University of Cambridge

Faculty Member, Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations

Other Affiliations: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
University of Cambridge, Centre of Islamic Studies

Course Convenor, MPhil Middle Eastern Studies (Specialisation: Muslim-Jewish Relations), Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Academic Director in Muslim-Jewish Relations

St. Edmund's College

About

Born in the United States Dr Meri hails from a Jerusalemite family. He has travelled extensively throughout the Middle East and has lived in Cairo, Damascus, Jerusalem and from 2005-2010 in Amman, where he oversaw a major Qur’anic exegesis project at the Jordanian Royal Court. He previously held visiting appointments at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London and the University of California at Berkeley.

Dr Meri is a historian of religions and a specialist in medieval Islamic history and civilisation, the academic study of Muslim-Jewish relations and the comparative study of ritual in Islam and Judaism. Dr Meri’s research interests include: Pilgrimage and the Veneration of Saints and Relics in Islam, Judaism and Christianity; Ritual in Islam and Judaism; Popular Religion; History of the Jews of Arab Lands. His teaching interests include: Ritual in Islam and Judaism; Pilgrimage in Islam and Judaism; Medieval Islamic History and Civilisation; Travel, Hajj and Ziyara; History of Sacred Places in the Middle East; The Jews of the Islamic World; Bibliographic Methods in the Study of the Abrahamic Religions.

Dr Meri is currently Editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook of Muslim-Jewish Relations, a major academic resource for the academic study of Muslim-Jewish Relations and Intertwined Worlds, an e-platform dedicated to the academic study of Muslim-Jewish and Muslim-Jewish-Christian Relations. He previously served as Founding Advisory Board Member (Islamic Studies), Oxford Bibliographies On-line (2008-2010), General Editor of Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia (2002-2005), Series Editor of the Great Tafsirs of the Holy Qur'an series (Fons Vitae Publishers, USA with Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan)(2005-2010), Section Editor (Islam) of Wiley-Blackwell's Religion Compass (2005-2010) and Book Review Editor (Medieval Islamic and Jewish Studies), Speculum, published by the Medieval Academy of America (2007-2012).

Specialties

Islam, Islamic Studies, Islamic history, religion, history of ideas, the history, cultures and religious systems of the medieval and early-modern Mediterranean and Muslim worlds (ca 1000-1500 CE), Muslim-Jewish-Christian relations, Muslim-Jewish relations, Abrahamic religions, history of religions, ritual studies, project management, translation, budget management, publishing, academic publishing, on-line publishing, electronic publishing, e-publishing, computers in teaching

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