Honorary Doctorate at Leiden University for Arabists cum historians Crone and Cook
Arabists and historians Patricia Crone (Princeton Institute for Advanced Study) and Michael Cook (University of Princeton) are to receive a joint Honorary Doctorate from Leiden University. They are receiving this award for their pioneering and consistently innovative approach to the history of Islam that has brought about lasting change in the field.
Alternative sources
The early collaborative work of Crone and Cook in late 1970s reset the scholarly framework for studying early Islam. They demonstrated that the historical picture of the origins of Islam was far too literally based on sources from several centuries later. There simply were no earlier Arabic sources. Crone and Cook therefore left the well-trodden paths of Arabic studies and delved into the non-Arabic sources from Late Antiquity, such as Greek or Aramaic texts. In so doing, they immediately placed the earliest history of Islam in a new historical context: the broad and multicultural world of Late Antiquity.
Coins
Thereafter, it became inconceivable to study the first century of Islam without the further exploration of alternative, non-Islamic writings as well as other newly-discovered sources, such as papyri or coins. But scholars also began to treat the traditional Islamic texts themselves more critically and more creatively. With the help of methods and techniques from other disciplines, these sources came to be recognized in new ways as highly valuable products of their time.
Medieval and Islamic history
Crone and Cook continued to have close connections through their work, and they maintain a shared and open vision of their field. Both have published highly influential and accessible studies on the intellectual, religious, political, military and socio-economic history of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. Cook’s pioneering work Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought (2000) addresses the much-discussed interaction between morality and authority in Islamic thought. His works on Muhammad and early Islamic theology have become classics. So, too, has Crone’s book God's Rule. Government and Islam, which is an analysis of the development of Islamic political thought over six centuries. Her latest monograph ( The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism, 2012) focuses on local Iranian reactions to Islam.
Openness
Both scholars are known for their academic and didactic generosity and openness. In their institutes in Princeton, they are both involved in teaching young researchers from all countries of the world, and in organizing workshops and conferences. In addition, they have published works for wide audiences on the history and religion of Islam, but also on general problems of world history (Pre-Industrial Societies (Crone 1991) and A Brief History of the Human Race (Cook 2003)). They have collaborated widely with historians who study other regions and cultures, and have in this way ensured a place for the history of Islam in the general historical discourse.
400 years of Arabic in Leiden
The Honorary Doctorate will be presented on 8 February 2013, on the 438th anniversary of the founding of the University and forms part of the celebrations associated with this anniversary. Both Patricia Crone and Michael Cook are highly significant influences for research conducted at Leiden University, which also attributes great value and attention to the non-Arabic and non-Islamic world and related sources, the late antique context of Islam and early and medieval Islamic history in general. Their comparative historical approach with a strong area studies profile also reflects Leiden working methods. Since her PhD research in Princeton, Professor Petra Sijpesteijn, Professor of Arabic and Honorary Supervisor of both Honorary Doctors, has collaborated closely with both scholars in international projects.
(30 October 2012 - HP)