About the Author

Born in Fes, Morocco, Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is currently a Professor Emeritus. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974. A Fellow of the Jerusalem Center since the 1970s, Professor Israeli is the author of over 50 research books, a dozen edited books, and 100 scholarly articles about Islam in the Middle East, in Asia, and in Europe.