Hamid Algar

Professor of Islamic Studies and Persian Language

Hamid Algar (born 1940 CE / 1319 SH) in England, is a professor of Islamic Studies and Persian language at the University of California, Berkeley. Algar's specialized fields are the history of Shi'ism in Iran (especially the 19th and 20th centuries CE) and Sufism (especially the Naqshbandiyya and its development in Central Asia, India, Kurdistan, Turkey, and the Balkans). Algar later converted to Islam and then to the Shi'a school of thought. He also translated works by Shi'a political thinkers into English, including the book Velayat-e Faqih by Imam Khomeini, and works by Ali Shariati, Morteza Motahhari, and Sayyid Mahmoud Taleghani. His most important work is the book Religion and State in Iran: The Role of the Ulama in the Qajar Period, which is his doctoral dissertation. Algar's writings have been translated and published in various languages of the world, and he has been honored in ceremonies in Qom and Mashhad.