Research output per year
Research output per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Islamic thought and practice, Muslim sects, medieval and contemporary Islamic thought and movements, Sufism, Islamic gender ideology, Muslim women’s religious lives, Islam in Oman, Yemen, Egypt and East Africa
Professional Information
Current Research Project: Islamic Sectarianism Reconsidered: Ibadi Islam in the Modern Age
Personal profile
I am a specialist in Islamic thought and practice. I have worked on many aspects of Islam, from the time of the Prophet to the contemporary period; I have conducted textual studies and have done fieldwork. I did two major fieldwork projects in Egypt, one on Muslim women's religious lives in contemporary Egypt (1980-81) and another on Sufism in modern Egypt (1987-89). Then I studied Swahili and spent two summers in Zanzibar, where I became aware that two distinct strands of Arabian Islam had impacted the Swahili coast: the Sultanate of Oman and the Hadramawt region of Yemen. I spent the 2000-2001 academic year in Oman and the Hadramawt, and became particularly interested in the Ibadi sect of Islam, an ancient and small sect that is neither Sunni nor Shiite and is practiced in Oman and small pockets of North Africa. I have since written the first English-language study of Ibadi theology and have become a specialist in Ibadism in the modern period, especially in Oman and Zanzibar.
Honors & Awards
Carnegie Scholarship, 2009-2010
Alumni Discretionary Award for Service to the University of Illinois, 2008
University Scholar, University of Illinois, October 1996
Faculty Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, 2003
Grants
Fulbright Research Fellowships, 2000-2001; 1987-1988
Carnegie Scholarship, 2009-2010
National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, 1991-1992
Teaching
REL 260/SAME 260, Mystics and Saints in Islam
REL 481/SAME 481, Muslim Ethics in the Global Age
RLST 403/ANTH 403/GLBL 403/GWS 403/HIST 434/SAME 403, Women in Muslim Societies
RLST 482, Muslim-Christian Interactions
REL 514/SAME 514, Islamic Theology
REL 214/SAME 214, Introduction to Islam
REL 408/PS 408/SAME 408, Islam and Politics in the Middle East
Office Address
Department of Religion
3092B Foreign Languages Building
707 S. Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
M/C 166
Office Phone
Education/Academic qualification
Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ph.D., The Religious Lives of Muslim Women in Contemporary Egypt, The University of Chicago
Award Date: Jun 15 1986
Arabic and Islamic Studies, M.A., The Development of the Theology of the Unity of God in Islam, 750-950 A.D., The University of Chicago
Award Date: Dec 15 1979
Anthropology, B.A., The Muslim Family in Non-Arab Societies, University of Pennsylvania
Award Date: Jun 15 1975
Keywords
- B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
- Islam
- H Social Sciences
- Anthropology
Fingerprint
Fingerprint is based on mining the text of the expert's scholarly documents to create an index of weighted terms, which defines the key subjects of each individual researcher.
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The Essentials of Ibadi Islam
Hoffman, V. J., May 2012, Syracuse University Press. 356 p.Research output: Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book
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Making the New Middle East: Politics, Culture, and Human Rights
Hoffman, V. J. (Editor), Feb 2019, Syracuse University Press. 504 p. (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East)Research output: Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book
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Religion, Ethnicity and Identity in the Zanzibar Sultanate
Hoffman, V. J., Feb 8 2023, Muslim Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Diversity and Pluralism, Past and Present. Edinburgh University Press, p. 73-90 18 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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THE INTERPRETATION OF ISLAM UNDER SULTAN QABOOS
Hoffman, V. J., Jan 1 2022, Sultan Qaboos and Modern Oman: 1970-2020. Edinburgh University Press, p. 185-208 24 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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A Sufism for our time: The Egyptian society for spiritual and cultural research
Hoffman, V. J., Aug 2020, Routledge Handbook on Sufism. Ridgeon, L. (ed.). Routledge, p. 474-486Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Honors & Recognition
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Celebrating Muhammad, Remembering God: Sufism in Egypt
Hoffman, V. J. (Speaker)
Mar 22 2011Activity: Talk types › Invited talk
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What Role Can Sufism Play in Contemporary Egypt?
Hoffman, V. J. (Speaker)
Sep 26 2009Activity: Talk types › Invited talk
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“Mystical Experience in Contemporary Egyptian Sufism,” “Methods and Resources in the Study of Middle Eastern Women,” and “Sufism, Women and Moulids in Contemporary Egypt,”
Hoffman, V. J. (Speaker)
Mar 22 1990Activity: Talk types › Invited talk