death_date death_place birth_place nationality notableworks name birth_date article_title birth_name occupation alma_mater
06 march 1987 lingfield thorne british the sufi orders in islam j. spencer trimingham 17 november 1904 j. spencer trimingham
 john spencer trimingham scholar birmingham university , oxford university , wells theological college
j. spencer trimingham

john spencer trimingham -lrb- 17 november 1904 -- 6 march 1987 -rrb- was a noted 20th-century scholar on islam in africa .
trimingham was born in thorne to john william trimingham and alice ventress .
in jerusalem -lrb- 1932 -rrb- trimingham married wardeh , who died in 1980 .
trimingham studied social sciences at birmingham university , arabic and persian at oxford university , and trained for the ministry of the church of england at wells theological college .
he served with the church missionary society in the sudan , egypt , and west africa -lrb- 1937 -- 53 -rrb- and travelled extensively carrying out detailed studies of islam in africa .
he first published on arabic and on the christian approach to islam , later on the history of islam in africa and sufi orders .
subsequently he was reader in arabic and head of the department of arabic and islamic studies at glasgow university -lrb- 1953 -- 64 -rrb- and a visiting professor in the department of history at the american university of beirut -lrb- 1964 -- 70 -rrb- .
he then moved to the faculty of the near east school of theology in beirut .
triminghan died in 1987 in lingfield .
