Nabia Abbott

Nabia Abbott (born January 31, 1897 in Mardin , Southeast Turkey , † October 15, 1981 in Chicago ) was an American scholar of Islam , palaeographer and papyrologist . She was the first female professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago . Through her research she gained worldwide recognition in the field of ancient Islamic written documents.

Life

Nabia Abbott was born in Turkey on January 31, 1897 . Her father was a Christian merchant whose business activities brought her and her family first to Mosul , then to Baghdad, and finally to Bombay . There she attended various English-speaking schools. In 1919 she studied at Isabella College for Girls in Lucknow and graduated with honors.

Upon graduation, Nabia Abbott returned to Mesopotamia (now Iraq ) for a short time . There she worked in education for women. The politician and orientalist Gertrude Bell offered her friendship and supported her in her research. After working in Iraq, she and her family moved to the United States in 1923, where she received a master's degree from Boston University in 1925 . From 1925 to 1933 she taught history at Ashbury College in Wilmore , Kentucky . In 1933 she was invited to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago . She was the first woman to work on the early Islamic documents held by the University of Chicago. She stayed at the University of Chicago until her retirement in 1963.

Services

Nabia Abbott wrote works on various subjects, but was also among the first scholars who strove to describe the history of Muslim women. She was the first Arab-American scholar to study the history of women in the Middle East. She gained international recognition through her studies of the origin of the Arabic script and the oldest Islamic written documents .

In 1933 she wrote her doctoral thesis in Chicago on a group of early Islamic papyri from Egypt. Her books on Arabic palaeography have been published since 1939. She wrote books about the origin of the North Arabic script and its Koranic development . From 1957 to 1972 she wrote three volumes on the editions of literary papyri. She also became known to a wider audience through her works on "Woman in the Orient". She also wrote a biography of Aisha, Mohammed's favorite wife , which no longer meets today's demands, but is of great importance in the history of science.

Publications (selection)

• The Monasteries of the Fayyum. University of Chicago Press 1937 PDF .
• The Kurrah papyri from Aphrodito in the oriental Institute. University of Chicago Press 1938.
• The rise of the North Arabic script and its Kur'anic development, with a full description of Kur'an manuscripts in the Oriental Institute. University of Chicago Press 1939. ISBN 978-0-226-00070-1
• Aishah, the beloved of Mohammed. University of Chicago Press 1942. ISBN 978-0-86356-007-1
• Two queens Bagdahd, mother and wife of Harun al Rashid. University of Chicago Press 1946. ISBN 978-0-226-00073-2
• Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri 1. Historical Texts. University of Chicago Press, 1957.
• Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri 2. Qur'anic Commentary and Tradition. University of Chicago Press, 1967.
• Studies in Arabic Literary Papyri 3. Language and Literature. (Oriental Institute Publications) University of Chicago Press, 1972. ISBN 978-0-226-62178-4

literature

• Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honor of Nabia Abbott. (= Journal of Near Eastern Studies 40). Chicago 1981 (therein pp. 163-172 list of publications).
• Gavin RG Hambly (Ed.): Women in the Medieval Islamic World. Macmillan, Basingstoke 1998, ISBN 0-333-74096-3 , p. 6.

Web links

• Nabia Abbott in Women. Biography Research