Joel Blecher

I am a historian of medieval Islam whose scholarship and teaching also addresses how the classical Islamic tradition continues to operate in the modern world. My research, which combines methods from social and intellectual history, is grounded in archives and field sites in Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, and India, as well as various manuscript libraries across Europe and North America.

My first book, Said the Prophet of God: Hadith Commentary across a Millennium (University of California Press, 2018), explores the rich history of the practice of hadith commentary in the times and places it flourished the most—classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and early modern India. Weaving together tales of public debates, high court rivalries, and colonial politics with analyses of ethnographic field notes and fine-grained arguments adorning the margins of manuscripts, this book opens new avenues for scholars who study interpretive traditions over long periods of time and geographical expanses.

My second book project, Profit and Prophecy: Islam and the Spice Trade, retells the story of the spice trade through the eyes of medieval Muslim scholars, merchants, and scholar-merchants who mixed religion and business along pilgrimage routes and port cities that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies, the book will offer new insights for students and scholars of global history, religion, and commercial exchange.

I have taught at Princeton University, Oberlin College, and Washington and Lee University, where I served the departments of Religion, History, as well as the School of Law. I have also been invited to speak about the Islamic world on Public Radio and has contributed to the Atlantic.
Supervisors: Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Michael Cook, Shaun Marmon, and Jonathan Brown