment in which I can discuss, share, and debate ideas that lie at the heart of this research project,” said Emon.
“It’s a tremendous honour and privilege to have received this grant, and it could not have come at a better time in my research life.”
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The Faculty of Arts and Science’s Prof. Ray Jayawardhana, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Prof. Eric Jennings, Department of History, were the other two recipients at the University of Toronto.
