Yousef Casewit

Yousef Casewit is a scholar of Quranic Studies, Islamic thought, and North African and Andalusian intellectual history at the University of Chicago.^[1]

Biography[]

Yousef was born in Egypt and raised in Morocco, and has studied with Muslim intellectuals in Morocco, Syria, and Mauritania. He received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Yale University. Casewit worked as a Humanities Research Fellow at New York University Abu Dhabi and an Assistant Professor of Arabic intellectual heritage and culture at the American University of Sharjah before joining the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. He is proficient in Arabic, French, and Spanish.^[1]

PUBLICATIONS Monographs

The Mystics of al-Andalus: Ibn Barrajān and Islamic Thought in the Twelfth Century. Cambridge University Press (Studies in Islamic Civilization, 2017).

Reviews of The Mystics of al-Andalus Maribel Fierro, Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society, 62 (2017): 115-18. Jawad Qureshi, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 34.4 (2017): 78-82. Kenneth Garden, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 50 (2018): 823-26. Ali Humayun Akhtar, The American Historical Review, 123.4 (2018): 1430-31. Michael Ebstein, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 139.3 (2019): 733-38. Noah Gardiner, Nazariyat, 5.2 (2019): 213-19. Ahmet Aytep, Dîvân, 2 (2019): 205-09 (review in Turkish).

Arabic translation by Mostapha Bensbaa: al-Taṣawwuf al-Andalusī (provision title). Qatar: Muntadā al-ʿAlāqāt al-ʿArabiyya waʾl-Dawliyya, forthcoming.

Translations and Arabic Editions

- The Foundations of the Karkariya Order. Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. (trans. Yousef Casewit, Khalid Williams, Jamil Zaghdoudi) Brussels: Les 7 Lectures, 2021.

- Sufism Revived: A Contemporary Treatise on Divine Light, Prophecy, and Sainthood. Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. (Eds. Khalid Williams, Tarek Ghanem) Brussels: Les 7 Lectures, 2021.

- In the Footsteps of Moses: A Contemporary Sufi Commentary on the Story of God's Confidant (kalīm Allāh) in the Qurʾān. Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. (Ed. Khalid Williams) Brussels: Les 7 Lectures, 2021.

- Introduction to Islamic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Sufi Treatise on the Secrets of the Divine Name. Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. (Trans. Yousef Casewit & Khalid Williams) Brussels: Les 7 Lectures, 2021.

Arabic Critical Editions

- A Qurʾān Commentary by Ibn Barrajān of Seville (d. 536/1141): Wisdom Deciphered, the Unseen Discovered - Ῑḍāḥ al-Ḥikma bi-ʾAḥkām al-ʿIbra. Co-edited with Gerhard Böwering, Brill (Texts and Studies on the Qurʾān, 2015; Series Editors: G. Böwering, B. Orfali, D. Stewart) (c. 250,000 words).

Articles in Refereed Journals

- “Al-Ghazālī’s Virtue Ethical Theory of the Divine Names: The Theological Underpinnings of the Doctrine of Takhalluq in al-Maqṣad al-Asnā.” Journal of Islamic Ethics 4, no. 1-12 (2020): 155-200.

- “Shushtarī’s Treatise On the Limits of Theology and Sufism: Discursive Knowledge (ʿilm), Direct Recognition (maʿrifa), and Mystical Realization (taḥqīq) in al-Risāla al-Quṣāriyya.” Religions 11 (2020): 1-32.

- “A Muslim Scholar of the Bible: Biblical Proof-Texts for Qurʾānic Teachings in the Works of Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141).” Journal of Qurʾānic Studies 18.1 (2016): 1-48.

- “A Reconsideration of the Life and Works of Ibn Barrajān.” al-Abhath 60-61 (2012-2013): 111-142.

Articles in Refereed Edited Volumes

- “The Treatise on the Ascension (al-Risāla al-miʿrājiyya): Cosmology and Time in the Writings of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Shushtarī (d. 668/1269)” in Jamal Elias and Bilal Orfali, eds., Light upon Light: Essays in Islamic Thought and History in Honor of Gerhard Böwering, Leiden: Brill, (2020): 182-238.

References[]