DAVID S. POWERS

Department of Near Eastern Studies
386 Rockefeller Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
(607) 255-6275

EDUCATION

Ph.D., M.A., Princeton University, Islamic History, 1979.

B.A., Yale University, Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, 1973.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

early Islam, 13th-16th century North Africa, law, religious polemics

EMPLOYMENT

Professor of Islamic History, Cornell University, 1992-present

Associate Professor of Islamic History, Cornell University, 1986-1992

Assistant Professor of Islamic History, Cornell University, 1979-1986

Instructor of Arabic, Princeton University, 1977-1979

COURSES TAUGHT

Modern Standard Arabic (Elementary and Intermediate)

Readings in Classical Arabic Texts

Introduction to Near Eastern Civilization

Islamic Civilization

Islamic History

Islamic Law

Islam and Politics

Islam and the West

Seminar in Islamic History

Western Perceptions of the Middle East

Jews of Arab Lands

Egyptian Society: Past, Present, Future (Cornell Adult University)

Critical Reading and Writing: Revealing Islam

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

American Oriental Society

Middle East Studies Association

Institute for Maghrebi Studies

EDITORSHIP

Editor, Islamic Law and Society (E.J. Brill), since 1993

ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES AT CORNELL

Chair, Near Eastern Studies, 1993-96

Graduate Field Representative, 1988-93

Director of Undergraduate Studies, fall 1981, 1982-1985, spring 1991, 1997-

Coordinator, Comparative Muslim Societies Seminar, 1989-present

Chairman, Arabic and Islamic Studies Committee, 1988-present (member since 1987)

Chairman, Hillel Faculty Board, 1989-90 (member since 1988)

Chairman, Olin Library Users' Committee, 1988-90 (member since 1986)

Interim Director, Near Eastern Studies Program, 1995-96

Member, History Graduate Field, 1991-present

Member, Religious Studies Program Steering Committee, 1993-1994

Member, University Assembly, 1991-93

Member, Faculty-in-Residence Program, 1989-93

Member, Faculty Fellows Program, 1985-1989, 1993-present

Member, Freedom of Teaching and Learning Committee, 1983-1986

Member, Faculty Council of Representatives, 1981-1986

Member, Faculty Senate, 1997-98

Member, Arts and Sciences Admissions Committee, 1981-1983, 1986-1987

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

Lady Davis Fellowship, 1996-97

Travel Grant, American Institute for Maghrebi Studies, 1997

Merrill Presidential Teaching Award, spring, 1992

National Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship, fall, 1991

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Research Grant, 1989

Cornell Faculty Research Grant, 1983

Cornell Faculty Summer Research Grant, 1980

Social Science Research Council Post-Doctoral Training Fellowship, 1979-80 (declined)

American Research Center in Egypt Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 1979-1980 (declined)

Charlotte E. Procter Fellowship, Princeton University, 1978-1979

National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship, 1975-1978

PERSONAL DATA

Born 7/23/51 in Cleveland, Ohio; married to Jane Levine Powers; two daughters, one son

REFERENCES:

Available on request

PAPERS AT SCHOLARLY MEETINGS

"Familial Politics in 14th Century Algeria," seminar on "Women and Children in Muslim Society," Haifa University, May 27, 1997

 

"Immoral Conduct and the Problem of Judicial Legitimacy," seminar on "The Public Sphere in Muslim Society," Van Leer Institute, April 17, 1997

 

"The Dynamics of Legal Continuity," workshop on "The Dynamics of Legal Change in Muslim Societies," The Hebrew University, March 19, 1997

 

"The Art of the Judicial Opinion: On Tawlij in 14th-Century Tunis," Forum in memory of Professor Baneth, Hebrew University, February 26, 1997.

 

"The Art of the Judicial Opinion in Islamic Law, " Yale University, September 1993.

 

"Conficting Conceptions of Property in Fifteenth Century Morocco," Washington University Conference on Law and Praxis, St. Louis, May, 1992

 

"Law and Language," Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Boston, March, 1992

 

"Waqf and Hadith," Fourth International Colloquium on Hadith, Amsterdam, August 26, 1991

 

"The Maliki Family Endowment: ca. 900-1500," International Colloquium: Normes Juridiques et Pratiques Sociales dans le Monde Musulman, Paris, January 1991

 

"On Judicial Review in Islamic Law," SOAS conference on Islamic Public Law, London, June 30, 1990

 

"On Judicial Review in Islamic Law," Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society Atlanta, Georgia, March 26, 1990

 

"Fatwas as Sources for Legal and Social History," SSRC Conference on The Making of a Fatwa, Granada, Spain, January 1990

 

"Islamic Inheritance Law: A Socio-Historical Approach," SOAS conference on Islamic Family Law and the State, London, May 1989

 

"Islamic Conceptions of the Afterlife," Free Inquiry Conference, San Francisco, July 1989

 

"The Exegetical Genre Nasikh al-Qur'an," Calgary Conference on the History of the Interpretation of the Qur'an, Calgary, April 1985

 

"The Asbab al-Nuzul and Legal History," Annual Meeting of the Middle Eastern Studies Association, San Francisco, November 1984

 

"Reading/Misreading One Another's Scriptures," Institute of Jewish/Islamic Studies, Denver, May 1984

 

"The Schacht-Coulson Debate: A Reassessment," Oxford Colloquium on Islamic History, Oxford, October 1982

 

"On the Abrogation of Q. 2:180 and 2:240," Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, December 1981

 

"The Will of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas," Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Boston, March 1981

 

"Muhammad, the Qur'an and the Islamic Law of Inheritance," Annual Meeting of the Middle Eastern Studies Association, Salt Lake City, November 1979

 

"Family Endowments in Medieval Spain and North Africa," Annual Meeting of theMiddle Eastern Studies Association, Ann Arbor, November 1978

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and their Fatwas, ed. M. Khalid Masud, Brinkley Messick and David Powers (Harvard University Press, 1996)

 

The History of al-Tabari, Volume XXIV: The Caliphates of Sulayman, Umar II, and Yazid. State University of New York Press, 1989 (annotated translation)

 

Studies in Qur'an and Hadith: The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance. University of California Press, 1986.

Articles

"Conflicting Conceptions of Property in Fifteenth-Century Morocco," in Late-Medieval Family Law: Controlling Marriage, Gender, Age and Succession, ed. DeLloyd J. Guth. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [forthcoming]

"Muftis, Fatwas, and Islamic Legal Interpretation, in Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and their Fatwas (Harvard University Press, 1996)

"The Art of the Legal Opinion," in Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and their Fatwas, ed. M. Khalid Masud, Brinkley Messick and David Powers (Harvard University Press, 1996)

 

"Kadijustiz or Qadi-Justice?: A Paternity Dispute from 14th-Century Morocco," Islamic Law and Society 1:3 (1994): 332-366 [reprinted in Law, Morality, and Religion: Global Perspectives, ed. Alan Watson (Berkeley, Robbins Collection, 1996)]

 

"The Maliki Family Endowment: Judicial Norms and Social Practices," International Journal of Middle East Studies 25:3 (1993): 379-406.

 

"Legal Consultation (Futya) in Medieval Spain and North Africa," in Chibli Mallat [ed.], Islam and Public Law. London: Graham and Trotman, 1993, pp. 1-21.

 

"On Judicial Review in Islamic Law,"Law & Society Review 26:2 (1992): 315-341.

"Fatwas as Sources for Legal and Social History: A Dispute over Endowment Revenues from Fourteenth-Century Fez," Al-Qantara 11 (1990): 295-341.

 

"Islamic Inheritance Law: A Socio-Historical Approach," in Chibli Mallat and Jane Conners (eds.), Islamic Family Law and the State. London: Trotman, 1990, pp. 11-29.

 

"A Court Case from Fourteenth-Century North Africa," Journal of the American Oriental Society 110:2 (1990): 229-254.

 

"Colonialism, Orientalism, and Legal History: The Attack on Muslim Family Endowments in Algeria and India," Comparative Studies in Society and History 31 (1989): 535-571.

 

"On Bequests in Early Islam," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 48 (1989): 185-200.

 

"The Literary Genre Nasikh al-Qur'an," in Andrew Rippin (ed.), Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur'an. Oxford University Press, 1988.

 

"Reading/Misreading One Another's Scriptures," in William Brinner (ed.), Studies in Judaism and Islam, Volume I. Scholars Press, 1986.

 

"Revenues of Public Endowments in Sixteenth-Century Jerusalem," Archivum Ottomanicum 9 (1984): 163-202

 

Articles: "Inheritance," "Endowment," and "Alms-Tax" in the Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York: Scribners, 1983

 

"The Will of Sa'd b. Abi Waqqas: A Reassessment," Studia Islamica 58 (1983): 33-53.

 

"On the Abrogation of the Bequest Verses," Arabica 29 (1982): 246-295.

 

"The Islamic Law of Inheritance, Reconsidered: A New Reading of Q. 4:12b," Studia Islamica 55 (1982): 61-94.

Reviews

Review: Chibli Mallat, The Renewal of Islamic Law: Muhammad Baqer as-Sadr, Najaf and the Shii International. American Historical Review (October, 1995): 1270-72

Review: John Burton, Sources of Islamic Law. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (date?): 933-34

 

Review: L. Rosen, The Anthroplogy of Justice: Law as Culture in Islamic Society. Journal of the American Oriental Society 111.4 (1991): 790-91.

 

Review: John Burton (ed.), Abu cUbaid al-Qasim b. Sallam's K. al-nasikh wa-l-mansukh. Speculum 65 (1990): 933-934.

 

Review: P. Crone, Roman, provincial, and Islamic law. Journal of Semitic Studies 35 (1999): 326-330.

 

Review: N.J. Coulson and Abdelwadoud Yehia, Studien zum Islamischen Recht. The Muslim World 77 (1987): 139.

 

Review: M. Ayyoub, The Qur'an and its Interpreters. The Muslim World 75 (1985): 51-52.

 

Review : J. Esposito (ed.), Islam and Development. NYU Journal of International Law and Politics 15 (1982): 479-486.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Law and Society in Medieval Islam: Court Cases from 14th-Century North Africa

PUBLIC LECTURES

"Muslim-Jewish Polemics in Medieval Spain," Near Eastern Studies Department, University of Michigan, December 3, 1992

"Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Is Conflict Inevitable?" Cornell's Adult University, Skytop, PA, May 1, 1992.

"Judaism and Islam," Ithaca College (February, 1992)

"The Koran: A Model for Political Action," International Living Center, Cornell University, February 19, 1987

"Reinterpreting the Qur'an," Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, January 23, 1986

"The Current Mood in Israel," Jewish Community Federation of Syracuse, March 22, 1985

"The Islamic Law of Inheritance," Harvard Law School, December 1983

"Religion and Politics in the Middle East," Cornell University, April 25, 1983

Speaker, Law and Society Research Workshop, April 1981

Co-chairman, Cornell Symposium on the Islamic Revival, October 1980

"Islamic Inheritance, Reconsidered," March 10, 1980, Arab Club, SUNY Binghamton

Speaker, Colloquium on the Iran-Iraq War, sponsored by the Cornell International Affairs Association, 1980

Speaker, "Perspectives on the Iranian Crisis," sponsored by the Cornell Daily Sun,December 1979