Join us in congratulating Prof. Waleed Ziad, whose book, Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus, recently received the most distinguished prize in Middle Eastern Studies: the Albert Hourani Book Award.

The Albert Hourani Book Award, presented by the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), was established in 1991 to recognize outstanding publishing in Middle East studies. The award was named for Albert Hourani to recognize his long and distinguished career as teacher and mentor. Announced at the Awards Ceremony at MESA’s annual meeting, the Albert Hourani Book Award honors a work that exemplifies scholarly excellence and clarity of presentation in the tradition of Albert Hourani.

Professor Ziad’s Hidden Caliphate is a frontier-breaking investigation of the spiritual and political network of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order across Transoxiana, Khorasan, and Northern India from the 18th up to the 20th century. This is a superb contribution to the historical understanding of the religious, social, political, and intellectual topographies of a cultural environment so far at the periphery of Middle Eastern Studies. Through a multi-dimensional and grounded methodology, Waleed Ziad’s book shows the centrality of the Persianate cosmopolis in challenging the emerging legalistic orthodoxies of the 19th century. Equally attentive to narratives as to local, transcultural semantics, the book brings to light a counter-history of political renewal and spiritual syncretism based on so far untapped sources collected through courageous explorative research. A scholarly gift for those keen to expand the frontiers of Middle Eastern Studies towards new intellectual and geographical horizons.

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