Rothschild Prize

Etan Kohlberg has devoted his career to the study of medieval Islamic religious thought and literature. He has given special attention to the Shi‘a, and in a long series of articles has described and analysed the main features of their belief and law. His unique contribution to the study of Islam has been recognized not only in the West, but also in the Islamic world, and a significant part of his work has been translated into Persian, Turkish and Arabic. He is the author of several books, notably a study of the library of the thirteenth century Shi‘i scholar Ali Ibn Tawus. Most recently he has produced, in collaboration with Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, an annotated edition the Kitab al-qira’at of Ahmad al-Sayyari, one of the earliest surviving Shi‘i texts and a work of major importance for the textual history of the Qur’an. Professor Etan Kohlberg received his DPhil from Oxford University in 1971. He joined the Faculty of The Hebrew University in 1976. He was Chair of the Institute of Asian and African Studies from 1987-1989. Since 2004 he has held the Max Schloessinger Chair in Islamic Studies. Professor Kohlberg has been a Visiting Professor at Yale University, was twice a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies of The Hebrew University, and twice a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1993) and has represented it at the Standing Committee for the Humanities of the European Science Foundation (2001-7).

(Photo by Sasson Tiram)