Shadi Hamid

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Shadi Hamid (born 1983) is an American author and political scientist working as a columnist at The Washington Post . Previously, he worked at Brookings Institution and at The Atlantic . He is also the author of several books about political Islam and democracy in the Middle East, which earned him recognition. Hamid is the first Muslim scholar hired by Fuller Theological Seminary, where he is research professor of Islamic studies.

Contents

Early life and education

Hamid was born in Pennsylvania to an Egyptian family. [1] [2] A Marshall Scholar, [3] Hamid completed his doctoral degree in politics at Oxford University in 2010. His dissertation was titled "Democrats without Democracy: The Unlikely Moderation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan". [4] [5] Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. [6]

Career

From 2004 to 2005, Hamid was a Fulbright Fellow in Jordan, researching Islamist participation in the democratic process. Subsequently, he was a research fellow at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, where he conducted research on the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian government. [7] From 2008 to 2009, he was a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. [8] Until 2014, Hamid was a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. He was also a contributing writer at The Atlantic. [9]

In 2014, Hamid wrote Temptations of Power, [10] [11] [12] where he discussed Islam and democracy. [13] Temptations of Power was named a Foreign Affairs "Best Book of 2014". [14] This was followed by Islamic Exceptionalism (2016), [15] [16] where he described Islam's resistance to secularization and outsized role in public life. [17] [18] "Islamic exceptionalism", a term he coined, attracted some criticism. [19] [20] Islamic Exceptionalism was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. [21] In subsequent years, he wrote Rethinking Political Islam (2017), [22] Militants, Criminals and Warlords (2018), [23] [24] The Problem of Democracy (2022), [9] and The Case for American Power. (2025). [25]

During his career, Hamid's wrote articles for several publications, including among others Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy , The National Interest , The New York Times , The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal . [25] He also appeared as a guest on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and The Lead with Jake Tapper , Fox News, The Megyn Kelly Show , MSNBC's Morning Joe , NBC Nightly News , and PBS Newshour . [25] In 2019, Hamid was recognized as a "prominent thinker on religion and politics" by The New York Times, [26] and was named as one of "The world's top 50 thinkers" by Prospect , [9] with "an emphasis on democratic institutions and the importance of due process". [27] Also in 2019, he started the Wisdom of Crowds, an ideas collective and debate platform with Hamid serving as a co-host. [28]

On January 24, 2022, it was announced that he was to take the position of research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. This appointment made him the first Muslim scholar in the school's 75-year history. [29] From 2023 to 2024, he was a member of the Editorial Board of The Washington Post, working as a columnist with a focus on culture, religion, and foreign policy. [9]

Books

References

  1. O'Malley, JP (July 6, 2016). "The West fundamentally misunderstands the ethos of the 'caliphate,' writes Muslim author". The Times of Israel. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  2. Tooley, Mark; Hamid, Shadi (June 4, 2020). "Shadi Hamid on 'Church of Woke'". Providence Magazine. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  3. Nixon, D. Pierce (November 22, 2005). "Pair Named Marshall Fellows". The Hoya. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  4. Hamid, Shadi (2009). Democrats without Democracy: The Unlikely Moderation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan (PhD thesis). St. Antony's College (University of Oxford). Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  5. Eisenhart, Tess Lee (April 2010). Metamorphosis or Maturation: Organizational Continuity in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (PDF) (B.A. thesis). College of Social Studies (Wesleyan University). p. 51. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  6. "Biographies of the Contributors". Arab Center Washington DC (Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies). 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  7. "Shadi Hamid". Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (Stanford University). 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  8. "N/A" (PDF). Journal of Democracy. 22 (1): 68. January 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Shadi Hamid". The Washington Post. 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  10. Traub, James (April 16, 2014). "Book Review: 'Temptations of Power' by Shadi Hamid". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  11. Waterbury, John (August 4, 2014). "Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East". Foreign Affairs. JSTOR   24483351 . Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  12. Johnston, David L. (July 5, 2016). "Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East, written by Shadi Hamid (review)". Sociology of Islam. 4 (3). Brill: 303–306. doi:10.1163/22131418-00403007. ISSN   2213-140X.
  13. Brown, Nathan J. (Summer 2015). "A Struggle for Power: Islamism and Democracy". Middle East Journal. 69 (3): 463–467. JSTOR   43698263.
  14. "Best International Relations Books of 2014". Foreign Affairs. April 16, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  15. Berlinski, Claire (September 26, 2016). "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam Is Reshaping the World, by Shadi Hamid". National Review. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  16. Ruthven, Malise (September–October 2016). "Mosque and State: The Future of Political Islam". Foreign Affairs. 95 (5): 142–148. JSTOR   43946965.
  17. Lozada, Carlos (June 17, 2016). "Yes, there is something 'going on' with Muslims. But it's not what Donald Trump suggests". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  18. Quamar, Md. Muddassir. "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World by Shadi Hamid (review)". Strategic Analysis. 41 (6): 599–601. doi:10.1080/09700161.2017.1377898. S2CID   158572545.
  19. Mneimneh, Hassan (July 28, 2016). "The Dangerous Stipulation of Islamic Exceptionalism". Middle East Institute. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
  20. Douthat, Ross (August 6, 2016). "Opinion | The Meaning of a Martyrdom". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  21. "Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World". Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. University of Toronto. 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  22. "Rethinking Political Islam (review)". Publishers Weekly. 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  23. Sinai, Joshua (June 2018). Perspectives on Terrorism. 12 (3): 103–104. JSTOR   26453159.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  24. Kiba, Saya (February 2020). "Militants, criminals, and warlords: the challenge of local governance in an age of disorder (review)". Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies. 9: 86–88. doi: 10.1080/24761028.2020.1726598 . S2CID   213470777.
  25. 1 2 3 "Shadi A Hamid". Faculty Directory (Georgetown University). 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2025. Updated through the years.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  26. Akyol, Mustafa (December 23, 2019). "Opinion | A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  27. "The world's top 50 thinkers 2019". Prospect. July 16, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  28. Freedland, Jonathan; Hamid, Shadi; Stephens, Danielle; Ebtehaj, Maz; Kacoutié, Axel (March 11, 2022). "Is Putin proving the need for Western power? Politics Weekly America – podcast". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved August 4, 2024.
  29. "Fuller Seminary Receives Grant for Muslim-Christian Research". Fuller Theological Seminary. January 24, 2022. Archived from the original on February 16, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2022.