H. A. R. Gibb

Hamilton Gibb was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and was educated at Edinburgh University and London University. After serving in the Royal Field Artillery during World War I, he became a professor of Arabic at the University of London and at Oxford University. Later he taught at Harvard (1955--64). He was a founder of Fuad I Academy of Arabic Languages in Cairo and director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies from 1957 to 1966. Author of several works on Arab history, culture, and literature, and editor of The Encyclopedia of Islam (1960), a standard work, Gibb was one of the finest Islamic scholars of his generation. According to him, he wrote of Islam as a Christian "engaged in a common spiritual enterprise."