FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES
Dr. Gavin Picken (PhD)
- Emailgpicken@hbku.edu.qa
- Phone+974 44540174
- Office locationC.01.046
Biography
Dr. Gavin Picken is a Professor at the College of Islamic Studies. He previously taught at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and the American University of Sharjah.
Dr. Picken’s specialization and research focus is classical Islamic literature in Arabic, within the evolution of Muslim intellectual history. More specifically he focuses on Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, in both its historical context and contemporary expression, including its social movements, mystical prose, and devotional poetry.
He has authored several articles and chapters on Islamic law, Sufism, and the translation of Islamic literature. He is the author of Spiritual Purification in Islam: The Life and Works of Al-Muhasibi (London; New York: Routledge, 2011) and the editor of a four-volume compendium of selected articles titled Islamic Law (London; New York: Routledge, 2010).
Research Interests
-
Sufism
-
Islamic Law
-
Islamic Theology
-
Translation Studies
Experience
Program Coordinator of MA Program in Islamic Studies
CIS, HBKU
Aug 2018 – June 2022Professor of Islamic Studies
CIS, HBKU
Aug 2018 – PresentProfessor
Department of Arabic and Translation Studies, American University of Sharjah
Aug 2017 – Aug 2018Associate Professor
Department of Arabic and Translation Studies, American University of Sharjah
Aug 2011 – Aug 2017
Assistant Professor
Department of Arabic and Translation Studies, American University of Sharjah
Aug 2007 – Aug 2011Lecturer In Islamic Studies
Department of the Near and Middle East, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Oct 2003 – Aug 2007
Education
PhD in Islamic Studies
University of Leeds
2005MA in Research in Arabic Studies
University of Leeds
2000BA in Islamic Studies
University Brunei Darussalam, Brunei
1998
Diploma in Modern Standard Arabic
International Islamic University of Medina
1996BSc (Hons.) in Applied Biological Sciences
Manchester Metropolitan University
1991
Selected Publications
-
BOOKS
-
Picken, G. N. (2011). Spiritual Purification in Islam: The Life and Works of al-Muhasibi.
Routledge Sufi Series. London: Routledge. [ISBN: 978-0-41554-822-9].
2011 -
Picken, G. N. (Ed.). 2010. Islamic Law.
Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies, 4 vols. London: Routledge. [ISBN: 978-0-41547-076-6].
2010 -
BOOK CHAPTERS
-
Picken, G. N. (2018). Translation as the Instigator of a New Arabic Discourse in Islamic Intellectual History.
In Faiq, S. (Ed.), Arabic Translation Across Discourses. London, New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 978-1-13829-816-3].
2018 -
Picken, G. N. (2015). The Concept of Sunna in the Early Shafi’i Madhhab.
In Duderija, A. (Ed.), The Sunna and Status in Islamic Law: The Search for a Sound Hadith. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. 139-62. [ISBN: 978-1-13737-645-9].
2015 -
Picken, G. N. (2015). The “Greater” Jihad in Classical Islam: the Sufi Concept of Combating the Soul.
In Kendall, E., & Stein, E. (Eds.), Twenty First Century Jihad: Law, Society and Military Action. London: I.B. Taurus. 126-38. [ISBN: 978-1-78076-916-5].
2015 -
Picken, G. N. (2014). Interpreting the Transcendent Experience: Translating Classical Sufi Texts.
In Almanna, A., Carbonell, O., & Faiq, S. (Eds.), Culguage in/of Translation from Arabic. LINCOM Studies in Translation 07. Munich: LINCOM GmbH. 154-78. [ISBN: 978-3-86228-584-8].
2014 -
Picken, G. N. (2011). The Quest for Orthodoxy and Tradition in Islam: Hanbali Responses to Sufism.
In Martensson, U., Bailey, J., Ringrose, P., & Dyrendal, A. (Eds.), Fundamentalism in the Modern World, 2 vols. London: I. B. Tauris. Vol. 2. 237-63. [ISBN: 978-1-84885-361-4].
2011 -
JOURNAL ARTICLES
-
Picken, G. N. (2015). Ijtihad, Ikhtilaf and the Evolution of a Legal Genre.
Encounters: An International Journal for the Study of Culture and Society, 6. 65-93.
2015 -
Picken, G. N. (2010). A Scholar of the Holy Precincts: the Life, Works and Methodology of Ibn al-Mundhir al-Naysaburi (d. 318/930).
Oriens, 38. 185-215.
2010 -
Picken, G. N. (2008). Ibn Hanbal and al-Muhasibi: A Study of Early Conflicting Scholarly Methodologies.
Arabica (Revue d'Études Arabes et Islamiques), 55 (3). 337-361.
2008 -
Picken, G. N. (2005). Tazkiyat al-Nafs: the Qur’ānic Paradigm.
Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 7 (2). 101-127.
2005 -
OTHERS
-
Picken, G. N. (2019). Sufi Ethics.
In Shabana, A. (Ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Islamic Bioethics. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
2019 -
Picken, G. N. (2019). Definitions.
al-ʿIzz ʿAbd al-Salām (d. 660/1261); al-Kalabādhī, Abū Bakr (d. 380/990); al-Muhasibī, al-Hārith ibn Asad (d. 243/857); al-Nawawī (d. 767/1277); al-Sulamī, Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān (d. 412/1021); al-Tūsī, Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj (d. 378/988); Chishtī, Muhyī al-Dīn (d. 633/1236); Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463/1071); Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319/930); Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd (620-702/1223-1302); Zarrūq, Ahmad (d. 899/1493). In Abdel Haleem, M. A. S., & Shah, M. (Eds.), The I.B. Tauris Biographical Dictionary of Islamic Civilization. London: I.B. Taurus. [ISBN: 978-1-84885-311-9].
2019 -
Picken, G. N. (2014). Mawlid.
In Fitzpatrick, C., & Walker, A. (Eds.), Muhammad in History, Thought and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Vol. 1, 365-9. [ISBN: 978-1-61069-177-2].
2014 -
Picken, G. N. (2014). Shadhiliyya.
In Fitzpatrick, C., & Walker, A. (Eds.), Muhammad in History, Thought and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. Vol. 2, 542-8. [ISBN: 978-1-61069-177-2].
2014 -
Picken, G. N. (2007). Definitions.
Ahmadis, p. 31; Ash‘arism, pp. 67-8; Babism, p. 79; Barelwia, pp. 86-7; Bohoras, p. 106; Deobandis, pp. 139-40 ; Druze, p. 151; Hashimiyya, p. 220; Ibadism, p. 245; Ibn al-Mundhir, pp. 249-50; Isma‘ilism/Batinism, p. 315; Ithna‘asharism, p. 318; Jahmism, p. 325; Kharijism, pp. 346-7; Maturidism, p. 398; al-Muhasibi, pp. 440-3; Murji’ism, p. 454; Mustalians, p. 464; Mu‘tazilism, pp. 472-3; Nizaris, p. 491; Nusayris/‘Alawis, p. 492; Qadarism, p. 519; Salafis, p. 576; Shi‘ism, pp. 596-7; Sunnism, pp. 625-6 and Zaydism, pp. 698-9. In Netton, I. R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Islamic Civilization and Religion. New York: Routledge. [ISBN: 978-0-7007-1588-6].
2007
MYHBKU LOGIN