Charis Waddy was an Islamic scholar and writer, and the first woman graduate of Oriental Languages at Oxford University. Her best-known book, The Muslim Mind, was published in 1976.
The motive was Charis Waddy's affection for a vast range of Muslim friends from Indonesia to Ghana, met in her travels. As a Christian - and long before the trauma of 11 September provoked a renewed interest in Islam in the West - she believed that people of faith needed to find common cause and draw the best out of each other. Her book broke new ground in presenting Muslim answers to questions on areas of daily life such as family and forgiveness. Scholarly and genial, The Muslim Mind went into three editions, and was followed by Women in Muslim History (1980) and a host of articles and lectures.
Charis Waddy was born in Australia, and she grew up in Jerusalem where her father went to teach in the years that followed World War I. The tensions of that period and the common heritage of the monotheistic faiths that is manifest in that city helped to shape her outlook on the world. She was the first woman to study Oriental Languages (Arabic and Hebrew) at Oxford University. For her doctorate at London University she specialized in the history of the Crusades, particularly on the Arab side. She is the author of Baalbec Caravans, Women in Muslim History, and numerous articles on Islamic civilization and its scientific contributions to the world. In March 1990 she was decorated by the government of Pakistan with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (the Star of Excellence).
