Hossein Nasr (born April 7, 1933) is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, USA and a prominent Islamic philosopher. He is the author of many scholarly books and articles.

Nasr is a Muslim Persian philosopher and renowned scholar of  comparative religion, a lifelong student and follower of Frithj of Schuon, and writes in the fields of Islamic esoterism, Sufism, philosophy of science, and metaphysics.

Nasr was the first Muslim to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures, and in year 2000, a volume was devoted to him in the Library of Living Philosophers.

Professor Nasr speaks and writes based on the doctrine and the viewpoints of the perennial philosophy on subjects such as philosophy, religion, spirituality, music, art, architecture, science, literature, civilization dialogues, and the natural environment. He also wrote two books of poetry (namely Poems of the Way and The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi), and has been even described as a ‘polymath‘.

Nasr speaks Persian, English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic fluently.

Awards and honors

• > In year 2000, a volume was devoted to him in the Library of Living Philosophers.
• > Templeton Religion and Science Award (1999)
• > First Muslim and first non-Western scholar to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures
• > Honorary Doctor of Uppsala University, Sweden (1977)
• > He was nominated and won King Faisal Foundation award, but his prize was withdrawn upon the prize knowledge of his being a Shia. He was notified of winning the prize in 1979 but later the prize was withdrawn with no explanation. Extracts from ( http://www.arabiaradio.org/ )

Works

Nasr is the author of over fifty books and five hundred articles (a number of which can be found in the journal, Studies in Comparative Religion) on topics such as traditional metaphysics, Islamic science, religion and the environment, Sufism, and Islamic philosophy. Listed below are most of Dr. Nasr’s works in English (in no particular order), including translations, edited volumes, and Festschriften in his honor:

As Author

• > The HarperCollins Study Quran
• > In Search of the Sacred, with Ramin Jahanbegloo
• > Islam in the Modern World
• > Islam and the Plight of Modern Man
• > Ideals and Realities of Islam
• > An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines
• > Knowledge and the Scared online
• > Islamic Life and Thought
• > Islamic Art and Spirituality
• > Sufi Essays
• > Sadr al-Din Shirazi and His Transcendent Theosophy, 2nd edition
• > A Young Muslim’s Guide to the Modern World
• > The Need for a Sacred Science
• > Traditional Islam in the Modern World
• > Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis in Modern Man
• > The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia, edited by Mehdi Aminrazavi
• > The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition
• > Three Muslim Sages
  > Science and Civilization in Islam
• > Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study
• > Religion and the Order of Nature
• > Muhammad: Man of God
• > Islamic Studies: Essays on Law and Society, the Sciences, and Philosophy and Sufism
• > The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity
• > Islamic Philosophy from its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the Land of Prophecy
• > Poems of the Way
• > The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi
• > Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization
• > Islam, Science, Muslims, and Technology: Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Conversation with Muzaffar Iqbal
• > The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr, edited by William Chittick

As Editor

• > The Essential Frithj of Schuon
• > Religion of the Heart: Essays Presented to Frithjof Schuon on his Eightieth Birthday, edited with William Stoddart

• > History of Islamic Philosophy, edited with Oliver Leaman
• > The Essential Sophia, edited with Katherine O’Brien
• > An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, edited with Mehdi Aminrazavi (5 vols.)
• > Islamic Spirituality (Vol. 1: Foundations; Vol. 2: Manifestations)
• > Shi’ism: Doctrines, Thought, and Spirituality, edited with Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr and Hamid Dabashi

• > Expectation of the Millenium: Shi’ism in History, edited with Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr and Hamid Dabashi

• > In Quest of the Sacred: The Modern World in the Light of Tradition, edited with Katherine O’Brien

• > An Annotated Bibliography of Islamic Science, edited with William Chittick and Peter Zirnis (3 vols.)

• > Isma’ili Contributions to Islamic Culture, edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
• > Mecca the Blessed, Madina the Radiant, photographs by Ali Kazuyo Nomachi; essay by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

As Translator

• > Shi’ite Islam by Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i

Works about Nasr

• > The Works of Seyyed Hossein Nasr Through His Fortieth Birthday, edited by William Chittick
• > Knowledge is Light: Essays in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, edited by Zailan Moris
• > Beacon of Knowledge – Essays in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, edited by Mohammad Faghfoory
• > The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, edited by L.E. Hahn, R. Auxier, and L.W. Stone
• > In Search of the Sacred by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Ramin Jahanbegloo

(Courtesy : Wikipaedia)