Suleiman A. Mourad is a historian of Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures whose work focuses primarily on Muslims as makers and interpreters of their own religious, historical and legal traditions. His contribution to modern knowledge about Islam and Islamic history is that his publications have demonstrated the active agency of Muslims, from the seventh century until today, in fashioning creative religious and historical discourses to help answer the challenges they faced. He joined Smith in 2005 and currently holds the Myra M. Sampson chair Professor in Religion and Middle East Studies. His courses engage different topics, ranging from Islamic history, religious thought, law, and music to comparative themes relating to the history of Jerusalem and to the Crusades. He also teaches on food as embedded in a complex web of interconnected environments pertaining to the broader Middle East.
Suleiman was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He received his college education at the American University of Beirut (B.S. Mathematics, 1990; M.A. History, 1996), and earned his Ph.D. at Yale University (Arabic & Islamic Studies, 2004). Aside from his professional work and publications, which include The Mosaic of Islam (Verso 2016), Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem (Routledge 2019), Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period (Hackett 2021), and Ibn ‘Asakir of Damascus: Champion of Sunni Islam in the Time of the Crusades (Oneworld 2021), he has contributed to several historical documentaries – such as Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury (CNN 2021), and The Sultan and the Saint (PBS 2017) – and has written on historical and current issues in outlets, such as the New Left Review–Sidecar, 180Post.com, and the BBC History magazine. He is currently finishing a book about Lebanese food cultures and the symbiotic relationship/interdependence of people, animals, and nature, with recipes of famous dishes.
Suleiman is committed to collaborative and interdisciplinary thinking and conversations. He was a fellow in several long- and short-term Kahn projects. He was also a fellow of the National Endowment of the Humanities (2007-2008); the Institut d’Études Avancées in Nantes (different occasions between 2012 and 2021); the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (May-August 2013 & May-August 2014 and affiliated with the Institute for Islamic Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin; and October-December 2025 and affiliated with the Department of Medieval History at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität Munich); the Zukunftskolleg (University of Konstanz, May-July 2025); and was most recently a scholar-in-residence at the American University of Beirut (Spring 2026). Additionally, he received grants for his research from the Gerda Henkel Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Mellon Foundation, among others.
