Stefan Sperl studied Arabic at Oxford and the American University in Cairo and did his postgraduate research at SOAS.
In 1978 he joined UNHCR and held several assignments in the Middle East and Geneva. He returned to SOAS 1988. His publications include Mannerism in Arabic Poetry (1989), Qasida Poetry in Islamic Asia & Africa (1996, with Christopher Shackle), as well as numerous articles on Arabic, Islamic and Refugee Studies.
In 2005 he embarked on a research project with Ahmed Moustafa which resulted in their joint publication The Cosmic Script: Sacred Geometry and the Science of Arabic Penmanship (2014). It won the Iran World Award for the Book of the Year in 2016. Among his most recent publications are Faces of the Infinite: Neoplatonism and Poetry at the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe (2022, edited with Yorgos Dedes) and the website Lyrics of Ascent: Poetry and the Platonic Tradition, An Anthology.
Research interests
Arabic Literature Classical and Modern; Comparative Literature; Qur’an and Hadith Studies; Islamic Art; Sufism and Neoplatonism; Refugee and Exile Studies
Publications
The Cosmic Script: Sacred Geometry and the Science of Arabic Penmanship, Volume 1, Sources and Principles of the Geometry of Letters, Volume 2, From Geometric Pattern to Living Form
Moustafa, Ahmed and Sperl, Stefan (2014). London and Rochester, VT: (Thames and Hudson and Inner Traditions)
Sperl, Stefan (2022). In: Lawrence, Bruce, (eds.) and Cornell, Vincent, (eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality. New York: Wiley, pp 412-431
Stages of Ascent: Neoplatonic Affinities in Classical Arabic Poetry
Sperl, Stefan (2022). In: Sperl, Stefan, (eds.) and Dedes, Yorgos, (eds.), Faces of the Infinite: Neoplatonism and Poetry at the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 93-130
Sperl, Stefan (2020). In: Shah, Mustafa, (eds.) and Abdel-Haleem, Muhammad, (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Man's "hollow core": ethics and aesthetics in hadith literature and classical Arabic adab
Sperl, Stefan (2010). In: Shah, Mustafa, (ed.), The Hadith - Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies, Volume IV, Narrative, Context and Content. London: Routledge, pp 98-118
Darkness Transformed into Light: Ibn al-Mu'tazz on the Pen
Sperl, Stefan (2009). In: Allison, Christine, (eds.), Joisten-Pruschke, Anke, (eds.) and Wendtland, Antje, (eds.), From Daēna to Dîn : Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt ; Festschrift für Philip Kreyenbroek zum 60. Geburtstag. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp 457-464
Sperl, Stefan (2000). In: Hawting, Gerald, (eds.), Mojaddedi, J.A., (eds.) and Samely, A., (eds.), Studies in Islamic and Middle Eastern texts and traditions in memory of Norman Calder. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 287-296
Review of: The Cooing of the Dove and the Cawing of the Crow: Late ʿAbbāsid Poetics in Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Saqṭ al-Zand and Luzūm Mā Lā Yalzam, written by Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych
Sperl, Stefan (2023). Journal of Arabic Literature (54) 3-4, pp 464-472
