Fierro Maribel

Dr. Maribel Fierro is a distinguished Research Professor at the Institute of Languages and Cultures of the Mediterranean and Near East (ILC), part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid. She has held this prestigious position since 2005 after serving as Scientific Researcher at CSIC's Arabic Studies Department (1992-2005) and previous academic appointments at Universidad Complutense Madrid (1983-1987).

• Education: Dr. in Semitic Philology (1985), Universidad Complutense Madrid
• Visiting appointments: Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), Hebrew University (Jerusalem), École des Hautes Études (Paris)

Her scholarly work focuses on Medieval Islamic History with particular emphasis on Al-Andalus, Islamic Law, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Political Legitimacy, and Gender Studies. She directed the European Research Council Advanced Grant project Knowledge, Heresy and Political Culture in the Islamic West (8th-15th centuries) (2009-2014).

Notable publications include foundational studies on:

• Ẓāhirī legal school adoption in Islamic Spain
• Violence against women in Andalusi legal texts
• Heretical movements in Islamic political culture
• Christian-Muslim relations during Almoravid/Almohad periods
• Manuscript circulation networks in Islamic West
• Prophetic legitimacy narratives in cross-cultural contexts

Scientific honors include:

• 2014: R. Stephen Humphreys Distinguished Scholar (UC Santa Barbara)
• 2011: Waldo G. Leland Prize (American Historical Association)

Prof. Fierro serves on academic committees including the Italian MIUR evaluation board since 2011, and has held editorial leadership roles in major Islamic studies journals since 1989, currently serving as editor for Der Islam and Intellectual History of the Islamicate World.