Shi’ite Islam: Orthodoxy Or Heterodoxy? Second Amended and Amplified Edition

About the Translator, Editor, and Annotator

Prof. John Andrew Morrow ************************

Dr. John Andrew Morrow is Associate Professor of Languages and Literature at Eastern New Mexico University in the United States. He has taught at the University of Toronto, Park University and Northern State University, and has lectured internationally on the subject of Hispanic, Native, and Arabic-Islamic Studies.

Dr. Morrow completed his studies at the University of Toronto, where he received an Honors B.A. in French and Spanish, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Spanish American Literature. While Dr. Morrow was an undergraduate student at Canada’s premiere academic institution, Dr. Ottmar Hegyi introduced him to Islamic Spain and Aljamiado literature and encouraged him to pursue its study. It was at the University of Toronto that Dr. Morrow studied all periods of Spanish and Spanish American literature, acquired expertise in linguistics, and analyzed the Arabic influence on Spanish and French literature, as well as the Amerindian influence on Spanish American literature. Upon completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Morrow pursued post-doctoral studies in Arabic in Fez, Rabat, and Bouarfa, Morocco, and at the University of Utah’s Middle East Center.

At all stages of his studies, Dr. Morrow has combined Hispanic Studies, Arabic-Islamic Studies, and Native Studies. Besides being trained by Hispanists who were also Arabists and Orientalists, he has studied the Islamic Sciences for decades, both independently, and at the hands of a series of Sunnī, Ṣūfī, and Shī‘ite scholars. As such, he embodies the best of both Western and Eastern education.

A prolific, internationally recognized research scholar, Dr. Morrow has over one hundred scholarly, literary, and artistic publications to his credit in over a dozen countries and in several different languages. His academic work has appeared in the following journals: Intercultural Communication Studies, Sufi: A Journal of Sufism, The Humanities Journal, Romance Notes, The Canadian Journal of Herbalism, Texto Crítico, Alharaca, Nueva Revista del Pacífico, LEMIR: Revista Electrónica sobre Literatura Española Medieval y del Renacimiento, Tinta y Sombra, and The Canadian Modern Languages Review, among other scholarly publications.

Dr. Morrow’s journalism has appeared in Radiance Magazine, Jafariya News, Iran Daily, The Exponent, Revista Ariadna, Revista Árabe, The Iranian, al-Bawaba, Crescent International, The Message International, Mahjubah, Que Pasa Magazine, Hispanos, Kauzar, and other publications. His poetry has appeared in Revista Oxígeno, Revista Voces, Los Lobos de Omaña, Divague, Escáner Cultural, Almiar, El Otro Mensual, El Cid, Le Message de l’Islam, Mahjubah, and Analecta Literaria, among other literary journals.

Dr. Morrow has contributed encyclopedia chapters on the history of Latinos in South and North Dakota for Latino America: State by State (Greenwood Press, 2008), edited by Dr. Mark Overmyer-Velazquez, as well as a chapter on the history of Arabic literature for The Cultural History of Reading (Greenwood Press, 2008), edited by Dr. Gabrielle Watling. He has also contributed chapters on César Vallejo and The Arabian Nights for The Literary Encyclopedia and a chapter on “The Loss of the Allāh Lexicon” for Global English: Issues in Language, Culture, and Identity in the Arab World, edited by Dr. Aḥmad al-Issa and Laila Dahan.

Dr. Morrow has authored, edited and translated numerous books, including: Arabic, Islām, and the Allāh Lexicon: How Language Shapes our Conception of God (Edwin Mellen Press, 2006), Shī‘ite Islām: Orthodoxy or Heterodoxy (Anṣariyān, 2006), Amerindian Elements in the Poetry of Rubén Darío: The Alter Ego as the Indigenous Other (Edwin Mellen Press, 2008), El islam shiita: ¿ortodoxia o heterodoxia? (Anṣariyān 2010), Amerindian Elements in the Poetry of Ernesto Cardenal: A Contemporary Voice for an Ancient People (Edwin Mellen Press, 2010), Humanos casi humanos (Eastern New Mexico University, Northern State University, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Universidad Argentina John F. Kennedy, 2010), The Book of Unity: Kitāb al-Tawḥīd (The Saviour Foundation, 2009), and The Encyclopedia of Islamic Herbal Medicine (McFarland, 2010). He is currently completing numerous projects, including Islamic Imagery, as well as Shī‘ite Traditions from Islamic Spain, the last of which was commissioned by the Spanish government.