John Marsden Beaumont Jones (20 December 1920 – 11 June 1992), known as Marsden Jones, was an emeritus professor and the founder and first director of the Center for Arabic Studies at the American University in Cairo

American University in Cairo

The American University in Cairo is an independent, non-profit, apolitical, secular institution of higher learning located in Cairo, Egypt...

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He received his PhD from the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

's School of Oriental and African Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies

The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

 in 1953 and founded the Center for Arabic Studies at the AUC a decade later.

Jones then sought to make the Center one of excellence for the study of Arabic history, literature, language, art, and architecture. His special interests were early Islam, the early emergence of Islamic institutions, and the study of modern Islamic movements in Egypt. He is reputed for his edition of Al-Waqidi

Al-Waqidi

Abu `Abdullah Muhammad Ibn ‘Omar Ibn Waqid al-Aslami , commonly referred to as al-Waqidi , was an early Muslim historian.He was born and educated in Medina...

's Kitab Al Maghazi and his work on early sira literature, and he helped publish a series of volumes in Arabic on Leaders of Contemporary Literature in Egypt.

He was the brother-in-law of Sir Philip Jones

Philip Jones (civil servant)

Sir Philip Jones CB was a Welsh businessman and civil servant. After a career in the civil service, he was chairman of Total Oil Marine from 1990 to 1998 and Total Oil Holdings from 1991 to 1998...

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