John Esposito, pioneering scholar of Islam in the US, dies aged 86

John L. Esposito, born in Brooklyn in 1940, established himself as one of the most influential scholars of Islam in the Western academic world through a career spanning more than five decades. His intellectual foundation was shaped by studying under Palestinian-American Islamic scholar Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, an apprenticeship that committed him to presenting Islam authentically rather than through Western preconceptions.

Esposito spent nearly two decades at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, where he chaired the Department of Religious Studies before joining Georgetown University. At Georgetown, he held the title of University Professor of Religion, International Affairs and Islamic Studies. In 1993, he established the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, later renamed the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which grew into a leading global institution for interfaith dialogue. He subsequently launched the Bridge Initiative, a research effort focused on documenting and countering Islamophobia.

His scholarly contributions were extensive, encompassing more than 50 authored, co-authored, or edited books translated into 35 languages. Notable works include Islam: The Straight Path, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, The Future of Islam, and Islamophobia: The Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century. His 2007 book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, co-authored with Dalia Mogahed and based on interviews with more than 50,000 respondents across more than 35 Muslim-majority countries, became one of the most cited studies of Muslim public opinion, providing empirical evidence against generalizations about the global Muslim population.

Esposito also served as editor-in-chief of major reference works including The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, The Oxford History of Islam, and The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. A practicing Catholic throughout his life, he viewed his own faith as motivating his commitment to interreligious understanding, arguing that conviction in one's own tradition need not preclude respect for others. He held leadership positions as president of both the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Academy of Religion.