Jamal J. Elias

Class of 1965 Term Professor of Religious Studies

Religious Studies

215.898.5838

jjelias@sas.upenn.edu

Education:

B.A., Stanford University (1983)
M.A., University of Pennsylvania (1985)
M.A., Yale University (1987)
Ph.D., Yale University (1991)

Languages:

Arabic, French, Persian, Punjabi, Turkish (modern and Ottoman), Urdu, Chaghatay, German, Spanish

Research Interests:

Islamic mystical thought and metaphysics; Religion and Material Culture; Popular Culture in South Asia and Turkey; Arabic and Persian Scholarly Literature; Visual Studies

Overseas Research Experience:

Bangladesh, Egypt, France, India, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, UK

Representative Awards and Distinctions:

Honorary M.A., Amherst College

Recent Publications:

Key Themes for the Study of Islam; "The Sufi Robe (khirqa) as a Vehicle of Spiritual Authority" in Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture, ed. Steward Gordon; "Truck Decoration and Religious Identity: Material Culture and Social Function in Pakistan" in Material Culture; "Sayyid 'Ali-yi Hamadani and the Making of His Charisma" in Muslim World; "Not Reading the Writing on the Wall: Monumental Calligraphy as Visual Sign" in Design: Essays on Popular Visual Culture and Iconography by Saima Zaidi.

Courses:

History of Islamic Civization, Islamic Ethics, Islamic Metaphysics, Islam and the Religious Image