Moshe Sharon


Moshe Sharon is an Israeli historian of Islam who has been called "Israel's greatest Middle East scholar."
He is currently Professor Emeritus of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he serves as Chair in Bahá'í Studies.

Background and education

Sharon was born in Haifa in 1937. He joined the faculty of Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1965 and would go on to earn a Ph.D. at the same institution in 1971. He served as an Arab Affairs adviser to Prime Minister Menachem Begin and served in the Ministry of Defense, during which took part in the negotiations for peace with Egypt. Sharon established the Centre of Jewish Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, which he directed while serving as director of the World Zionist Organization branch in Johannesburg. In 1999 he was appointed to the chair of Bahá'í Studies at Hebrew University. Sharon serves as a policy expert for the Ariel Center for Policy Research. He and his wife, Judy, have six children.

Research interests

Moshe Sharon has written about early Islamic history and the development of Shia Islam. He is a specialist in Arabic epigraphy and papyrology, with his opus being Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae. In 2005 he published the first translation into Hebrew of Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the holy book of the Bahá'í faith, and included a study of the history and theology of the religion.

Views

Moshe Sharon has given many presentations at international conferences and been interviewed by numerous media outlets on a variety of contemporary and historical topics.

Bahá'í Faith

Moshe Sharon is interviewed in the 2007 Israeli documentary film, "Bahais in My Backyard." In the interview he states that the only Bahá'í academic chair in the world is in Israel due to his efforts in convincing Hebrew University to establish one and his efforts in finding a benefactor to fund the position. He also says that there are no descendants of Bahá'u'lláh in Israel. Despite Sharon's denial of the existence of such relatives, there are, in fact, dozens, and one of Bahá'u'lláh's great-granddaughters is featured in the film. Furthermore, even at the time of the interview, there were other Bahá'í academic chairs in existence, such as the ones established at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, a state university in Madhya Pradesh in 1991 and at the University of Maryland in 1993.

Islam

Moshe Sharon believes that Western leaders fail to understand Islam. He says that "There is no fundamental Islam. There is only Islam full stop." Citing the conflict in Yugoslavia, Sharon continues that "Wherever you have Islam, you will have war. It grows out of the attitude of Islamic civilization." He furthermore argues that not only is there "open war, but there's also war by infiltration."

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Regarding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Moshe Sharon has said that there is "no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians whatsoever, for ever" and that peace agreements with Arabs are "pieces of paper, parts of tactics, strategies... with no meaning." He opposed the Oslo peace accords and believes the dismantling the Israeli settlements, which he terms "expulsions," serve to "increase the appetite of the other side and only achieve the killing of Jews."

Iran

Moshe Sharon said in an interview that "The only way to avoid military confrontation with Iran is to leave this military confrontation to powers bigger than Israel."

Books