A younger generation of scholars recently paid tribute to UCLA Professor Emeritus Ismail K. Poonawala at a symposium (“Reflections on Ismaili Studies: Standing on Poonawala’s Shoulders”) held May 23, 2013, by presenting new research in a tradition made immeasurably richer by his life’s work as a scholar of Ismaili Shiism.
International Institute, May 31, 2013 — Ismail Kurbanhusein Poonawala was a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Culture for 38 years, retiring from full-time teaching in 2012. He chaired the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Islamic Studies at UCLA for five years and has been a long-time affiliated faculty member of the Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES).
A specialist in Ismaili studies, his prodigious volume of publications made many original Ismaili works — from the classical Fatimid Caliphate period (10th–12th centuries) as well as from later periods — available to scholars and Ismailis themselves for the first time, prompting a rethinking of earlier scholarship on the Ismaili tradition.
Poonawala’s publications include the monumental “Bibliography of Ismaili Literature,” a fully annotated English translation of volume 9 of Tabari’s “History,” a translation of “The Pillars of Islam” (two volumes of Ismaili law composed by Qadi Nu‘man), “Al-Sultan al-Khattab: His Life and Poetry,” and innumerable journal articles, encyclopedia contributions and book chapters.
At the center of the warm-hearted and intellectually challenging deliberations was Prof. Poonawala himself, a man as humble and friendly as he is accomplished. He began the symposium by defining the Ismailis, acknowledging that many people — including one of his own colleagues at UCLA — do not know who they are.
“The Ismailis,” said Poonawala, “constitute the second largest Shia community in the Muslim world. They are scattered over many parts of the world, including India, Pakistan, East Africa, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Europe and North Africa.”
via Giant of Ismaili studies honored by younger generation , UCLA International Institute.
http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=114002&l=en
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