In this video I interview esteemed University of Chicago Professor, Dr. Fred M. Donner. Dr. Donner is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He obtained a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1975.

Donner’s early research focused on relations between pastoral nomads and settled society in the Near East, and over the years has shifted to Islamic historiography, Qur’anic studies, Arabic papyrology, and the origins of Islam. His major publications include The Early Islamic Conquests (Princeton University Press, 1981); Narratives of Islamic Origins: the beginnings of Islamic historical writing (Darwin Press, 1997); and Muhammad and the Believers: at the origins of Islam (Harvard University Press, 2010).

Donner has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1978-1988), the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan (Spring, 2001), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2007-2008), the Stanford Humanities Center (Marta Sutton Weeks Fellow, 2014-2015), the American Council of Learned Societies (2018-2019) and the American Academy in Berlin (Spring 2019). He was President of Middle East Medievalists (1990-1992) and President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (2012). He currently serves on the Board of the International Qur'anic Studies Association (IQSA). In 2012, he was inducted as a life member of the Scientific Committee of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters "Beit el-Hikma."

In this interview we discuss his entry into the field and his work on the early Islamic community.

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