Michael A. Cook

Professor Michael A. Cook is the Class of 1943 University Professor of Near Eastern Studies and former Cleveland E. Dodge Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Previously, he researched the history of Ottoman population at the School of Oriental and African Studies, while also teaching Islamic history there. He is an authority on Muslim history and thought and has published books on early Muslim dogma, Muhammad, and the Koran. Much of what he has published has been concerned with the formation of Islamic civilization, and the role played by religious values in that process. His most substantial publication, however, is a study of a particular Islamic value over the entire range of Islamic history: al-amr bi`l-ma'ruf—roughly, the duty of each and every Muslim to tell people off for violating God's law. His most recent book is a comparative study of  the implications of the Islamic tradition for modern politics.  Some other publications are included in the list below, and the Variorum volume of 2004 collects twelve previously published articles.