My research focuses on Christian Arabic manuscripts, the textual transmission of the Bible in Arabic, and the history of Arabic-speaking Christian communities. I am particularly interested in the lives of scribes, readers, and manuscript owners, as well as the marginal annotations and other paratextual evidence that reveal how manuscripts were produced, circulated, and used.
My doctoral research examined the Arabic translations and textual transmission of the Pauline Epistles. In subsequent projects, I have investigated manuscript cultures, mobility, and the experiences of Arabic-speaking Christians across the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. Since July 2026, I have been a Senior Researcher in the Biblia Arabica Academies Project at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
zaki@em.uni-frankfurt.de Website ORCID
Areas of Interest
Arabic Bible translations and textual transmission; Christian Arabic manuscripts; manuscript cultures and codicology; scribal practices, marginalia, and paratexts; Eastern Christianity; mobility of Arabic-speaking Christians; Digital Humanities and manuscript cataloguing.
Positions
Since July 2026
Senior Researcher, Biblia Arabica, Department of Religious Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
2024–2026
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Travelers on the Margins: Mobility of Arabic-Speaking Christians in the Ottoman Empire, Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
2024
Cataloguer of Arabic Manuscripts, Sinai Manuscripts Digital Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
2022–2024
Visiting Researcher, Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
2020–2023
Cataloguer of Arabic Manuscripts, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John’s University, Minnesota, USA.
2020–2022
Visiting Researcher, Faculty of History, University of Oxford.
2019–2020
Research Associate, Stories of Survival: Recovering the Connected Histories of Eastern Christianity in the Early Modern World, Faculty of History, University of Oxford.
2015–2019
Research Assistant, Biblia Arabica: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
2013–2015
Research Assistant, Biblia Arabica: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, Free University of Berlin.
Teaching Experience
2026
Lecturer, Christians in the Middle East: Readings from Past and Present, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
2025–2026
Lecturer, On the Road: Journeys of Pilgrims, Scholars, Merchants, and Migrants in the Ottoman World, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
2022
Private Tutor, Palaeography and Reading of Arabic Manuscripts, Oxford.
2011–2012
Lecturer, Church History and Eastern Churches History, Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.
2008–2009
Lecturer, Basic Biblical Greek, Anglican Theological Seminary (Alexandria School of Theology).
Education
2019
PhD in History and Culture of the Near East, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.
Dissertation: The Pauline Epistles in Arabic: Manuscripts, Versions, and Text Transmission.
2013
Master of Theology (ThM) in New Testament Studies, Princeton Theological Seminary, USA.
2011
MA in Christianity in the Middle East, Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.
Thesis: al-Asʻad Hibat Allāh ibn al-ʿAssāl: His Contribution to the Formation of New Identity of Copts in Egypt through his Critical Translation of the Gospel of Luke.
2006
BA in Theological Sciences, Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.
1998
BA in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zagazig University.
Manuscript and Digital Humanities Training
2019
Islamicate Digital Humanities School for Scholars Working with Manuscripts, University of Hamburg.
2017
ManuSciences ’17: Manuscripts – From Fragments to Books, From Identification to Interpretation, École pratique des hautes études and Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung.
2014
Arabic Manuscripts Course, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University.
