Shadi Hamid (born 1983) is an American author and political scientist, who is currently a columnist at the Washington Post. From 2023 to 2024, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Post. Previously, he was a longtime senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer at the Atlantic. He also holds the position of research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. This appointment is the first time a Muslim scholar has been hired in the school's history. He has been called a "prominent thinker on religion and politics" in the New York Times and was named as one of "The world's top 50 thinkers" in 2019 by Prospect Magazine. He is known for coining the phrase "Islamic exceptionalism" to describe Islam's resistance to secularization and outsized role in public life. The phrase has come under some criticism.
Early life and education
Hamid was born into a Muslim family of Egyptian ancestry in Pennsylvania. A Marshall Scholar, 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. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Hamid was a Hewlett Fellow at the Stanford University Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and a Fulbright Fellow in Jordan, researching Islamist participation in the democratic process, and 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.
Books
- Felbab-Brown, Vanda; Trinkunas, Harold; Hamid, Shadi (2018). Militants, Criminals and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0-8157-3189-4.
- Hamid, Shadi; McCants, William, eds. (2017). Rethinking political Islam. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-064919-7. OCLC 960276884.
- Hamid, Shadi (2016). Islamic Exceptionalism: How the struggle over Islam is reshaping the world. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-250-06101-0. OCLC 933446666.
- Hamid, Shadi (2014). Temptations of Power: Islamists and illiberal democracy in a new Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-931405-8. OCLC 870994390.
- Hamid, Shadi (2023). The problem of democracy: America, the Middle East, and the rise and fall of an idea. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-757946-6.
Wisdom of Crowds (podcast)
The Wisdom of Crowds podcast started in 2019, with Hamid as a co-host.
Reception
Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize. Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East was named a Foreign Affairs "Best Book of 2014."
References
- "Shadi Hamid - The Washington Post".
- "Shadi Hamid". Brookings. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
- "Fuller Seminary Receives Grant for Muslim-Christian Research". Fuller. Fuller Theological Seminary. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
- Akyol, Mustafa (2019-12-23). "Opinion | A New Secularism Is Appearing in Islam". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- Team, Prospect. "The world's top 50 thinkers 2019". Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- Mneimneh, Hassan. "The Dangerous Stipulation of Islamic Exceptionalism". Middle East Institute.
- Douthat, Ross (6 August 2016). "Opinion | The Meaning of a Martyrdom". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- Malley, JP O’. "The West fundamentally misunderstands the ethos of the 'caliphate,' writes Muslim author". Times of Israel.
- "Shadi Hamid on "Church of Woke" - Providence". Providence Magazine. June 5, 2020.
- Nixon, D. Pierce (November 22, 2005). "Pair Named Marshall Fellows". The Hoya. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- 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.
- ^ "FSI | CDDRL - Shadi Hamid". cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
- Review of Militants, Criminals and Warlords
- Sinai, Joshua (June 2018). Perspectives on Terrorism. 12 (3): 103–104. JSTOR 26453159.
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- Sinai, Joshua (June 2018). Perspectives on Terrorism. 12 (3): 103–104. JSTOR 26453159.
- "Rethinking Political Islam (review)". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- Reviews of Islamic Exceptionalism
- 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.
- Lozada, Carlos (June 17, 2016). "Yes, there is something 'going on' with Muslims. But it's not what Donald Trump suggests. (Review)". Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- 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.
- Ruthven, Malise (September–October 2016). "Mosque and State: The Future of Political Islam". Foreign Affairs. 95 (5): 142–148. JSTOR 43946965.
- Reviews of Temptations of Power
- Waterbury, John (2014). "Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East". Foreign Affairs. JSTOR 24483351. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- Traub, James (April 16, 2014). "Book Review: 'Temptations of Power' by Shadi Hamid". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- 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.
- Brown, Nathan J. (Summer 2015). "A Struggle for Power: Islamism and Democracy". Middle East Journal. 69 (3): 463–467. JSTOR 43698263.
- "About - Wisdom of Crowds". wisdomofcrowds.live. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- Freedland, Jonathan; Hamid, Shadi; Stephens, Danielle; Ebtehaj, Maz; Kacoutié, Axel (2022-03-11). "Is Putin proving the need for Western power? Politics Weekly America – podcast". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- "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.
- "Best International Relations Books of 2014". Foreign Affairs. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- 1983 births
- Living people
- American political scientists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American Muslims
- American people of Egyptian descent
- Brookings Institution people
- Alumni of the University of Oxford
- Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
- 21st-century American academics
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers