Alexander Treiger

Alexander Treiger was raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and began his university education in Jerusalem. He received a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies and a master’s degree in Comparative Religion from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, before earning his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Yale University. His doctoral dissertation examined the concept of divine unveiling and knowledge of God in the works of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.

Treiger has taught at Dalhousie University in Canada since 2008 and is now Professor of Religious Studies there. His research focuses on medieval Arabic philosophy, classical Sufism, Arabic Christianity, Graeco-Arabic studies, and the ascetic and mystical traditions of Syriac Christianity. A central theme of his work is the transmission and transformation of philosophical, theological, and mystical ideas from Late Antiquity to the Islamic world.

Among his important works is Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazali’s Theory of Mystical Cognition and Its Avicennian Foundation, which examines al-Ghazali’s theory of mystical knowledge and its relationship to Avicennian philosophy. He has also published The Church Fathers in Arabic Translations and contributed to edited volumes on Arabic Christianity and the literature of the Church Fathers in Arabic translation.

Treiger’s work lies at the intersection of Islamic studies, philosophy, theology, and the history of textual transmission. It is particularly significant for understanding the intellectual relationships among Eastern Christianity, Greek philosophy, and the Islamic tradition.