Professor Ridwan Al-Sayyid
King Faisal Prize in Islamic Studies 2017 Laureate
Topic: "Muslim Political Thought Up To The 9th Century H./15th Century G."
Islam has always been the symbolic capital utilized by politicians, speakers, and religious groups with regards to the theory of authority, and in political fields and general management affairs
Ridwan Al-Sayed received his Alimiyyah Certificate (equivalent to Bachelor) from the College of Usul Al-Din in Al-Azhar University in 1970, and a State Doctorate in Philosophy from the Department of Religious Studies at TÜbingen University in Germany in 1977. He joined the academic staff of the Lebanese University for the next forty years, advancing from lecturer to Assistant Professor and becoming a full Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the College of Arts in 1989. He served as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Islamic Studies at Sana’a University in Yemen (1989-1991), the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the College of Law at Harvard University (1993-1994; 1997; 2002), and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago (1994; 1995) in the USA, the College of Theology at Salzburg University in Austria (1994), the Department of Comparative Theology and Anthropology at the University of Bamberg in Germany (2001), and the Institute of Islamic World Studies at Shaikh Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates (2012-2014). He is currently a professor emeritus at the Lebanese University.
Professor Radwan Al-Sayed is an eminent scholar, who has enriched the Arabic and Islamic libraries with his books, studies, and research that reflect his insights and thorough knowledge of Arabic and Islamic religious heritage, deep knowledge of modern research methodologies, and ability to pursue detailed analysis and coordination between the origins of Islamic political thought and contemporary Arabic/Islamic reality. He verified nine books pertaining to Islamic heritage and authored twelve other books, of which he translated five.
Professor Al-Sayed owns an imposing teaching experience both at the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels. This includes teaching the: origins of Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic theology, Qur’anic studies, Islamic history and sociology, Islamic philosophy, interpreters’ methods, modern Islamic thought, orientalists input, etc .
Apart from serving as a Professor of Islamic studies at the Lebanese University, Professor Al-Sayed held several other tasks during his career. He was an Acting Director of the Arab Development Institute in Beirut (1982-1985), and a Director of the High Institute for Islamic Studies (1985-1988; 1994-2000). He also served as an Editorial Secretary of the Islamic Thought journal (1970-1972), a Chief Editor of Arab Thought magazine (1979-1985), and a Co-editor of Al-Ijtihad journal (1988-2004). He has also made significant contributions in many conferences and seminars in the Arab World, Europe and the USA, in addition to his translations, journal articles and contributions in many cultural dialogues in various mass media.
He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Arab Thought Foundation, a Founding Member of the Deanship of Shari’a College in Beirut, an Active Member of the Royal Jordanian Al-Albait Academy, a Member of the German Orientalists Society, and of the Board of Directors of Al-Maqasid Islamic Society in Lebanon, and the Lebanese Universities’ Council.
Professor Al-Sayed was awarded Abdulhamid Shoman Prize for Islamic Studies in 1985, Abdulhadi Al-Dibs Prize for Distinguished Research in the field of Islamic Studies in 1997, and Al-Khwarizmi Prize for the best contribution in Islamic Studies in 1998.
This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.
