Imad al-Din Khalil
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Imad al-Din Khalil is a contemporary Iraqi historian, Islamic thinker, and university professor known for his methodological works on the Islamic interpretation of history and critical studies of Orientalist scholarship .
Academic Career and Positions
Khalil served for three years (1989–1992 CE) as the head of Saddam University for Islamic Sciences in Iraq, where he supervised its founding, the development of its curricula, and the establishment of its educational framework upon the Quran and the Sunnah, intentionally keeping it free from partisan influence . During this time, he worked alongside prominent Iraqi scholars, including Subhi al-Samarra'i and Hashim Jamil . Following allegations made to the Iraqi regime accusing him of Salafi leanings at the university, his recorded public positions during the Iran–Iraq War spared him from severe persecution, after which he requested retirement and relocated to Jordan .
In Jordan, Khalil taught Quranic exegesis and Hadith at Amman Ahliyya University between 1992 and 1994 CE, served as a faculty member at Al-Balqa Applied University beginning in 2004 CE, taught Hadith at the World Islamic Sciences and Education University, and held a professorship in history at Zarqa University .
Historical Methodology and Thought
Khalil is recognized for articulating broad methodological foundations for rewriting and analyzing Islamic history through an explicitly Islamic framework of causality and divine laws (sunan) governing historical developments . His foundational perspective was set forth in al-Tafsir al-Islami li al-Tarikh (The Islamic Interpretation of History), in which he formulated the theoretical connection between universal principles and historical outcomes . He also contributed comparative critiques of Western historiography, notably in al-Mustashriqun wa al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (Orientalists and the Prophetic Biography), which analyzed the methodologies applied by Orientalist scholars to the life of the Prophet Muhammad .
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List of Works
al-Mustashriqun wa al-Sira al-Nabawiyya (Orientalists and the Prophetic Biography) is a critical methodological study that analyzes Western Orientalist approaches to the biography of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dirasa fi al-Sira (A Study of the Prophetic Biography) is an academic work designed to provide a systematic and analytical presentation of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.
Qalu an al-Quran (What They Said About the Quran) is a contemporary Arabic compilation assembling testimonies, evaluations, and commentaries on the Quran expressed by Western thinkers, Orientalists, Christian scholars, and converts to Islam.