John Esposito changed the way Westerners understood Islam | Thoughts

John L Esposito, distinguished scholar of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, he died on July 15, 2026, due to complications from heart surgery.

He was a prolific scholar who published more than 55 books, mostly with Oxford University Press, which have been translated into many languages. He has specialized in modern Islamic and Muslim studies in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, especially in the area of ​​Islam-West relations during the critical period after the Iranian revolution in 1979 and 9/11.

John was born into an Italian-American working-class family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940. His worldview was shaped by his mother’s devout Catholicism and his father’s commitment to social justice. He aspired to become a Catholic priest and, at a young age, joined the strict Capuchin Franciscan Order. John left the seminary before he was ordained and chose to attend graduate school. He received his doctorate in religious studies from Temple University under the direction of Ismail al-Faruqi, the late Palestinian-American theologian.

John’s family and friends doubted his work for fear of being hired. When he entered the job market in 1974, there was only one advertised position in Islamic studies. The study of religion, especially Islam, was absent from many institutions of higher learning, and international programs at universities ignored the role of religion in global affairs.

Storytelling is one of Professor Esposito’s passions. Thinking about his workhe often joked that he was indebted to two famous “strong” Muslims, one Shia and the other Sunni: Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden.

After the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, interest in the relationship between Islam and politics increased significantly in the West. The same thing happened after 9/11. John’s expertise was suddenly in high demand. He responded by publishing a number of important books on the relationship between Islam and politics, Islamic beliefs, the relationship between Islam and the West, and the various political and cultural aspects of Islam. He was often quoted in the media, and now governments sought his advice.

This account of John’s work, however, has its own problems.

The interest of the Europeans in Islam and Muslims started because of the threat to the national security of the United States. This means that the ability to understand the subject in a free, unbiased and independent manner was not available to many Europeans. The main causes of policy and public debate on Islam and Muslims were the themes of political change, mass violence and threats to the international order.

John’s studies were always successful. Initiative academics have taken the lead in intellectual, policy and media debates. Bernard Lewis wrote about the “Roots of Muslim Rage” today which he claims explains the unrest in the Middle East. At about the same time, Samuel Huntington advanced the famous “Clash of Civilizations” theory. These views had many adherents, in part because they reinforced pre-existing Western prejudices against Islam and Muslims. They were also inspired by US and Israeli national security issues related to the Islamic threat after the Cold War.

John was an early and courageous scholar who challenged Orientalist illusions about Islam and Muslims in a time of great division. His education created opportunities for understanding instead of prejudice, and his intellectual insight allowed a younger generation of scholars to expand and expand on his pioneering research.

Professor Esposito advanced a new understanding of religion by criticizing the dominant theories of social science about political development. He subtly drew attention to the “secularism” that had caused major intellectual debates in Western countries on the relationship between religion and politics. These principles of development are said to be universally applicable based on the idea that religion is a relic of the past that is no longer relevant in the modern world. Of course, these claims were biased, based on European experience.

In contrast, Yohane interpreted the politics of the Muslim world not from the culture of the Westerners but from the experiences of the Muslims. In other words, not from the outside in, but rather from the bottom up, from the perspective of the majority of people, many of whom held onto a religious identity. In doing so, he advanced a long and fascinating history of religious politics in the Islamic world. Criticisms of the colonial legacy, authoritarianism and US foreign policy were central to his intellectual work.

Professor Esposito’s work on Islamic politics was pioneering. He wrote about the social conditions and aspirations that made political Islam so attractive to different communities in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world. While many Western scholars and liberal intellectuals focus on Islam’s desire to implement “Sharia”, Esposito focused on the aspirations that inspired political Islam: respect, justice, independence, and opposition to foreign authority. These same aspirations made political Islam strong and enduring.

In thinking about John Esposito’s legacy, I am reminded of what Edmund Burke III saw. Commenting on the work of the late Marshall GS Hodgson, author of The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History of a World Civilization, Burke said that Hodgson, like Esposito, refused to see Islam as “other”. Instead, he understood the Islamic tradition as “a joint work that reflects the efforts of people to create a just and moral world”.

We have no doubt that we will see another artist in our lifetime who can match the morals and intelligence of John Esposito. His impact on our overall education and understanding of Islam-West relations is unique and incalculable. Those who care about an international culture based on international law, human rights, democracy, and social understanding owe a great debt.

John Esposito is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean Esposito, his friend and supporter in all his endeavors, and the eternal love of John’s life.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.