Professor Yasir Suleiman-Malley is Emeritus Professor of Modern Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge, formerly His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Professor of Contemporary Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge and the Iraq Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE), Honorary Professor of the University of Jordan and Ambassador of the University of Sarajevo. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), the premier prize for the Arabic novel internationally, Member of the Banipal Board for Arab Literature, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Gulf Research Centre-Cambridge, and member of the Panel of Judges of the British Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize for Middle Eastern Studies. Professor Suleiman-Mally is former Vice President and Chair of Council of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Former Chair of Judges of the British Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize and former member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Edinburgh (University Court). He is Founding Director of the Centre of Islamic Studies, Cambridge, and Founding President and Provost of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He served on many national and international bodies. His numerous publications cover various aspects of the Arabic language in the social world, including issues of identity and conflict. In 2019, the University of Cambridge set up doctoral bursary in his name in recognition of his distinguished service. In 2016, the University of Edinburgh established a Prize in his name for the best Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies in recognition for his contribution in advancing Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies during his tenure at the university. Professor Suleiman is an internationally leading scholar in sociocultural linguistics, with specific reference to the Middle East.
Selected Publications
Single-authored Books
- 1999. The Arabic Grammatical Tradition: A Study in Ta‘līl. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (honourable mention, British-Kuwaiti-Friendship Society Book Prize).
- 2003. The Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology. Washington, DC and Edinburgh: Georgetown and Edinburgh University Press (runner up, British-Kuwaiti-Friendship Society Book Prize).
- 2004. A War of Words: Language and Conflict in the Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (honourable mention, British-Kuwaiti-Friendship Society Book Prize).
- 2011. Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- 2013. Arabic in the Fray: Language Ideology and Cultural Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (ISBN: 978-0-7486-3740-9).
- 2023. Arabic in Conflict: A Study in Ideology, Anxiety and Terrorism (in Arabic:, العربية في ساحات الوغى: دراسة في الأيديولوجيا والقلق والإرهاب اللغة). Beirut: Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies.
- 2025/6: اللغة العربية في أتون الصراع-العربي الصهيوني, (in progress).
- The Qur’an, Translation and Conflict (in progress).
Edited Books
- 1994. Arabic Sociolinguistics: Issues and Perspectives. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
- 1996. Language and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
- 1999. Arabic Grammar and Linguistics. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
- 1999. Language and Society in the Middle East and North Africa. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
- 2006. Literature and Nation in the Middle East (ed. with Ibrahim Muhawi). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- 2010. Living Islamic History: Festschrift for Professor Carole Hillenbrand. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- 2016. Being Palestinian: Personal Reflections on Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Major Reports
- Curriculum Standards for the State of Qatar: Arabic Grades K to 12 (main author with Alaa Elgibali, American University of Cairo and University of Maryland). Education Institute, Supreme Education Council, Qatar: 2004 (221 pages, ISBN 99921-8-932-0, Vol. I).
- Lesson Plans for the State of Qatar: Arabic Grades K to 12 (main author with Alaa Elgibali, American University of Cairo and University of Maryland). Education Institute, Supreme Education Council, Qatar: 2004 (364 pages, ISBN 99921-8-932-0, Vol. II).
- Arabic Schemes of Work for the State of Qatar: Grades 1 to 12 (main author with Iman Aziz Soliman, Abeer Najjar and Gada Khalil). Education Institute, Supreme Education Council, Qatar: 2006 (1876 pages).
- Contextualizing Islam in Britain: Exploratory Perspectives, October 2009 (ISBN: 978-0-9563743-0-1).
- Language, Conflict and Security, April 2010 (ISBN: 978-0-9563473-2-5) (with Yonatan Mendel).
- Contextualising Islam in Britain II, University of Cambridge for the Department of Communities and Local Government, October 2011 (ISBN: 978-0-9563743-5-6).
- Narratives of Conversion to Islam: Female Perspectives, March 2013 (ISBN 978-0-9573166-0-7).
- Narratives of Conversion to Islam: Male Perspectives, February 2016 (ISBN 987-0-957-316621).
Post-2010 Research Papers and Book Chapters
- 2010. Nationalist Poetry, Conflict and Meta-linguistic Discourse. Living Islamic History: Festschrift for Professor Carole Hillenbrand (ed. Yasir Suleiman). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 252–78.
- 2011. Ideology, Grammar-making and the Standardisation of Arabic. In the Shadow of Arabic: The Centrality of language to Arabic Culture, Studies Presented to Ramzi Baalbaki on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday (ed. Bilal Orfali). Leiden: Brill, 3–30.
- 2012. Ideology and the Standardization of Arabic. Arabic Language and Linguistics (eds. Reem Bassiouney and E. Graham Katz). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 201-13.
- 2013. Arabic Folk-Linguistics: Between Mother-Tongue and Native-Language. Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics (ed. Jonathan Owen). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 264–80.
- 2014. Arab(ic) Language Anxiety: Tracing a Condition. Al-‘Arabiyya, 47: 57–81.
- 2017. (with Dorothea Ramahi) Intimate Strangers: Perspectives on Female Converts in Islam in Britain. Contemporary Islam, 11: 21–39.
- 2019. A Language in Conflict: Arabic in Israel and Palestine. Journal of Sociolinguistics, DOI:10.1111/josl.12391 (9400 words).
- 2019. اللغة والهوية: الترميز المراوغ. Al-Abhath, 67: 123-54. (Language, Identity and Fuzzy Symbolism).
- 2021. (with Ashraf Abdelhay). Diglossia, Folk-linguistics and Language Anxiety: The 2018 Language Ideological Debate in Morocco. In Reem Bassiouney and Keith Walters (eds.) Handbook of Arabic and Identity, 147-60. London: Routledge.
- 2021. Language is Important in the Prosecution of Conflicts, Particularly in the Middle East. Melbourne Asia Review, https://melbourneasiareview.edu.au/language-is-important-in-the-prosecution-of-conflicts-particularly-in-the-middle-east/
- 2022. الشتات الفلسطيني: الدبلوماسية الشعبية والقوة الناعمة، المستقبل العربي، العدد 517، 10-32 (Palestinian Diaspora: Popular Diplomacy and Soft Power)
- 2022. (with Ashraf Abdelhay) "تعلمتها في المدرسة ولكنها لغتي الأم": "الفصحى" بين الممارسة والأيديولوجيا. العربية والمعرفة: قراءات في حاضر اللغة العربية ومستقبلها، تحرير علاء الجبالي ورنا سبليني، 25-45. بيروت-دار المشرق. (I learnt it at School, But it is my Mother Tongue: Standard Arabic and Language Ideology).
- 2023. Arab Linguistics, Arabic Linguistics and Language Ideology, Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics, 1: 98-122.
- 2024. ‘Sleeping on a Wire’: Negotiating Language Choice in Israel. Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics, Vol 3 (forthcoming, September 2025).
- 2024. Mahmoud Darwish’s “Immortal Gaza.” The Massachusetts Review: A Quarterly of Literature, the Arts and Public Affairs, Vol. 65: 13-16.
- 2024/2025. Language Conflict and Symbolic Power: Arabic as a Case Study. In Stanley Dubinsky, Michael Gavin and Harvey Starr (ds), Handbook of Language and Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (forthcoming).
- 2025. Language and Conflict in the Israeli-Palestinian Sphere: The View from Below, in Decolonizing Language Policy (forthcoming)
- 2025/6. Arabic and the ‘War on Terror’ in Post-9/11 USA, Handbook of Language and Terrorism (forthcoming)
- 2025/6. The Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait in 1990: Reading Discursively between the Lines, Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics (forthcoming).