Profile

David Jordan joined the department in 2017 as coordinator of the French/German ANR/DFG project “The Presence of the Prophet: Muhammad in the Mirror of his Community in Early Modern and Modern Islam” (Prof. Stefan Reichmuth). Since 2019, he works also as a research associate with managerial and teaching responsibilities. He holds an M.A. in Islamic Studies and Philosophy from the University of Hamburg and completed his PhD with the doctoral thesis A History of Baʿthist Politics and the Revival of Sufism in Iraq in spring 2019. David Jordan’s research focuses on the entanglement of religion and politics in the early modern and modern era of the Middle East, particularly Iraq and Iran. His research interests include the development of Islamic teachings, practices, and movements of Sufism between Sunna and Shia, and confronted with the reformist challenges posed by modern Salafism. He is equally interested in the growth of modern nationalist currents, primarily the Arab Socialist Baʿth Party, its ideological roots, and state politics towards religion. At the moment, his research interest concentrates on Sharifism in transition of modernity and the descendants of the Prophet between Sunna and Shia from a global historical perspective.
Research trips have brought him to Egypt, Israel, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Oman over the past years. His working languages include Arabic and Persian.

Research Interest

• History and Contemporary Era of the Middle East
• Early Modern and Modern History of Iran, Iraq, and the Gulf Region
• Arab Nationalism (Baʿth Party)
• Historical Developments in Sufism since the early Islamic period (Teachings, Practices, Movements)
• Forms of Prophetic Piety from the early Islamic period until the Modern Era
• Sharifism
• Sectarianism and Islamic ecumenism
• Jihadism

Projects

2013-2016 Research Assistant in: The Rifāʿiyya in 20th Century Iraq: The Role of Sufi Genealogies and Veneration of Saints in Iraqi Political History” (Fitz Thyssen Stiftung; principal investigator: Prof. Thomas Eich)
Since 2017 coordinator in: The Presence of the Prophet: Muhammad in the Mirror of his Community in Early Modern and Modern Islam (ANR/DFG; principal investigator: Prof. Stefan Reichmuth)