The McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies and the Islamic Studies Library were established in 1952 by Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Wilfred Cantwell Smith was a Canadian professor of comparative religion who from 1964-1973 was director of Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions. The Harvard Gazette characterized him as one of the field's most influential figures of the past century...

, and since 1983 both have been housed in Morrice Hall on McGill

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

's campus in downtown Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

. McGill's institute is the first institute

Institute

An institute is a permanent organizational body created for a certain purpose. Often it is a research organization created to do research on specific topics...

 of Islamic studies

Islamic studies

In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...

 in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and hosts 14 full-time professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

s, 5 visiting positions and 4 professors emeritus

Emeritus

Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

.

Library

The Islamic Studies Library began with only 250 books but grew rapidly. Today, the library holds more than 110,000 volumes, half of them in Islamic languages, and is counted among the major North American collections in Islamic Studies.

Notable Faculty

The Institute of Islamic Studies has had numerous famous faculty members, including, Wael Hallaq

Wael Hallaq

Wael B. Hallaq is currently the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University and is currently acting as the Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. After a Ph.D...

, Toshihiko Izutsu

Toshihiko Izutsu

was a university professor and author of many books on Islam and other religions. He taught at the Institute of Cultural and Linguistic studies at Keio University in Tokyo, the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy in Tehran, and McGill University in Montreal....

 and Fazlur Rahman Malik.

Endowed Chairs

Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 Language and Culture: established in April 1987 and funded by the Government of Pakistan, Department of Multiculturalism, Government of Canada, and McGill University.

Emeritus Professors

Name of Professor	Emeritus Start Date	Area of Specialty
Charles Adams	1-Jan-93	Religion
Sajida Alvi Sajida Alvi Sajida S. Alvi is an academic of Pakistani origin in Canada. She is a historian of Islam in South Asia and was the inaugural appointment to the chair in Urdu Language and Culture at the Institute of Islamic Studies from September 1987 till her retirement in June 2010.-Life:Alvi moved to Canada in...	1-Jun-10	History, Religions and Languages of South Asia
Hermann Landolt	1-Jan-00	Islamic Thought
Donald Little	1-Jan-00	Medieval Islamic History, esp. Mamluk

Festchrifts

Given the high number of influential scholars of the study of Islam, professors of the Institute have been honoured with numerous festschrifts. These include:

1. Kamal Abdel-Malek and Wael B. Hallaq, eds.Tradition, modernity, and postmodernity in Arabic literature: Essays in honor of professor Issa J. Boullata. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

2. Khaleel Mohammad and Andrew Rippin, eds. Coming to Terms with The Qur'an: a volume in honor of professor Issa Boullata, McGill University. North Haledon: Islamic Publications International, 2007.

3. Todd Lawson, ed. Reason and inspiration in Islam: theology, philosophy and mysticism in Muslim thought: essays in honour of Hermann Landolt. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005.

4. Wael B. Hallaq and Donald P. Little eds. Islamic studies presented to Charles J. Adams. Leiden: Brill, 1991.

5. Donald P. Little, ed. Essays on Islamic civilization: presented to Niyazi Berkes

Niyazi Berkes

- Biography :Berkes was born in Nicosia on 21 October 1908. He started his secondary education in Cyprus, Nicosia. During his education, he later, went to Istanbul and graduated from Istanbul Erkek Lisesi in 1928. In 1931, Berkes graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature...

. Leiden: Brill, 1976.

6. A special issue of Mamluk Studies Review [vol. 9 no. 1 (2005)] was presented as a festschrift in honor of Donald P Little.

See also

• List of Islamic and Muslim related topics
• Islamic studies
  Islamic studies
  In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
  
  
• McGill University Faculty of Arts
  McGill University Faculty of Arts
  The Faculty of Arts is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University. It is the university's largest faculty. Established in 1843, it has over 250 tenured or tenure-track professors, over 6,000 undergraduate students, and over 1,000 graduate students...