Alan Godlas

Alan Godlas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia, where he also is the Undergraduate Coordinator. In addition, he is the Co-Director of the UGA-Morocco Maymester program. At UGA he teaches Islamic Studies and Arabic courses as well as a survey course on the world’s religions. A native-born Californian, Dr. Godlas received his M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1991) in Near Eastern Studies (specializing in Islamic Studies) from the University of California at Berkeley, under the supervision of Prof. Hamid Algar. Dr. Godlas has conducted extensive research in manuscript libraries in Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. His professional experience includes being on the editorial board of the journal, Sufi Illuminations, and being a member of the steering committee of the Study of Mysticism and Study of Islam sections of the American Academy of Religion. Dr. Godlas was granted a National Endowment to the Humanities fellowship for the study of mysticism with Professor Huston Smith in 1993. In the Summer of 1997, Dr. Godlas received a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship for study in Uzbekistan. Dr. Godlas is most well-known for his Islamic Studies and Sufism websites which are generally regarded as the foremost comprehensive academic websites for the study of Islam and Sufism on the entire worldwide web. In April 2002 his Islamic Studies website was one of five nominees for a Webby award in the category of spirituality. (The Webbys are the equivalent of the Oscars for websites.) Among his competitors was the website of the Vatican!