Prof. Irfan Shahîd received his B.A. from Oxford University in Classics and Graeco-Roman History and his Ph. D. from Princeton University in Arabic and Islamic Studies. He has been the Oman Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown since 1982.

His research and publications turn round three themes: (1) the area where the Greco-Roman world meets the Arabic and Islamic worlds in the late antique and medieval times; (2) Classical and Medieval Arabic poetry; (3) Islamic studies, particularly the Koran.