Prof. Bilal Orfali

Bilal Orfali is the Sheikh Zayed Chair for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at NYU Abu Dhabi. He is the former M.S. Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at The Ohio State University. He holds a PhD (2009) and MPhil (2006) in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Yale University, as well as BA, MA, and BS degrees from AUB. An internationally recognized scholar, he serves on the editorial boards of several journals and encyclopedias. His research focuses on classical Arabic philology and Islamic mysticism, particularly in the 10th–11th centuries, with an emphasis on literary transmission, Arabic anthologies, and the intersections of Qurʾānic studies, theology, and Sufism. He is the author and editor of more than two dozen books, including The Maqāmāt of Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī (2022) and The Anthologist’s Art (2012), which have significantly contributed to the study of classical Arabic literary culture.