Noam (Norman) A. Stillman
The Long Twilight
Summary
The flourishing first centuries of the Islamic Empire was also a period of efflorescence for the Jews of that world. That begins to change in the late 11th century and dramatically decreasing during the 12th-15th centuries. The secular and humanistic tendencies of medieval Islamic Hellenism started to wane and the Islamic religious element began to wax ever stronger and more intolerant. Non-Arab soldier castes ruled the successor states to the caliphate and imposed what could be called an ‘oriental brand of feudalism’ leading to Jews and Christians becoming increasingly marginalized, both socially and economically.
Noam (Norman) A. Stillman
Noam (Norman) A. Stillman is Schusterman/Josey Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma and an internationally recognized authority on the history and culture of the Islamic world and on Sephardi and Oriental Jewry. His books include The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book and The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times, among others. He is executive editor of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. He is chair of the Academic Council of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) and sits on numerous boards of academic organizations, think tanks, and journals. He came to Israel permanently in 2016 and teaches each spring semester at the Hebrew University.