Rate My Professor Adam Sabra

Adam Sabra is a Professor of History in the History Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also holds the King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud Chair in Islamic Studies. He specializes in the social and cultural history of the Middle East, especially Egypt, during the medieval and early modern periods. His research interests include poverty and charity, aristocratic families in the period 1500–1800, legal history, and Islamic mysticism. Sabra received his A.B. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (specializing in Islamic Studies) from Harvard University in 1990, his M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University in 1994, and his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1998 with a dissertation entitled "Poverty and Charity in Mamluk Cairo (1250-1517)".

Prior to joining UCSB in 2012, Sabra held positions as Associate Professor (2008–2012) and Assistant Professor (2006–2008) at the University of Georgia, Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University (2002–2006), and various visiting assistant professorships. He directed UCSB's Center for Middle East Studies from 2015 to 2018. Among his honors are the Bayard Dodge Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the American University in Cairo (2014–2015), membership in the Institute for Advanced Study with an NEH Fellowship (2012–2013), and several fellowships from the American Research Center in Egypt and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Sabra's key publications include Poverty and Charity in Medieval Islam: Mamluk Egypt, 1250-1517 (Cambridge University Press, 2000), Advice for Callow Jurists and Gullible Mendicants on Befriending Emirs (Yale University Press, 2017), and multiple co-edited Arabic text editions on the Bakri family and Sufi works. He has contributed significantly to the field through edited volumes and articles on Sufism, family history, and gender roles in late medieval Egypt. His current project is A Nobility of the Spirit: Lineage, Household, and State in Ottoman Egypt, 1517–1798.